Van Halen (album)

Van Halen is the debut studio album by American rock band Van Halen. Released on February 10, 1978, the album peaked at number 19 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album became widely recognized as the band's popularity grew, selling more than ten million copies in the United States by 1999 and achieving RIAA diamond status.

Van Halen contains many of Van Halen's signature songs, including "Runnin' with the Devil", the guitar solo "Eruption", The Kinks cover "You Really Got Me", "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love", "Jamie's Cryin'", and the cover version of John Brim's "Ice Cream Man".

Packaging and artwork

The cover photos for Van Halen were taken at the Whisky a Go Go, a Los Angeles club at which Van Halen often performed during the mid-1970s. The guitar pictured on the cover of the album is Eddie Van Halen's famous Frankenstrat Guitar, a Fender prototype replica of which is now housed in the Smithsonian Institution.

Release and reception

In the United States, Van Halen's debut album reached number 19 on the Billboard Hot 100; their debut single, a cover of the Kinks' "You Really Got Me", spent three weeks on the chart, peaking at number 36.

I'm So Glad

"I'm So Glad" is a song originally recorded by Skip James in 1931. The song is derived from a song written in 1927 by Art Sizemore and George A. Little entitled "So Tired" and first recorded that same year by Curley Huber. It was covered by Cream on their first album,Fresh Cream, then later put on their last studio album Goodbye as a live performance. It was also covered by Deep Purple on their first album Shades of Deep Purple and by Yuya Uchida and the Flowers on their debut album Challenge. Deep Purple's version is introduced by their own arrangement called "Prelude: Happiness". The Skip James-song itself starts after a medley consisting of excerpts from the instrumental arrangement of Rimsky-Korsakov's classical Scheherezade. This medley named "Prelude: Happiness", stretches the song over the 7 minute mark.

The band decided to record the song after vocalist Rod Evans and drummer Ian Paice had recommended it. Evans and Paice had previously, (around the mid-sixties), played in a band together, called The Maze. The Maze had also recorded "I'm So Glad", which Evans and Paice both thought had potential for a song that Deep Purple could succeed commercially with.