If I have to rate it, it is easy a 5.0 out of 5.0 Stars despite the one bad seed in the bunch because it is tough to get a bootleg that sounds so good. This is easily one of my favorite bootlegs I own and I am starting to build up a nice collection of them and I hope I keep finding more. And I picked it up for only $25 so a pretty awesome value on top of that. The sound is impeccable (except “Bullethead”). Man, this is a blast of a listen and as far as bootleg demos go, this is one of the best I’ve had. This version was from a New Year’s Eve performance in 1978 at the Whiskey-a-Go-Go in West Hollywood, Ca. The final track on here is an extremely low-grade, rough as hell mix of “Bullethead” from the 2012’s ‘A Different Kind of Truth’. It is a completely different song, lyrically, but it has the bones and sound of “Mean Street”. The second bonus is “Voodoo Queen”, but you might know at it as “Mean Street” off ‘Fair Warning’. It is pretty cool to have something from that far back. First you get a cover of Davie Bowie’s “Jean Genie” live from Pasadena in 1976. Wait! There are three bonus tracks on this version of the demos. And that is all the Women and Children First demos. And finally we get the intro part to “Take Your Whiskey Home” and with Dave, no instrumental. It is another that is mostly the bass and drum mix with Eddie down low in the mix. Then we get an instrumental of “In A Simple Rhyme”. Side 2 kicks off with “Fools” and it starts off with the little Dave moment at the beginning before Eddie kicks in and turns it up a notch, the cool thing here is the lyrics aren’t final and Dave is all over the place with them except the chorus is in good shape. With no Dave, the song still kicks ass and nice to have one with Eddie more front and center even if it is mostly the rhythm section although at times he goes a little wild. And lastly on this side we get an instrumental of “Take Your Whiskey Home” minus the acoustic bit at the front. Eddie is ripping you a new asshole as they blow through this one. “Loss of Control” has some evil Dave cackling and more scatting. You can already feel the energy and vibe that this could be something special. It is missing the final Eddie tricks on the album version and Dave’s a little rough and not the same lyrics either as there is a little scatting, but it is a demo. Starts off totally different but still has Dave’s swagger. “Everybody Wants Some” is up next and quite different. Eddie is a little low in the mix, but what you hear is still his typical magic. This is another that seems to have the drum and bass mix higher than the guitar and there are some cool elements plus cool to focus on Michael Anthony and Alex Van Halen for a change. The “Unreleased Instrumental” is also known as “Act Like It Hurts”. “Romeo” is heavy on the bass and drums which really adds another dimension to the song especially with no Dave doing lyrics and no massive solo, but still a total treat. ![]() Then we get a couple instrumentals with “Romeo Delight” and “Unreleased Instrumental”. And you know, it was still totally cool to see a very early version of this song and you can already hear how special this track was. It doesn’t have the guitar solo or that full guitar sound at all and lastly it stops abruptly. Dave’s vocals go in and out a little, but the cool thing is the line “Have You Seen Junior’s Grades” is absent and has Dave mumbling some mumbo jumbo. It has a similar opening to the original and although the guitar isn’t that crisp, it is still impactful. The album kicks off with “And the Cradle Will Rock…”. The sound is crisp and clear and though they do sound like demos, they are also pretty damn cool. These demos have been floating around for awhile and they are normally very muddied down and a little rough. Being a bootleg, I was worried about the sound quality of the demos and let me tell you, it was fantastic. And after listening to it, I am still more excited. ![]() Now, I just bought several record store day items and I was way more excited about this album then the RSD purchases. I took it home and couldn’t wait to hear it. And to match the cover, the vinyl is even red to go with the stripes. They took the original album cover and made it way cooler. I grabbed it, give it a quick once over and when I saw that it was a bootleg of demos from the Van Halen album “Women and Children First”, SOLD!! I mean look at the cover. I stopped, looked around, no one else in the store heard it, but it said it, I know it did!! Now who was I to argue. I swear I heard it calling my name…”John, buy me!”. I was out for Record Store Day in September and while waiting in line to buy my RSD purchases, this was sitting at the top of the shelf staring at me.
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