Released on February 21, 2025, ‘The Warner Recordings: 1985-1994’ celebrates 40 years of solo David Lee Roth. His debut E.P., ‘Crazy From the Heat’, was released on January 28, 1985 and the last album on Warner Records was ‘Your Filthy Little Mouth’ which was released on March 8. 1994. In just shy of a decade we received 4 studio albums and 1 E.P. and they are all captured in this box set. I went with the CD as I already had these on vinyl and since there are no bonus tracks or anything extra, no need buying those again. So, I opted for the cheaper CD version and figured I save some bucks.
The box set comes in a nice cardboard box with an open side the CDs slide in and out of as they are housed in mini-LP type cardboard jackets. There is no booklet, but each comes with an insert with credits and lyrics for the songs. And I will admit, at my age, it is really hard to read those lyrics as these inserts are CD size and that is a lot of lyrics to put on one side of the insert. The album jackets are faithful recreations of the original artwork and they are all sensational. Overall, a nice job of packaging. But it is the music we want to know about so let’s go through each of them.
‘CRAZY FROM THE HEAT E.P.’ (1985):
As I said earlier, this was released on January 28, 1985 while David was still a member of Van Halen. It consists of four tracks and all are covers. It sounds like lounge-lizard Roth here with some crooning and simply fun record. His cover of The Beach Boys ‘California Girls” was a hit going all they way to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. The medley of “Just a Gigolo/I Ain’t Got Nobody” is pure fun and although the album doesn’t take itself very seriously, his solo career would kick off here as he would leave Van Halen shortly after the release of this E.P. And the rest, as they’d say…is history!
‘EAT ‘EM AND SMILE’ (1986):
Released on July 7, 1986, Dave released his debut solo album and it was the proper follow-up to Van Halen’s ‘1984’. This was the album we wanted, or at least I wanted. Van Halen with Sammy Hagar didn’t excite me. The Platinum selling album went to #4 on the Billboard Album Chart and is no doubt my favorite David album. My favorite part about it is Steve Vai as his playing is amazing and gives David that guitar genius he was used to singing with. It still had a little lounge lizard songs like “That’s Life”, “Tobacco Road” and “I’m Easy”, but I didn’t mind that. These were great fun songs and “Tobacco Road” was actually killer. It was the songs like “Yankee Rose”, “Shyboy” and “Elephant Gun” that took this to another level. Blistering solos and Dave rocking out. And then there was “Ladies Night in Buffalo” which I felt was Dave being smooth and showing a different side of who he was and what he could sing. I don’t believe I ever skip on a song on this one and if there is any David Lee Roth album you are going to get…this should be it. It is Essential!!
‘SKYSCRAPER’ (1988):
With “Skyscraper”, Dave changed it up slightly from his debut which was a little less guitar driven and more keyboard which is strange considering the producer of this album was the great guitarist Steve Vai (Dave produced it as well). It was released on January 21, 1988 and went to #6 on the Billboard album chart also going Platinum. The album was pretty eclectic and even felt a little psychedelic at times (“Damn Good”). I think I liked the variety a lot. “Just Like Paradise” is really classic sounding Dave so that is always welcome. I really dug the songs “Skyscraper”, “Hot Dog And A Shake” and “Knucklebones”. The strangest and dumbest song on the album “Stand Up” is sadly extremely catchy and drills into your brain and swims around. I like the bass on it by some unnamed bass player and Vai’s guitar sound is everywhere on it. Overall, it is valiant effort and doesn’t suffer for me from that Sophomore slump.
‘A LITTLE AIN’T ENOUGH’ (1991):
The album was released on January 15, 1991 and only went Gold. He loved releasing albums in January. But by the third album, the album sales started to dip and it wasn’t helped by the first single. ‘A Little Ain’t Enough’ was full of controversy with the video below as it was full of scantily clad women, and little people dressed in Afro wigs and blackface (bad move Dave). But the other problem was it was 1991 and Grunge was starting to take over and Dave was still doing…well…Dave. The title song is fantastic, but the best tracks are “Sensible Shoes”, “Shoot It” and “Hammerhead Shark”. And you could also listen to “It’s Showtime” and “Baby’s On Fire” and see it is full of solid tracks. The album did suffer from some filler, but I think there is more to like than not which is why it isn’t at the bottom.
‘YOUR FILTHY LITTLE MOUTH’ (1994):
Released on March 8, 1994, this might be the last album most people will remember before he faded away in to oblivion (he didn’t, not really). It was produced by Nile Rodgers and it had a lot of the Roth rock, but the problem was this was 1994 and the world had moved on to Grunge. And you throw in a Travis Tritt duet with “Cheatin’ Heart Cafe” and the music world wasn’t listening. Does that mean this is bad…not the slightest. The opening track “She’s the Machine” and “Big Train” give you exactly what a DLR fan wants. They both rock out. There are a couple blues and slick tracks with one being “Experience” that is worth a listen and so is “Night Life” which is very Vegas and lounge singer-like, but is great. This one is a little all over the place, but honestly, so is Dave.
And there you have it. It is a simple set, nothing fancy, no extras but you do get all 5 discs at a fairly reasonable price, I guess. It is a no frills set. As a result, it would’ve been nice for some unreleased tracks, a live show, or something extra to make this a purchase worthwhile for those that already own these albums in one form or another. Still, I didn’t have any of these on CD, so it worked out for me. I do have the DLR Band album and talk about a good album. Plus, it has John 5 on it. Okay, that is another story. I’m not scoring it as the score depends on what you are looking for in this set. If you simply want the album, it is a great set. If you want extras, well, it is lacking a lot. And one final note, here is everything it comes with in one shot. Enjoy…
