The last song Eddie and Alex Van Halen worked on together before the guitarist's death on October 6, 2002 has been released online.
Titled "Unfinished," the track features in the audiobook version of the drummer’s new memoir, Brothers. The book details their upbringing together in the Netherlands and the U.S., before covering their time in Van Halen and beyond.
A snippet of the track was released shortly after the announcement of its appearance in the audiobook. The full six-minute instrumental has now been made available to coincide with Brother's October 22 release.
Gently driven at first by acoustic guitars, the song builds with pepperings of uplifting melodies that play off Alex’s simple and sturdy drumming. Hints of Eddie's incendiary talents soon emerge, with a guitar solo around the three-minute mark upping the ante before he starts abusing his whammy bar and unfurls some signature acrobatics around 4:30.
Former Van Halen bass player Michael Anthony has previously spoken about the vast archive of unreleased — and in many cases, unfinished — Van Halen material in the vault, noting that the band had a habit of recording "everything we had.” The fate of those recordings rests with Eddie’s son, Wolfgang.
In the meantime, Alex has talked of using AI to turn their incomplete ideas into fully fledged songs. While the prospect will be divisive among Van Halen purists, longtime Hendrix produce Eddie Kramer recently voiced similar thoughts and pointed to technologies that allowed the creation of a new Beatles song last year.
Alex Van Halen has brought many new revelations to light during the promotional tour for Brothers. In a candid conversation with Rolling Stone, he revealed that Ozzy nearly fronted Van Halen for a record in the early ‘00s, and that he and Eddie held secret jams with Chris Cornell. The drummer hinted that a project involving the Soundgarden singer would have come to fruition if it weren’t for his passing in 2017.
Alex has also cited David Lee Roth’s ego as the reason that plans for a tribute tour with Joe Satriani failed to bear fruit.
More recently, he told Britain's Guardian newspaper he's still angry Eddie worked with Michael Jackson on Beat It. Despite the song's chart-smashing success, Alex felt angered by Eddie's decision to record his solo in secret.
If "Unfinished" does prove to be the last new Van Halen release, the song is worthy of the honor. Its minimal instrumentation helps shine a light on the fantastic chemistry between the Van Halen brothers and proves the guitarist can still dazzle listeners two years after his passing.
"Unfinished" is available as a free download from the Van Halen website.
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