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Commemorating the Van Hagar-reunion currently touring the States
(DAMN you lucky pricks on that side of the Atlantic for that!), The Best Of
Both Worlds is the second compilation put together by Warner Records to keep
the band in the headlines while waiting for a possible new record. I decided to
go through this review by pointing out the made song choices from each record
through the bands history and then take on the three new tunes made with Hagar.
I will be saying with many albums that this and this song should have been blabla
AND Im well aware that even a two-disc collection cant hold that many tunes, but
bare with me here.
Van Halen I – Eruption, Aint Talkin´ ´Bout Love, You Really Got Me, Runnin With The Devil & Jamies Crying. Very good selection from this all-time-Classic-record, Eruption is a good way to start the album and showcase Eddie, the king of guitarkings from the start. I would have dropped Jamies Crying in favor of Ice Cream Man or Im The One though. Van Halen II – Beautiful Girls & Dance The Night Away. Dance is a good choice as one of VHs best pop-rockers, but with tunes like Somebody Get Me Doctor, Bottoms Up! and D.O.A. nowhere to be seen, better choices could have been made. WACF – And The Cradle Will Rock & Everybody Wants Some. Everybody is right on the spot but Cradle could’ve easily been dropped for Fools, Romeo Delight or the great acoustic Could This Be Magic?. Again, one good choice and one that goes with the flow. Fair Warning – Unchained. WHAT?!? That’s it? I mean that this is a great choice, Unchained is the best tune off FW but what about So This Is Love, Mean Street or Sinners Swing? This album would definitely deserve a representation of more than one song, even if that one choice is excellent. Diver Down – Oh Pretty Woman & Dancing In The Street. Good choices, but again much more energetic tunes like Hang Em High, Little Guitars or the great acapella eccentricity of Happy Trails could have replaced Pretty Woman, which is one of Van Halens more mediocre cover tunes. Dancing is just OK, Ill let that be without too much yammering. 1984 – Jump, Panama, Hot For Teacher & Ill Wait. Another Classic one that could have offered about any song off its track listing to great service. The hits are there which is only justified, but I would have dropped Ill Wait in favour of Girl Gone Bad or House Of Pain. But solid tunes each one of ´em, so no major complaints. 5150 – Why Cant This Be Love, Dreams, Best Of Both Worlds & Love Walks In. A split decision: Dreams and BOBW should definitely be here, magnificent rockers of the Van Hagar-era, but the other two I would drop. I know Why Cant This Be Love was a major hit single but to me its been one the more mediocre tunes of the band for a long time, as is the partly-too-sugary power ballad Love Walks In. Replace those two with Good Enough and Get Up, and THEN you´d be talking some major rocking! OU812 – When Its Love, Feels So Good, Finish What Ya Started & Black And Blue. Another split cut. When Its Love is one of VHs best ballads and deserved to be the hit it was and the chickenpickin´ Finish is a nice rollicky, countrified rocker, but the other two – come ooooon! With the excellent rockers Cabo Wabo, Source Of Infection and Sucker In A 3 Piece left out, the OK pop tune Feels So Good and one of the most forced DLR-copies ever, Black And Blue would be better off far away from this disc.
Live: Right Here, Right Now – Live versions of Panama, Aint Talkin´ ´Bout Love and Jump. Well played, well performed pieces of these classic tunes from the F.U.C.K. tour, with everything in place and in check. Special mention must be given to the awesome vocal performance that Hagar gives on Jump here – it proves that even though he wasn’t the animal-showman that Roth excelled with, the man can sing like a beast. Balance – Cant Stop Lovin You & Not Enough. Again, I know Cant Stop Lovin You was a single and all that, but with great up-tempo grinders like Amsterdam, Big Fat Money and Aftershock nowhere in sight, a song this bland has no business on a “Best Of”. Even Don’t Tell Me What Love Can Do would have been a much better choice. Not Enough is a nice ballad with a great solo a la Eddie, so no bickering with that. Then the new songs – “WAIT a minute!”, you must be saying. “What about Van Halen III, you know, the one with Gary Cherone?” That’s what I thought when I looked at this album and its inner sleeve. There are no songs from that album in here and even on the sleeve where they list the discography of the band with the album pictures, there is absolutely no mention of that album. I guess the “Best Of Both Worlds” only leaves room for two, without the use for third wheel. A shame really cause the best rockers off the III album like Fire In The Hole and Ballot Or The Bullet could have been a good addition in introducing the band. Also, the un-chronological tracklisting can be a bit confusing at times as the moods (and singers) change on a rapid basis, but that’s a matter of person whether this is a good or a bad thing. And yes, the NEW songs, Its About Time, Up For Breakfast and Learning
To See. Sammy Hagars statement in a not-too-far-back interview was pretty
accurate about these songs. “They’ve got the hard-rocking vibes
and spirit of early Van Halen with some modern rock touches as well.”
And even though I expected a lot from these songs, they didn’t disappoint
at all – and even more than that they surprised me. This is about the
heaviest Ive ever heard the Van Hagar-line up on record and
overall rocking the hardest since the F.U.C.K. days. Its About
Time starts with very modern-feel, down-tuned, heavy riffs, but when Sammy starts shouting
the catchy chorus with Mike Anthony and Eddie harmonizing on backing vocals like they
always have and Eddie rips away with the solos, I feel like home already. THIS
is the stuff, and Im doing nothing but smiling and plucking that air guitar
like a madman. Up For Breakfast is a much more classic VH-rocker
that reminds me a lot of the 5150 album with the synth bass intro,
catchy riffs and sly lyrics. Very much like Good Enough to me, which
is very good. Learning To See is a bit slower half-ballad like Not
Enough and Right Now, but with no piano and some very heavy riffs
that could be straight off Fair Warning in my mind. The clean guitar
parts are again more modern with several effects until the distorted chords
crush down for the choruses. A very dark and serious song, especially in comparison
to the party-hardy-up-tempo-blasters that the other two new tunes are. Eddies
melodic solo crowns it all once again. I know, I cant say a bad thing about
the guys playing but that’s just me. If ya don’t like it, Tough!;) |
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Killing Songs : Hey, Its Van-God-damn-Halen, So Quite all of ´em, except for the bit mediocre Pretty Woman, Why Cant This Be Love, Black And Blue and Cant Stop Lovin You. And the new tunes ROCK! |
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