Back in the mists of time, well 1976 to be precise, Van Halen were just another struggling band trying to make it in Pasadena, and the occasional foray into Hollywood where the band had a decent local following. Gene Simmons claims he found them whilst playing one of these shows, and offered to record a demo with the band and he would shop it to labels. Of course, he had a slight ulterior motive as he saw the hot shot guitar player as a replacement for Ace, who Kiss were having a few problems with at the time.
The most interesting thing about these demos, as well as listening to the original versions of these songs before Ted Templeman waved his magic, is that Eddie hadn’t yet evolved the tapping technique fully yet. First track, On Fire, is not far off from the version you here on the first album. Woman In Love, although having the same title, is nothing like the version that would end up on VH2. House In Pain, as we all know, had a slight name change to House Of Pain and would finally make it on to 1984. I actually really like this version. The other thing you notice is that way back in ’76, they had tunes nearly fully formed that would not make it to album some 8 years later. Runnin’ With The Devil is not too different from the first album, even Ed’s solo. She’s The Woman is the last track on the first side and would not make it to an album until A Different Kind Of Truth, and again, is nearly all there and this version is better imho.
Side 2 carries on with Let’s Get Rockin’ that was never fully released – except for a couple of snippets. Big Trouble is another tune that wasn’t released, and it’s not up to the band’s usual standard, but it does have an interesting middle section with some great guitar. Somebody Get Me a Doctor is just about complete structure wise, but would benefit huge from Templeman’s magic. Babe Don’t Leave Me Alone is just a straight up 70’s American rock song, that bands like Angel would put out. Last track is Put Out The Lights and is just another ok tune.
In my opinion, there is still enough great tunes on here to have got the band a deal at the time. No record company bothered until Ted Templeman saw them nearly two years later, by which time Ed had the full arsenal of tricks.
8/10 from The Grooveman.
