EU pressing features a different track listing to the US edition. Almost evenly split between tracks that feature glammy showman David Lee Roth and those that feature earthy screecher Sammy Hagar, BEST OF VOLUME I seems designed to let this pioneering hard-rock band's fans compare and contrast between it's two frontmen. As if to drive the exercise home, BEST OF features three tunes cut in '96-two of them with Roth, who had been estranged from the band since 1985, and one with Hagar ("Humans Being", originally released on the soundtrack to TWISTER). Otherwise, BEST OF presents the hits in chronological order, beginning with the unadorned, aggressive soundof the early Roth material. Powered by guitarist Eddie Van Halen's hammer-on notes and orchestral pyrotechnics, and lightened up by Roth's used-car-salesman-on-a-bender persona, "Ain't Talkin 'Bout Love" and "Runnin' with the Devil" are as close to pure, perfect hard rock as anyone is ever likely to come. The early '80s found the band incorporating synthesizers (played by Eddie) and a pop sensibility, resulting in mega hits like "Jump". Things changed again when Hagar replaced Roth and took the band further from it's roots, toward an expansive new sound with broader new arrangements, heard here in such pop hits as "Dreams" and "Right Now". Refusing to tip the balance toward either David Lee diehards or Sammy-come-latelys, BEST OF contains enough Van Halen milestones to keep anyone satisfied. It took over 20 years for Van Halen to release a Best of album, and even then, the band downplayed the effort. Instead sticking to the original plan of releasing a two-disc set--one of material with original front-man David Lee Roth, and the other with his 11-year replacement Sammy Hagar--the band opted for a single CD chronicling their entire career. For the previously uninitiated, it's a golden introduction to a band that changed the face of 1980s hard rock. Guitar-blazing old tracks like "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love", and "Dance the Night Away" segue into more commercial numbers like "Jump" and "Panama" from 1984. These in turn, set the stage for Hagar's slicker, more polished vocals on "Right Now" and "How Do I Know When It's Love". But while newcomers will be thrilled with the delights within, old fans will probably find little of use, since the two highly touted new tracks with Roth are pretty disposable. --Jon Wiederhorn