Sorry for the snarky headline, I have much love for Van Halen. It's just some bands have a bunch of great stuff stashed and others put all the great stuff out. I've heard a bunch of Van Halen rarities and they were all pretty terrible, ranging from the band being off to the recording itself being awful. This release, at least most of it, is a pretty accurate representative of Van Halen back in the day.

In Southern California there used to be a backyard party scene. It's simple, find a backyard, a band, a couple kegs and charge people a few bucks to get in. I went to many of these. Van Halen played many of these and that's the subject of a new book.  The book is called, "Van Halen Rising-How A Backyard Party Band Saved Heavy Metal".  In celebration of that books release, this cover of a Kink's classic as performed by the band in 1976 was released. Enjoy.

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