Montrose

It’s not too much of a stretch to say that without Montrose there wouldn’t be most of the seventies hard rock outfits and certainly wouldn’t have been bands like Motley Crue or Van Halen.
The first album, ‘Montrose’, virtually laid the blueprint for the guitar screamers and outrageous vocals.

Not to say that they were ever a real success: ‘Montrose’ sank like a stone on release. However, constant FM radio attention and being cited as influences from bands such as Ratt, Poison, Van Halen etc. led to the album selling a million copies over a ten year period and getting a Platinum record as well.

‘Montrose’ is a real belter of an album. Ronnie Montrose lays down some stunning riffing while Sam (Sammy) Hagar already has that hoarse vocal style that really came out in the Van Halen & Chickenfoot era. Rounding out the original foursome were bassist Bill Church and drummer Danny Carmassi. Standout tracks are ‘Bad Motor Scooter’ & ‘Space Station #5’ as well as ‘Make It Last’.

Bassist Bill Church left the band after ‘Montrose’ and Alan Fitzgerald replaced him for the second album ‘Paper Money’. The change brought a funkier sound with less reliance on the heavy riffs (although there are still plenty). ‘Connection’ is a ballad – something completely absent from the first album – and it feels strongly influenced by Ronnie Montrose strong anti-drug stance but also shows the abilities of Sammy Hagar to actually sing. ‘Starliner’ is a monster instrumental track with great playing by Montrose himself while ‘I Got The Fire’ & ‘Paper Money’ itself are great slabs of rock.

Sammy Hagar left after the ‘Paper Money’ album failed to chart and Bob James came in on vocals while they also added Jim Alcivar on keyboards. ‘Warner Brothers Presents Montrose’ is a new direction once more with tracks such as ‘Whaler’ and ‘One And A Half’ taking the band well into Prog waters . They haven’t forgotten that they are a rock band though and ‘Crown Woman’ has that rock swagger once more. ‘Jump On It’ was the last album as Montrose with Randy Jo Hobbs coming in from Johnny Winters band and Jack Douglas (Aerosmith) producing. The sound was moving closer to Deep Purple territory with more keyboards present. They were at their commercial peak through these two albums. Touring constantly and either playing support to the likes of The Rolling Stones, Kiss, Peter Frampton, Yes, Rush, The Eagles, Journey, and Aerosmith as well as headlining their own shows in smaller arenas and that led to their adoption of other sounds by osmosis.

There are two CDs worth of radio shows and demos as well as bonus tracks all over.
A fine box, great to have all their material in one place and a fascinating look at a mid-sized band of the time and the progenitors of a lot of the great music that followed.