Former Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony spoke about the upcoming deluxe edition of fifty one fifty, the band’s first album with vocalist Sammy Hagar. In a new interview with Matt Bingham of the Z93 radio station, he was asked if he is involved in putting the Van Halen reissues together.
Michael said that longtime engineer Donn Landee handled mixing for the Van Halen reissues. He explained that the record company usually proposes ideas for the releases, and the band members review them, approving or rejecting suggestions. While much of the process is driven by marketing decisions, Michael said they still give their input, mainly based on what they feel sounds right.
“Well, you know what? We have our longtime old engineer, Donn Landee, went in and mixed stuff. Basically, you let the record company and everybody, they got their ideas and they throw stuff at us, and then we go, ‘yeah’, ‘no’, ‘yeah’, ‘no’. ‘Oh, we love that.’ ‘No.’ And we throw our two cents in. Because a lot of it is marketing and whatever, and I’m not good at any of that. I’m just good at knowing what I hear and see. We definitely throw our two cents in when it comes to that.”
Michael Anthony said hearing old, previously unreleased Van Halen material can make him nostalgic. He admitted he rarely listens to albums like O you ate one two or fifty one fifty, but when he does hear a few songs, it often leads him to revisit and play through much of the band’s catalog.
“Yes, because I don’t listen to — a lot of the stuff I won’t listen to. Let’s say an album like ‘OU812’ or ‘5150’, I haven’t listened to it in a long time, and then all of a sudden you hear a couple of songs and then the next thing I know I’m going through our whole catalog, playing stuff.”
“The Best Of All Worlds” will return to Dolby Live at Park MGM for 11 performances from March 11th to 21st and September 18th to 26th, 2026.
