Album · 2004

The Essential Red Collection

The Essential Red Collection is a 2004 arena rock album by Sammy Hagar. It runs 20 tracks across 79 minutes on Geffen Records.

Arena Rock · Hard Rock · Heavy Metal

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20
Tracks: 79 min
Runtime: 132 bpm
Tempo: E major
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When it comes right down to it, Sammy Hagar doesn't have all that many hits -- he's hit the Billboard charts about 30 times as a solo artist since leaving Montrose in the late '70s, and about ten of those are ones that you'd want to hear again, particularly when you take into account that such classic anthems as "Three Lock Box," "I've Done Everything for You," and "Heavy Metal" didn't hit the charts, but covers of "A Whiter Shade of Pale" and "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" and latter-day nonentities like "Serious Ju Ju" actually did. In other words, it seems like it'd be pretty easy to put together a definitive single-disc collection of his solo work, even if you threw in Montrose's "Bad Motor Scooter" for good measure because, let's face it, that was a Sammy cut anyway. Previous compilations like Unboxed or The Best of Sammy Hagar were constrained by label restrictions, since they only featured songs from his Geffen and EMI recordings, respectively, but Hip-O's 2004 effort The Essential Red Collection was supposed to solve this problem by cross-licensing between the two labels, and adding "Bad Motor Scooter," too.

Alas, it falls short of being definitive, lacking such staples as "Cruisin' and Boozin'," "Baby's On Fire," "I Don't Need Love," and, worst of all, "Three Lock Box," whose absence is even more glaring considering that the immortal lyric "Suckers walk/Money talks" is highlighted in the liner notes. In their place is a handful of lesser-known, latter-day post-"Give to Live" hits, plus two unreleased cuts from 1974, which, as collector bait goes, aren't bad, but their presence eats up space that would have been better served by real hits. Nevertheless, this is the closest listeners have come to a definitive Sammy collection, and if you have this, along with either Unboxed or The Best of Sammy Hagar, you sure could compile a killer play list for your iPod. But some won't want to work that hard, and would have preferred it if The Essential Red Collection did all the legwork, not just because all of the hits would be in one place, but because it'd be a better comp for it. Final note: when you look at the cover, please remember that there's only one pickup on Sammy's guitar because there's only one way to rock.

In brief

When was The Essential Red Collection released?: The Essential Red Collection was released in 2004 on Geffen Records.
How many tracks are on The Essential Red Collection?: The Essential Red Collection has 20 tracks, with a runtime of 79 minutes.
What genre is The Essential Red Collection?: The Essential Red Collection is catalogued under Arena Rock, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal.
What BPM is The Essential Red Collection?: The Essential Red Collection runs at a median tempo of 132 BPM across its tracks, most often in E major, measured from audio analysis.
What albums are similar to The Essential Red Collection?: Listeners of The Essential Red Collection also rate Greatest Hits by Night Ranger, The Collection II by Van Halen, Balance by Van Halen.