Van Halen

Best of Both Worlds

5 stars for one world 1 for the other

Review Score:

(6/10)
I hate to bring up the Van Halen Vs. Van Hagar or better yet the Diamond Dave Vs. Sammy, but with a release like this you just can't help it.

I bought this CD out of desperation for music. Being in Iraq you have to put up with the slim selection in the mainside PX. I bought this CD mostly for the old stuff, and thought I could go along with the Sammy Hagar era as well.

Well the CD jumps all over the place from Sammy back to Dave. It's almost as if the song list sets these two up to battle each other. It should have been Dave on one CD and Sammy on the other. I find myself hitting the FF>> button way too often.

Yes I am a Van Halen fan of the old school. I like Dave as the frontman. WIth Dave, Van Halen was a party-hearty rockin' band. With Sam you get a cold and sterile corporate rock feel. You can almost hear the manager say "All right boys, we need radio songs, you get paid for radio songs."

I already have all of Van Valen's CDs (The Roth era mind you), and like I said I just bought this to tide me over until I get home. But really this is just another money grubbing tool that is unneccessery. And to be totally honest, Sammy has no business singing 'Jump' or 'Panama'. It just doesn't work. That's why Ozzy never sings Sabbath Songs from the Dio era.

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