Van Halen III

Untitled

Van Halen III is the eleventh studio album by American hard rock band Van Halen, released in 1998. It is the only Van Halen album to feature Gary Cherone on lead vocals, and is commonly said to be Van Halen's most unpopular album. No songs from it are featured on The Best of Both Worlds, the band's 2004 greatest hits compilation, and the album itself is not even listed on the band's discography.

The album's only significant radio hit was "Without You", which reached #1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart in the March 7, 1998 issue of Billboard, and remained at #1 for six weeks. Other songs receiving airplay on rock radio were and "One I Want". The album's final song, "How Many Say I", was an unusual acoustic piano ballad featuring guitarist Eddie Van Halen (mostly) on lead vocals with Gary Cherone doing vocals with him at the chorus. "Year to the Day" is also featured. This is the longest Van Halen studio track, at 8 minutes and 47 seconds. Also, one particular song, "That's Why I Love You", from the VH3 sessions, was leaked to the public before the album went on sale, but the band's deeper appreciation for another song ("Josephina", named after Gary's mother) caused it to replace the former on the lineup and supposedly was the reason why the album release was postponed three more weeks. This album also contributed the song "Fire in the Hole" to the Lethal Weapon 4 movie soundtrack.

Title

The album's title was a pun on the fact that this was Van Halen's third recorded line-up, and the band's first two albums having been titled Van Halen and Van Halen II.

Track listing

All songs credited to Michael Anthony, Gary Cherone, Eddie Van Halen and Alex Van Halen. See 'personnel' for information on Anthony's questionable status within the band.

1. "Neworld" – 1:51
2. "Without You" – 6:37†
3. "One I Want" – 5:35†
4. "From Afar" – 5:29
5. "Dirty Water Dog" – 5:33
6. "Once" – 7:51
7. "Fire in the Hole" – 5:37†
8. "Josephina" – 5:48
9. "Year to the Day" – 8:47
10. "Primary" – 1:31
11. "Ballot or the Bullet" – 5:48
12. "How Many Say I" – 6:16

† denotes a single

Personnel

Band

• Gary Cherone - lead vocals
• Eddie Van Halen - guitar, keyboards, bass, backing vocals, lead vocals on "How Many Say I"
• Michael Anthony - bass, backing vocals
• Alex Van Halen - percussion, drums

Track listing

1. "Neworld" – 1:51
2. "Without You" – 6:37
3. "One I Want" – 5:35
4. "From Afar" – 5:29
5. "Dirty Water Dog" – 5:33
6. "Once" – 7:51
7. "Fire in the Hole" – 5:37
8. "Josephina" – 5:48
9. "Year to the Day" – 8:47
10. "Primary" – 1:31
11. "Ballot or the Bullet" – 5:48
12. "How Many Say I" – 6:16

The Band

• Gary Cherone - lead vocals
• Eddie Van Halen - guitar, keyboards, vocals
• Michael Anthony - bass, backing vocals
• Alex Van Halen - percussion, drums

Additional personnel

• Matthew Bruck - guitar
• Mike Post - piano on Neworld

Michael Anthony revealed in an interview that he only played on three tracks (the three released singles: "Without You", "One I Want" and "Fire In The Hole") and that the rest of the album's bass work was performed by Eddie Van Halen. Anthony is still part of the shared songwriting credits, however (the band have always shared credits), and appeared on the videos to "Without You" and "Fire in the Hole".

No one has confirmed or denied Anthony's claims about his participation on the album. However, Anthony fell out of favor with the band and was not a part of the 2007 tour with David Lee Roth.

Production

• Producers: Mike Post, Eddie Van Halen
• Engineers: Erwin Musper, Eddie Van Halen
• Mixing: The Edward, Robbes
• Mastering: The Edward, Robbes, Eddy Schreyer
• Programming: Florian Ammon, Ian Dye, Ed Rogers, Paul Wight
• Art direction: Stine Schyberg
• Photography: Dan Chavkin
• Coloring: F. Scott Schafer

Charts

Album

Billboard (North America)

Year	Chart	Position
1998	The Billboard 200	4
1998	Top Canadian Albums	4

Singles

Billboard (North America)

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1998	"Fire in the Hole"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	6
1998	"One I Want"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	27
1998	"Without You"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	1