Van Halen Best Of

I know, I know. I threw down the Best Of Challenge here and then added a bit more at the end of this post but then have been silent the past six weeks.

Well, I was off doing homework. I pulled out all of my Van Halen tapes (for my car drive) and CDs and started listening. Some I haven't listened to in ten years, so I needed to get acquainted again.

The first thing I've gotta say is it's amazing how good this band is. The past decade has been filled with hard feelings, "dick moves" (usually by "Nice Guy" Edward), unfulfilled potential, stalled/abandoned reunions, nutty moves (dumping Mike for Wolfgang) and on and on. It's been really hard to remember that the music is what made me a fan. I guess the reason I and so many other people care about this band is because they are so good. They've played a big part of many peoples' lives. In fact, I'd rank them very near (or at) the top for influences on my life. Everyone needs something to latch onto when they're younger, and this band was something I latched onto.

Before I get to it, I thought I should tell the story of how I "got into" this band; mainly because it's pretty unusual. Back in 1987, at the tender age of 14, I watched Spaceballs in the theatre. There was this song that kinda drew my attention. I bought the Spaceballs Soundtrack not too long later and the song was on it: "Good Enough" by Van Halen.

Now I had heard of Van Halen; I mean, who hasn't? I'd heard much of their material as it's a staple of rock radio. But "Good Enough" was the right song at the right time for me; something clicked. I picked up 5150 (the album "Good Enough" was on) as well as Sammy Hagar's I Never Said Goodbye (the solo album he owed Geffen after he took the VH gig) and just fell right into obsession for the band.

Since then, I've accumulated nearly everything (legal) the band ever worked on as well as their singers (all of Hagar's stuff, almost all of Roth's, and almost all of Cherone's). And some of it was pretty costly (buying entire albums for just one song; paying $30 or more for import albums-- this is all before iTunes made it easier to complete a collection). For a time, I also picked up every magazine I could find that had a VH cover or article and still do buy them if there's enough new content (the "nice" thing about the band laying low the past ten years is there is a lot of repeat info in some of the magazines after all these years and thus, not necessary to pick up again).

Okay, okay, the Van Halen Best Of:

VH has put out two best of albums (Best Of Volume I and Best of Both Worlds), and I have to say they're pretty complete. I'd go with the 2-disc Best of Both Worlds as the one to buy as it really fills some holes that the 1-disc Volume I couldn't.

It contains (all are song titles-- I'm not "-ing them):


Eruption
It's About Time (new song w/Hagar)
Up For Breakfast (new song w/Hagar)
Learning to See (new song w/Hagar)
Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love
Finish What Ya Started
You Really Got Me
Dreams
Hot For Teacher
Poundcake
And the Cradle Will Rock...
Black and Blue
Jump
Top of the World
(Oh) Pretty Woman
Love Walks In
Beautiful Girls
Can't Stop Lovin' You
Unchained

Panama
Best of Both Worlds
Jamie's Cryin'
Runaround
I'll Wait
Why Can't This Be Love
Runnin' With the Devil
When It's Love
Dancing in the Street
Not Enough
Feels So Good
Right Now
Everybody Wants Some!!
Dance the Night Away
Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love (Live-- w/Hagar)
Panama (Live-- w/Hagar)
Jump (Live-- w/Hagar)


Hey, that was pretty easy. Don't know what took me so long.

Okay, I can't cheat on my own "challenge". While Best of Both Worlds is about as complete as one can expect, there are some missing tracks that someone who may want to dig a little deeper into the band should check out. Let's call it a "bonus disc".

For the record, I'm referring to C.J. Chilvers' book The Van Halen Encyclopedia for some of my more obscure observations (I'll note when I use the book).

The tracks would be:

1. "Bottoms Up!", Van Halen II. Just a fun song; sex, drugs, and rock and roll.

2. "Take Your Whiskey Home", Women and Children First. Good acoustic intro by Edward and then into the full electric band.

3. "Could This Be Magic?", Women and Children First. One of my favorite Roth-era songs. Just a fun, playful tune I relate to quite a bit. Chilvers' notes: this song is the first time Edward used slide guitar on an album, Roth accompanied him with an acoustic guitar, and Nicolette Larson returned the favor of Ed performing on her 1978 album by providing backup vocals-- the first (and one of very few) guest performer on a Van Halen album.

4. "Mean Street", Fair Warning. A great intro by Edward that falls into a killer riff. A pretty dark song for the band at the time.

5. "Where Have All the Good Times Gone?", Diver Down. I just like the tone of this Kinks cover-- and it was short enough that it just fit in the 80 minutes I had.

6. "Top Jimmy"; 1984. Another great intro by Ed and then the band just keeps it going. Chilvers notes that the song was recorded with a Ripley Stereo guitar, only the fourth in existence at the time. Ed never said what tuning it's in; he just tuned the guitar to the melody in his head. Another note is the song is named after a real Top Jimmy who used to play the clubs in L.A. and then gave out free tacos to homeless people after his shows (he worked at Top's Tacos before he took up music).

7. "Good Enough," 5150. Nice, "crunchy" guitars by Edward, and, like I said, it's got special meaning for me.

8. "Summer Nights", 5150. A great song that means nothing more than having fun in the summer. Like many of Hagar's early "fun" tracks, you can just picture hanging out with friends in the woods or a beach and partying to this song. It's also the first song the new (at the time) band (Sammy, Edward, Alex, and Mike) jammed to and wrote.

9. "The Dream is Over", For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge. Just like the tune and the chorus.

10. "Don't Tell me (What Love Can Do)", Balance. Ed had a fantastic tone to this song. I'm actually surprised it didn't make Best of Both Worlds. Chilvers notes Sammy wrote it with Kurt Cobain's death in mind.

11. "Humans Being", Best Of Volume I. This song switches back and forth with "Dreams" as my favorite Van Halen song. Edward went all-out with this one; I believe this song marked a turning-point in his playing that led to his work on Van Halen 3. Sadly, this was the song that pretty much shattered the already fractured relationship between Edward and Sammy. Not long after it was released, we found out that Hagar left the band/got booted (depends on who tells the story). Sammy didn't want to write any songs for a Best Of album or a movie soundtrack (the song is featured in the movie Twister), so this was a contentious song to say the least. But it rocks hard, so it has to be here.

12. "Can't Get This Stuff No More", Best Of Volume I. A "grown-up" Roth song recorded for the album after Hagar was out of the band that still has the feel of a Roth-era tune. Chilvers notes it's the first (and only) time Edward used a Talk Box; it had to actually be run by his guitar tech because Ed's mouth wasn't big enough to run it himself.

13. "Me Wise Magic", Best Of Volume I. A continuation of Edward's progression after "Humans Being". This time, Roth gets to sing with the inspired guitars in the first of his "reunion" songs featured on the albums. Very mean riff during the verses by Edward is a classic.

14. "Without You", Van Halen 3. Probably the biggest crime of Best of Both Worlds is this (or any VH3 songs) is missing from the album. Some of Edward's best inventiveness since the early '80s was featured on this record that is too easily forgotten by fans and the band itself. Anyway, this is the first song we got to hear from the Cherone-era, and I thought it rocked; it's nearly perfect from beginning to end. Chilvers notes Edward wrote the lyrics and also used a quarter instead of a pick on the guitar.

15. Fire in the Hole, Van Halen 3. Edward's opening riff sounds like a helicopter and is pretty impressive. It's another song that just rocks.

Bonus track: 16. Mine All Mine (Live), Live: Jump ep. I like the original, but this live version just cooks (which is unusual for me-- I tend to favor the original versions of most songs over the live versions). I also like Sammy's intro: "When it reallys comes down... all you have is you. You are number one. Each person is number one to himself." Chilvers also notes the song is an anti-drug one (which may or may not be true as Hagar has not been shy about the fact that he likes to smoke the bud).

Bonus track: 17. Crossing Over, Balance (Japanese version) or the B-Side of "Can't Stop Lovin' You". Right below "Dreams" and "Humans Being" as my favorite Van Halen song. I love the sound. It's a pretty powerful for song me; I actually "wrote"-- in my head-- a comic book story using the song as inspiration. Chilvers notes that Edward wrote and recorded part of the song in 1983 after the suicide of a friend and revived the song after long-time manager Ed Leffler died in 1994. Edward also plays parts of the drums and sings parts of the vocals on the track on the left channel and Sammy's vocals and Alex's drums are on the right track.


Okay. That was a lot tougher than I thought it would be. I forgot how hard putting together these "mix tapes" can be (I used to do tons to listen to while driving back in high school). And I had it pretty easy because the vast majority of "must include" songs were already included on Best of Both Worlds. Maybe I'll have to do a bare-bones Van Halen Best Of that fits on a single CD in the future as a bit of masochistic torture...

And I'm not done. Part of my homework was also to compile a Best of Edward (an "Essential Eddie" if you will) CD, and I'll be posting that one in (probably) a few weeks. (I still have his "guest appearance" stuff to sort out). That one will, for sure, be at least 2 discs-- the guy is freakin' amazing.