Fans Claim VAN HALEN's New Song 'Tattoo' Is Reworked Version Of 1977 Outtake

January 10, 2012

When Rolling Stone spoke with former VAN HALEN singer Sammy Hagar in November, he told the magazine that he heard the bands's new record was largely comprised of old music. "I mean stuff from before I even joined the band," Hagar said. "Ed [Van Halen, guitar] and Dave [Lee Roth, vocals] didn't actually write new songs. They took old stuff from previous sessions, and then maybe Dave had to go in and add vocals because they just had scat vocals, or even no vocal part at all."

During VAN HALEN's intimate concert at Café Wha? In New York City last Thursday, they debuted a "new" song, "She's The Woman", which originally appeared on the 1976 demo, produced by KISS bassist Gene Simmons, that got VAN HALEN their record deal with Warner Bros. It was left off the group's 1978 debut but has been resurrected for the new disc.

After VAN HALEN's new single and video, "Tattoo", premiered this morning, hardcore fans immediately noticed that it sounded remarkably similar to "Down In Flames", a song VAN HALEN played live in 1977 but never actually recorded for a studio album.

You can listen to each of the two songs in the YouTube clips below.

VAN HALEN's new album, "A Different Kind Of Truth", is now officially confirmed to arrive on February 7 via Interscope. The deluxe-edition version of the effort will contain a bonus DVD featuring four brand new acoustic-performance videos titled "The Downtown Sessions" including the songs "Panama", "You And Your Blues", "You Really Got Me" and "Beautiful Girls".

The set will be the group's first all-new collection since "Van Halen 3" was issued 13 years ago, and its first with singer Roth since "1984".

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