While I fight off a headache and crushing deadlines, consider the career of producer Ted Templeman. From Harpers Bizarre to Van Morrison to The Doobie Brothers to Captain Beefheart to Montrose to Carly Simon to Van Halen, somehow it all makes sense, don’t you think? I know what you’re thinking: Isn’t he the guy who produced the Wayne’s World soundtrack? Bingo!
Among Templeman’s many contributions to the Van Halen sound is this one, part of another day’s work on the Fair Warning track “Dirty Movies”:
Eddie couldn’t reach high enough up the fretboard, so he had Ted Templeman hold the guitar’s lower horn while he sawed it off with a hacksaw.
Ted once agreed to an interview focusing on his work on Captain Beefheart’s Clear Spot. The use of blackface on these sessions, however, was not Templeman’s idea.
The thing I keep coming back to, however, is Ted’s obvious role in the Van Halen to Van Hagar transformation. It was almost as seamless a lead singer switch gets (maybe only second to the AC/DC handoff, caused by death), and I’ll be Ted was the pointperson for the hiring of his old Montrose buddy, Sammy Hagar. VH fans, has Ted ever gotten the credit he deserved for this? (How’s that classic Van Halen tour going, anyway? Is there a Townsperson with tickets for this historic tour?)
Rock Town Hall salutes you, Ted Templeman!
I SUMMON RICK MASSIMO!
Sorry, Townsman Rick, but I gotta “out” you on this Van Halen thing. I happen to know for a fact that Rick attended the Providence date on Friday, and that he was professionally compelled to share his impressions with the fine citizens of Rhode Island. What are we, chopped liver? Stand and deliver!
PINCE NEZ!
That’s “Fair Warning,” Mod. Perhaps the band’s most patchily excellent disc.
The reports of the Van Halen reunion tour have all been surprisingly positive.
Didn’t Templeton initially “leave” Van Halen in ’84 to be Roth’s solo producer?
I’m not sure about the positive reports of the reunion tour, but this youtube video of a horribly out of tune performance has been making the rounds on the internets:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mjx_GjyXCs4
This is still the first thing that comes to mind at the mention of Templeman and Van Halen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGjL4hsBs3M
DLR had to be trying to sing that so poorly. You can’t be that out of tune accidently, can you?
Pince nez part II:
No apostrophe in Harpers Bizarre.
I think Oats has the right idea here. I’m not a huge VH fan (though I like them OK enough up to 1984, the year and the album, as well as a few, isolated Van Hagar songs) and I don’t know if he produced any of DLR’s solo stuff, but I definitely remember Templeman producing the DLR era VH stuff and coming back to man the boards For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, which is considered to be the best Van Hagar album aside from 5150 by some fans. It’s also the album that’s the most in the spirit of the DLR era from what I understand as well. Thus, Mr. Mod, I don’t really understand your point about giving Templeman credit for Van Hagar. If anything, it’s the opposite, trying to get them to go back to their old sound or at least to be more inspired than they were on OU812 (gotta love these pun-filled album titles, no?).
I am, however, curious about that Beefheart/blackface thing. I’d never heard that before!
Thanks, Great One. It is now corrected.
Berlyant, what I give Templeman credit for is probably being the guy who introduced Van Halen to Hagar. Sammy stepped in and the band didn’t miss a hit single, did they? The well-connected Templeman needs some love for this probably hookup.
I saw them Oct 1 in Philly and thought they were great. I’m a “classic VH” fan only – ie. first six albums/David Lee Roth era. It seems to me that their sense of humor and fun was removed when they became Van Hagar. The show in Philly was a lot of fun and reminded me of when I first saw them at the Spectrum in 1981 – the Fair Warning tour.
Yup – I saw them Friday (not in Providence, actually; at one of the casinos in Connecticut) and they were pretty fabulous. Wolfgang isn’t quite Michael Anthony as a player, but he’s not bad (and he nails the backing vocals, which is almost as important). And I liked that they didn’t consign him to Anonymous New Guy Corner, although seeing as how 1) he’s the guitar player’s kid and 2) this is a band that’s replaced its frontman three times, it’s not all that surprising.
That clip is disturbing. It’s not Dave who’s out of tune, but Eddie. It’s not indicative of the show I saw, although that had its own technical glitch (EVH’s guitar cut out totally during “Somebody Get Me a Doctor,” and he missed the whole guitar solo replacing guitars and cords).
I mean, it was Van Halen. Take from that what you will. If you don’t like them in the first place, it wouldn’t convert you. But if you’re a fan who’s wondering “Will it really be Van Halen?” It is.
“Professional” review here (reg. req’d):
http://www.projo.com/music/content/Van_Rev_10-06-07_G67DBSQ.37922ad.html
Here’s the deal with that out-of-tune Halen song: the keyboard track is out of tune; Dave and the boys are fine. What likely happened is that the digital clock controlling the voice was set incorrectly. This actually happened to me and Uncle Steve in the studio the other day, and it can be baffling/infuriating, as you can imagine. Why they didn’t do the right thing by just resetting the clock and starting again after the first few chords is kind of beyond me, but whatever.