COMPACT DISCS : Excellent Good Fair Poor

“1984.” Van Halen. Warner Bros. CD technology doesn’t add much to this collection, released in late 1983. It sounds a little less muddy at high volume but for this kind of music, that’s not necessarily a good thing. CD clarity takes a bit of the bluster out of the band’s seamy rock ‘n’ roll. “Jump,” with its barrage of synthesizer highs, fares best here, but this isn’t a real Van Halen tune anyway. In general this package, singer David Lee Roth’s finale with the band, isn’t as raunchy as it could be. Who needs tame Van Halen?