Best Of Volume 1 vs. The Best

[billy007]

Not so much a comparison - more or less some observations. Some people on this site don't really care for Greatest Hits or other compilation albums, but I think they're great for a couple of reasons (if done right). First off, they offer non-fans a good overview - "Hey, I like a bunch of these songs but they're all on different albums - I'm not buying an album I might not like for one song - oh wait, here's one that has most of them on here and it's supposed to be the best songs overall - let me check it out". You don't know how many groups I got into by first buying a greatest hits then deciding I liked a bunch of songs that were on the same album, then buying that album and going on from there. As for the fan, it offers a chance to have a good compilation without the hassle of do-it-yourself - recording levels should be pretty well equalised between songs that came from different albums, songs that segued with other songs on the album that they came from are cleaned up, etc. I own all of the early Rolling Stones albums, and some of them are great on their own, but how often do I grab something like Big Hits, Through The Past Darkly, Hot Rocks or More Hot Rocks when I feel like hearing some early Stones? That brings us to Van Halen and David Lee Roth. Within a year of each other, both released greatest hits. Van Halen gave us Best Of Volume 1 after 18 years and 11 albums - too long to wait if you asked me. Probably should have been volume 2 with volume 1 having been released in 1985 or 1986. A good collection of songs, but there are so many that are missing. But single disk time would not have allowed too many more, so it either would've had to have been a double disk, which some people won't buy because of cost (just think of it as your next two CDs, people!) or there should've been one done sooner. The Best, by David Lee Roth on the other hand, is about as good as it gets. It covers 12 years, showcasing 4 albums and 1 ep with 1 new track, leaving room to get a little deeper on the various albums. Still managed to leave out Damn Good somehow, but you can't have everything (where would you put it? - S. Wright). As it stands it's packed. And now let's talk artwork. The Best offers lyrics, a DLR discography, where each song on the disc could originally be found and also chart action where applicable, and some great photos of DLR. Best Of Volume 1 on the other hand has to rank as one of the worst packaged Greatest Hits albums of modern (CD) times. Has a discography with each song on each album, which is nice, and who the members of Van Halen were for each era, but that's about it. No historical photographs, no lyrics, no nothing. Just black and white and gold. Exciting stuff. Anyway, just my thoughts, be glad to hear yours.

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"That's the trouble with love
That's the trouble with war
You never get what you came for..."

Eat Us And Smile, y'all

For more great Van Halen discussion, visit www.DLRArmy.com

[Glenn]

I didn't buy the VH Best Of CD for quite some time because I was against the whole concept of buying a CD that had only two (3 if you count Humans Being) new songs on it. But once I got it and heard the sound quality of the two new DLR songs, I realized I should have bought it right away.

I agree with you that there's always going to be certain bands that you get into by buying a greatest hits album and then wanting to delve deeper into an artists' catalogue.

DLR's The Best is a great group of songs, though I think it goes too heavy on the Eat Em And Smile tunes. Of course, that's the thing with greatest hits albums and die hard fans; we're always going to argue about the song selection.

It's the same with the Van Halen Best Of CD. My biggest complaint about it is that there really should have been a Diver Down song on it; Secrets or Little Guitars probably.

Packaging-wise, I think the VH one should certainly have had a collage of photos spanning the entire recording career of the band. Dave's packaging was better in my opinion, though it would have been nice to see some pictures of the other musicians that made those great songs.

Anyway, I've rambled enough.