Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Gimme a bottle of anything!, April 23, 1999
By A Customer
Okay, so the choice is between picking up this collection or the individual albums. No contest. While Eat 'Em is a classic (arguably some of the best music in Dave's career), his career (and singing) afterwards became more and more misguided and off-course. While - for the most part - the essential songs are here, some are missing. And, considering what was chosen instead in some cases, well... Herein are the problems: From Crazy from the Heat: "Coconut Grove" - featuring some of Dave's most affecting singing - is the only song missing from that EP here. Instead, "Easy Street". Blah. Eat 'Em: It would've been fun to have "I'm Easy" or "That's Life". I guess he figured he covered that territory with "Just a Gigolo". Rats. Skyscraper: I'll never figure out why he chose not to include "Damn Good". Especially in favor of the embarrassment "Hot Dog and a Shake". Damn it, Dave, how much grass did you smoke the week you made that decision? The rest is okay aside from "It's Showtime!" (see above). "Sensible Shoes" is outstanding. Where's the cover of "Night Train" from "Filthy"? My other lament is the lack of liner notes...coulda been better, but I guess it's the best we're gonna get.
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17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Almost gets it right, October 11, 2005
1997 saw the release of David Lee Roth's first ever compilation, "The Best."
Before leaving Van Halen, David Lee Roth scored a huge hit with his cover EP "Crazy from the Heat" (1985). With a few hit singles under his belt, and unable to get along with the Van Halen brothers, Roth set his sights on a solo career.
Dave's early solo career was good to him. Teaming up with Steve Vai (guitar) and Billy Sheehan (bass), the Diamond One released the classic "Eat `Em and Smile" (1986). And although Dave's solo career started to dewind with "Skyscraper"(1988) it was still a platinum hit.
Commercially speaking, David Lee Roth lived and died in the 80s. The quintessential 80s frontman, who served as the blueprint for all other 80s rockers, simply couldn't find an audience in the 1990s. It's a shame to. Dave's first post Vai/Sheehan album "A Little Ain't Enough," featuring guitarist Jason Becker, is regarded by many of Dave's fans to be his best work. "Your Filthy Little Mouth" (1994), with guitarist Terry Kilgore, is a fine piece of music-one of the most musically diverse and interesting albums I have ever heard. But the album was virtually ignored upon its release.
Because Dave's solo career hit the skids in the early `90s, it would be easy for Rhino to exclude many of Roth's later day solo cuts, thus botch up a Dave's greatest hits. Fortunately, although it is skewed towards the early solo outings, "The Best" does a pretty good job at compiling Dave's best work.
If you are just a casual fan and want only the big hits, "The Best" is all you'd ever need to own and more. "The Best" not only has all of Dave's biggest hits ("Just a Gigolo", "California Girls," "Yankee Rose," "Just Like Paradise"), it also has most essential album cuts from "Eat `Em and Smile" and "Skyscraper." While a case could be made to exclude certain songs in favor of others (why no "Damn Good?"), "The Best" offers a good representation of Roth's early solo material.
Roth's later day material, however, is not as well represented. I can understand why the record label would choose to skew the collection in favoring more songs from the earlier works, which, after all, were far more commercially successful. However, most of the songs selected from "A Little Ain't Enough" and "Your Filthy Little Mouth" are the albums weaker cuts. A lot of great songs-"40 Bellow," "Baby's on Fire," "Sunburn," "Your Breathin' it," from the later day albums would have been preferable to the mediocre "Sensible Shoes" and the okay but not great "Land's Edge," among others.
As another reviewer mentioned, if you are a Dave fan, try to pick up all of his albums. You'll discover a lot of cool material that's not found here. If, however, you're just a casual fan and want only the big hits and best songs from the Vai/Sheehan era, "The Best" should be just what you're looking for.
The songs are not sequenced chronologically. While that may be an irritant to some, I find it makes for a more interesting listen.
The new song, the bluesy "Don't Piss Me Off" is really cool. It is somewhat reminiscent of "Ice Cream Man."
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
this needs to be put back out great album, November 12, 2004
this is a great compilation of david lee roths solo work. This has been put out of print. This album needs to be out back out and marketed the right way. there are great tunes like she`s my machine and a little aint enough that were great rockin tunes. This deserves to be out there for future generations to enjoy
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
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4.0 out of 5 stars
HMMMMMMM....................
I am absolutely a David Lee Roth fan. I have all his regularly released CDs, imports, CD singles, guitar tab books, posters, live bootlegs, t-shirts, baseball hats, videos,...
Read more
Published on April 18, 2002 by J. Gunoskey
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~ David Lee Roth
~ David Lee Roth
~ David Lee Roth
~ David Lee Roth
~ David Lee Roth
by David Lee Roth 
