Get on this before the suits have it taken down.
Some Internet saint has done us all the favor of uploading four hours and ten minutes worth of Van Halen demos. This is seriously a treasure trove for any fan of David Lee Roth-era Van Halen. The demos range from 1974 to 1984, though some unconfirmed sources say the “Glitter” demo on here may actually be as early as 1973.
Prior to this, I had only ever heard the (fantastic) Gene Simmons-produced Zero demo and the 1977 Warner Brothers demo. This upload has all that and SO MUCH MORE.
What’s remarkable about these demos is the fact that Van Halen mined these early songs for all six of their albums with David Lee Roth. Whereas most bands will blow their wad on their first record, Van Halen seemed to be intentionally SAVING good songs for use on future albums.
The first three tracks, dubbed “the Glitter demos” are supposedly the earliest recordings of the band which were released to the Internet by davidleeroth.com in 1998, though there is some conjecture that the Paul Revere and the Raiders cover may have been recorded much later in Van Halen’s career.
The next four tracks are rumored to be from 1973, but are most likely from 1974 based on a review of the band’s timeline. One story says that when Michael Anthony joined the band on bass, they handed him this tape and told him to learn the songs. David Lee Roth plays guitar on the track “Angel Eyes.” The sound is somewhat rough on these.
The following seven tracks, ending with “Woman in Love,” are a band-produced demo recorded at an unknown location, possibly either the defunct Hound Dog Studios in Los Angeles or David Lee Roth’s basement.
The next twelve songs, from “On Fire” to “Runnin’ With the Devil,” are from the excellent Gene Simmons demo, which has been widely bootlegged under the title “Zero.”
The next 25 songs from “Let’s Get Rockin’” to “Happy Trails” are the 1977 Warner Brothers demo produced by Ted Templeman and Mo Ostin. This is the best version I’ve heard of these demos.
The five songs after that are from Pasadena Rehearsals from October 15, 1977.
The next nine songs are studio outtakes from the Women And Children First sessions.
Then follows some instrumental studio jam session outtakes from the 1984 sessions.
The entire thing rounds out with a couple of interviews and a goof-off session of the Van Halen members singing over the top of Nicolette Larson’s “Gonna Take a Lot of Love.”
According to the uploader, these are the time stamps of the various sessions:
“Glitter” demos (1973?) - 0:00:00
Cherokee Studios demo (1974) - 0:7:25
Dave’s basement? (1975-76) - 0:20:22
Gene Simmons/Zero (1976) - 0:47:37
Warner Brothers demo (1977) - 1:27:32
Pasadena rehearsals (1977) - 2:52:30
Women and Children First sessions (1980) - 3:06:16
1984 jam (1983) - 3:39:01
“79th and Sunset” from interview with David Lee Roth (1982) - 4:03:33
“Crossroads” cover from interview with Eddie Van Halen (1984) - 4:05:29
“Gonna Take a Lot of Drugs” with Dave and friends (unknown date) - 4:08:18
Seriously, get on this while you can: