The first six Van Halen albums are so structurally perfect, you barely notice how short they are — the longest one, their 1978 debut, is over in just 35:15. Frontman David Lee Roth’s “full-length” solo debut is similarly concise, blasting through 10 tracks in just 31:06. Backed by guitarist Steve Vai, bassist Billy Sheehan, and drummer Gregg Bissonette, Roth’s cartoonish persona slots perfectly into the high-energy, at times insanely complicated arrangements, which feature shredtastic performances from both Vai and Sheehan. The frontman’s taste for showbiz hokum manifests in covers of the blues song “Tobacco Road” and the lounge-singer perennials “I’m Easy” and “That’s Life,” but originals like “Shyboy,” “Goin’ Crazy!”, “Elephant Gun” and the nonsensical, horny-for-the-Statue-of-Liberty “Yankee Rose” prove that he was still hard rock’s leading party-starter.

– Phil Freeman