Best Of Both Worlds (2004)
Disc One
1. Eruption
2. It's About Time
3. Up For Breakfast
4. Learning to See
5. Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love
6. Finish What Ya Started
7. You Really Got Me
8. Dreams
9. Hot For Teacher
10.Poundcake
11.And the Cradle Will Rock...
12.Black and Blue
13.Jump
14.Top of the World
15.(Oh) Pretty Woman
16.Love Walks In
17.Beautiful Girls
18.Can't Stop Loving You
19.Unchained
Disc Two
1. Panama
2. Best of Both Worlds
3. Jamie's Cryin'
4. Runaround
5. I'll Wait
6. Why Can't This Be Love
7. Runnin' With the Devil
8. When It's Love
9. Dancing in the Street
10.Not Enough
11.Feels So Good
12.Right Now
13.Everybody Wants Some!!
14.Dance the Night Away
15.Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love (Live)
16.Panama (Live)
17.Jump (Live)
The second greatest hits package in less than a decade — and, apart from the debacle that was Van Halen III, arriving in a period when the band hadn’t released any new material since the first hits set. Which begs the question: why not just put this out eight years earlier instead of that underwhelming single-disc retrospective? It would have rendered the earlier set completely unnecessary.
It’s a shame they didn’t, because this time they get it right. With two discs to work with, there’s space for nearly everything that made Van Halen great, from the Roth-era classics to the high points of “Van Hagar.” They even pull in a few selections from the live album — specifically, the three Roth-era tracks performed by the Hagar-led lineup — and wisely include the original versions here as well, so you get both flavors.
Like the first hits package, this one adds three new songs — all with Hagar. They’re fine. Nothing earth-shattering, but a significant improvement over the limp “new” tracks tacked onto Best Of, Volume 1.
And no, there’s nothing from Van Halen III. No one expected there would be, and no one missed it.
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