When I was on vacation during this past Summer, I found a ton of 45 Singles with the Picture Sleeves at a place called House of Vinyl and I ended buying 7 Van Halen 45’s. And we’ve been through a few so far as seen below…
- “Dance the Night Away” (1979)
- “Pretty Woman” (1982)
- “Jump” (1983)
- “I’ll Wait” (1984)
- “Why Can’t This Be Love” (1986)
And now we are on to our sixth of the 7 and we are still in to the Hagar Era and this was the third single off their first album together for ‘5150’ from 1986. The song is “Love Walks In” which was released on July 23, 1986 and went to #22 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was credited to the whole band as usual, but I believe lyrically it came from Sammy as the song is about Alien Abduction and Sammy has stated he has been. Ok! I am not sure where to really go with that information.
My copy is in a little rough shape with a slight tear at the bottom crease plus someone wrote 15 on the front. But otherwise, it plays well and that is all that matters. This version is the standard single version with “Love Walks In” on the A-Side and the B-Side is “Summer Nights”. Not a bad combo of songs.
A-SIDE:
The song is more pop than rock and is full of Eddie and his keyboard/synth phase. It opens with Eddie and has numerous key changes throughout. Now, lead guitar on this is Actually Sammy which is nice to see, but the song is mostly synths. The keyboards give it an almost atmospheric feel as if you were flying through outer space which is appropriate with an alien abduction theme. Alex’s drums have that classic Alex pop and Michael’s bass keeps the rhythm and song moving forward. Sammy’s vocals are smooth and soft as the song plays like a love ballad, but that love is for the aliens…and not the illegal kind. It is really a beautiful sounding song and it does draw you in but not to the point where it will probe you or anything.
SIDE B:
The B-Side is the song “Summer Nights” and this one is more old school Van Halen. Full of heavy guitars with Eddie throwing in lots of tricks. Alex’s drums are in full force as well. The vocals by Sammy or in more of David Lee Roth style with lots of ad libs yells and noises. There some great harmonies and let’s be honest, they always have great harmonies. The solo by Eddie is fantastic and takes me back to early Van Halen. My only complaint is the other instruments are too loud in the mix during the solo as it take it away from it a little. But overall, a decent mid-tempo rock track.
And there you have it. We still have one more single to go from Van Halen from the stash I bought while on vacation. Which one will it be? We will see next week.
2 Loud 2 Old Music 
Wild Eddie, I can ID his chords in any music especially with the late Michael Jackson’s hit Beat It! 😑🎤🎵
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I agree with you on “Love Walks In,” Eddie’s guitar solo could have been turned up more and “Sumner Nights” does sound early Van Halwn.
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Halen’s live concert spiked in sound compared to studio recordings where condenser mics and sound booths cuts the flow.
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I see.
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Yep. We have been big concert goers and sideliners.
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Yeah, his solo was great, but Steve Lukather’s riff in that song was equally impressive.
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I never listened “love walks in”, maybe I’ll listen it after school,I don’t really know the sammy hagar era.
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The Sammy era has some great songs, but overall i think I prefer the rawer sounds of the Roth era.
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I like this song. It’s a great piece of hard rock and so catchy. Hagar smashes these songs out so easily.
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I am reading Sammy’s book and it was interesting to read the VH stuff.
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I agree. He talks both good and bad. How the 5150 album came together has some cool stories.
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I’ve enjoyed the book and I don’t think he’s as harsh on Eddie as I was expecting from the way everyone talked.
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The poppier AOR side of Van Hagar was a mixed bag but this song was pretty cool. And Summer Nights is a fantastic song, a real highlight of that album.
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Summer Nights is more like older VH. Hagar’s era was too polished at times.
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I say it every time, about these single: COOL SCORE!!
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And you are right every time as well.
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Thanks, I don’t hear THAT very often! Lol
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I will make sure to say it more!!
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Haha well it has to be warranted, which is probably why I don’t hear it often…
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Man, You are right again!!! It must be warranted so I will stop!!! 🙂
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Whew!
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The best of the Hagar “love” songs, of which their are quite a few. If you take out the “For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge” album, there are 5 songs including this one with “love” in the title on the other three Sammy studio albums, and all of them were top 40 hits. “Hey guys, if we just put ‘love’ in the title, it will be a hit!” Lol.
And I agree with others – “Summer Nights” is the hidden gem on this album and a great B-side for this single.
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If it ain’t broke don’t fix it right. So many great songs with love in the title.
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I almost picked “Summer Nights” for my ‘Songs with the Same Title – Van Halen Edition’ post, but I ultimately went with “Best of Both Worlds” from that same album cause I wanted to talk about Hannah Montana.
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Ha! You and the right choice.
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Summer Nights I say they should have released as a single in the summer of 86 or even the summer of 87. What were the suits thinking at Warners? Ball was dropped in the end zone on that one John.
Another cool little score here. I was surprised that this song didn’t go into the Top 20 but still did rather well.
Awesome as always Sir.
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That would’ve been real smaller. No one has said the suits were smart. And thanks.
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