The Best of Both Worlds - Dark Publications

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Editorial Reviews:

Amazon.com
One shouldn't have too much difficulty imagining a two-disc Van Halen compilation entitled The Best of Both Worlds. The first disc will showcase the David Lee Roth-fronted version of the band that reenergized hard rock with its titanic 1978 debut and peaked commercially with 1984's, uh, 1984. Disc two will take up where David Lee was left off--from 1986 on, when Sammy Hagar (and, briefly, Hagar-sound-alike Gary Cherone) took over the mike. Well, unfortunately, that's not the anthology assembled this time out. Rather than sequence the selections chronologically and, in the process, display the band's evolution (or devolution, depending on where one stands in the great Roth/Hagar debate), the band has opted for a more eccentric sequencing strategy. After the opener "Eruption" confirms the sass and chops of the young VH, three fairly uninspired new tracks featuring a back-in-the-fold (for now?) Hagar interrupt the flow. Unfortunately, the flow never really recovers, as Roth and Hagar tracks leapfrog one another through the next 29 selections. Three live Hagar takes on songs from the Roth era finish things off in confusing fashion. Obviously, there's plenty of powerful music here, but do fans really need a lesson in what happens when worlds collide? And didn't David Lee earn at least one photo in the package? --Steven Stolder

Album Description
Van Halen rocketed to stardom with their raucous, 10X-platinum-plus 1978 self-titled album, one of the greatest debuts ever. Anchored by Eddie Van Halen's guitar wizardry and David Lee Roth's vocal showmanship, the band's dynamic sound reinvented hard rock. A run of multiplatinum Top 10 discs followed, peaking with 1984, another 10X-platinum blockbuster and Roth's swan song. Sammy Hagar replaced the vocalist, a transition that cost the band no momentum. The Red Rocker's VH debut, 1986's 5150 , hit #1 on The Billboard 200, as did 1988's OU812. The Grammy-winning 1991 release, For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, reached #5. This new compilation spotlights Van Halen's always-stellar musicianship over the course of 25 years and two world-class frontmen, and continues the story with three brand new Hagar-fronted tracks!

Customer Reviews: Read 267 more reviews...

3 out of 5 stars

Music: 5 Stars. Concept & Packaging: 1 Star... August 12, 2004
44 out of 56 found this review helpful

VH's almost-legendary status is poorly served by this de facto ad for the group's upcoming Sammy Hagar-led tour. The first page of David Wild's uncharacteristically shallow liner notes alone twice refers to the band's new tour and/or the idea of buying concert tix. The two new photos of the band feature Sammy, with David Lee Roth visible only in microscopic repros of original LP covers "Van Halen" and "Women and Children First." (THAT must have pissed Diamond Dave off but good.) The music is not the problem: every chart hit plus key album-rock radio staples Ain't Talkin' Bout Love, Jamie's Cryin', Poundcake, and Unchained (the one that goes, "one break, comin' up...") are here. They sound great with two exceptions noted below.

The pretext behind the packaging reveals the shuffling of the Roth and Hagar hits as no accident, just an attempt to minimize the biggest lineup change in rock history in favor of the current touring roster (Wild's "analysis": "Exit Roth. Enter Sammy Hagar. What happened? In any case..."). Fortunately the era-melding theme was not carried so far as to include stuff from the nightmarish VH3 era with that guy from Extreme. The last step in the campaign to move concert tix worth several times the price of this CD set? Include three Hagar-sung live versions of Dave-era classics to show that Sam can put over the whole VH songbook: goodness, honey, he even sings "real" with two syllables just like David! Now where DID I put that credit card?!

More than most groups, Van Halen has a story deserving major discussion in the booklet to its supposedly definitive collection. Unfortunately this feels like a rush job that needs to replaced by something better in a year or two. A shame.

P.S.: Check your copy for the ending of "Finish What Ya Started;" on 3 copies I've listened to so far, it ends abruptly in mid-note. Since it fades out on 45 and on "OU812," it's probably a defect rather than a play on the title. And--just like on "Best of Vol. 1"--"Eruption" sounds unnatural leading into anything that's not "You Really Got Me," as it did/does on "Van Halen" and on the radio.

5 out of 5 stars

The Ultimate Van Halen....Almost!!! July 21, 2004
39 out of 45 found this review helpful

Van Halen is not only back with its first concert tour in over six years but with a brand new 'best of' compilation entitled "The Best Of Both Worlds". This double-disc set is nearly packed to its limits covering the band's two classic eras (1978-1985 with singer David Lee Roth and 1986-1996 with Sammy Hagar). In addition to the remastered tracks, the set includes three brand new songs with the return of Sammy Hagar. "It's About Time", "Up For Breakfast" and "Learning To See" capture a revitalized Van Halen full of fresh new ideas and a style that harkens back to its classic release "5150" (Hagar's first album with Van Halen).
As for the previously released material, it is a more comprehensive overview of the band's hits than what appeared on the 1996 "Best Of Volume 1" compilation. Sure, many of the tracks that appeared on the previous compilation are duplicated here but in addition, there is the VH classics "Hot For Teacher", "Jamie's Cryin'", "Top Of The World", "Pretty Woman", "You Really Got Me" and "Runaround" (plus many others).
Like every "Best of" collection that passes our way, there's always a downside. In the case of Van Halen's "Best Of Both Worlds", there are a few. First, the three live tracks which close the compilation feel completely out of place with the rest of the tracks. Also, the live material (which is three Roth-era tunes sung by Hagar from the band's 1993 live release "Live, Right Here, Right Now") is already presented elsewhere on the compilation in their superior studio versions. Secondly, the band's 1981 "Fair Warning" album is represented soley by the track "Unchained". Adding the popular hits "So This Is Love" and "Mean Street" to the compilation (in place of the live material) would have made the track list even stronger. Thirdly, not only is there no material from "Van Halen III" (the band's ill-fated and only album with singer Gary Cherone), there is no mention of it anywhere in the liner notes or the discography. Like it or not, "Van Halen III" did happen and removing it from a career-spanning anthology isn't going to change it. If there was just one track to represent "VHIII" to include on this compilation, my personal choice would be "Without You". Forth, there is an abrupt cut-out at the end of "Finish What Ya Started" which could have been due to a CD-mastering oversight.
Apart from these minor drawbacks, "The Best Of Both Worlds" is a fine collection from this vetran band. It's great to have Eddie, Alex, Michael and Sammy back together again after being apart for so long. Here's hoping the guys will re-enter the studio to make an album of all-new material real soon. If the three new tracks on this CD are of any indication, I can hardly wait for a full album. Until then, this compilation as well as Van Halen's back catalog will do just fine for now.
God Bless Van Halen. Welcome Back Boys!!!

1 out of 5 stars

A compilation to make both die hard and casual fans mad August 5, 2004
25 out of 29 found this review helpful

Any casual fan probably bought Best of: Vol. 1 a few years ago only to find that it was missing several of the great tracks played on the radio. The die hards bought that album for the 2 new rushed Roth tracks that were decent but did nothing to add to the original Van Halen legacy.

Move ahead 8 years and here we have another greatest hits album...odd seeing as the band has only released one album in that 8 years and NONE of the tracks from that album are represented here. Seems odd, too, since Gary Cherone was supposedly EVH's "musical soulmate" without which he vowed to spend the rest of his days playing trombone. It's a slap in the face to Gary not to at least include "Without You" here.

So anyway, basically what you have here is a band who claims to have written volumes of music in the past 6 years only to release a new hits package with only 3 new tracks. So answer me this, if you're doing this for the casual fans why not release a single disc "Best of Volume 2" with the new Hagar tracks and the rest of the radio tracks you included here? If you're doing this for the die hard fans why insult them by making them buy 2 CDs full of songs they already have for 3 new Hagar tracks that (just like the Roth tracks on BOV1) are decent but do nothing to add to the Van Hagar legacy? If you've written so much music in the past 6 years, why not give us a new album?

And finally, why the live tracks? They're from a live album that true Hagar fans bought years ago. They feature Hagar on vocals, but they're Roth songs. Wouldn't Hagar fans want to hear Hagar singing Hagar songs? Wouldn't Roth fans want to hear Roth singing Roth songs? So why these tracks? Makes no sense. If you had room for 3 more songs why not give us one of the many radio songs you left off the CD, ie. Mean Street, Atomic Punk, Ice Cream Man, Somebody Get Me a Doctor, Top Jimmy, Drop Dead Legs, Summer Nights, 5150, Cabo Wabo, (Don't Tell Me) What Love Can Do, Amsterdam, etc?

To make a long story short, lately Van Halen seems to be a band that cares nothing about their fans. Indeed, this CD is packed full of great music, but it is also packed with a lot of bad blood.

4 out of 5 stars

so close, so close July 21, 2004
16 out of 18 found this review helpful

Boy, all you folks who bought 'The Best of Van Halen' must be steamed! 'Cause this renders that disc superflous.
Now my (minor) gripes....
1). No chronological order! I thought it was gonna be like ZZ Top's recent 2 disc best of, start at the beginning and go forward. A disc of Dave and then of Sammy woulda been great, but what the hey. I guess this is how VH wanted it...
BUT... it works against them. The sequencing really plays up how much better a songwriter, singer, and performer Dave was. Nothing against Sammy, but his songs fall into 3 categories 1)I'm horny 2)She's gonna give me everything tonite 3)Prom themes ("Dreams", "Right Now"). Whereas Dave wrote stuff like "Jamie's Crying", "And the Cradle Will Rock", "Jump". The man was versatile. Plus he provides us with one of the greatest moments in rock at the end of "Beautiful Girls". Mr. Stud gets shot down: "Hey what's your name?... Hey! Where ya going?!?" BUT, he laughs at himself and shrugs it off ("I love 'em! I need 'em!"). And how many hard rockin' front men are confident enough to pull off something like that?
Plus I think Dave really challenged the band with his songs; just listen to the diversity of the arrangements (especailly with something like "Ice Cream Man" or "Could This Be Magic". Yeah, neither one's on this set, but do you think Sammy could thunk them up?).
2). Three live tracks?!? Yuck. I'da put in "Ice Cream Man", "Could This Be Magic" and "Humans Being". But I guess this is Warner's way of making us still have to buy the individual albums... or download or something... Sammy's diatribe during "Panama" is just embarrassing.
But, all in all, I am very happy with this set. Has (almost) all the VH I want in one convenient package..
Oh, I sent an e-mail to Ice Magazine about the "Finish What Ya Started" glitch. The are investigating (the got a lotta e-mails about this!).

1 out of 5 stars

DO NOT BUY THIS! July 30, 2004
11 out of 14 found this review helpful

I'm sorry....I was drunk. Don't know what I was dri...er, I mean THInking but...once again...I fudged it. You're all right...I SHOULD have got Roth back. Did you actually HEAR sammies lyrics....lol. Man I gotta quit with the boozin..lol.

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