Guitar World has published a new article celebrating the 25 greatest Eddie Van Halen deep cuts and "what the lesser-played, lesser-celebrated tracks in Eddie's discography can teach us about his genius." An excerpt from the rundown is available below.

"On Fire" – Van Halen (1978)

Guitar World: "Given how seminal Van Halen’s debut album would become, it’s hard to think of any of its 11 tracks as 'lesser known.' Though perhaps it’s the deepest cut and final track on the record that documents the full metallic force of the four musicians in three perfect minutes, Eddie attacking his guitar with the same kind of aggression that thrash metal bands would be championing only a few years later."

"Secrets" – Diver Down (1982)

Guitar World: "For a player who was not only dialing in but looking to invent new levels of distortion, there was an incredible sweetness to Eddie’s cleaner tones, which often featured a perfect blend of compression, ambience and modulation to make the notes cut through. For live shows, Eddie would play 'Secrets' on his yellow and black Kramer double-neck and occasionally dial in a crunchy tone, allowing the ultra-clean parts on the recording to roar into breakup. The top neck would be tuned to drop-Db to add weight to the shifting suspensions, and then the lower neck to Eb standard for the solo. With such colorful chords to play over, it’s one of the more melodically modal leads from this part of Eddie’s career, shifting through major and minor shapes before ending with a powerful minor-7 bend into the high root." 

"A.F.U. (Naturally Wired)" – OU812 (1988)

Guitar World: "Using ringing tapped harmonics to breathe life into a handful of simple chords is emblematic of Eddie’s musical and tonal inventiveness and ability to 'spice up' what would otherwise be fairly regular shapes on the fretboard. While the main riff isn’t particularly fast, it’s quite deceptive in terms of timing and feel, using a lot of open-string pull-offs that end with chromatic ideas that dramatically transition into the verses. Then, of course, there’s that metallic part featuring staccato stabs against a palm-muted open string – more experimental in feel and reminiscent of the prog rock associated with bands like Rush – before Eddie goes on to deliver one of his best solos from this era of the 'Van Hagar' years."

"Runaround" – For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge (1991)

Guitar World: "Though 'Poundcake' was rightly chosen as the big single for Van Halen’s ninth album, Runaround still feels like one of Eddie’s biggest moments on the record. It might not feature any Makita drills or melodies composed purely out of harmonics, but what it does, it does incredibly well. The riffs feature slow bends to push and pull the notes and arpeggios to emphasize the movements, and even a couple of funk voicings more associated with the music of James Brown. It’s also notable for carrying one of Eddie’s most wah-heavy solos, honing in on the snarl of his aggressive blues licks and screaming double-stop bends." 

Check out the complete rundown here.