Thursday, April 20, 2006

120. Van Halen / The Best Of Van Halen, Volume 1. 1996. 4/5.

There is no argument from me that Van Halen are a great band, and that early on they were one of the front runners when it came to guitar bands. Hundreds of bands that have made it since can than k Van Halen for their influence upon the scene.
To me, however, I still think they were a little bit hit and miss. They had some great stuff, but they also had some stuff that still makes me sit there and think “What the hell were they thinking there?!”

This Best Of is a bit like that as well. There are some brilliant songs on here, from both the DLR era (Ain't Talking 'Bout Love, Unchained, Jump, Panama) and the Hagar era (Dreams, Why Can't This Be Love, Can't Stop Loving You), but others are just lukewarm offerings.
They were also very optomistic with the title. Only VHIII was released following this, and that has been 10 years now since this came out...

Rating : Great tunes from a great band, but not the best they could offer. 4/5.

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