5150

5150 is a work on which VAN HALEN gained a new drive by welcoming the powerful, open voice of Sammy Hagar. Eddie Van Halen’s guitar is as vivid as ever, but here, within a wide sound field including synthesizers, it also takes on the role of creating the songs’ whole air. The band turned the great turning point of a vocalist change into a splendid success. The lightness of “Why Can't This Be Love,” the elation of “Dreams” and the bouncing groove of “Best of Both Worlds” concisely show the strengths of the new lineup. Songs like “Love Walks In,” “Summer Nights” and “Good Enough” breathe the band’s full melodic sense too. Naturally balancing technique and pop scale, it reached No. 1 on the US chart for the first time, grandly announcing the brilliant dawn of the so-called “Van Hagar” era.