Customer Reviews

Essential Red Collection

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Finally, forgotten hits ("Your Love Is Driving Me Crazy") and several soundtrack gems (i.e. "The Girl Gets Around" from Footloose) included on a Best of Sammy CD. This 20-track single disc takes you chronilogically thru Sammy's career from Montrose ("Bad Motor Scooter") to the present day ("Mas Tequila.") As others have pointed out, there is no Van Halen here. That's OK, I think the emphasis here is clearly on Sammy's solo work. There is a new 2-disc, remastered, best of VH package in stores now. Go get that: I did. For his solo work, this is your ticket. Remastering is great. Sound quality excellent. My only complaint is I wish it would have featured one HSAS track. (Don't know what HSAS is? Search "Through The Fire" for the best band you've never heard of.)

Sammy Hagar got his big break in the early seventies as lead singer for "Montrose", a hard hitting no holds barred rock band founded by guitar wiz Ronnie Montrose. After several albums (the self titled "Montrose" & "Paper Money") Hagar left Montrose to pursue a solo career. He was extremely successful releasing numerous hits "Turn Up The Music", "Cruisin' And Boozin'", "Trans Am (Highway Wonderland)", "You Make Me Crazy", and "Red" to name a few. This latest collection focuses mostly on Hagar's eighties material with "Red", "I've Done Everything For You", "Thinking Of You" (previously unreleased), "Call My Name" (previously unreleased) and "Bad Motor Scooter" (from Montrose) representing his seventies output. Hagar continued his success in the eighties with such hits as "There's Only One Way To Rock", "I'd Fall In Love Again", "Your Love Is Driving Me Crazy", and "I Can't Drive 55" as well as "Heavy Metal" (from the film of the same name) and "Fast Times At Ridgemont High" (from the film of the same name) to name a few. There are four songs on this collection from Hagar's nineties output with "High Hopes", "Little White Lie", "Marching To Mars" and "Mas Tequila". Granted there are some deletions from this collection ("Three Lock Box" and "I Don't Need Love" for starters) but this collections surpasses his 1994 "Unboxed" hits cd. The remastering is excellent with crisp highs, increased bass and midrange. Hagar is still going strong, back as vocalist of Van Halen (even though that band went thru a period of vocalist changes). He hasn't aged much in some thirty years or so and is still considered one of the world's "oldest teenagers". Highly Recommended!

THE BAND: Sammy Hagar (vocals, guitars), and a list of others appearing on assorted albums here including Ronnie Montrose (guitar), Bill Church (bass), Denny Carmassi (drums), David Lauser (drums), Jesse Harms (keyboards), Vic Johnson (guitar), Eddie Van Halen (guitar, bass), Mona Gnader (bass).

THE DISC: (2004) 20 tracks clocking in at just under 79 minutes. Included with the disc is a 14-page booklet containing song titles/credits, which songs came from what albums, pictures, and brief intros from fellow rocker Ted Negent and Rolling Stone Magazine's Scott Schinder. This collection follows his solo career from 1974-1999 (including one song from Montrose in '73). Digitally remastered sound. Label: Hip-O Records / Universal.

ALBUM REPRESENTATION: Montrose (1 song), Sammy Hagar (1), Standing Hampton (2), Three Lock Box (1), VOA (2), I Never Said Goodbye (2), Unboxed (1), Marching To Mars (2), Red Voodoo (1), Unreleased (2), B-Side (1), Movie Soundtracks - (4) from Heavy Metal, Footloose, Over The Top and Fast Times At Ridgemont High.

COMMENTS: Sammy Hagar is a success story whether you want to admit it or not. Debuting with the now classic Montrose in 1973; a solid solo career; several movie soundtrack songs; a decade stint with one of the best rock bands ever in Van Halen; followed by more creative solo work; countless guest appearances on other rock albums; sitting in with the Emeril "Live" TV show house band on the Food Network in 2005; a rocking party club in Cabo San Lucas; topped off with his own brand of blue tequila. Sammy loves the color RED and fast cars to go with it. This album, "The Essential Red Collection", is the single finest testiment to the man. This is the best one disc greatest hits package out there from Hagar. "Essential Red" covers his most popular hits ("I Can't Drive 55", "Heavy Metal", "I'll Fall In Love Again", "Give To Live", "Bad Motor Scooter", "There's Only One Way To Rock", etc) along with some hidden gems from movies (the best being the title track from "Fast Times At Ridgemont High"). There are several albums (now hard to find and some are now imports only) that have no songs represented here (i.e. "Danger Zone", "Not 4 Sale", "Street Machine", Nine On A Ten Scale", "Ten 13", "Musical Chairs", etc)... most of these were in the mid-to-late 1970's and early 80's. As classic as this collection is, I'd have to admit a few songs are missing (making me believe a 2 disc collection was absolutley necessary)... most noteably "Three Lock Box", "When The Hammer Falls", "Rock Candy" (Montrose), "Top Of The Rock" (HSAS with Neil Schon, 1983), and anything from his Van Halen days (I'm sure there were many legal issues here). The remastered sound is crisp and it makes all the songs here sound like they were recorded last month. The only bad thing here is that it's not long enough. Sammy has stood the test of time - and this "Red" collection rocks (5 stars).

Nearly every band/artist has more compilation/greatest hits releases than necessary: Zep, Queen, Elton John, U2, etc...its just the way of the world these days. It's your choice to buy them or not...there's no need to continually whine about it...just don't buy them!

If you like Sammy Hagar and don't mind parting with a MEASLY 12 bucks, just buy the damn CD! I myself own a fair amount of Hagar material, 'Unboxed' included, but so what. This CD is remastered, it has a different collection of songs that I like, and that's enough for me to reward Sammy with a few bucks for the musical enjoyment he's given me over the years.

This is SAMMY HAGAR, not VH...if you want VH...go buy a VH CD, just stop crying about this CD not having any VH material...it's SAMMY HAGAR!! Perhaps there are contractual reasons between the artists and record companies that prohibit combining the two? Doesn't matter, you should concern yourself with what it is...not what it isn't, and stop pouting like little girls.

This is a great CD...highly recommended, especially to those who don't know much about Sammy...it's truly worth checking out...you won't be disappointed!

I strongly recommend this CD.
The remastered sound is phenomenal! Even if you already own "Unboxed" or any other of Sammy's older stuff, you *have* to hear this disc. It blows everything else away.
20 songs for twelve bucks, are you kidding me?
Buy it now, you won't regret it.

The basically took the best of Unboxed and threw in a Montrose track, two unreleased, and all of his movie contributions. They've almost got it right, but a two CD set is what Hagar really deserves.

I have been a huge Hagar fan since Standing Hampton came out. Someone stated that this set needed some VH stuff because those were his more popular years... well I say bunk. When someone wants to talk about the "Essential" collection of an artist or band it is my belief that it should be put out for that purpose and that purpose only, i.e. essential Sammy for Sammy stuff, and Essential VH for VH stuff. Sammy was much better in his days before VH and there is a lot of stuff missing from those days. If someone wanted to put together a reall "Essential Red Collection" it should be in the form of a box set. There are numorous titles missing from this set.... Two sides of love, Three lock box, Baby's on fire, Can't get loose, Trans Am, This Planet's on fire, Plain Jane, Love or money, Turn up the music, The Iceman, the HSAS (Hagar, Schon, Arinson, and Shreiv) stuff, Top of the Rock and Missing you. I'm sure there are others that I haven't mentioned that are still missing, and there are the other one's mentioned in other reviews before mine. I am glad to see the soundtrack titles and see them as plus to this collection. The reason for only three stars is it's hard to give Sammy a bad rap, but again the soundtrack titles helped bring the rating up as well. Let's see the record companies or Sammy, or whoever is responsable for the scams of all the "Best of" releases do the real fans a favor and put together an awesom box set. Maybe include some old live stuff as well.

I won this CD off the radio, but was planning on buying it - and it is worth the price, even though I have all of Sammy's CDs. There are two new tracks. If you're an old Sammy fan, you'll recognize the demo of "Rock and Roll Romeo" on this CD, which has a different title and lyrics. What I love about the CD is it takes you from the beginning to the present, and it also includes all the songs previously just on soundstracks such as "Girl Gets Around", "Fast Times" and "Over The Top". As a true "Redhead" this should be in your collection.

When it comes to the band Van Halen, I may be in the minority when I say that I feel they became a better band when Sammy Hagar was brought in to replace David Lee Roth as the lead vocalist. When it comes to showmanship, David Lee Roth would be a tough act to follow. However Sammy Hagar brought something else to the table - the all-around quality of musicianship. It was that musicianship that elevated Van Halen to even greater heights of creativity. It was that same musicianship that could not be replaced when Gary Cherone was later brought into Van Halen to replace Hagar. I subscribe to the notion that sometimes the best thing for a mature band is to bring in an outsider to join the band. It gives the band fresh ideas and a new perspective. I look at the case of the Rolling Stones bringing Ron Wood in. Ron Wood did much more than play Bass, he became a significant contributor to the band. To me Sammy Hagar, like him or not injected some new life into the Van Halen band and became a significant contributor much like Wood did for the Stones Hagar doesn't just sing, he'll contribute to the songwriting and production of the effort of Van Halen. Like Ron Wood, Sammy Hagar had already proven himself to be an accomplished musician. This album, "Sammy Hagar: The Essential Red Collection" provides great insight into not just Sammy's pre Van Halen days - but Sammy's entire career outside of Van Halen.

One thing that amazes me is that "The Essential Red Collection" is a single CD of 20 tracks comprising 78 minutes of music. You certainly are going to get value on this CD. For the most part, "The Essential Red Collection" is going to focus on Sammy's 1980s and 1990s solo career. It also contains some of the Soundtrack work that Sammy has done. There are also two unreleased tracks and a track he did with his previous band Montrose.

It is also worth noting there are other compilations out there. When considering "The Essential Red Collection", it probably pays to compare and contrast what this has to offer.

"Rematch": This was a greatest hits compilation that was released in 1982. While it does contain songs that are on "The Essential Red Collection" ("Red", "I've Done Everything for You", and a live version of Montrose's "Bad Motor Scooter"), it also contains a lot of Hagar's 70s work that is not included on "The Essential Red Collection". Albums such as "Nine on a Ten Scale", "Musical Chairs", and "Street Machine" are not represented on "The Essential Red Collection" but are found on this collection.

"Best of Sammy Hagar (Capital Records)": Released in 1992, this is another collection that compliments "The Essential Red Collection". The same three songs overlap this collection that overlap "Rematch" ("Red", "I've Done Everything for You", and "Bad Motor Scooter"). This covers Sammy's work while with Capital Records before moving to Geffen Records. The big difference between this "Best of" and "Rematch" is that "Best of" includes Sammy's cover of Otis Redding's "(Sittin On) The Dock Of the Bay". Sadly, this cover was omitted from "The Essential Red Collection".

"Unboxed": This collection was released in 1994 and covers Sammy's work with Geffen records. There is no overlap between "Unboxed" and the two Capital Records compilations ("Rematch" and "Best of"). Most of the songs on "Unboxed" are included on "The Essential Red Collection". The four songs that are not included on "The Essential Red Collection" are "Buying My Way into Heaven", "Baby's On Fire", "Three Lock Box", and "I Don't Need Love".

Despite many of the songs that are in some of these older compilations that aren't included, "The Essential Red Collection brings some unique things:
- It is the only Sammy Hagar compilation that bridges his Capital Records work with his Geffen Records work.
- It is the only collection that includes Soundtrack work that Sammy has done - "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" (title song); "The Girl Gets Around" (from Footloose), and "The Winner Takes it All" (from "Over The Top").
- It includes two unreleased tracks from the early 1970s: "Thinking of You" and "Call My Name"
- It includes three songs from his 1990s work "Little White Lie", "Marching to Mars", and "Mas Tequila"

One thing I like is when a greatest hits collection arranges its tracks in chronological order. This allows me to see how the artist has progressed over time. Even though there are some "gaps" in "The Essential Red Collection" (Sammy's late 1970s work and his Van Halen days), it is still a very good thing that the tracks have been arranged chronologically. This still gives some sense of how Sammy's career has evolved.

Most importantly though - "The Essential Red Collection" truly will entertain you. Each of the tracks does a great job at showcasing Sammy's talents. This reaffirmed my theory that it was Sammy Hagar that took a group like Van Halen to the next level.

The liner notes truly do justice to this compilation. In addition to the CD packaged in a unique Red tinted jewel case, there are lots of "extras". Ted Nugent writes some introductory words. Scott Schinder writes a terrific biographical sketch of Hagar - focusing on his solo career. Finally each of the tracks are listed with their songwriters (mostly Hagar), production credits, and most importantly - what album each of the songs came from. Overall, this is a terrific snapshot of Hagar's career. If you aren't familiar with his work outside of Van Halen, this is the collection to get. You can always compliment it with the "Rematch" or "Best of" collection to get some of the earlier work. The only negative I can think of his the exclusion of "(Sittin On) The Dock Of the Bay". Otherwise, a highly recommended collection.

Before I review this, I do have a question: If one is not a fan of Sammy Hagar or doesn't care for his work, why bother reviewing a Greatest Hits album? $50 bucks says they only looked at the song listings and didn't even purchase the CD. If you don't like Sammy, why waste your time?

That boggles my mind.

If I had my druthers, this would have been at least a two cd release. As my title states, too many songs to choose from. That said, this is still an excellent compilation.

For Hagar fans anywhere (And yes folks, there are P-L-E-N-T-Y of us), I can't imagine any one of them throwing this CD in their car and saying: This sucks or I was jipped.

Surely I can see a fan reviewing this and being disappointed that their favs didn't make the cut and as a result, their review might lose a star.

But to those who enjoy the Red Rocker, it's what DIDN'T make it on here that is the disappointment. Not what did.

Great stuff Sammy.

Hawk