Van Halen

Best of Both Worlds

Van Halen: Don't EVER Hang It Up

Review Score:

(10/10)
To begin this review I'd like to correct the misconception about the "fade-out glitch" on the track "Finish What Ya Started" that other reviewers have discussed where the song just seems to cut off in the middle of a note. First of all, it's not a fade-out glitch. The song ends exactly the same way on the original album. The ending plays off the title. Think about it, "Finish What Ya Started". The song doesn't finish. Okay the play on words isn't that witty, but hey, Van Halen was a rock band, not a comedy troupe. Moving on . . .

This is the second Van Halen greatest hits collection to be released. The first, Best of VH Vol. 1, was released 8 years ago and a a complementing Best of Vol. 2 never came out, much to angst of many fans. For those who did not buy that record though, no worries. Releasing a two disc set is cheaper than purchasing two seperate CDs and makes for a more comprehensive collection. Those are some of the pros of this package. I'd highly recommend this for the casual fan. It's very solid. Diehards may also want it because of the three new Hagar tracks, which are pretty good cuts in my opinion.

However many customers (including myself) have a myriad of complaints about this package. First off, why weren't the songs put in chronological order? The utter randomness of the songs is a big turnoff. Like other reviews have suggested, there should have been one disc for the David Lee Roth era and then another for Hagar instead of this jumble. Another contention are the three live tracks. Why are these here? They just waste disc space. I know they were intended to give more variation to the collection, but did it ever cross the producers' minds that they could've released a live VH album instead? For those who buy on iTunes and other online music stores, I'd recommend replacing those three tracks with "Ice Cream Man", "Hot Legs", and "Mean Street".

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