Reply To: Eruption 1976 (pre-tapping) Whiskey a Go Go sbd 12/03/77

drjazz: So remind me, why is the magic Mt show not in October? It seems that the band had been polished by an outside party at this point. Or… were the warner demos recorded earlier? August perhaps?

You are going to get alot of answers soon enough in Greg’s book, so I’ll keep it simple. Listen to ATBL. At Magic Mountain it’s in it’s embryonic stage, arrangement-wise – clearly not the final arrangement you hear in October at the Civic. I’m not letting the cat out of the bag to say that the album was recorded before the Civic show, so MM was recorded before that, hence the August date making sense. Also, ATBL and Loss of Control were written after the demos were recorded, and most likely around the time of this:
The ATOMIC PUNKS: Van Halen’s 1977 Sunset Strip Caper

If you are really interested in all of this early VH info, you might want to start following Greg’s blog and reserve a copy of his book. It will be an eye opener for you.