LINK: Eddie Van Halen "Beat it" solo - just Eddie on his own!

[Blast9]

http://home.wxs.nl/~visser70/beatit.mpga

Man, it is bright on its own, but wow! You can really hear his character shining through

[Yetti]

He's pretty good.
Thanks for posting the link!

[CrankyRayHanky]

great clip

[Pasta4lnch]

there is something really cool about solo'd iconic tracks. like looking behind the curtain . . .

[studjo]

**** - there was a rumour that this was comped out of 3 tracks - anybody got any insight?

thanks Jo

[jammybastard]

Originally Posted by studjo

**** - there was a rumour that this was comped out of 3 tracks - anybody got any insight?

thanks Jo

That's what I've read as well. Specifically in an interview with Quincy Jones.
I cannot find it on the 'net, but here's the text from the Wikipedia entry for "Beat It"
that offers some details (Wikipedia is not always accurate)

Providing a dramatic electric guitar solo during the bridge of the song is Eddie Van Halen from the rock group Van Halen. According to Jones, when he first contacted the guitarist about appearing on the song, Eddie Van Halen didn't believe he was who he said he was, or that the offer was authentic. Nevertheless, he went on to provide the defining element that set the song apart from other Jackson tunes to date. Eddie Van Halen, famously, did not request payment for his performance.[citation needed]

Steve Lukather, who played lead guitar on the track, stated: "Quincy Jones and Michael took a skeleton version of "Beat It" up to Eddie Van Halen's place as they wanted him to solo over the verse section. However, he played over a section that had more chord changes. So to fit his solo to where it went in the song, they had to cut the tape which took a lot of time to synchronise together." "After they had managed this, Jeff Porcaro and me were called in to bind Eddie's solo and some haphazard percussion which was a major headache. Initially, we rocked it out as Eddie had played a good solo but Quincy thought it too tough. So I had to reduce the distorted guitar sound and this is what was released. It was a huge R&B/rock success for us all really and helped pave the way for the bands of today that fuse these styles."

Eddie Van Halen recorded his part while Jackson was in another nearby studio recording overdubs on "Billie Jean". According to one story, a technician who was unaware Eddie Van Halen was beginning a take knocked on the studio door, entered and quickly closed it when he realized his error. Afterwards, it was jointly decided to leave this mistake in; the knock on the door is clearly audible just prior to the launch of Eddie Van Halen's guitar solo, at approximately 2:45 into the song.[citation needed]

IMHO the quote"they had to cut the tape..." means it's a comp.
Also, the official credits on the albums have the following:
"Eddie Van Halen's guitar solo on "Beat It" recorded by Donn Landee"
That tells me that Ed cut his solo(s) on his own with Landee, and then turned the tape over to Jones.
Luke's quotes make more sense when you think about it in that context.

Just dug this up...not that it confirms anything definitively....
In Ian Cristie's recently published "Everybody Wants Some: The Van Halen Saga" it says the following on page 92;
"Using his battered red guitar and a hot-rodded Hartley Thompson amp borrowed from Allan Holdsworth, in under an hour he improvised a cavalcade of trademark finger tapping, whammy-bar dives, and legato touches for "Beat It"."

[Blast9]

I'm pretty sure that knocking sound just before the solo is actually Eddie's knuckles banging on the guitar - have a close listen next time you crank up Beat It! What do you reckon?