Montrose [Original recording remastered]

I totally agree with the first reviewer. This record contains 8 tracks of pure, inspired, guitar driven, fun american rock music. In short: a MASTERPIECE.

If you like Led Zep, Van Halen (in their prime), Jeff Beck and so on, you've got to have this record. I think that it's important to explain that anyone interested in this genre of music should have it, since this record apparently never had the success it deserved.

Ronnie Montrose the guitarist has its own style, aggressive and sometimes experimental with great effect. Sammy Hagar the singer is excellent, and please notice: even if you're exclusively a David Lee Roth-Van Halen fan like me, you'll find him really good here because he was very young and it was his first record (13 years before he replaced DLR in Van Halen) and if you like this singer in general well I suppose you'll be in heaven. The rhythm section is awesome, especially the drummer.

To answer the comment on the first review about the sound : the remaster has been done by Jon Astley, the man behind the Who remasters, and Led Zep at the BBC for example. No loudness war here but dynamic music with an incredible guitar sound, and every instrument is really present. I think it does total justice to the sound of the record. And the booklet is very interesting.
I recommend this remastered CD over the regular WB one.

A long overdue remastering of a bonafide rock classic.

Montrose had everything you want in a rock/metal band , extraordinary guitar player in Ronnie Montrose,rock hard rhythm section in Bill Church and Denny Carmasi and a swaggering sex-god vocalist in Sammy Hagar.

This cd is remastered superbly and is a hundred times more crisp and clear than my moth-eaten vinyl copy the vocals and guitar are in your face,the bass is solid and the drums sound like a herd of buffalo stampeding towards you.

Every track a winner but for the stand out is "Space Station no5" with a riff that influenced many( particularly suspect device by Stiff little fingers!.

Hagar was much maligned when he took over from Dave Lee Roth in Van Halen but in reality Montrose was the perfect apprenticeship as to my ears the bands are coming from very similar angles.

If you like Van Halen, Kiss,or any American Rock music then this cd should really take pride of place in your collection especially when you realise it was released originally in 1973 I think and stands as a precurser to many bands who followed in its wake.

Second Album "Paper Money" is also excellent although I'm hoping Rock Candy get the rights to that and remaster it too.

Essential purchase for any lover of quality rock music.

Heavy metal was never quite the same after the release of this album in 1973. US bands started to challenge the prominance of the British heavies like Sabbath, Purple and Zeppelin and "newer" bands like Van Halen, Y&T, Dokken etc owed much to this ground-breaking release. Brilliant production by Ted Templeman allowed Ronnie Montrose's blistering guitar to blast out classic originals like "Bad Motor Scooter", "Space Station #5" and "Rock the Nation" and a blazing cover of "Good Rockin'Tonite".

Unusually for the period almost all of the tracks were fast, and introduced a youthful Sammy Hagar with his throat-wrenching vocals. "Rock Candy" has one of the most recognisable drum intros in rock. It's not rocket science but when the guitar riff comes in it unleashes a power that only Black Sabbath ever matched from such a minimal combination. "Make it Last" also featured basic but huge-sounding drums courtesy of Denni Carmassi.

"Bad Motor Scooter" in its earliest outings went straight into the song. It was a stroke of genius for Ronnie Montrose to replicate the roar of a motor bike revving through the gears to take us into Hagar's great vocal. This has to be one of the most memerable rock intros EVER! Intros play a big role throughout the album with "Space Station" also having its place in rock history (am I the only one who thinks the main riff was inspired by "Paranoid?)

What is surprising is this was the bands first recording and they weren't following any trend. Ronnie Montrose was already a critically acclaimed guitarist and played with Edgar Winter on "They only come out at Night" and Van Morrison's "Tupelo Honey" But he became dissatisfied being a sideman and the rest, as they say, is history! But "Montrose" is not just one of the "best rock debuts ever" (as it is frequently called), it is one of the "best rock albums ever", period ! Contrary to the "poor sales" other reviewers refer to, "Montrose" achieved gold record status in 1977 in the States.

Every track sparkles with excitement and drive and, as mentioned elsewhere, there are hardly any overdubs. It's a tribute to the production that this album sounds every bit as good 30-plus years on! This new remaster offers slightly improved sound - clearer definition with more volume than the original Warner release. The superb booklet notes should be the deciding factor in going for this version rather than the slightly cheaper older CD.

The only drawback is the short playing time, but as older readers will be aware the louder the tracks were in the good old days of vinyl the less you could fit onto a disc. Some of these tracks are available on the "Best of", but Hagar left after the excellent, but more restrained, follow up "Paper Money", and the band went into decline. I'd urge you to buy this together with the follow up, rather than take the compilation option.