Van Halen - '77 + Live

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 Brothers is open to question). The remaining six 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. Read More