Balance (Van Halen album)
| Balance | ||||
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| Studio album by Van Halen | ||||
| Released | January 24, 1995 | |||
| Recorded | 1983 ("Strung Out" only); May 25 – September 2, 1994 | |||
| Studio | 5150 Studios in Studio City; Little Mountain Sound Studios in Vancouver | |||
| Genre | Hard rock | |||
| Length | 53:07 | |||
| Label | Warner Bros. | |||
| Producer | Bruce Fairbairn | |||
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| Singles from Balance | ||||
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| Sammy Hagar chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
| Entertainment Weekly | C+ |
| Rolling Stone |  |
Balance is the tenth studio album by American hard 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. 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 U.S.
According to Ian Christe's book, Everybody Wants Some: The Van Halen Saga, Balance was Van Halen’s tenth album and was released amid internal fighting between Sammy Hagar and Eddie and Alex Van Halen. The band worked eight-hour days for three weeks recording the album. The first song on the record, "The Seventh Seal", features mystical overtones that came, in part, from Eddie’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 twenty years, he tried writing songs sober and wrote three songs in one half hour period. The album then moves into Sammy’s territory with "Can’t Stop Lovin’ You". This song was taken from his ex-wife’s point of view, believing that she was still in love with him. The band saw more success with its hard rock genre as seen in the album’s song, "Aftershock". The album reached number 1; their fourth consecutive number one studio album.
Most of the Balance album was recorded at Eddie Van Halen's 5150 Studios, located in Studio City, except for five lead vocal tracks which 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 renamed the "balance" tour to the "ambulance tour" because 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 1997, 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."
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