Disco de Van Halen: “Best of Van Halen, Vol. 1 [Japan Bonus Tracks]”

A pretty good greatest hits compilation. Read on for my review of this:

Pros:

Except for the live album "Live: Right Here, Right Now" and "Fair Warning" (1983) this album contains material from all of Van Halen's studio albums from 1978 up until 1995: their self-titled 1978 debut album, their self-titled 1979 sophomore album, "Women and Children First" (1980), "Diver Down" (1981), "1984" (no need to say what year this album was released, but I will say that this was Van Halen's last album with David Lee Roth), "5150" (1986, their first album with Sammy Hagar), "OU812" (1988), "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge" (1991), and "Balance" (1995, their last album with Sammy Hagar). What this all means is that this greatest hits CD will not only serve good for all Van Halen fans, but also for someone who is either new to Van Halen or is on a tight budget and can't afford the individual albums.

Before Sammy Hagar left Van Halen in 1996, he wrote one more song with Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen, and Michael Anthony. That song was "Humans Being", which was written and recorded for the hit film "Twister", and also appeared in the movie and the soundtrack for the film. That song is to be found on this album, so any die hard VH fans who hear about the song won't have to locate a copy of the soundtrack or buy/rent the movie itself and then be sitting through half of the movie, thinking "When will that Van Halen song appear"?

1996 also happened to be the year Van Halen did a one time reunion with David Lee Roth, writing and recording the songs "Can't Get This Stuff No More" and "Me Wise Magic". Those songs have also been included on this album, which makes this album not only a Van Halen collector's item, but also somewhat of a VH souvenir.

While a good amount of recognition is given to both David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar on this album, more recognition is given to Roth, considering the fact that this album has ten Roth songs and eight Hagar songs. Some Hagar fans might not be too crazy about this, but it makes up for the fact that Van Halen has never released any songs that were recorded live with Roth and that there were only three Roth videos on Van Halen's "Video Hits Volume One" DVD.

Cons:

While this album has several Van Halen hits, such as "Runnin' With The Devil", "Dance The Night Away","When It's Love", "Right Now", etc,it is also missing several hits from both the Roth and Hagar years, such as "Hot For Teacher", "I'll Wait", "Finish What Ya Started", "The Best of Both Worlds", among others.

I'm sorry I forgot to mention this already, but there are too many VH/Sammy Hagar love songs on here! Sure, Van Halen had some great ballads when they had Sammy Hagar, but there are too many of them on here, and counting "Right Now" as not a love song but a ballad, the only VH/Red Rocker tunes on here that are not ballads/love songs are "Poundcake" and "Humans Being".

Overall:

Overall this album has some great Van Halen music on it,but I recommend shelling your cash out and either getting Van Halen's Roth/Hagar era albums seperately and/or getting the Van Halen anthology album "The Best of Both Worlds". This compilation is just too uneven--if you can't get the rare Hagar track and the rare Roth tracks that I mentioned and don't have access to downloading them,then buy this CD,but otherwise,this compilation is just too uneven to be worth both the time and the money.

...not a fitting one for a band of Van Halens' status. (Oh, and by the way, Eddie, Alex, Mike, Sam and Dave need to squash those collosal egos of theirs and do a full-on reunion - with both lead singers!) Anyway they need a better compilation than this.

Here's what should have been:

CD 1

CD 2

There are many debates in rock history, especially concerning eras (i.e. old vs new Aerosmith; Peter Gabriel vs Phil Collins in Genesis). One of the big ones seems to be which Van Halen fans prefer Sammy Hagar or David Lee Roth. I happen to like both. Though they have slightly different styles, they're both great mainstream arena/hard rockers. If you like one, I don't see what's not to like about the other.

Shortly after the short-lived 1996 reunion between David Lee Roth and his old band, this collection was released, possibly as an attempt to appease both era's VH fans. In one respect, it works (providing a short overview of the band for beginning/casual fans), and in others, it doesn't (these guys are too great to sum up in 14 previously released songs).

1978's VAN HALEN, arguably one of the best hard rock debut albums in history, includes 2 1/2 songs -- the darker, yet melodic and heavy "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love," the bass-heavy hard rocker "Runnin' With the Devil," and Eddie's guitar solo "Eruption," the instrumental 'half' song.

The next three albums only get one song. 1979's VH2 includes the pop-tinged mid tempo rocker "Dance the Night Away," which was a sign of their bigger Top 40 hits to come. 1980's WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST gets the live sounding and bluesy hard rocker "And the Cradle Will Rock." 1981's darker FAIR WARNING gets the also loud rock hit "Unchained."

1982's DIVER DOWN, though not that great and highly filled with covers, gets 0 songs! That's hardly justafyable, especially since "Oh! Pretty Woman" comes off here.

1984's same titled album was DLR's swan song, fully exploding them into the mainstream with the fully synthesized #1 pop/hard rock hit "Jump," and the more typical live sounding mainstream rocker "Panama" included.

1986's 5150 is the first album with Sammy Hagar on board. As such, their sound changed a bit, leaning even more into the mainstream -- represented here by the synth laden semi ballad hard rocking huge hit "Why Can't This Be Love," and the beautiful, epic mid tempo power ballad "Dreams," surely one of their best Sammy songs and the perfect mix of ballad and rocker.

1988's OU812 also only gets one song, the softer and arguably sappier power ballad "When It's Love."

1991's FOR UNLAWFUL CARNAL KNOWLEDGE began to rock a little harder and gained them even more exposure due to the silly 70's sounding pop/metal of "Poundcake," and the piano tinged, socially concious rocking pop ballad "Right Now" - which is the first VH song I knew, which got me into the band in the first place, back in the early 90's upon seeing the video.

1995's BALANCE was another attempt to branch out, writing longer and darker 'epic' songs to somewhat fit the alternative style of the time. This actually works better than you'd think, highlighted by the catchy power ballad-ish pop/rocker "Can't Stop Loving You," which is more subtle than some of their earlier songs of this style.

This also has the Twister soundtrack's "Human's Being," which takes awhile to get going, but once it does, it's a somewhat unique mid tempo pop/rocker sounding halfway inbetween CARNAL KNOWLEDGE and BALANCE's styles, even including a guitar solo. Sammy's singing is a bit strange at times, as if he's trying to rap in the verses.

The two NEW songs with DLR are nothing to get excited about, though they're not bad by any means. "Can't Get This Stuff No More" is a typical Dave party tune about women set in a circa 1980 style live hard rock guitar sound with some backgroudn piano, but never really gets going. "Me Wise Magic" is a mid tempo rocker which is slightly better, and also sounds like a cross between, say VH2 and WOMEN & CHILDREN.

The missing songs are obviously plenty. From the DLR era -- You Really Got Me, Jamie's Cryin', Feel Your Love Tonight, Beautiful Girls, Mean Street, Dancing in the Streets, Oh Pretty Woman, Little Guitars, Hot For Teacher, I'll Wait.

From the Sammy era -- Summer Nights, Best of Both Worlds, Love Walks In, Finish What You Started, Feels So Good, Top Of the World, Don't Tell Me What Love Can Do, Amsterdam.

It seems whoever assembled this collection wasn't too fond of Dave's cover songs. It just occured to me, not one of them is on here. I also think the Sammy era was misrepresented a bit. I like ballads myself, so I'll never deny he had some great ballads and pop based semi ballads, but I think this collection focused a little too heavily on that side of his work with the band.

To compare this with the recent release of their new 2-disc "Best of Both Worlds" collection:

That one includes MOST (not all) of the band's hits, as well as three new 2004 Sammy tunes to draw in the harcore fans (much like this did with DLR's two new songs). That also includes everything here EXCEPT "Human's Being" and Roth's '96 songs, which could still be a reason to hang onto this.

One thing that bugs me about BOBW is that the songs are all randomly mixed together, instead of chronological like here. Normally, I don't care, but when you have two different singers, that kinda throws the flow out of whack to an extent. However, the good thing is that it's 2 discs, and seems to focus evenly on the Dave & Sammy eras, as well as the rockers and ballads.

Now, if only the two compilation's ideas were mixed together, it'd really be the "Best of Both Worlds!"

I have to say that there are some terrific songs on this album and it makes for a great introduction to the two major eras of Van Halen. Some of my all time favorite VH songs are on here, like "Ain't Talkin' Bout Love", "Dance The Night Away", "Unchained", "Panama", "Why Can't This Be Love", "When It's Love" and "Poundcake". I also love "Runnin' With The Devil" but my cd has the [messed] up version that accidently made it onto early presses of this cd. The two new Roth songs are okay but they just don't stand a chance when compared to their earlier output with Roth.

I agree with just about all the other reviewers that there were some essential tracks that were left off. This collection just isn't complete without such gems as "You Really Got Me", "Jamie's Cryin'", "Beautiful Girls", "Hot For Teacher", "Finish What Ya Started", "Best Of Both Worlds" and "Runaround". A career spanning 2-disk anthology set or even a box set would be in order now that the band seems to be on hold permanently.

From "Runnin' with the Devil" to "Me Wise Magic", Van Halen has rocked on for two decades. From their beginning to the mid-80's, Diamond David Lee Roth led Van Halen with a barrage of fun, exciting party music that absolutely rocks, such as "Panama" and "Jump". What disappoints me most is how little credit Sammy Hagar got when he took over lead vocals in 1984. I feel Van Halen did its best work when Hagar was in control. Their melody was awesome, and the lyrics weren't just about sex and women. "Dreams" and "When It's Love" are terrific, melodic rock songs that I really enjoy listening to. Hagar's vocals were much better than Roth's, with much more range and power. Nevertheless, I am huge fan of both Roth's Van Halen and Hagar's Van Halen. Unfortunately, they went down the crapper with their latest album, which featured neither of these vocalists.