Alex Van Halen shares the last song he wrote with late brother Eddie Van Halen

22 Oct 2024, 02:02 · louder

By Fraser Lewry
( Classic Rock )
published 22 October 2024

Unfinished / Between Us Two is an epic, six-minute instrumental

Alex and Eddie Van Halen in 1985 (Image credit: Chris Walter/WireImage)

Alex Van Halen has shared the last track he wrote with late brother Eddie Van Halen.

Unfinished / Between Us Two is a six-minute, mournful yet epic instrumental that mixes acoustic and electric guitars. The track has a similarly cinematic vibe to another instrumental, Respect The Wind, which the pair composed for the soundtrack of the 1996 movie Twister.

A snippet of Unfinished was released last month to coincide with the launch of Alex Van Halen's memoir Brothers, which is published today (October 22) in the US, and on Thursday (October 24) in the UK. No details have been released regarding the new song's origins.

Earlier this year, founding bassist Michael Anthony revealed there's a "ton of stuff" in the Van Halen archive, while Alex Van Halen has talked about using artificial intelligence to generate new guitar solos, allowing unfinished songs to be completed.

"They're all little pieces,” Van Halen told Rolling Stone. “A bunch of licks don’t make a song.”

In the interview, Van Halen confirmed that he'd approached OpenAI – the non-profit organisation behind AI chatbot ChatGPT – about analysing "the patterns of how Edward would have played something" so that new solos could be generated. He also spoke about asking Led Zeppelin man Plant to front the 'new' recordings.

"You’re gonna think I’m out of my fucking mind,” said Van Halen. "But when conditions are right, things will manifest."

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Earlier this week, Van Halen told Billboard that Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony have "not been doing the band justice" on their current Best of All Worlds Tour, which celebrates the Red Rocker's time in Van Halen.

Eddie Van Halen & Alex Van Halen - Unfinished / Between Us Two Instrumental Full Song - YouTube

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Fraser Lewry

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 38 years in music industry, online for 25. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.

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