Alex Van Halen - ISOLATED Track - "Amsterdam" from the CD "Balance" (1995)

Balance is the tenth studio album by American rock band Van Halen, released on January 24, 1995, by Warner Bros. Records. The album is the last of the band's four studio releases to feature Sammy Hagar as the lead singer. It is also the final Van Halen album to feature bassist Michael Anthony in its entirety. Balance reached number 1 on the U.S. Billboard 200 in February 1995 and reached triple platinum status on May 12, 2004, by selling more than three million copies in the US. "The Seventh Seal" was nominated for a Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance. Recording and production: According to Ian Christe's book, Everybody Wants Some: The Van Halen Saga, Balance was released amid internal fighting between Hagar and the Van Halen brothers. The band worked eight-hour days for three months recording the album. The first song on the record, "The Seventh Seal", features mystical overtones that came, in part, from Eddie Van Halen's newfound sobriety. His therapist, Sat-Kaur Khalsa, urged him to relax and imagine where he was after drinking a six-pack of beer. After smoking cigarettes, drinking beer, and playing guitar for 20 years, he tried writing songs sober and wrote three songs in one half hour period. The album then moves into Hagar's territory with "Can’t Stop Lovin’ You." The song was taken from his ex-wife's point of view, believing that she was still in love with him. The album reached number one on the Billboard 200, their fourth consecutive number one studio album. Most of the Balance album was recorded at Eddie's 5150 Studios, located in Studio City, except for five lead vocal tracks that were recorded in Vancouver, where the album's producer Bruce Fairbairn resided. It was mixed by Mike Fraser and mastered at Sterling Sound, New York, by George Marino. Following the recording of Balance and its subsequent Ambulance Tour (the band renaming the tour as Eddie was having hip issues and brother Alex had to wear a neck brace), Van Halen's second incarnation broke up. Regarding this time period, in 1996 Eddie Van Halen told Guitar World: "There had been a variety of conflicts brewing between manager Ray Danniels, Sammy, and the band since I quit drinking on October 2, 1994... It got so bad that I actually started drinking again." "The Seventh Seal" kicks off the album. Complete with chanting monks and dangling metal bells, the song unveiled a vast, open, U2-like guitar wall that propelled through the darkest terrain the band ever tackled. Eddie revealed in 2012 that "The Seventh Seal" was written before Van Halen became a band. "Amsterdam" was written about Eddie and Alex's birthplace. Eddie told Guitar World: "I always hated the words to 'Wham, Bam Amsterdam', from Balance, because they were all about smoking pot. They were just stupid. Lyrics should plant some sort of seed for thought, or at least be a little more metamorphical." This is another song based on an idea that predates the album's sessions as there is video of Eddie playing the riff to "Amsterdam" at 5150 Studios in 1987 During the Balance Tour show in Pensacola, Florida, Hagar stated that "Take Me Back (Déjà Vu)" was "a true story". The song itself features a then almost 20-year-old riff Eddie had previously used on a song entitled "No More Waiting", which the band played on occasion in the pre-Van Halen I era, making it the third known song on the album based on an older idea. Released: January 24, 1995 Recorded: May 25 – September 2, 1994 Studio: 5150 Studios (Studio City) & Little Mountain (Vancouver) Genre: Hard rock, pop metal Length: 53:18 Label: Warner Bros. Producer: Bruce Fairbairn Personnel: Van Halen Sammy Hagar – lead vocals, guitar Eddie Van Halen – guitar, keyboards, background vocals Michael Anthony – bass, background vocals Alex Van Halen – drums, percussion Additional personnel: Steve Lukather – background vocals ("Not Enough") The Monks of Gyuto Tantric University – chants ("The Seventh Seal") Production Bruce Fairbairn – production Mike Fraser – mixing Jeri Heiden – art direction George Marino – mastering Donn Landee - remastering (2023) Erwin Musper – engineer Mike Plotnikoff – engineer Randee Saint Nicholas – photography Glen Wexler – front cover photography