I should be upfront about the fact that I have never been a fan of Sammy Hagar. I think it goes back to when he joined Van Halen, and I just preferred David Lee Roth. My dislike for Hagar really had nothing to do with with his ability, just written off as a preference. I wasn't even a big Van Halen fan when this was going on, I didn't become much of a music fan until I was well into high school. But at the same time, whenever a Hagar song, usually "I Can't Drive 55," I couldn't help but turn it up. But I guess that's enough backstory from me, let's take a look at this album, which also serves as a true introduction to Hagar's non-Van Halen output.
Hip-O Records released this career spanning compilation on August 10,2004. It covers Sammy's entire solo career, thankfully avoiding his Van Halen career, which has had enough coverage on their Best of albums. It does include one song from his time with Montrose, "Bad Motor Scooter." Also included are two tracks which were previously unreleased that were recorded back in the 1970's, "Thinking of You" and "Call My Name." There are also songs that were soundtrack submissions for movies such as Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Footloose, and Over the Top. The album comes to a close with "Mas Tequila" from 1999 featuring his current backup band, the Waboritas. Altogether there are twenty songs to put in your car's CD player, turn up, and cruise to.
When I first popped this disk in the player I wasn't sure if I was going to like it or not. I was steadfastly hanging onto my old preconceptions regarding Hagar. To say I was surprised to find myself enjoying it is an understatement. This album is full of great rock songs. It is a road album if there ever was one. It plays great in that car setting, you know, getting on an open highway, rolling down the windows, turning the stereo up and just drive wherever the road will take you. I don't think I could really pick a favorite song from this set, although it would probably be "I Can't Drive 55" or "There's Only One Way to Rock," although Montrose's "Bad Motor Scooter" is another great song. The unreleased tracks offer some insight to Hagar's early sound when he was just being signed.
Article comments
1 - Mark Saleski
i wasn't a fan of Sammy when he joined Van Halen.
but...i had seen him as a solo act way the heck back in 1978 or so as the opening act for Boston (touring on Don't Look Back).
he put on a rockin' show. they've reissued a live record from that era (though it's been renamed) called Loud & Clear.
strangely, Sammys other guitar player at the time, Gary Phil, went on to play with Boston (it their later, lamer years).
oh, and he makes great tequila.
2 - Mark Saleski
p.s. how they left off the Montrose song "Rock Candy" is beyond me
3 - Chris
I think they were trying to focus just on Sammy's solo career, and just chose Bad Motor Scooter to represent those early years before giving their main focus to solo stuff.
4 - Matt Wardlaw
they did an admirable job of collecting 20 tunes from Hagar on one disc. Very surprised to see Three Lock Box left off this one.