Van Halen II
by Van Halen

Even if the classic song ratio is slightly lower than on the eponymous debut of 1978, "Van Halen II" (1979) is just as much fun - if not more - and to the band's credit, there's not a bad song on the album.

The garage rock of "Van Halen" (1978) showcased surprising diversity - from a cappella, barbershop quartet-infused metal ("I'm The One;") to Motown-infused-hard rock ("Feel Your Love Tonight;") to a country-blues goof/explosion ("Ice Cream Man;") to punk-meets-Zeppelin ("Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love" and "Atomic Punk;") to its own, fleshed-out signature sound on "Eruption;" and "On Fire."

"Van Halen II" answers the question: is there anything else you guys can do? Slinky funk on "You're No Good" and "Outta Love Again;" lightness-of-touch on "Dance The Night Away" and "Beautiful Girls;" pure garage punk on "D.O.A.;" flamenco on "Spanish Fly;" prog rock on "Light Up The Sky;" and three exemplars of Van Halen's signature style with "Somebody Get Me A Doctor;" "Women In Love;" and "Bottoms Up!"

"Van Halen II" is the second in a streak of six top-notch albums (seven if you consider Van Hagar a different band, and count "A Different Kind of Truth") - the longest such streak since Zeppelin's 8.

A worthy follow up to their debut album. "Dance the night away" pretty much lived on the radio in the summer of '79. And that was a good thing! (Edited)

This album suffers from something very big: It's all the songs that didn't make the debut album. I mean their first two albums are comprised entirely of songs they had been writing for a long time, and the fact of the matter is that almost none of these songs level up to any of those on the debut. But still, there are some pretty nice songs here.

Best Tracks: Dance the Night Away, Light Up the Sky, Spanish Fly, D.O.A., Dead or Alive

Worst Tracks: Bottom's Up, Outta Love Again (Edited)

Solid second album. You can tell that is somewhat composed of the early tracks that are left over after the debut album which is quite a bit stronger. It comes immediately after the conclusion of the tour behind the first album. In some ways its sort of more of the same, but still a very fun listen with lots of hard rocking high energy tracks.

Key tracks: Dance the Night Away, Bottoms Up, Somebody Get Me a Doctor and Beautiful Girls (Edited)

I'm editing my original post because this album has grown on me significantly. It's still not as good as the debut, but it's so incredibly fun and packed full of good songs with that same sunny feeling over a crunchy guitar tone that defines their sound. Beautiful Girls is a highlight of the album, and one of my top 10 tracks by them. (Edited)