Van Halen

Best Of Volume 1

An interesting contrast of music

Review Score:

(8/10)
It's interesting to note how the contoversy of which lead singer was better continues to rage, even after both have left the group. This greatest hits package does absolutely nothing to stop that. The CD is basically broken into 3 sections: track 1 - 8 are from the David Lee Roth era, 9 - 14 from the Sammy Hagar period, and 15 - 17 was new stuff, 1 from Hagar and 2 from Roth. Throughout the CD the one constant is the quality of the music. The main difference is the sophistication of the lyrics and what they were writing about. With the Roth music it's all about sex. Period. Nothing else but sex. Even if you look at some of the great music that wasn't included from the Roth years, like "Beautiful Girls" & "Hot for Teacher", it's pretty much what Van Halen was about. Now when Hagar joined the songs began to show greater meaning. Songs about relationships like "Why can't this be Love", about following your dreams like "Dreams", about social change like "Right Now". The difference between the Roth and Hagar years can be summed up in one word: growth. In essense, the group grew-up.

I would recommend this to, of course, any Van Halen fan. But it goes beyond that. I always enjoyed some of their music and yet I never would consider myself a fan. But I have listened to this CD every morning for two weeks on my way to work. Well worth the cost!!

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