Space Motown Meets Diamond Dave
Review By Paul ‘Space-Motown’ Heintz
About a month ago I was at Dominick’s, Chicago’s version of Safeway - a grocery store - and I heard I’ll Wait by Van Halen. Just as a side note, ever notice the similarities between the names Van Halen and Led Zeppelin? Both are 2 words. Anyhow, I’m in an indie bedroom psyche group called Midstates and the Choir of Ghosts and I have very sensitive ears. Usually grocery stores play songs that make me want to leave, and when I heard the opening synth lines to I’ll Wait, not fully realizing what the song was, I had a similar feeling.
Then David Lee Roth began to sing. That guy can sing. As the person who sings in my group and more importantly as a fan of great music, I can tell you unequivocally that Roth is one of the greatest vocalists in our lifetime. But all that aside, I’ll Wait has been stuck in my head for weeks now.
Usually to get a song out of my head, and if i don’t own it (that particular song was on an album (and by album I do mean vinyl) that my sister Mary had when I was a kid), I would scour the internet: youtube, pandora, last.fm, etc. The studio recording of I’ll Wait (aside from fan versions and live versions) could not be found. Desperate, I finally succumbed to watching a live version shot in Philly on the last.fm site but sourced in from the youtube.
I have no idea when this video was shot, but judging from the length of David Lee Roth’s hair, I’m thinking it might be fairly recent. And yes, he still can nail that song. The most interesting thing about this song is that it has relatively little guitar. Someone told me that Eddie Van Halen was originally a concert pianist before turning into a shredding guitarist, and that he played all the piano/synthesizer parts on their songs (Jump comes to mind.)
20 years or so later, David Lee Roth can still sing and Van Halen has a great song that is based around a synthesizer melody and not electric guitar.
Paul ‘Space-Motown’ Heintz
for more magical goodness check out
Midstates and the Choir of Ghosts