July 9, 2004




As Sammy Hagar returns as the lead singer for Van Halen on its massive tour this summer, the most complete overview of his solo career on record showcases one of the most enthusiastic, energetic and exciting performers who has ever rocked a stage. THE ESSENTIAL RED COLLECTION is being released August 10, 2004. It features 20 selections, each digitally remastered from the original tapes, spanning 1973 to 1999 with all of Hagar's Top 40 pop hits plus trademark tracks and popular soundtrack contributions -- along with two previously unreleased '70s recordings, "Call My Name" and "Thinking Of You." Compiled with Hagar's full participation, THE ESSENTIAL RED COLLECTION brings together the best of the Red Rocker.

VHND.com is the first to show you the cover art. VanHalenStore.com is the only place currently taking orders for it. (See below).

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In the words of Sammy:

"My new anthology CD, "The Essential Red Collection" is coming out August 10th.

"Todd Gallopo, my designer on many wonderful things over the years, did an awesome job with the packaging. When you see it, you'll agree. For starters,it's got a lot of, um, RED in it. There's photos that are gonna blow your mind. The package will be printed on tree-free paper that's made without any cutting down of trees directly or indirectly. The stock is made with hemp/flax, post and pre-consumer waste and harvested wood.

"I found two tracks in the vault that were demos from when I left Montrose in '75. "Thinking of You" and "Call My Name" feature Denny Carmassi and Bill Church on the recordings. Never been released - until now.

"Here's the track listing. These have all been re-mastered and I'm here to tell ya, it sounds better than even I could have imagined.

(We have listed all the rare or unreleased songs in bold):

1. Bad Motor Scooter - Montrose (3:43)
2. Thinking Of You (pre-Capitol demo)
3. Call My Name (pre-Capitol demo)
4. Red (4:03)
5. I've Done Everything For You (3:03) - Rare studio version
6. Heavy Metal - from the soundtrack Heavy Metal (3:50)
7. I'll Fall In Love Again (4:10)
8. There's Only One Way To Rock (4:11)
9. Fast Times At Ridgemont High - from the Fast Times At Ridgemont High soundtrack (3:41)
10. Your Love Is Driving Me Crazy (3:30)
11. Two Sides Of Love (3:41)
12. I Can't Drive 55 (4:15)
13. The Girl Gets Around - from the Footloose soundtrack (3:22)
14. Winner Takes It All - from the Over The Top soundtrack (3:58)
15. Give To Live (4:21)
16. Eagles Fly (4:57)
17. High Hopes (4:51) - from Unboxed
18. Little White Lie (2:53)
19. Marching To Mars (5:09)
20. Mas Tequila (4:11)

"They say music snaps your head back into memories better than almost anything. I just finished listening to the masters on this and I gotta say, I just came back from one helluva ride, if ya know what I mean. I'm proud and excited at the way this all turned out and know you'll feel the same."

VanHalenStore.com is taking PRE-ORDERS for this CD, released on August 10th. If you order it now, they will charge your credit card & ship it on or before August 10th.

Their pre-order price is only $13.95. (Any other items, if ordered, will be shipped now, and you will not be charged any extra shipping costs for this to ship upon it's release).

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Sammy Hagar - the Essential Red Collection
VanHalenStore.com price $13.95
Release Date: Aug 10th