Van Halen - Best Of Volume 1
The early Roth years seemed to pass me by. At the time, I thought Van Halen were just some bubblegum US rock band. By the time I took notice of Van Halen, Diamond Dave was just about to leave and Sammy about to join. So I don't own any Roth era albums. I have bought a couple of Hagar era albums (OU812 and Balance), but I thought they were patchy and disappointing.
However, unless I was deaf I couldn't help hearing the majority of the singles featured in this compilation. There were a couple of VH songs I've always wanted in my collection - Running With The Devil and Jump. This compilation, therefore, represented the perfect opportunity to pick up the selected highlights from their 20 year career.
I'm sure that most of you are already familiar (and probably more familiar than me) with the vast majority of material on this album, so I won't go into details.
At the risk of getting caught up in the whole Dave vs Sammy debate, I have to say that if I had to choose between them, then I generally prefer the earlier Roth era material. However, the best material is featured mid-album - Jump, Panama, When It's Love and Dreams. These feature both vocalists. Some of the later material such as Poundcake is fairly forgettable.
Human Being is the new song featuring Sammy Hagar. Sounds fairly typical of latter day VH album material and doesn't do much for me. On the two new songs featuring David Lee Roth VH sort of rediscover an almost funky groove kinda like something from DLR's solo albums. Again nothing to get really excited about.
With the disappointing new material on offer, perhaps this album is best suited to the occasional fan, like myself, who wants 'the' Van Halen album for his/her collection.
If they can revitalize themselves with Gary Cherone on vocals and get the drummer to stop using those dammed cymbals so much, then I might just be tempted to buy another VH album before Best Of Volume 2 comes out.
Rating : 7
