Van Halen Somebody Get Me A Doctor 1978 Demo

[usernamevince1]

I love the way Dave sings this! Always sounds like he's laughing!!!

[432b86ed]

Hmm, sounds like he's plugged up to wanna them transistorized amps built right into the guitar case. Hot digidy! If Mr. Simmons twirled the knobs on thier debut, Ed'd be livin in a double wide right now. Yikes! That was WAY too close for comfort... imho.

[0lyndonblainel0]

good!



[guitarslave]

I like this version; not as good as the original of course, but this sounds bad ass with the guitars multi-tracked.

[akibubba1]

interesting primordial version of this wonderful song - i like greener99's take on the wierd noise at 1:32-sounds logical (perhaps one of the sound engineers for VH !?)

[bornbrit777]

I have early Van Halen bar performances as well. The sound quality isnt that good but either respond or thumbs up if you'd be interested in hearing them

[Xpulsion2010]

@bornbrit777 Dude you need to put that up!

[Rock92Star]

The King :D

[badhorsee]

how can anyone say anyone other that DLR IS van halen

[veeaitch]

at least someone knows how to use ace's guitar lol

[mrtransam666]

sounds a lot like kiss...and i like kiss....but the final version of the song is so kick ass.... light years ahead of the basic kiss meets the beatles sound that the demo has.... i wonder if Gene Simmons should have let someone produce some Kiss songs, which NEVER can equal the raw power and timeless feel of all early VH. That said, I am glad Gene found these guys and shone the light on them!

[blorgensteen]

@mrtransam666

Hmmmmm...KISS being produced by Ted Templeman, now that would have been supremely cool.

[DisasterBlaster500]

@blorgensteen Joe Perry said Ted used to fall asleep at the console with a glass of carrot juice lol. I don't think that would have went over well with Gene and Paul.

[blorgensteen]

@DisasterBlaster500 Maybe, but Vini Poncia didn't do their game any good either. lol They should have stuck with Sean Delaney and/or Eddie Kramer, they did a lot of their best work, but Ezrin was no slouch either.

As for Paul Stanley doing the work on Sonic Boom, they should have gotten Kramer to do it.

[DisasterBlaster500]

@blorgensteen I think Paul had such a bad experience with Psycho Circus he figured it'd be best if he handled the production. I think Kramer would have worked out well. And you're right about Bob. It's too bad he was so into the drugs when they recorded The Elder.

[loftus5150]

Ok I know what happened

[nerdflanders8710]

that solo is fucking unbelievable

[rocknjerr]

Beyond excellent. Thank you for sharing this with the world.  I have wanted to hear the Simmons produced demo since Van Halen hit the circuit in '78.

[stratdem]

@rocknjerr van halen's first album was released world wide

febuary 10th 1978 and the world tour started march 11th 1978.

van halen II was released world wide march 1979

and the world tour started april 1979.

there 1978 and 1979 world tour's were simply mind blowing!

[Hunkola]

@stratdem --- VH recorded "VH II" in only six days!! That's mind-blowing in itself.....

[IAMSAM1234567890]

This is soooo funk like, the bass line and the guitar Christ on a cracker.

[glueforall]

1:14 on...the solo...amazing hybrid of old style / new style (right when Eddie started doing the tapping and harmonics)...cool triplet type harmonics toward the end...

[SuperJK29]

Sounds better than there album version

[NickMass35]

Thank god for Ted Templeton!

[SkillerGuyVids]

This is the better version..

[vrsca02]

@SkillerGuyVids I agree, Raw the way rock and roll should be! Not over produced!

[giuliopoli69]

Adoro i Van Halen, Sono cresciuto con loro!

[Deadsurfr]

I thought nothing came of the Gene thing?? Probably scared the shit out of him when it finaly sunk in. Van Halen was something nobody was ready for.

[bluesatsunset]

This is 1976.

[charvelguy]

1:32 is two solo takes combined and overlapped for a brief period.

[MrACvanDC]

i love this whole demo tape they did. i wonder if you can buy it anywhere.

btw what was with the pic of the squirrel at the end lol

[colelikeslespauls]

this is so raw and cool! the tone is much better than the reverb/phased sound, a lot thicker and fatter. plus the bass really adds to the overall rawness. very marshall/les paul sounding. reminds me of zeppelin kind of.

[1313motley1313]

@colelikeslespauls well, kiss uses marshalls and evh used kiss's equipment

[ThickDixie]

I love this demo- it sounds like they tuned to E standard as opposed to Eb on this track. Awsome find, thanks for posting etc.

[ACDCFan15Swe]

Before you talk shit about Gene Simmons you shoudl thank him for discovering Van Halen you ungrateful bastards

[kenroy916]

yes VH and kiss don't go well together at all how dare they throw that lame ass kiss shit on there in the beginning its like mixing neapolitan with pralines and creme fucking disgusting

[frankenstrat25]

because it was gene simmons who discovered VH

[nerdflanders8710]

typical wanked up seventies recording with the drums mixed out.

the reason led zep and vh were so popular was because the drums were the centre piece of the sound

[nerdflanders8710]

quite possibly the best vh song ever, the guitar solo absolutely rooocccccckkkksss.

[sydtull]

That opening riff is so Kiss.You can definitely tell Gene produced it.

[stonerumble]

yeah ..just so kiss..i can hear paul there haha..

[ginobasile]

I know Skynryd are cool. Sorry...

[ginobasile]

@scratch3223 what are you talking about? Sounds nothing like L.S. nor could they ever come close to the moghty VH!

It has a Kiss sound to it and its danceable which is what VH makes you do. Remember this came out in the disco era.

Runnin with the Devil is really their disco tribute song. I have Dave Roth saying that on tape from the Club Days. It's also a concept song.

[theShowStopper321]

Gene Simmons produced this

[Voodoochile316]

The bass never sounded this good on any of their albums

[ginobasile]

That's because Ted was running the show on the first 6. I too would have liked to have heard a deeper base end, however, they really wanted to push the guitar out front. It's a shame because M.A kicks ass! This version had Gene's influence. I believe that for some of the tracks EVH had to the Kissers equipment. It has a Kiss sound to it. That's why it sounds so big because of all the double tracking of the guitars and layers. Gene wanted EVH to do that. EVH didn't like overdubbing. Enjoy!

[DarthKazi]

Yeah... no kidding. The only way to really hear MA's bass is to pan right.

[donottawaguitar]

cooooooool!

[bosoxyaz8]

Is it wrong i just jacked off ? just sayin.

[ginobasile]

Guys this isn't 1978 its 1976...get it right!

[eddiehalenvan]

yeah damn right!!

[roblarosa]

@ginobasile - Exactly. The first VH album came out in '77, so why would there be a demo from '78?

[codyjt94]

you can hear the "kiss feel" to this song, really good demo

[osp80]

you can hear the kiss influence in this compared to the album version

[MetalChild96]

one of the best albums ever!!!

[LORDHATE76]

VH 1 and 2 and Fair Warning were there best.

[skyprop]

AGREED!! And I'll 5150 for the overall sound

[SnOrKaLBoY1996]

@LORDHATE76 woman and children first are cool too

[StokMine]

ya but i`m just saying there are 2 guitar tracks in it so you can`t really hear teh rest

[Hunkola]

Clearly a rough-cut demo from the early days........but anyone who listens to this can hear the pure genius that was about to become the Mighty Van Halen and change rock 'n roll forever.

[JoyGrenade]

Yeah, this is damn good for a demo.

[AtomicVHPunk]

This is my second favourite VH song!!

Feel Your Love Tonight is the best =D

[StokMine]

shitty recording, the guitar is way too loud, good song though

[199191]

Van Halen is about the guitar lol how is there too much?

[CribNotes]

This demo is hilarious...earlier than 1978. First album was already out by then. They haven't found their sound yet here. ROFL. They sound like any other corny 70's band. Amazing how they finally got that trademark VH sound and took over the world.

[JasonFuqua]

1:29 I haven't heard a solo that sounded like that in any corny 70's songs...

[AngusVanHendrixCo]

Great song!

[Hunkola]

It's true that Gene Simmons wanted to hire Eddie Van Halen to play in KISS...........until he found out that Eddie can actually play music.........and of course we all know that musical talent isn't a requirement to be in KISS.

[pigluvr456]

damn right

[jcramer5150]

.............Eddie begged Gene Simmons if he could join KISS because their guitarist was out from drug problems and shit. Gene declined and told Ed to stick with Van Halen.

[morceguetty]

gene simons is so fake !

[journeyquest1]

Ya gene simmons discovered that van halen was better than kiss. Somebody get me a nurse.

[journeyquest1]

You boob sure pulled alot of music from this site. Someones greed, Not mine I aint got nothing not.

[rowdymax1]

Gene Simmons discovered VH?

[peter1493]

theres two guitar tracks in the whole song. its kinda cool

[kmetfess]

It was that Poltergeist. It wanted to play along.

[loftus5150]

dude what the fuck happens at 1:32

[bornbrit777]

Dude, that is so weird. I never heard that or noticed it until you mentioned it. I have no clue.

[LinkBulletBill]

an overdub...

[adamthompsona]

@bornbrit777 i think its a ghost layer. and they didnt wanta do it over so they left it

[vhlvr]

@bornbrit777 Over-dubs like a sum' bitch

[JP88Hoy]

what is it?

[GIORGIO1995]

@bornbrit777 there are 2 guitars, that was doin' different things :D nice demo ^^

[JebBlack2010]

@bornbrit777 Doubled the solo track

[bairns4ever]

@bornbrit777 sounds like Eddie did two tracks of guitar, one panned left the other panned right. He copies it pretty much note for note till the start of the solo where the solo on the right goes into stratoswiddle for a bar or two. Most VH album tracks have just one guitar track till much later. Only guitar you can hear on the right on those is a little bit of reverb. Spot the subtle edit at 1.52.

[colelikeslespauls]

@loftus5150 they sync two guitars shredding

[darthvaderyoda]

@loftus5150 oh you mean the overdubs? its a thing Tony Iommi did, you play one part, then record another part over the first part.

[nextbestguitarist]

@loftus5150 I guess im being nieve i dont hear anything... all i hear is a dive bomb and the solo with the right ear solo being played faster than the left.

[nerdflanders8710]

@loftus5150 your mama starts playing.

[nerdflanders8710]

@loftus5150 yo mama jumps on the guitar for a bit

[theShowStopper321]

@loftus5150 2 guitar solos overdubbed

[rscrocker]

@loftus5150 - two16th notes on a tom then a cymbal grab? Just a bad fill into the solo, unless there's something I'm not hearing.

[nerdflanders8710]

@loftus5150 somene spilt peanut butter on the tape

[rnrmustang]

@loftus5150 I would say eddie was trying to do what tony iommi does and play the exact same solo twice and failed a little bit lol

[SuperGuitarNerd]

@loftus5150 It's obviously some kinda overdub from another take. Whether it was intentionally left in the mix or not is kinda unclear though...

[greener99]

@loftus5150 it's 2 solo tracks, one in the left channel and one in the right, played on the fly, in realtime. It would have sounded wierder if they cut one of them off. -cheers

[greener99]

it's 2 solo tracks, one in the left channel and one in the right, played on the fly, in realtime. It would have sounded wierder if they cut one of them off. -cheers

[shrill99]

@loftus5150 Sounds like an overdub...

[dudewinky]

GREAT!!!