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List Price: $60.98 | | Label: Wea Japan
Salesrank: 700964
Released: August 16, 2004 |
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| Used Price: $49.99 |
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| Media: Audio CD |
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Editorial Review:
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!
Description of The Best of Both Worlds:
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
The Best of Both Worlds Reviews:
Remastered and loving it!!! 
2009-12-02 - This will be short and sweet since i have the attention span of a 2 year old. I'm a metal head too (Metallica, Pantera, Megadeth, Sabbath). Thanks to my parents, I was raised on Van Halen. There's such a huge difference in sound between Vol. 1 and this since it's remastered. And they've added some tracks like "You Really Got Me Going", "I'll Wait", "Finish What Ya Started", "Black And Blue", and "Everybody Wants Some" among others. What I don't like is Hagar singing Roth's songs live but i'll be ok with therapy(just kidding). I'm surprised with all the 1 star ratings. Oh well, you can't please everyone. Long live the legacy of Van Halen!!!
More Dave Please and My Personal Track Sequence 
2009-11-05 - Overall this is a great double CD and a good overview of Van Halen's music. I feel there are a few David Lee Roth ommissions like "I'm the One", "Ice Cream Man", "Somebody Get Me a Doctor", "Mean Streets" and "So This Is Love?" among a few other personal favorites. They could have replaced the new tracks and the live tracks with these songs. Why does "Finish What Ya Started" end before it's finished? It's not even a good edit. You can hear the next note being cut off after it started.
I don't understand the track sequencing for this CD though. It starts out with Eruption which is cool but then goes into 3 new songs that are good but I don't think will ever be considered hits. I don't think the track order has to be chronoligical but because this is already a double CD I wish they would have split the CD's into a 1978 - 1984 Dave CD and a 1986 - 2004 Sammy CD. After I downloaded the music in my computer I did my own personal track sequencing.
1. Hot For Teacher
2. Eruption
3. You Really Got Me
4. And the Cradle Will Rock
5. Everybody Wants Some!!
6. Unchained
7. Jamie's Cryin'
8. Panama
9. Dance the Night Away
10. Beautiful Girls
11. (Oh) Pretty Woman
12. Dancing In The Street
13. Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love
14. Runnin' With the Devil
15. I'll Wait
16. Jump
1. Finish What Ya Started
2. Poundcake
3. Why Can't This Be Love
4. Feels So Good
5. Right Now
6. Best of Both Worlds
7. When It's Love
8. Black and Blue
9. Love Walks In
10. Top of the World
11. Dreams
12. Can't Stop Lovin' You
13. Runaround
14. Up For Breakfast
15. It's About Time
16. Learning to See
17. Not Enough
I didn't add the live tracks to my playlist but if I did I would put them at the very end. With this track order the songs flow into each other really well and you can hear what both singers bring to the party.
Not Exactly The BEST Of Both Worlds...
2009-09-17 - My brother bought this collection yesterday, and since I already own 7 Van Halen albums and have heard most of the rest all the way through, I initially wasn't very excited. Last night I popped in Disc One to find myself immersed in the guitar virtuoso of Eddie Van Halen on the first track, Eruption, a solo I have heard a hundred times but can never get tired of. Next up, three new Sammy Hagar songs. I wasn't too keen on these being good, since I had already heard Up For Breakfast live, but they were decent for "Best Of" bonus tracks. It's About Time is my favorite of these, beginning with a mean, not entirely Van Halen heavy guitar riff which caught me off guard. This song is pure Van Hagar and became an instant favorite; wish I could say the same about the other two but they are only average and I was turned off by Up For Breakfast's cheesy lyrics. Learning To See isn't particulary inspired, but along with It's About Time, this song sees Van Halen moving into unexplored territory and pulling off a kickass hybrid sound. Overall, the first Hagar track is great, and the remaining two bring to mind something off of Chickenfoot's new album.
No need to go over a majority of the other songs here as we are all very familiar with them; surprisingly, I realized I hadn't heard Finish What Ya Started, and it too surprised me with its fresh uniqueness (although just like I had read, this track does cut off abruptly just before You Really Got Me). I'm not thrilled with the song arrangement on these two discs, and Disc Two is pretty inconsistent as far as the Roth/Hagar/Roth/Hagar order. I don't know why the three live songs from Right here, right now were tacked onto the end and although I can understand wanting to represent each of their albums, different songs (Hagar songs, by the way) would have fit better. Why use Roth-era tracks that already appear as studio versions earlier on? Another glaring inconsistency is the lack of any material from Van Halen III. I understand Van Halen purists in generally disliking VHIII, but I think it is a decent album except for the last three songs, and including their three singles from it (Without You, Fire In The Hole, One I Want) would have made perfect sense. VHIII doesn't even appear in the band's discography, and Gary Cherone is not directly mentioned in Van Halen's career-encompassing biography although a reference is made to the Cherone-era of the band that is said with derision. Disc One contains 19 tracks while Disc Two only tallies up with 17. Several other great hits that I expected to be here, such as (Don't Tell Me) What Love Can Do, Mean Street, 5150, Little Guitars, Judgement Day, Atomic Punk, In 'N' Out, etc. are nowhere to be found, and placing Strung Out before Not Enough is idiotic as a much more suitable instrumental could have been fit in like Cathedral or even Baluchitherium for crying out loud.
I think this collection falls short on many levels but for a newcomer to the Van Halen legend, this compilation works. It seems a lot like a cheap way of promoting yet another short-lived Van Halen reunion and hints to me of the infamous David Lee Roth incident of 1996, when the Van Halen brothers kept him around just long enough to record two new tracks for Best Of, Vol. 1 before giving him the boot. "Exit Roth, enter confusion" is a much more realistic take on things than what is presented in the CD insert, but these issues are petty and only detract from the album's quality on a personal level for me. The only other complaint I'm going to bring up is: wouldn't it have been cool to title this collection as "Van Halen Best of, Vol. 2 -The Best Of Both Worlds" for continuity? Nah, let's just forget about it! Most of the classics are here, so just sit back and enjoy the return of the MIGHTY Van Halen!
DISC ONE-
ERUPTION: 5/5
IT'S ABOUT TIME 4/5
UP FOR BREAKFAST 2/5
LEARNING TO SEE 3/5
AIN'T TALKIN' 'BOUT LOVE 5/5
FINISH WHAT YA STARTED 5/5
YOU REALLY GOT ME 5/5
DREAMS 5/5
HOT FOR TEACHER 5/5
POUNDCAKE 5/5
AND THE CRADLE WILL ROCK... 5/5
BLACK AND BLUE 4/5
JUMP 5/5
TOP OF THE WORLD 4/5
(OH) PRETTY WOMAN 5/5
LOVE WALKS IN 4/5
BEAUTIFUL GIRLS 5/5
CAN'T STOP LOVIN' YOU 4/5
UNCHAINED 5/5
DISC TWO-
PANAMA 5/5
BEST OF BOTH WORLDS 5/5
JAMIE'S CRYIN' 5/5
RUNAROUND 4/5
I'LL WAIT 4/5
WHY CAN'T THIS BE LOVE 5/5
RUNNIN' WITH THE DEVIL 5/5
WHEN IT'S LOVE 5/5
DANCING IN THE STREET 3/5
STRUNG OUT/NOT ENOUGH 4/5
FEELS SO GOOD 4/5
RIGHT NOW 5/5
EVERYBODY WANTS SOME!! 5/5
DANCE THE NIGHT AWAY 5/5
AIN'T TALKIN' 'BOUT LOVE [LIVE] 4/5
PANAMA [LIVE] 3/5
JUMP [LIVE] 4/5
Let's hope the current Van Halen lineup really does come through with a great new album soon, and that the songs presented here always remain classics but only encompass relatively half of the band's career and not three quarters of it. I'm betting on all four of these guys living a long time, and they owe it to the world and themselves to get off of their laurels and rock for at least a few more decades to come!
A good return
2009-09-12 - If you are a Van Halen purist, you don't like it. If you're not, it's a great album. Sammy adds a new dimension to the band: group effort (not a collection of solo efforts). Sammy fans will be pleased as well.
Terrible Compilation Of A Great Band 
2009-09-09 - This compilation of Van Halen is just awful. Whoever put this together should be ashamed of themselves. All of the songs are randomly listed, no chronological order at all. The David Lee Roth era should have been disc one, the Hagar era, disc two. And both of them with songs in chronological order. Then the fact that they cut off "Finish What Ya Started" is really annoying. The three new songs are ok, not great, but could have been done without. There are so many flaws in this collection and I wish they could get it right. I wouldn't recommend this compilation, unless you feel you must have everything Van Halen, good or bad.
