Diamond Dave

1	You Got the Blues, Not Me... 3:17
2	Made Up My Mind 3:00
3	Stay While the Night Is Still Young 3:43
4	Shoo Bop 5:11
5	She's Looking Good 2:50
6	Soul Kitchen 4:32
7	If 6 Was 9 3:32
8	Tomorrow Never Knows 3:49
9	Medicine Man 1:12
10	Let It All Hang Out 2:25
11	Thug Pop 3:35
12	Act One 1:34
13	Īce Cream Man Bonus Track 3:23
14	Bad Habits Bonus Track 3:44

Barnes & Noble

It's been a while since rock's greatest one-man three-ring circus raised his tent, but this typically over-the-top set proves that Diamond Dave, like Barnum & Bailey, possesses a bag of tricks as timeless as they are entertaining. From the opening notes of the jiving "You Got the Blues, Not Me," Roth serves notice that the only thing he's particularly interested in is having a good time...all the time. But rather than simply lapse into dunderheaded Spinal Tap-isms, Roth manages to fuse old-fashioned rock debauchery with even older-fashioned Vegas slapstick, creating a hybrid that's all his own. Diamond Dave is peppered with cover tunes, some of which, like his take on the Doors' "Soul Kitchen," work beautifully and some of which, like a misguided rendition of "Tomorrow Never Knows," fall flat, since they require the singer to hold back too much. When Roth is high-stepping and scat-singing his heart out, however -- as he does on "Shoo Bop" and the smirking mojo-dripper "Ice Cream Man" -- he's unstoppable. Pass the Thunderbird and the cotton candy! David Sprague

All Music Guide

Let's face it; David Lee Roth was the most exciting and entertaining singer to ever front Van Halen. And although his solo albums have not all been winners, at least he's been known to take chances and try new approaches with rock music (such as the entirely sung-in-Spanish Sonrisa Salvaje, the synth pop-ish Skyscraper, the Nile Rodgers-produced Your Filthy Little Mouth, etc.). For his 2003 release Diamond Dave, Roth uses the same approach he and his then-comrades in Van Halen followed on 1982's Diver Down -- an album consisting primarily of cover songs, with a few originals sprinkled in. As expected, the covers that work the best are the ones that aren't that well known, including the lead-off single "Shoo Bop" (a cover of Steve Miller's "Shu Ba Da Du Ma Ma Ma Ma") and a big band reading of a tune Van Halen covered way back when, "Ice Cream Man," while a few of the better-known songs (especially Jimi Hendrix's "If 6 Was 9") don't fare as well. Of course, Diamond Dave is no Fair Warning. But it's a hell of a whole lot more listenable than anything Van Halen has issued in ages (especially when compared to the 1998 atrocity Van Halen III). Greg Prato