Best Of – Volume I (Van Halen album)
Best Of – Volume I is the first greatest hits album by American hard rock band Van Halen, released in 1996.
The album does not contain any songs from the band's 1982 album Diver Down. Best Of – Volume I also features "Humans Being", the band's contribution to the Twister soundtrack. The two newly recorded songs, "Can't Get This Stuff No More" and "Me Wise Magic", at the end of the album are with original lead vocalist David Lee Roth. These two songs were released as singles to promote this compilation. They are also the last songs recorded by the original Van Halen lineup of Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen, Roth and Michael Anthony. The Van Halen brothers would not record again with Roth until the album A Different Kind of Truth, released in 2012. Anthony has not played with Van Halen since the band's 2004 tour.
Initial pressings of the album contained an alternate edit of "Runnin' with the Devil" where the verses, chorus and solos were arranged in a different order than that of the original album version. It was reported that this was accidental and subsequent pressings have replaced this version with the one found on Van Halen. However, some radio stations still play this erroneous version of the song.
The album itself, while not controversial, sparked a great deal of in-band controversy because of the personnel issues surrounding the band at the time. Sammy Hagar, who by this time had been a member of Van Halen for eleven years, equal to the amount of time as the previous lead vocalist, David Lee Roth, left the band in June 1996 due to a number of unclear circumstances. Some sources reported that Hagar was dissatisfied with the decision to issue a "greatest hits" collection, and was instead more inclined to do an entirely new album of new material. In either case, it was announced that Hagar had left the band and they began working with David Lee Roth on new material for inclusion on the disc. This was not to last, as Roth and Eddie Van Halen clashed publicly and the band once again was without a lead singer, before hiring Gary Cherone. All songs except "Humans Being", "Can't Get This Stuff No More", and "Me Wise Magic" are included on the band's subsequent greatest hits album The Best of Both Worlds.
Despite the aforementioned friction, the album went on to win Metal Edge magazine's 1996 Readers' Choice Award for "Best Hits or Compilation Album". Hagar shares the accolade with Roth, since the album features material from both singers. Also, the song "Humans Being" was voted "Best Song from a Movie Soundtrack".
Track listing
Personnel
Van Halen- David Lee Roth – lead vocals
- Sammy Hagar - lead vocals
- Eddie Van Halen - lead guitar, keyboards, backing vocals
- Michael Anthony - bass, backing vocals
- Alex Van Halen – drums, percussion
Production
- Glen Ballard – producer
- Bruce Fairbairn – producer
- Andy Johns – producer
- Mick Jones – producer
- Don Landee – engineer, producer
- Erwin Musper – engineer
- Ted Templeman – producer
- Van Halen – producer
Charts
Album
| Chart | Peak position |
| US Catalog Albums | 21 |
Singles
Billboard| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
| 1996 | "Humans Being" | Mainstream Rock Tracks | 1 |
| 1996 | "Me Wise Magic" | Mainstream Rock Tracks | 1 |
| 1997 | "Can't Get This Stuff No More" | Mainstream Rock Tracks | 12 |