The Best Of Both Worlds [Digipak]

Performer: Van Halen
Producer: Van Halen; Ted Templeman; Andy Johns; Bruce Fairbairn; Glen Ballard; Van Halen (Compilation)
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: Includes three previously unreleased tracks. Van Halen: David Lee Roth, Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen, Michael Anthony, Sammy Hagar. Personnel: Sammy Hagar (vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar); David Lee Roth (vocals); Alex Van Halen (drums, percussion, background vocals); Michael Anthony (background vocals). Audio Remasterer: Stephen Marcussen. Liner Note Author: David Wild. Photographer: Kevin Westenberg. Bursting forth in the late 1970s, Van Halen made its mark by melding the hammering wallop of hard rock with an iconoclastic approach to the guitar. With striking virtuosity, Eddie Van Halen's guitar playing succeeded in turning the heads and dropping the jaws of a wide range of listeners. Matched with the acrobatic energy of frontman David Lee Roth and the formidable rhythm section of bassist Michael Anthony and drummer Alex Van Halen, these combined elements added up to Van Halen's hugely success musical formula. THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS is a two-disc overview of more than 25 years of Van Halen recordings. The set contains a few of the now-standard new songs included in such offerings. Placed on the first disc, this trio of tunes finds VH's second singer, Sammy Hagar, back on board (he'd left in '96 when the band planned to record with Roth again). In fact, the compilation's title (taken from the Hagar-era song) is a reference to the band's two major eras, as demarcated by their distinctly different frontmen. The result is a collection that features raucous, hyperactive songs with Roth ("Hot for Teacher," "Jump," "Unchained") and soaring ballads and mid-tempo anthems with Hagar ("Dreams," "Right Now," "Finish What Ya Started").

Rolling Stone (p.83) - 3 1/2 stars out of 5 - "[With] powerful examples of the greatest party band of the past twenty-five years." Spin (p.123) - "Three decent new cuts add modern sludge riffs and digital voice effects to the usual pop-metal spritz."

Van Halen rode the crest of 1970s riff-rock into 1980s abandon. Always able to produce a smile and a killer hook, their songs captured a West Coast attitude that combined Eddie Van Halen's guitar gymnastics and the high-energy antics of vocalist David Lee Roth with solid backing by bassist Michael Anthony and drummer Alex Van Halen. Following Roth's less-than-amicable departure, the band signed up reckless driver Sammy Hagar, and their success continued into the '90s. When Hagar left after several albums, the band's fate seemed uncertain, but they soon found a temporary replacement in ex-Extreme frontman Gary Cherone.

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