Van Halen

Best of Both Worlds

Much better than the last compilation

Review Score:

(8/10)
Best Of Both Worlds (2004.) Van Halen's second hits compilation.

Van Halen. These guys were some of the gods of classic rock, back in the day. From their early days with David Lee Roth at the helm to the Sammy Hagar era, the band shelled out a number of excellent songs. Unfortunately, the band's hits compilation, The Best Of Van Halen Volume One, was a complete disaster that tried to fuse both eras onto a single disc. Now the record company has tried to redeem itself with a new compilation. Read on for my review of the Best Of Both Worlds.

PROS:
-UNLIKE THE PREVIOUS COMPILATION, THIS ONE GIVES ALMOST EQUAL EMPHASIS TO THE ROTH AND HAGAR ERAS ALIKE. The greatest flaw of the earlier compilation is that it overemphasized the stuff from the Hagar era and omitted too many of the Roth-era hits - that's not a problem here!
-MOST OF THE BIG HITS ARE HERE. From seventies-era material like Runnin' With The Devil to nineties material, this compilation covers all of the high points of the band's career.
-UNDERRATED MASTERPIECES ARE ALSO PRESENT. This compilation doesn't just rely on the hits - there are many underrated tunes (mostly from the Hagar era) that are also featured here, and every one of them is excellent.
-TWO DISCS. Using two discs gives this compilation a huge advantage over the previous one in terms of the amount of material that is included in this compilation.
-UNRELEASED MATERIAL CAN BE FOUND HERE. This gives those who are already die-hard fans a reason to buy the compilation.

CONS:
-NOTHING FROM THE CHERONE ERA. Admittingly, this wasn't that great of an era, but to be a career-spanning compilation, it would have needed stuff from Van Halen III.
-A FEW OMISSIONS. The fairly-popular Ice Cream Man, from the band's first album, can't be found here. And what about Feel Your Love Tonight?
-TWO DISCS MEANS A HIGHER PRICE.
-THE UNRELEASED TRACKS ARE JUST A PLOY BY THE RECORD COMPANY TO MAKE PEOPLE BUY THE COMPILATION - EVEN IF THEY ALREADY HAVE ALL THE ALBUMS. Why not just release the new tracks on a single? That way die-hard fans wouldn't have to buy all these songs again.

OVERALL:
This compilation is (in all ways) a major step up from the previous compilation. If you're a casual Van Halen fan who doesn't want to shell out cash for all of the albums, this compilation makes an excellent alternative. If you've already got all of the albums, it's really up to you whether or not you want to buy it - you may want to for the unreleased tracks. In either event, this is the better of the band's two compilations. Four out of five stars.

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