Van Halen

Best of Both Worlds

Dis-jointed, but still a nice hard-rockin' tribute album

Review Score:

(8/10)
It seems to me that the large bulk of Van Halen vans fall into two very distinct categories: those who prefer Diamond Dave and those who prefer the Red Rocker. I fall squarely in between. I love BOTH incarnations of the band (however not the 3rd version with the old singer from Extreme). I have read many of the reviews here and find it very interesting to see those who rip on Roth and those who find fault with Sammy, a good chunk of which have totally missed the mark entirely.

Let me elaborate: David Lee Roth insists to this day he was kicked out of the band. NOT TRUE. After he scored some solo success with his mini-LP 'Crazy From The Heat' which yielded two remakes (California Girls & Just A Gigalo) his ego, which was already about to apply for state-hood went astronomical. He dumped the boys almost immediately upon fulfilling his tour obligations with the band. Does Sammy have an ego? Absolutely. Does it even begin to match Dave's? Sorry but he's got a long way to go to reach Roth and his unchecked love for himself.

A few have even brought up album sales to prove the popularity of one singer over the other. While this is a nice barometer of what the album-buying fans actually think, it doesn't erase the fact that there are a HUGE number of fans of BOTH singers. (by the way, Van Halen with Sammy outsold David Lee Roth by almost 2 to 1. Like it or not, those are the facts)

I noticed one fan categorized the songs by both singers in an interesting way, and I have to agree. While I feel Sammy is a better overall singer, Dave certainly sang on songs that had a bigger variety of musical diversity. I also read how one reviewer based both singers as songwriters...again, sorry but Dave was the lyricist and helped VERY LITTLE on any actual music writing for the band, while Sammy was already an accomplished singer, guitar player and songwriter by himself. Again, not taking anything away from Dave, but he just stood and sang and did one thing that Sammy does little of: PERFORM. Having seen both Van Halen WITH Roth and Sammy as a solo act, by FAR Dave was the bigger showman -- but sorry to say, his vocals are on the verge of ruin over years of smoking and screaming on stage. It really sucks to see such talent whittled away at a relatively young age, but Sammy's vocals actually still pack quite a punch after all these years -- and he is OLDER than Dave.

The debate over both singers will rage for a lot longer than I wish to participate, but with that said, I still enjoy listening to songs by BOTH singers. Plenty of debate will also rage over which songs were left out (Ice Cream Man -- a horrible mistake in my opinion) and why oh WHY did they include 'Eruption' without connecting it to 'You Really Got Me'??? That's like listening to 'We Will Rock You' without hearing it go into 'We Are The Champions', many fans will find this inexcuseable.

In my career in radio I have been fortunate to see and interview many of the biggest bands in rock & roll, from the Beach Boys to Sammy Hagar and yes, even David Lee Roth. My personal opinions about either singer are based on my being a fan of both of them as well as personal experience being WITH both of them one on one on several occasions. Sammy is a guy I feel I could hang around with, while Dave treated me like I was a butler who was pestering him with annoying questions instead of waiting on him hand and foot. Didn't sit well with me, but I still enjoy his music. Fans of both singers will most likely find SOMETHING to enjoy in this particular incarnation of Greatest Hits, but as always, YOUR opinions may vary.

More Reviews: