The Best of Both Worlds (Van Halen album)

The Best of Both Worlds is a greatest hits album by American hard rock band Van Halen, released in 2004. The title references both their song of the same name, and the fact that the album has songs from their two main vocalists David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar. The album featured three new songs from the band with Hagar on vocals, but Eddie Van Halen took over the bass work typically done by Michael Anthony. It featured no songs from the band's last studio album, Van Halen III, which featured Gary Cherone on vocals released in 1998.

The album features 16 songs from the Roth era (1978–1985), 17 from Hagar's recordings (1985–1996), plus three new Hagar songs. Roth was the vocalist for the first six albums, Hagar for the following four. The band's sales success was greater earlier, with combined US sales of 38 million for Roth era albums, while US sales for Hagar-era albums total 16 million (but, all four albums with Hagar went to #1, a feat never achieved with Roth). The album was released in promotion of the new reunion tour featuring Hagar back as lead singer. The three new songs were also performed live at various times.

According to Michael Anthony, the original plans involved one disk dedicated to Roth and another to Hagar which would feature the three new songs, but problems while negotiating with Roth led to the tracklisting which mixed songs from both singers.[1]

Track listing

Disc one

1. "Eruption" (Eddie Van Halen) – 1:43 (from Van Halen)
2. "It's About Time" (Sammy Hagar, Van Halen, Van Halen) – 4:15 (new song)†
3. "Up for Breakfast" (Hagar, Van Halen, Van Halen) – 4:57 (new song)†
4. "Learning to See" (Hagar, Van Halen, Van Halen) – 5:15 (new song)
5. "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love" (Anthony, Roth, Van Halen, Van Halen) – 3:48 (from Van Halen)
6. "Finish What Ya Started" (Anthony, Hagar, Van Halen, Van Halen) – 4:24 (from OU812)
7. "You Really Got Me" (Ray Davies) – 2:38 (from Van Halen)
8. "Dreams" (Anthony, Hagar, Van Halen, Van Halen) – 4:53 (from 5150)
9. "Hot for Teacher" (Anthony, Roth, Van Halen, Van Halen) – 4:43 (from 1984)
10. "Poundcake" (Anthony, Hagar, Van Halen, Van Halen) – 5:20 (from For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge)
11. "And the Cradle Will Rock..." (Anthony, Roth, Van Halen, Van Halen) – 3:34 (from Women and Children First)
12. "Black and Blue" (Anthony, Hagar, Van Halen, Van Halen) – 5:27 (from OU812)
13. "Jump" (Anthony, Roth, Van Halen, Van Halen) – 4:04 (from 1984)
14. "Top of the World" (Anthony, Hagar, Van Halen, Van Halen) – 3:54 (from For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge)
15. "(Oh) Pretty Woman" (William Dees, Roy Orbison) – 2:53 (from Diver Down)
16. "Love Walks In" (Anthony, Hagar, Van Halen, Van Halen) – 5:11 (from 5150)
17. "Beautiful Girls" (Anthony, Roth, Van Halen, Van Halen) – 3:57 (from Van Halen II)
18. "Can't Stop Lovin' You" (Anthony, Hagar, Van Halen, Van Halen) – 4:08 (from Balance)
19. "Unchained" (Anthony, Roth, Van Halen, Van Halen) – 3:29 (from Fair Warning)

Disc two

1. "Panama" (Anthony, Roth, Van Halen, Van Halen) – 3:32 (from 1984)
2. "Best of Both Worlds" (Anthony, Hagar, Van Halen, Van Halen) – 4:49 (from 5150)
3. "Jamie's Cryin'" (Anthony, Roth, Van Halen, Van Halen) – 3:30 (from Van Halen)
4. "Runaround" (Anthony, Hagar, Van Halen, Van Halen) – 4:20 (from For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge)
5. "I'll Wait" (Anthony, Michael McDonald, Roth, Van Halen, Van Halen) – 4:42 (from 1984)
6. "Why Can't This Be Love" (Anthony, Hagar, Van Halen, Van Halen) – 3:48 (from 5150)
7. "Runnin' with the Devil" (Anthony, Roth, Van Halen, Van Halen) – 3:36 (from Van Halen)
8. "When It's Love" (Anthony, Hagar, Van Halen, Van Halen) – 5:38 (from OU812)
9. "Dancing in the Street" (Marvin Gaye, Ivy Hunter, William Stevenson) – 3:45 (from Diver Down)
10. "Not Enough" (Anthony, Hagar, Van Halen, Van Halen) - 6:48 (from Balance)
11. "Feels So Good" (Anthony, Hagar, Van Halen, Van Halen) – 4:32 (from OU812)
12. "Right Now" (Anthony, Hagar, Van Halen, Van Halen) – 5:22 (from For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge)
13. "Everybody Wants Some!!" (Anthony, Roth, Van Halen, Van Halen) – 5:10 (from Women and Children First)
14. "Dance the Night Away" (Anthony, Roth, Van Halen, Van Halen) – 3:10 (from Van Halen II)
15. "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love" [live] (Anthony, Roth, Van Halen, Van Halen) – 4:43 (from Live: Right Here, Right Now)
16. "Panama" [live] (Anthony, Roth, Van Halen, Van Halen) – 6:39 (from Live: Right Here, Right Now)
17. "Jump" [live] (Anthony, Roth, Van Halen, Van Halen) – 4:20 (from Live: Right Here, Right Now)

†Denotes a single

Personnel

Van Halen

• Sammy Hagar – lead vocals, rhythm and lead guitar, backing vocals
• David Lee Roth – lead and backing vocals
• Eddie Van Halen – lead and rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar, keyboards, backing vocals, bass guitar on new tracks
• Michael Anthony – bass guitar, backing vocals
• Alex Van Halen – drums, percussion

Additional musicians

• Steve Lukather – backing vocals on new tracks

Production

• Compilation producer: Van Halen
• Engineer: Bill Malina (on new songs)
• Product manager: Kenny Nemes
• Project assistants: Hugh Brown, Tom Consolo, Malia Doss, Jimmy Edwards, Alan Fletcher, Kevin Gore, Bill Inglot, Joanne Jaworowski, Anna Loynes, Mark McKenna, David McLees, Scott Pascucci
• Mastering supervisor: Glen Ballard
• Remastering: Stephen Marcussen
• Editorial supervision: Cory Frye
• Art direction: Sara Cumings, Jeri Heiden
• Design: Sara Cumings, Jeri Heiden
• Photography: Kevin Westenberg
• Liner notes: David Wild
• Discographical annotation: Steve Woolard

Certification

Charts

Album

Singles

References