Van Halen

Best of Both Worlds

Rhino Records

Review Score:

(6/10)
I haven't listened to this album but probably don't need to. I know all the old stuff that's on it, have heard all the new tracks and have read several reviews. I'm tired of the "who's better, Roth or Hagar" debate and can agree with those who say certain songs should probably have been included instead of others, and that not including a single cut from Van Halen 3 is an insult to Gary Cherone.

Now. One good clue as to the motivation for this album is that it is from Rhino Records, not VH's original label, Warner Brothers. Rhino is the same group of people who gave us a double-disc Chicago collection four years after the second of two Chicago "greatest hits" CD's was released. Each of those two CD's had two original cuts at the most and the two CD's put together were about the fourth such set from Chicago in their career. Rhino also "re-released" Chicago's first and only holiday CD two years after it was first released, so they could include a couple new songs there. So, in other words, be skeptical of anything that isn't released on a band's original or most recently known record label, especially if it's from Rhino. While the bands don't have to go for it, they aren't entirely to blame, either. Rhino Records might as well be called "this is about money" Records.

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