So the new Van Halen single Tattoo is finally out and some fans are saying it sounds like an old song they used to play live in the 70’s, but never recorded. The song is called Down in Flames and I’ve got a video of the band performing the tune in 1977 below and judge for yourself if Tattoo is a rewrite of the earlier tune.

Meanwhile former Van Halen singer Sammy Hagar says the new record is composed largely of old Van Halen music from before he joined the band.  He said the guys “took old stuff from previous sessions, and then maybe Dave [Lee Roth] had to go in and add vocals because they just had scratch vocals or even no vocal part.”  Well he’s right about at least one song. A tune called “She’s the Woman,” that was the only previously unrecorded song the band performed at their Café Wha show case for the press last week originally appeared on the band’s 1976 demo, the tape that got the group their deal with Warner Bros. 

The new Van Halen album “A Different Kind of Truth”comes out on February 7th.