Throwback Thursday: Eat 'em and Smile, by David Lee Roth

The split of singer David Lee Roth from iconic worldwide rock n' roll sensation Van Halen is still one of the most talked about break-ups in all of rock even 30+ years later. When Roth left the band and they subsequently came out with their 1985 smash hit 5150, he knew he had to come up with a response - and quickly. This resulted in his 1986 solo debut Eat 'em and Smile, which even though it did not make as big of an impact as Van Halen, it is still favored by fans even now.

Eat 'em and Smile maintains a lot of that fun, easygoing, party time atmosphere that a lot of Van Halen's David Lee Roth era stuff had, but not in a way where it sounded exactly like Van Halen with a different set of players. Actually, Roth put together one hell of a band. He got Greg Bissonette on the drums, Billy Sheehan on bass, and the legendary virtuoso Steve Vai on guitar. You can hear the band's energy pulsing through every track. Though each musician aside from Roth was technically proficient as a musician, they used that proficiency in a way that made it one hell of a fun record.

Whenever people talk about Eat 'em and Smile, the first song that usually comes into the conversation is the album's main single "Yankee Rose". It is definitely an arena rocker for sure. Vai does some of his famous "guitar talk" throughout the intro and other parts of the song and overall it is a pulsing, pounding good time. It definitely sounds commercial, but you can still hear the chops in it. Definitely a feat that not many hair bands had back in the day.

The record also includes a cover of the classic "Tobacco Road". It definitely sounds 80's rock radio-ed up, but you can still tell they were having a lot of fun with it and putting some real care and soul into it as well. I would expect nothing less from such a group of passionate musicians, after all. Vai definitely knows how to blend blues with technical proficiency while Sheehan can flex his bass muscles and Bissonette his steady hand on the drums.

Eat 'em and Smile definitely deserves to be given another look by the general public, in my opinion. While it definitely is not as groundbreaking as anything Van Halen did, if you give it a listen while leaving context on the shelf you might be pleasantly surprised. There are some upbeat, fun, and catchy songs on it played by some of the best musicians to ever walk this planet. Like I said, Roth lucked out considering he isn't that great of a singer. Still, it is worth checking out at least once.

Eat 'em and Smile, by David Lee Roth receives 3.25/5 stars.

Track List:

1. Yankee Rose
2. Shyboy
3. I'm Easy
4. Ladies Night in Buffalo?
5. Goin' Crazy!
6. Tobacco Road
7. Elephant Gun
8. Big Trouble
9. Bump and Grind
10. That's Life

Buy the album on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Eat-Smile-David-Lee-Roth/dp/B004X0XXFC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1536295011&sr=8-1&keywords=david+lee+roth+eat+em+and+smile+cd