Sort of the best of Van Halen
By Gary Dec 12, 2006
Pros: 17 good songs, about half of which are among their best
Cons: left out quite a few of their real best songs
Typical of a lot of "greatest hits" albums, Van Halen's first such collection contains a sampling of their best but not a comprehensive library of their real best efforts. Even though I'm a huge classic rock fan and a longtime Van ...Halen fan, I have to give the "lyrics" rating a low score because of my Christian background. It's a shame that some of the most talented musicians in the rock world are also those who have the worst lyrics and most promiscuous lifestyles. Oh well, it comes with the territory. There is no "parental guidance" warning on the CD, but there really should be one, at least for some of the cuts. The songs are presented in chronological order by the album they're from. Song by song, then: 1. "Eruption" from: Van Halen This guitar solo is what launched Eddie Van Halen's career and is a good choice for opening song. Trouble is, most radio stations don't play this cut by itself, but instead play it paired with the next song on the album, a remake of the Kink's "You Really Got Me, which is frankly a much better song than either of the next two chosen for this "Best Of" collection. Rating: 9 (out of 10) 2. "Ain't Talkin About Love" from: Van Halen Why this song gets as much airplay as it does is beyond me. Rating: 2 3. "Running with the Devil" from: Van Halen Read my statement about lyrics above and you'll know why I have a problem with this cut, too, though it has much better instrumental than #2. If I were selecting cuts from the first album, I would have chosen "Eruption," "You Really Got Me," and "Ice Cream Man," a remake of an old blues song. Rating: 4 4. "Dance the Night Away" from: Van Halen II Cheesy dance/pop number from their 2nd album. Two other songs from "II" would have made better choices: the cover of "You're No Good" and the fun "Beautiful Girls". Rating: 5 5. "And the Cradle Will Rock" from: Women and Children First The lone choice from their third album isn't bad, but they would have done better, at least musically (not lyrically) with "Everybody Wants Some". Rating: 6 6. "Unchained" from: Fair Warning Here they made the best choice from the album, but a second cut ("Mean Streets") is nearly as good. Rating: 8 7. "Jump" from: 1984 The last album with Roth and the first to use keyboards, "Jump" was their only #1 hit song and one of only two songs to ever crack the top 10. Rating: 8 8. "Panama" from: 1984 The only other song from this album was a good, but not best, choice. ("I'll Wait" and "Hot for Teacher" are both better.) Rating: 6 9. "Why Can't This Be Love?" from: 5150 The Sammy Hagar era begins with this mediocre tune. Rating: 5 10. "Dreams" from: 5150 Huh? Why is this here? Rating: 2 11. "When It's Love" from: OU812 Some VH purists detest anything sung by Hagar, and others think that ballads don't belong with rock bands. I say that this song is VH's best cut ever, and is the only other song besides "Jump" to make the top 10. Rating: 10 12. "Poundcake" from: For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge One of 2 songs from the album with the worst title ever, this one hardly ever gets airplay, and for good reason. Rating: 2 13. "Right Now" from: For Unlawful... Critics seemed to love this song, but I don't know why. Rating: 4 14. "Can't Stop Loving You" from: Balance Their last good song from their last good album. After this they had a failed effort bringing back Roth and a horrible experiment with Gary Cherone on vocals. There hasn't been a decent tune or album since. I'm starting to wonder if we'll ever hear good new mat Read more Less
