Sammy Hagar – Cosmic Universal Fashion

Sammy Hagar has been in and out of bands more times than memory can recall. Although more famously known for his tenure with Van Halen form the mid 80s to the mid 90s, Sammy has led a fairly successful solo career which is currently well over three decades long. At the break of various reunions shows, Hall of Fame honours and lucrative business deals, Sammy released his latest solo album titled ‘Cosmic Universal Fashion’.

One would hope that Sammy has not lost his penchant for hard slapping tracks, which shaped the Van Halen sound in the later half of the 80s. On this album Sammy proves his love for the pound, but not to a generous extent. The songs have a young, rebellious feel to them more easily associated with a bunch of youthful lads. But, the 61 year old manages to display his timeless energy on the album, still baring influences of the flamboyant 80s.

“Time on a roll” and “24365”, glue together some jumpstart licks and catchy rhythm sections. “Loud” and Hagar’s recreation of the Beastie Boy classic “Fight for your right to party”, add to the rockabilly feel to the album. On the other hand, “Psycho Vertigo” has Sabbath like makeup to the song, not considering the vocals of course, but simply by virtue of its slow grind.

To avoid the album being taped tightly to the expired hard rock category, Sammy has experimented on title track and the third track on the album “Peephole”. On the former Sammy brings in a large amount of Electronica feel to the song, while on the later he adorns a grunge apron. As in most cases of experimentation, the odds of succeeding are stacked against you. Unfortunately, here too the tracks pull down the album with its excess baggage.

“When the sun don’t shine” mellows thing to a new level, with its countryside feel to it. “Switch on the light” has a funky vibe to the song, something not instantly connectible to Hagar. One of the highlights of the album, an acoustic live version of one Hagar’s greatest tunes, “Dreams” brings back great memories of Hagar’s golden years.

‘Cosmic Universal Fashion’ is evidently a mediocre album, not up to the standard one would expect from a Rock ‘N Roll legend such as Sammy Hagar. But, longtime fans of the man would still manage to draw some amount of interest from the album.