VHND: Unreleased VH song "Ripley"

[Va Beach VH Fan]

Hat-tip to VHND:

http://www.vhnd.com/2010/09/21/unrel...n-song-ripley/

Presented here is a compete song from the movie score "The Wild Life" which has never circulated before now. Eddie played it on a Ripley guitar and the song is rumored to be called “Ripley.” It’s a wonderful piece of music and is about the closest thing to “new” Van Halen music that we’ve had in a long time. Enjoy!

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[FORD]

You gotta wonder if this was originally gonna be a proper Van HALEN song with Dave. It's kinda similar to "Going Crazy". Maybe this WAS the original music for that song?

[Diamondjimi]

Hmm, ya think Mike was invited to play bass on it?

Sounds like something Ed and neckbrace threw together in an afternoon. It practically screams for Hagar to smear his fromage "mouthsounds" on it...

[Dr. Love]

There's a reason that song wasn't on any VH album. It sucks.

[vaijuju]

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ed's solo 1980, look at 3.31

[Cato]

Hummm..........can I yawn?

[Diamondjimi]

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ed's solo 1980, look at 3.31

Good detective work. Ed's been rehashing shit for years. The well's been dry for years....

[VHscraps]

The tune that was called 'Ripley' during the '1984' sessions became 'Top Jimmy'. Eddie's said it in some of those old Guitar World interviews.

[VHscraps]

Sounds like Andy Summers of The Police, a bit, actually.

Glad that Dave never saw any potential in it!

[VAiN]

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ed's solo 1980, look at 3.31

Bam! Nailed it! I immediately thought of this when I heard the tune... There's also some more riffage in there that surfaced in later years... I heard a bit of 'Pleasure Dome' from 1991 right after the 'Ripley' riff...

[FORD]

Bam! Nailed it! I immediately thought of this when I heard the tune... There's also some more riffage in there that surfaced in later years... I heard a bit of 'Pleasure Dome' from 1991 right after the 'Ripley' riff...

Sort of like he played "316" on Van Hagar's first tour, then recorded it on "FUCK" 5 years later, and claimed he wrote it the day Wolfie was born (hence the title)

[ELVIS]

You gotta wonder if this was originally gonna be a proper Van HALEN song with Dave. It's kinda similar to "Going Crazy". Maybe this WAS the original music for that song?

Hmmm...

It's better than Jump...

[Jagermeister]

Good detective work. Ed's been rehashing shit for years. The well's been dry for years....

Agree.

[Seshmeister]

Sort of like he played "316" on Van Hagar's first tour, then recorded it on "FUCK" 5 years later, and claimed he wrote it the day Wolfie was born (hence the title)

Eddie does an amazing trick with his cigarette in this between 0:40 and 1:10...

[Nitro Express]

Yeah he tosses his cig on the stage and then it magically appears in his headstock. Nice film slice there.

[Nitro Express]

The Ripley guitar was a Kramer prototype that each string had a pot that allowed you to pan it left or right. You had to use two amps with it. Eddie used it on the song named Ripley with each string panned opposite of each other.

[vaijuju]

The Ripley guitar was a Kramer prototype that each string had a pot that allowed you to pan it left or right. You had to use two amps with it. Eddie used it on the song named Ripley with each string panned opposite of each other.

(thanks ed5150 and hell-tanner from vhfrance)

[VAiN]

Sort of like he played "316" on Van Hagar's first tour, then recorded it on "FUCK" 5 years later, and claimed he wrote it the day Wolfie was born (hence the title)

Yeah.. pretty much like that!

[Little Texan]

I've had this entire song on a cd for the past ten years, and just uploaded it to YouTube a week or so ago. The fella at Slawterhouse that sent it to me also thought it was Ripley. I posted it in one of these threads on here last week.

I don't remember who it was, but I'm thinking it was Goldenman that sent me this.

[Little Texan]

Here's the thread and post...

http://www.rotharmy.com/forums/showt...=1#post1487477

I beat VHND by a week. :tongue0011:

[Little Texan]

Good detective work. Ed's been rehashing shit for years. The well's been dry for years....

True. Have you ever heard "Crossing Over"? He reused the "Love Walks In" riff note for note on that song. If you can stomach Sammy long enough, listen for it...

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The sheep comments below this video on YouTube will really make you shake your head and laugh.

[Diamondjimi]

[Seshmeister]

True. Have you ever heard "Crossing Over"? He reused the "Love Walks In" riff note for note on that song. If you can stomach Sammy long enough, listen for it...

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I've never heard that before.

It's tired fucking garbage and if he gives music like that to Roth I don't see how he's going to be able to save it.

[Little Texan]

I didn't mean to make anyone sick and apologize for posting a Van Hagar clip, but it was only to support the point that Dj was making.

[Little Texan]

I've never heard that before.

It's tired fucking garbage and if he gives music like that to Roth I don't see how he's going to be able to save it.

Yeah, it was supposed to be on Balance and they left it off of the US version, but it was on the first few hundred pressings of the Japanese version. It's not too hard to figure out why they left it off the album, self-plagiarism, crappy song and all.

[Little Texan]

The hell if I know where Goldenman got that "Ripley" song from. I wish I still had his contact info so I could ask him, as I've been scratching my head about that for years.

[chefcraig]

Yeah, it was supposed to be on Balance and they left it off of the US version, but it was on the first few hundred pressings of the Japanese version.

Conversely, one of the co-joined twins was left off the Japanese Balance album cover. After WWII and atomic bombs, the Japanese became a people overtly sensitive to the matter of birth defects, so the cover was altered so as not to offend them.

[Seshmeister]

I just don't believe at all the myth that Eddie has a lot of good stuff in the vaults. All the evidence points to him running dry many many years ago.

I hope I'm wrong but I think their only chance would probably be to go back again and start reworking unused stuff from the original demo's. They went to that well before many times to get stuff like Hang Em High, why not try and scoop up the last of it.

The sad truth of it is that your creativity peaks in your 20s. Even mathematicians and physicists usually come up with their original work at that age. Later on you can improve your craft but the spark is usually gone. These guys are well past that point and the output confirms it.

[Seshmeister]

Conversely, one of the co-joined twins was left off the Japanese Balance album cover. After WWII and atomic bombs, the Japanese became a people overtly sensitive to the matter of birth defects, so the cover was altered so as not to offend them.

Actually that's slightly less bad. The Balance cover is fucking horrible, a warning of what lay within.

I think originally they were going to go with Hagar's ass with a big turd squirting out but there was some sort of copyright issue with his solo career.

[chefcraig]

Actually that's slightly less bad. The Balance cover is fucking horrible, a warning of what lay within...

Get this, Sesh...Alex Van Halen's original treatment of the cover had the Siamese twins joined at the back, and featured them swimming, with one breathing the air while the other...

Apparently, that idea was vetoed in favor of the final, barely less ghastly image (by comparison) featured on the cover.

[Little Texan]

The Balance cover looks like something Andy Taylor has in his stash somewhere. It borders on pedophilia, IMO. It's almost as bad an idea for an album cover as that one 70's Scorpions album cover.

[Little Texan]

Get this, Sesh...Alex Van Halen's original treatment of the cover had the Siamese twins joined at the back, and featured them swimming, with one breathing the air while the other...

Apparently, that idea was vetoed in favor of the final, barely less ghastly image (by comparison) featured on the cover.

There's word that he has an idea for the new album cover to be of the 1984 baby angel as he is now, all grown up. That's why Alex should stick to being the drummer and never be allowed to design album covers.

[chefcraig]

It's almost as bad an idea for an album cover as that one 70's Scorpions album cover.

Just about all of the Scorpions seventies album covers were spectacularly awful ideas.

There's word that he has an idea for the new album cover to be of the 1984 baby angel as he is now, all grown up. That's why Alex should stick to being the drummer and never be allowed to design album covers.

Great, now he's reusing old U2 album cover ideas.

[Diamondjimi]

There's word that he has an idea for the new album cover to be of the 1984 baby angel as he is now, all grown up. That's why Alex should stick to being the drummer and never be allowed to design album covers.

Leave the art design to Dave. The second lamest cover they had was Diver Down, imo...

[FORD]

Yeah, it was supposed to be on Balance and they left it off of the US version, but it was on the first few hundred pressings of the Japanese version. It's not too hard to figure out why they left it off the album, self-plagiarism, crappy song and all.

Just like the riff from "Standing On Top Of The World" was plagarized from "Jump" and the tequila commercial/song "Cabo Wabo" was stolen from Montrose's "Make It Last", so you could say Eddie didn't even write the music for that shitty song at all, it was pure Cheddar.

[Little Texan]

the tequila commercial/song "Cabo Wabo" was stolen from Montrose's "Make It Last"

Ironically, Van Halen once did a cover of that very Montrose song in their early days, when Mark Stone was the bassist.

[Terry]

I just don't believe at all the myth that Eddie has a lot of good stuff in the vaults. All the evidence points to him running dry many many years ago.

I hope I'm wrong but I think their only chance would probably be to go back again and start reworking unused stuff from the original demo's. They went to that well before many times to get stuff like Hang Em High, why not try and scoop up the last of it.

The sad truth of it is that your creativity peaks in your 20s. Even mathematicians and physicists usually come up with their original work at that age. Later on you can improve your craft but the spark is usually gone. These guys are well past that point and the output confirms it.

Maybe re-record the Simmons demo tracks that didn't find their way onto the 6-pack stuff, or even better yet just clean up those Simmons demos / boost the eq as needed and release those instead.

I'd tend to agree with the feeling that all those hours of vaulted EVH noodlings are mostly a bunch of wanking, but I'd also tend to think there would be at least an album's worth of good song ideas on those tapes somewhere...question is who (besides Eddie) would have the time, inclination or endurance to sit there and sift through all that stuff to find the diamonds in the dogshit.

I suppose in some ways the CVH years had the advantage of the band having been together for several years before they released an album, so they had so much stuff stockpiled that they could go to the well even as late on as 1984 and drag up a House of Pain.

However, the last decade has seen, what, 5 tunes released from Eddie (and all 5 of those tunes sucked)?

He just doesn't have the desire, fire or need anymore.

[VHscraps]

My guess is that this tune (or bunch of ideas) never came out as it is, 'cos it's just a bunch of ideas. This is just some farting around. I guess that's why everyone's hearing bits of other tunes in it.

I looked at VHND today and they have this tune on the site, declaring all this 'lost song' crap. It might be some outake from 'The Wild Life' (the soundtrack is crap, in my opinion), but it ain't a lost 'song'. And it ain't the tune that was spoke of in interviews around the time before and after the release of 1984 as 'Ripley'.

I've seen a production sheet for the 1984 album, just before it was due to be finished up, and the tune that was listed as 'Ripley' was on the album running order about a month before the album was due to be mastered. To me that alone suggests something different than this half-baked demo.

So, 'Ripley' as it was called at the time, was a definite on the album - but, like a number of other tunes also ON 1984, the title of the song changed in the last month (another one it happened to was 'Drop Dead Legs', which was called 'Baritone Slide' - i.e., just a name that said something about the instrumental content, because Dave hadn't added his bit yet). 'Ripley' ended up as 'Top Jimmy' - it was called just called 'Ripley' until Dave added his lyrics and vocal, which seems to have been a couple of weeks before the album was mastered - namely, late Sept/ early Oct '83.

Trust me, dudes, I have been researching it all for some time.

[SNIPER]

Sort of like he played "316" on Van Hagar's first tour, then recorded it on "FUCK" 5 years later, and claimed he wrote it the day Wolfie was born (hence the title)

What I read is that he already had the "316" from the 5150 tour and they tried to make a tune out of it.

But while Val was prego with Fatty Ed used to hold his acoustic up to her belly and play the riff for Fatty to calm him sown. And latern amed it 316. Just saying..

Some of my useless VH info from my vaults.

[Nickdfresh]

Am I the only one that hears that this is a tosser, reject version of "Little Guitars?"