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Concept
Women and Children First
Summary
Women and Children First is the third studio album by American rock band Van Halen, released on March 26, 1980, on Warner Bros. Records. Produced by Ted Templeman and engineered by Donn Landee, it was the first Van Halen album not to feature any cover songs, 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 actually a phase shifter-effected Wurlitzer electric piano played through Eddie Van Halen's 1960s model 100-watt Marshall Plexi amplifier.
Like the two preceding albums, Women and Children First was recorded in Hollywood at Sunset Studios, in about two weeks' time. The album features more studio overdubs and less emphasis on backing vocals, partly because two of the songs, "In a Simple Rhyme" and "Take Your Whiskey Home", had already been written and recorded in a 1974 Cherokee Studios demo, before Michael Anthony had joined them, albeit both with some differences lyrically and musically. Two other songs had also been played live earlier: "Fools" as early as 1975, while "Loss of Control" debuted in 1977.
"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 the band decided to record the sound in stereo using two Neumann KM84 microphones, and added it to the track.
The album contains a track at the end of "In a Simple Rhyme," a brief instrumental piece entitled "Growth," beginning at 4:19. While "Growth" faded out on the original vinyl LP and cassette, it was given a cold ending at full volume on the compact disc. At the time the band was considering starting what would become their next album, Fair Warning, with a continuation of "Growth," but did not. "Growth" was a staple of the band's live shows with Roth and often used as the start of their encores.
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