DAVID LEE ROTH Shares Newly Recorded Version Of VAN HALEN's 'Unchained'

David Lee Roth has shared a new solo version of the VAN HALEN classic "Unchained". The new recording, like the previously released "Everybody Wants Some!!", "You Really Got Me", "Dance The Night Away", "Panama" and "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love", was laid down on May 3, 2022 during a session at Henson Recording Studio in Hollywood, California. Joining Roth in the studio were Al Estrada on guitar, Ryan Wheeler on bass and Francis Valentino on drums. A total of 14 songs were recorded in two hours. The music and the vocals were tracked live with "no samples" and without the pitch-correction technology Auto-Tune.

Roth's version of "Unchained" comes seven months after he shared a previously unheard solo recording from 2007, "Nothing Could Have Stopped Us Back Then Anyway", in which he looked back nostalgically on his days in VAN HALEN. The latter song was recorded in 2007 with guitarist John 5 and drummer Gregg Bissonette for an album that never came out.

Back in 2020, Roth included five previously unreleased songs in The Roth Project, an online comic narrated by the legendary VAN HALEN singer, with music from John 5 on guitar and bass, Bissonette on drums, Brett Tuggle on keyboards, and Luis Conte on percussion. The tracks "Giddy-Up!", "Somewhere Over The Rainbow Bar And Grill", "Alligator Pants", "Lo-Rez Sunset" and "Manda Bala" were recorded at Henson Recording Studios in Hollywood, California.

Four years ago, Roth was asked by Meltdown of the Detroit radio station WRIF if his LP with John 5 will be made available at some point. He responded: "It will. There's been a revision of things, and I can start making real plans and start marching into the future. And, of course, you'll start hearing that material. This is material that we wrote variously for me solo and for VAN HALEN, and it's quite a bank of stuff."

Roth, who was promoting his Las Vegas residency at the time, didn't offer a possible time frame for the release of the record, explaining that his priority was "getting out on the road first. Let's see the band, let's show ourselves off, let's travel all over the world."

Roth canceled a series of Las Vegas residency shows in January 2022 because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Three months earlier, he had announced in an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he was planning to retire after the residency.

In July 2022, Roth released a new solo song titled "Pointing At The Moon". The acoustic-based, Americana-flavored tune was accompanied by a new abstract painting from Roth.