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Best Of Van Halen Vol.1

Van Halen - Best Of Van Halen Vol.1 Audio CD

A fair review of the Van Halen "Best Of Van Halen Vol.1" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Van Halen reviews here, or go back to the Van Halen tabs.

Band: Van Halen
Title: Best Of Van Halen Vol.1
Rating:

Release Date: 1996-11-04
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Eruption 2: Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love 3: Runnin' With the Devil 4: Dance the Night Away 5: And the Cradle Will Rock... 6: Unchained 7: Jump - Eddie Van Halen 8: Panama 9: Hot for Teacher 10: Why Can't This Be Love 11: Dreams 12: When It's Love 13: Poundcake 14: Right Now 15: Can't Stop Lovin' You 16: Humans Being 17: Can't Get This Stuff No More [Radio Edit] 18: Me Wise Magic

"Right Now", check out this cd
Both of the David Lee Roth songs and Sammy Hagar songs on this cd are great. In my opinion, this cd is a good place to begin if this is your first Van Halen cd. My overall favorite cd on the song is "Dreams". The thing I like about this cd is that it features songs by both David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar. This is a good cd to put in your stereo player when you need an emotional energy boost. Admittedly, I wish that the song "Finish what you started" was on this cd but this greatest hits compilation is a good taster of Van Halen songs for a person starting to listen to Van Halen cds. The top five songs on the cd are:

#1 Dreams (10 out of 10)-a wonderful song about going after your dreams regardless of the outer circumstances that come up. I first heard this wonderful song as a teenager when I was at a soccer game of one of my cousins who was playing at a university in Indiana.
#2 Right Now (10 out of 10)- a good song on seizing the moments in your life, hence right now. Its also encouraging one to go after what they plan immediately.
#3 Can't Stop Lovin You (9 out of 10) A heartwarming song about how the love for the other person endures regardless of the challenges that appear.
#4 Why Can't this be Love (9 out of 10)- an interesting song about how the person is ready to go the next step in their relationship with the one they care about and they're wondering why take time in going to the next level when the chemistry already exists in that relationship.
#5 Jump-(9 out of 10)- an energetic song on how a person needs to go ahead and make the leap towards what they think or desire regardless of how challenging it may seem. An encouraging and motivating song in the same positive spirit as "Dreams"(with the soul of Sammy Hagar) but with the soul of David Lee Roth.

All in all the compilation is a good to listen to when you want to give yourself a good emotional boost towards feeling joyful. .

pointless!
They are throwaways, leftovers, boring, old, decrepit junk. What's the point of this album? VH fans have all the albums anyway, thus we have to waste $ on 3 new songs?! Me thinks not.
VH aint winning new fans with this one. .

You can't please everyone all the time
So unless this "Best of" contains every single song ever recorded, then this also means that inevitably there will be people who don't agree with the picks. This is a "Best of" album, which means that someone has to pick some songs they consider best of, then put it to market. Regardless, this album contains all great VH songs.

There's no guitarist like Eddie van Halen. Not saying there aren't other greats, because there are many very very good guitarists. But Ed has his own style, and adds his own flavor to how he plays. That itself is controversial, but then if it didn't really matter then it really wouldn't matter. Meaning that if there wasn't really something to it then he wouldn't be controversial. There's no in between, it seems; either you love his style or you hate it. I love it, and the songs on this album are a good representation, and therefore it's a good "Best of" album. Not to overlook other important parts of VH's style are Big Al's drumming, and Mike's backing vocals, and all come across very well in each of these songs.

I'm glad they included the non-album "Human's Being" because it was one of their very last recorded songs, and it's about as hard-driving a rock tune as you can find, and it's a perfect example of Ed's musical and playing style, and Al's distinctive snare sound.

I'm sad they didn't include songs like "Mean Street" and "Pleasure Dome", because those are great musical numbers. But like I said, you can't make everyone happy with any "Best of" compiliation. This one works just fine in that sense, so if you're looking to get only one Van Halen album then you'll do OK with this. (Though you're much better off just buying all of them. . . ).

vanhalen best of vol 1
his voice is so muffled you can barely hear what hes singing about. the cd was okay but the two new songs with dave are just awful. but besides that its a fare effort. to say it was complete. or that there was hits left off they could have had put on. yes but oh well. still a pretty good effort. i say if you gotta computer and the vanhalen collection make your own. save your self some dough. either way you would have to buy the best of both worlds collection. i think thats a better collection than this rip off.

Perfect for the casual fan
They provide a perfect way for the casual fan, the lover of the tunes they hear on the radio, to get their hands on a wad of great tracks without spending half of last weeks paycheck. I always equate this album with like minded releases such as ZZ Tops' best of or any of the one hundred or so Aerosmith best of albums that have been released in the last five minutes.

For the relative novice, there is a display of Eddie Van Halens wonderful ability to bend those six strings like nobodies business in the very first track, Eruption. From there the album proper kicks in with hit after hit and both the earlier David Lee Roth fronted band and the Sammy Hagar fronted incarnation are given space. Purists may scoff at the inclusion of more Hagar vs Roth pieces, but to be fair to all, the Roth albums were albums - you'd have to listen to the fuller work to get the point whereas with Hagar the band was even more commercially successful. So I can see both sides of the argument.

Amazingly, the pieces all fall into place, the production sounds consistent and the couple of new tracks with Diamond Dave are a nice addition and pretty good in their own right even if it's common knowledge that by this stage of his career Roths voice was pretty much a studio only proposition.

Real fans have most of the albums and make their own 'all killer no filler' album. Casual fans will probably love this - it can sit on your shelf next to likeminded albums.

You can see a complete list of all Van Halen discography, or go back to the Van Halen tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.