Album of the Day — November 9
Album of the Day — November 9
Sammy Hagar — Standing Hampton
Sammy Hagar — Standing Hampton
09.November.2020
Sammy Hagar
Standing Hampton
1982
I don’t think Sammy Hagar gets as much respect as he deserves. The guy has a phenomenal work ethic.
After five albums on Capitol Records, Hagar was persuaded to sign with the upstart Geffen Records to record his sixth studio album, Standing Hampton.
This would not only become Sammy Hagar’s most successful album up to that point, but the success of Standing Hampton would help sustain Geffen Records …until it became the becometh label of the 1980s.
Whether as the lead singer of the band Montrose or as a solo artist, Hagar's career was built the hard way …on the road. The man was a relentless road warrior and, as such, was able to build a loyal fan base. The fan base not just because he was always touring, but because he was a competent singer, guitarist, and songwriter.
Sammy Hagar has never professed to be a genius at any of those things. But he works his ass off, and as a result, he’s better than most at all three.
The original intent was to call the album Only One Way to Rock; until Hagar learned from a fan that a “Hampton” is a substitution for penis in Cockney slang. So, putting it together, I suppose you can gather what a “Standing Hampton” is.
Standing Hampton contains one of the songs that Hagar would continue to play during his years with Van Halen, “There’s Only One Way to Rock” (the other song being “I Can’t Drive 55”).
It takes a bold songwriter to claim that there is only one way to rock. The world’s top scientists have proven there are several, but none meet Hagar’s strict definition of “rock” — and so he remains steadfastly committed to only one way.
Standing Hampton also contains the other title track from the 1981 animated movie Heavy Metal. It would be former Eagle Don Felder’s that was more successful, but Hagar’s was just as good.
One of Hagar’s best songs, “I’ll Fall in Love Again,” leads off Standing Hampton, and it’s just a great anthem. We’ve all had those love affairs that you in the front of your head, you think you’ll never recover from …, and in the back of your head, you know you will.
Sammy Hagar gives us the thumbs up on having agency over our heartbreak but affirms; it will get better.
I’ll Fall in Love Again
You do what you wanna do
I’ll leave it all up to you
In time, I’ll find love again
Hot love growin’ cold
Just when you thought you’d found a heart of gold
Looks like, I’ve been fooled again
Oh but it’s all right with me now
I’ll get back up somehow
And with a little luck, I’m bound to win
And I’ll fall in love, I’ll fall in love again
And you’re always sittin’ ringside
Just a-rollin' with the changing tide
The tide has washed you from my mind
And I guess you think you’ve got it made
Oh but then you never were afraid
Of anything that you’ve left behind
Oh but it’s all right with me now
I’ll get back up somehow
And with a little luck yes I’m bound to win
’Cause I’ll fall in love, yes I’ll fall in love again
Here’s something to compare it to
Like the little things you used to do
Like giving more than you take
Funny how the reasons grow
Then the very next thing you know
The odds change, dividing up the cake
Hey but it’s all right with me now
I’ll get back up somehow
And with a little luck yes I’m bound to win
’Cause I’ll fall in love
Standing Hampton is a tight rock record. It does contain one giant misstep, and that’s Hagar’s cover of “Piece of My Heart.” I can’t imagine what he was thinking, attempting to top Janis Joplin or even rise to the level of her cover. We can chalk that up to a lapse in judgment.
In any event, Standing Hampton was a natural progression in Hagar’s career, but the record wasn’t exactly blazing new musical territory. It didn’t need to.
Before Van Halen, I think Sammy Hagar understood his place in the rock world. I might argue it’s one of the reasons he had so many pursuits outside of music (bike shop, tequila company, restaurant, television show host)…well, that and just being very hyper.
The album charted better than his previous efforts, which was what was expected. But Standing Hampton never lit up the charts. It was, much like its creator, a workhorse album.
CRITICS:
Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic wrote: “Standing Hampton is a polished but tough record that showed a surprising amount of pop songcraft. The added production gloss and improved melodic sense proved commercially successful — the album was his first million-seller, and it cracked the Top 30 — and artistically successful as well; the record was the most consistent and memorable album he had recorded to date.”
Christopher Thelen of The Daily Vault said: “Hagar displays the more thoughtful side on the album’s opening track, ‘I’ll Fall In Love Again,’ a song that has enough muscle to appeal to the rock fan, but the lyrics are incredibly powerful. I’m willing to bet that most people who listen to this song will be able to relate to Hagar’s cleaning up a broken heart. When Hagar gets thoughtful, he creates some of his best music. ‘Can’t Get Loose’ is an example of trying to conquer that which holds you down, backed with a building melody. It might take a listen or two to get into it, but it’s worth the effort.
In just a few years, Hagar would replace David Lee Roth as the lead singer of Van Halen and be catapulted to a level of success it’s hard to imagine him coming to with his solo career.
[Fun Fact: As the band Montrose's lead singer, their debut album was brought into the studio by producer Ted Templeman as Van Halen was recording their debut. Templeman and co. used that album as a template for Van Halen I.]
And he handled his tenure in Van Halen with the same professional quality he handles everything he does.
On this sixth solo album, Sammy Hagar had found his footing as a solo artist, and it was beginning to get noticed. But no one, including the “Red Rocker” himself, could’ve foreseen the tsunami that his career would get engulfed in.
But here, Standing Hampton provides solid evidence that Sammy Hagar deserves a lot more respect than he gets.