Grade: B+

CD • The best thing about "A Different Kind of Truth," Van Halen's first album with David Lee Roth in 28 years, is that it sounds like nothing else out there.

The vibe and, most importantly, the riffs, hooks, and the humor, are straight out of the band's classic "1984" album, but without the front-and-center synthesizers that made "Jump" such a huge MTV hit. This is classic rock that hasn't evolved, but what we wanted from this long-awaited reunion wasn't progression — just seductive, razor-sharp guitars with the right amount of Diamond Dave's lip and cabaret charisma. (Because a little bit of Roth goes a long way.)

With all of the fighting and division over the years, it's surprising to see Roth and the Van Halens so in-synch with one another. But most of the songs are reworked versions of unreleased songs from the band's late 1970s halcyon years, when Eddie Van Halen first showed the world he was heir apparent to the bluesy Jimi Hendrix.

Some might complain that this technically isn't new material, but there will hopefully be albums in the future with new material that shows the band's continued evolution.

What is right here, right now, is just what we want. And while the departed bassist Michael Anthony and his pitch-perfect background vocals are missing, we will take this incarnation for as long as it lasts.

— David Burger —

Grade • B+