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The first ten songs on this disc consist of a full-length demo Van Halen recorded in 1977 to get a record deal (whether it's the demo that got them signed to Warner Bros is open to question). The remaining six songs are from a live show recorded at the Pasadena Hilton a year earlier. What they reveal is fascinating, as nearly all the songs on the demo consist of riffs that would turn up on various albums all the way through 1984. Only two songs would make it onto a Van Halen album virtually unchanged (three if you count "Happy Trails"): "Show Your Love" ended up on the first album under the title "I'm the One" with a few cosmetic changes, and "Little Dreamer" is identical to the version on Van Halen. In most cases, however, the demo versions amount to more than just a different arrangement of riffs. More often than not, Eddie Van Halen proves his songwriting prowess by using the riffs as a jumping-off point for a vibe completely different from the tunes that would eventually boast those same themes. The track listing for the live set is a bit misleading, which is understandable when you hear the manner in which David Lee Roth drunkenly stumbles in and out of songs with reckless abandon. It's a wonder the band manages to reign him in long enough to complete the songs that they do. Of the covers, "Jean Genie" is probably the most interesting, as the song up until the first chorus is a totally different arrangement than the Bowie version. Note also that this version of "Women in Love" is a totally different song from the one that would surface on Van Halen II. Sound quality is excellent considering the age and rarity of this material, though there is some understandable tape hiss and occasional dropouts.
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