Van Halen’s final studio album returns on vinyl and CD this month, bringing renewed attention to the unusual way Wolfgang Van Halen helped resurrect unfinished songs dating back to the band’s earliest years.
by Paul Cashmere
Van Halen’s final studio album, A Different Kind Of Truth, will be reissued by Rhino on October 23, but the new edition also provides a reason to revisit the remarkable story behind how the 2012 album was made, with Wolfgang Van Halen helping turn unfinished ideas from his father Eddie Van Halen’s 1970s archive into new recordings.
The reissue will be available on CD and as a 2LP set pressed on 180-gram vinyl, housed in a double gatefold package. A limited crystal-clear vinyl edition will also be available through participating independent record stores and Rhino.com.
The lacquers for the new vinyl edition were cut by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering.
A Different Kind Of Truth was originally released on February 7, 2012. It was the first Van Halen studio album to feature David Lee Roth since 1984 and the only Van Halen studio album on which Wolfgang played.
In a 2025 Noise11 interview, Wolfgang explained that the album was the result of a process that had been developing for years. Some of the earlier demos had been recorded as far back as 2009, meaning the album was a long way from being an overnight reunion project.
“It just felt like it was the right time,” Wolfgang told Noise11. “We had done a tour, and it was, like, ‘Okay, well, the next thing we should do is record something.'”
He described the fact that the album was completed at all as “kind of a miracle”.
The most unusual element of the project was its relationship with Van Halen’s past. Rather than simply writing a completely new collection of songs, the band returned to unfinished ideas that had originated decades earlier.
“A lot of the songs on the album were rooted in original demo ideas that were never completed,” Wolfgang explained. “I thought it was a great way of getting the band back into that mindset of how they used to write music.”
That approach is particularly striking when heard through songs such as She’s The Woman. Wolfgang was not even born when some of the original material was conceived, yet he became one of the people responsible for helping develop those fragments into a finished Van Halen recording.
For Wolfgang, the experience was also personal. He had joined Van Halen as a teenager and toured alongside his father from 2007 onwards, eventually becoming part of the final chapter of the band’s recording history.
“I’m glad I got to at least do that once with Dad and have a making-an-album thing,” he said. “It was fun. It was a lot of work and it took a lot of time, but I’m very happy with how we got it done.”
A Different Kind Of Truth also marked the return of the classic Van Halen singer to an original studio album after the long gap following 1984. The record reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200 when it was released in 2012.
The new physical editions put that final studio chapter back into focus at a time when Van Halen’s recorded legacy is increasingly being viewed through the history of Eddie Van Halen and the musicians who surrounded him.
The album contains 13 songs, including Tattoo, She’s The Woman, You And Your Blues, China Town, Blood And Fire, Bullethead, As Is, Honeybabysweetiedoll, The Trouble With Never, Outta Space, Stay Frosty, Big River and Beats Workin’.
For Wolfgang, however, the significance of the album goes beyond its place in the Van Halen catalogue. It remains the one opportunity he had to sit in the studio with his father and participate in the making of a Van Halen studio album.
That makes the October 23 reissue more than another catalogue edition. It is a physical return for the final Van Halen studio record, and a reminder that some of its newest songs began as unfinished pieces of the band’s oldest musical history.
A Different Kind Of Truth 2LP Tracklisting
LP One, Side One: Tattoo, She’s The Woman, You And Your Blues, China Town
LP One, Side Two: Blood And Fire, Bullethead, As Is
LP Two, Side One: Honeybabysweetiedoll, The Trouble With Never, Outta Space
LP Two, Side Two: Stay Frosty, Big River, Beats Workin’
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