The Best of Both Worlds

Since the band's sound and popularity were built on the records they made with Roth, there was no way for Van Halen to ignore his contribution, but they do their damnedest to diminish it here. There are no pictures of Diamond Dave to be found in the artwork (unless you count the miniature reproductions of the sleeves of Van Halen and Women and Children First) and David Wild's liner notes mention him only twice -- once when he joins the band, once when he leaves -- while conspicuously lavishing praise on Sammy. As petty as this swipe is, it's understandable and could even be forgivable if the two discs were well assembled, but they're sabotaged by an absurd sequencing that alternates a Dave song with a Sammy song for the bulk of the entire collection. This is a jarring sequencing, to say the least, causing a whiplash change of tone, mood, and attitude with every song, which are otherwise well-chosen, containing the big hits from each era (the only exception is the boneheaded move to end the collection with three cuts from the 1993 live album Live: Right Here, Right Now, all Diamond Dave songs sung by Sammy). This attempt to elevate Sammy above Dave in the canon is a bit like trying to say Ronnie James Dio was more important to Black Sabbath than Ozzy Osbourne -- a piece of flat-out hyperbole that does a disservice to what the singer actually achieved. David Lee Roth was larger than life, a gonzo performance artist touched with genius who helped Van Halen seem bigger, sillier, grander than any other metal band; with him in front, they were giants, they were golden gods. Sammy Hagar was his opposite, an everyman who sang about girls and tequila, somebody who brought Van Halen back down to earth. Since part of the fun of rock stars is to have them be larger than life, a manifestation of the audience's dreams, fans naturally gravitate toward the Diamond Dave years, but there are merits to both approaches and both resulted in good to great music. But that's hard to appreciate on Best of Both Worlds, when the Dave and Sammy tunes are mixed up with no regard for chronological, musical, or emotional cohesiveness.

Some great unknown tracks on here.

Great old school Van Halen. Only for true fans. Eight CDs. When VH was rock and roll!

Can you get a better album?? all the hits on 2 cds. quality is amazing and with amazon you get the free digital download to listen anywhere on your device. it truly is the best of both worlds pun indented

Overall this is a great double CD and a good overview of Van Halen's music. 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. 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.

A great double cd. It has the older songs with David Lee Roth & on the 2nd cd, it has songs with Sammy Hagar. Received packaged well.

Bought this as a Christmas gift for 1 of they're big fans & I know they will be very well satisfied with this for Christmas.....Delivery was right on the estimated delivery date & very well pleased with this purchase myself for the price.....will definitely buy from the seller again for other items in the future.....5 STARS

I am a big Van Halen fan. I saw this 2 cd set and ordered it. The song list is really good. The only problem I have is the mix of David Lee Roth Sammy Hager songs. I would have like to see Disc 1 David Lee Roth songs Disc 2 Sammy Hager songs. Other than that it is a great collection of Van Halen songs a must have. RIP Eddy Van Halen One of the greatest guitarists to ever live.

j'ai recu le cd et le boitier du cd est cassé

What's not to like about Van Halen

Cracking song selection from a great band EVH r.i.p

A muy bien precio

This is a really awesome CD. The best songs from Van Halen and Van Hagar all on two discs. No filler songs from either version of the group, just the best songs. The last 2 songs on Disc 2 are live Van Halen songs performed by Van Hagar. I have to admit, they don't quite sound right. Dave had a very distinctive voice and singing style that Sammy just can't match. Don't get me wrong, Sammy is an awesome singer, just not of Dave's songs. Highly recommend for any fan of this band. Rock in Peace Eddie!