Your rating
Tracklist
9 tracks · 34 min
9 tracks · 34 min
Women and Children First is the third studio album by American hard rock band Van Halen, released on March 26, 1980 on Warner Bros. Records. Produced by Ted Templeman, it was the first to feature compositions written solely by the band, and is described by critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine as "[the] record where the group started to get heavier, both sonically and, to a lesser extent, thematically." The opening track, "And the Cradle Will Rock...", begins with what sounds like a guitar, but is, in fact, a phase shifter-effected Wurlitzer electric piano played through Van Halen's 1960s model 100-watt Marshall Plexi amplifier. The album is somewhat different to their first two albums in the way that it features more studio overdubs. "Could This Be Magic?" contains the only female backing vocal ever recorded for a Van Halen song; Nicolette Larson sings during some of the choruses. The rain sound in the background is not an effect. It was raining outside, and they decided to record the sound in stereo using two Neuman KM84 microphones, and add it to the track. Only one single was released from the album, the keyboard driven "And the Cradle Will Rock..." Although the single was not a su…