Main menu
Fretplay home Submit tabs

Van Halen
Van Halen tabs Van Halen discography

Channels
Guitar channel Bass channel Guitar videos Reviews

Message Forum
Guitar forum Bass forum Bands and artists Promote your band Recent discussions All categories

Fretplay.com

Van Halen guitar tabs

CD reviews

The Best of Both Worlds

Van Halen - The Best of Both Worlds Audio CD

A fair review of the Van Halen "The Best of Both Worlds" 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: The Best of Both Worlds
Rating:

Release Date: 2004-07-20
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Eruption 2: It's About Time 3: Up For Breakfast 4: Learning To See 5: Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love 6: Finish What Ya Started 7: You Really Got Me 8: Dreams 9: Hot For Teacher 10: Poundcake 11: And The Cradle Will Rock 12: Black And Blue 13: Jump 14: Top Of The World 15: (Oh) Pretty Woman 16: Love Walks In 17: Beautiful Girls 18: Can't Stop Loving You 19: Unchained 20: Panama 21: Best Of Both Worlds 22: Jamie's Cryin' 23: Runaround 24: I'll Wait 25: Why Can't This Be Love 26: Runnin' With The Devil 27: When It's Love 28: Dancing In The Street 29: Not Enough 30: Feels So Good 31: Right Now 32: Everybody Wants Some 33: Dance The Night Away 34: Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love (Live) 35: Panama (Live) 36: Jump (Live)

More Dave Please and My Personal Track Sequence
I feel there are a few David Lee Roth ommissions like "I'm the One", "Ice Cream Man", "Somebody Get Me a Doctor", "Mean Streets" and "So This Is Love?" among a few other personal favorites. Overall this is a great double CD and a good overview of Van Halen's music. They could have replaced the new tracks and the live tracks with these songs. Why does "Finish What Ya Started" end before it's finished? It's not even a good edit. You can hear the next note being cut off after it started.

I don't understand the track sequencing for this CD though. It starts out with Eruption which is cool but then goes into 3 new songs that are good but I don't think will ever be considered hits. I don't think the track order has to be chronoligical but because this is already a double CD I wish they would have split the CD's into a 1978 - 1984 Dave CD and a 1986 - 2004 Sammy CD. After I downloaded the music in my computer I did my own personal track sequencing.

1. Hot For Teacher
2. Eruption
3. You Really Got Me
4. And the Cradle Will Rock
5. Everybody Wants Some!!
6. Unchained
7. Jamie's Cryin'
8. Panama
9. Dance the Night Away
10. Beautiful Girls
11. (Oh) Pretty Woman
12. Dancing In The Street
13. Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love
14. Runnin' With the Devil
15. I'll Wait
16. Jump

1. Finish What Ya Started
2. Poundcake
3. Why Can't This Be Love
4. Feels So Good
5. Right Now
6. Best of Both Worlds
7. When It's Love
8. Black and Blue
9. Love Walks In
10. Top of the World
11. Dreams
12. Can't Stop Lovin' You
13. Runaround
14. Up For Breakfast
15. It's About Time
16. Learning to See
17. Not Enough

I didn't add the live tracks to my playlist but if I did I would put them at the very end. With this track order the songs flow into each other really well and you can hear what both singers bring to the party.
.

Not Exactly The BEST Of Both Worlds...
Last night I popped in Disc One to find myself immersed in the guitar virtuoso of Eddie Van Halen on the first track, Eruption, a solo I have heard a hundred times but can never get tired of. My brother bought this collection yesterday, and since I already own 7 Van Halen albums and have heard most of the rest all the way through, I initially wasn't very excited. Next up, three new Sammy Hagar songs. I wasn't too keen on these being good, since I had already heard Up For Breakfast live, but they were decent for "Best Of" bonus tracks. It's About Time is my favorite of these, beginning with a mean, not entirely Van Halen heavy guitar riff which caught me off guard. This song is pure Van Hagar and became an instant favorite; wish I could say the same about the other two but they are only average and I was turned off by Up For Breakfast's cheesy lyrics. Learning To See isn't particulary inspired, but along with It's About Time, this song sees Van Halen moving into unexplored territory and pulling off a kickass hybrid sound. Overall, the first Hagar track is great, and the remaining two bring to mind something off of Chickenfoot's new album.

No need to go over a majority of the other songs here as we are all very familiar with them; surprisingly, I realized I hadn't heard Finish What Ya Started, and it too surprised me with its fresh uniqueness (although just like I had read, this track does cut off abruptly just before You Really Got Me). I'm not thrilled with the song arrangement on these two discs, and Disc Two is pretty inconsistent as far as the Roth/Hagar/Roth/Hagar order. I don't know why the three live songs from Right here, right now were tacked onto the end and although I can understand wanting to represent each of their albums, different songs (Hagar songs, by the way) would have fit better. Why use Roth-era tracks that already appear as studio versions earlier on? Another glaring inconsistency is the lack of any material from Van Halen III. I understand Van Halen purists in generally disliking VHIII, but I think it is a decent album except for the last three songs, and including their three singles from it (Without You, Fire In The Hole, One I Want) would have made perfect sense. VHIII doesn't even appear in the band's discography, and Gary Cherone is not directly mentioned in Van Halen's career-encompassing biography although a reference is made to the Cherone-era of the band that is said with derision. Disc One contains 19 tracks while Disc Two only tallies up with 17. Several other great hits that I expected to be here, such as (Don't Tell Me) What Love Can Do, Mean Street, 5150, Little Guitars, Judgement Day, Atomic Punk, In 'N' Out, etc. are nowhere to be found, and placing Strung Out before Not Enough is idiotic as a much more suitable instrumental could have been fit in like Cathedral or even Baluchitherium for crying out loud.

I think this collection falls short on many levels but for a newcomer to the Van Halen legend, this compilation works. It seems a lot like a cheap way of promoting yet another short-lived Van Halen reunion and hints to me of the infamous David Lee Roth incident of 1996, when the Van Halen brothers kept him around just long enough to record two new tracks for Best Of, Vol. 1 before giving him the boot. "Exit Roth, enter confusion" is a much more realistic take on things than what is presented in the CD insert, but these issues are petty and only detract from the album's quality on a personal level for me. The only other complaint I'm going to bring up is: wouldn't it have been cool to title this collection as "Van Halen Best of, Vol. 2 -The Best Of Both Worlds" for continuity? Nah, let's just forget about it! Most of the classics are here, so just sit back and enjoy the return of the MIGHTY Van Halen!

DISC ONE-

ERUPTION: 5/5
IT'S ABOUT TIME 4/5
UP FOR BREAKFAST 2/5
LEARNING TO SEE 3/5
AIN'T TALKIN' 'BOUT LOVE 5/5
FINISH WHAT YA STARTED 5/5
YOU REALLY GOT ME 5/5
DREAMS 5/5
HOT FOR TEACHER 5/5
POUNDCAKE 5/5
AND THE CRADLE WILL ROCK. . . 5/5
BLACK AND BLUE 4/5
JUMP 5/5
TOP OF THE WORLD 4/5
(OH) PRETTY WOMAN 5/5
LOVE WALKS IN 4/5
BEAUTIFUL GIRLS 5/5
CAN'T STOP LOVIN' YOU 4/5
UNCHAINED 5/5

DISC TWO-

PANAMA 5/5
BEST OF BOTH WORLDS 5/5
JAMIE'S CRYIN' 5/5
RUNAROUND 4/5
I'LL WAIT 4/5
WHY CAN'T THIS BE LOVE 5/5
RUNNIN' WITH THE DEVIL 5/5
WHEN IT'S LOVE 5/5
DANCING IN THE STREET 3/5
STRUNG OUT/NOT ENOUGH 4/5
FEELS SO GOOD 4/5
RIGHT NOW 5/5
EVERYBODY WANTS SOME!! 5/5
DANCE THE NIGHT AWAY 5/5
AIN'T TALKIN' 'BOUT LOVE [LIVE] 4/5
PANAMA [LIVE] 3/5
JUMP [LIVE] 4/5

Let's hope the current Van Halen lineup really does come through with a great new album soon, and that the songs presented here always remain classics but only encompass relatively half of the band's career and not three quarters of it. I'm betting on all four of these guys living a long time, and they owe it to the world and themselves to get off of their laurels and rock for at least a few more decades to come!
.

A good return
If you're not, it's a great album. If you are a Van Halen purist, you don't like it. Sammy adds a new dimension to the band: group effort (not a collection of solo efforts). Sammy fans will be pleased as well.

Terrible Compilation Of A Great Band
Whoever put this together should be ashamed of themselves. This compilation of Van Halen is just awful. All of the songs are randomly listed, no chronological order at all. The David Lee Roth era should have been disc one, the Hagar era, disc two. And both of them with songs in chronological order. Then the fact that they cut off "Finish What Ya Started" is really annoying. The three new songs are ok, not great, but could have been done without. There are so many flaws in this collection and I wish they could get it right. I wouldn't recommend this compilation, unless you feel you must have everything Van Halen, good or bad. .

The Best of Both Worlds

A must for any rocker, Red, Blonde or whatever!!!!!. This completes any Sammy collection and gives you David Lee Roth to boot.

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.