Sammy Hagar - Cosmic Universal Fashion
Roadrunner Records, 2008
Following Sammy Hagar's post-Van Halen solo career hasn't always been the easiest thing to do. Rewarding at times, yes, but certainly not without a great deal of work. His first release sans his former band was 1997's Marching To Mars, a truly excellent recording that filled listeners with hope that there would be more of the same to follow. Unfortunately, Hagar followed things up with 1999's Red Voodoo, his first collaboration with backing band The Waboritas and the first hint that things were on a slow downhill ride. While containing some truly satisfying moments, the album was comprised with a great deal of filler that made a start-to-finish listen nearly impossible. Subsequent releases (2000's Ten 13 and 2002's Not 4 Sale, for example) followed the same trajectory as the one before it, with stellar tracks being harder and harder to weed out amongst the half-baked rockers and overtly-chintsy ballads.
COSMIC UNIVERSAL FASHION
Enter Cosmic Universal Fashion, Hagar's latest entry into his solo catalog. Here, weeding out the good stuff from amongst the filler proves either nearly impossible or remarkably easy, depending on how you look at it. This is largely due to the fact that album is virtually devoid of any memorable or meaningful tracks, a handful of underdone genre experiments and poorly-thought out cover selections in their place. In fact, the only truly memorable moment on the entire record comes in the form of a Van Halen cover, a live capture of a "Dreams" and "Cabo Wabo" medley as reinterpreted by Hagar's solo band on his last tour. Hagar manages to strip away the bombast of the original Van Halen versions without sacrificing the power of the song, a testament to the intense talent of his songwriting partnership with Edward Van Halen.
The most glaring problem with the album is calling it just that: an album. With ten tracks clocking it at barely forty-five minutes, this hardly constitutes an album by the current definition of the term. Toss in the fact that the songs have no cohesive bond and there are two covers in the mix and Hagar's really got himself an EP. Had the singer/songwriter submitted Cosmic Universal Fashion as a collection of unreleased tracks and oddball cover tunes, it probably wouldn't hurt that it isn't very good. But to pass it off as an album leaves the listener feeling cheated and pining for something more.
FORCING THE ROCK?
Another key problem with Cosmic Universal Fashion is that the rock feels somewhat forced here. It's hard to tell at first, as the rockers are drenched in Hagar's usual mix of carefree pseudo-spirituality and teenage-like abandon. But at age 61, the latter of the two characteristics borders on ridiculous. At this point, there's no reason for Hagar to "fight for the right to party" - he's a successful millionaire who own a tequila-based club on the beach in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The man's got the right to party and no person of the age when the lyrics to "Fight For Your Right" mean something is looking to Hagar for guidance on the issue.
His reluctance to let go of the constant theme of partying is what does Hagar in throughout the course of Cosmic Universal Fashion. After all, the music to some of the tracks is downright wonderful. "Psycho Vertigo," "Peephole" and "Loud" all contain some of Hagar's best constructed songs musically of his entire catalog. Unfortunately, the lyrics are just plain silly at times and render the songs unlistenable. The singer fairs a little better lyrically on the album's lead-off single, "Cosmic Universal Fashion," which focuses on the issues of the day a la Van Halen's 1992 hit, "Right Now." But that's one fleeting moment of relevancy amongst a cavalcade of mediocrity and ultimately serves as a reinforcement to just how good the album might have been had Hagar delved deeper into more of those lyrical themes.
The album's best original moment comes with "When the Sun Don't Shine," a laid-back tune that would have been right at home on Hagar's previous release, 2006's Livin' It Up! After listening to this tune and its beautiful simplicity, one wonders why Hagar didn't continue down this path rather than running back to the safety of his hard rock past. Livin' It Up!, while largely unpopular amongst some of his most dedicated fans, was the first time Hagar had shown promise as a songwriter in years and seemed to breathe new life into a career that was approaching its fourth decade. Livin' It Up! was Hagar opening the door to his Cabo Wabo world and provided a true soundtrack to his current lifestyle. It tanked on the charts, however, and Hagar hightailed it back to well-charted territory.
THE FUTURE...
It's unclear where Hagar is headed for the future. Rumor has it that he is putting the finishing touches on the debut album with his all-star project, Chickenfoot, for a 2009 release. Hopefully by surrounding himself with such stellar talent as Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Joe Satriani and Michael Anthony will produce an album that really knows how to rock. That way, Cosmic Universal Fashion can be safely and completely removed from the mind of the music world. And if Hagar knows what's best for him, he'll get his mind back to Livin' It Up! post-Chickenfoot and reaffirm that he's still got a long way to go before he runs out of steam.
Cosmic Universal Fashion
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