This Review Along With 310 Others Is Available In My
<iframe sandbox="allow-popups allow-scripts allow-modals allow-forms allow-same-origin" style="width:120px;height:240px;" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=mabasreofcdbl-21&language=en_GB&marketplace=amazon®ion=GB&placement=B07WNDRDNP&asins=B07WNDRDNP&linkId=b70f7ba4b162e82eb4072933f0905b44&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true"></iframe>
"...Good Rockin' Tonight..."
SOUNDS GOOD E-Book on all Amazon sites
US AND THEM - 1973
- Exceptional CD Reissues and Remasters
- Exceptional CD Reissues and Remasters
Just Click Below To Purchase for £6.95
Thousands and Thousands of E-Pages of Real Info
All Details and In-Depth Reviews From Discs Themselves
(No Cut and Paste Crap)
"...Good Rockin' Tonight..."
A full-page advert in the 1
December 1973 issue of the Billboard Trade Magazine announces to the USA and an
unsuspecting world that MONTROSE is a new band on Warner Brothers Records and
'you'll be hearing from them...' Well the 'new' part was right at least...
"Montrose" took
over half a year to register and even when the debut album did chart Stateside
– it was with a whimper rather than a scream – a reaction that belies its
monster reputation for being the real beginning of American Heavy Metal. With a
staggeringly naff front and back cover depicting our heroes in naked torso pose
(the second album "Paper Money" later in 1974 takes first prize for
possibly the worst cover ever made – the next two that followed weren't much
better either) - the blistering Ted Templeman-produced Hard Rock sonic assault
of the self-titled "Montrose" on Warner Brothers BS 2740 has influenced
Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, Motorhead and every uber-polished American Rock Band
ever since – Van Halen especially.
So why did it tank
initially? Talk was that not only did Warner Brothers not know what to do with
Montrose or how to market them – they didn’t care because they had all the Rock
Gods they needed in The Doobie Brothers and Deep Purple who were selling
product in cartloads. And despite touring with huge acts like Humble Pie, The
Who and Lynyrd Skynyrd where Montrose would invariably slaughter all in their
path when they played (there's a centre page double-photo spread of them at the
UK's Charlton Athletic Football Stadium supporting the likes of Bad Company and
The Who in May 1974) – the band struggled to translate that excitement into
actual record sales. The LP wouldn't arrive in the UK until March 1974 on
Warner Brothers K 46276 – and despite its audiophile Production values and two
singles that most other Rock Bands would chop up Granny for ("Rock The
Nation" and "Bad Motor Scooter") – it didn't chart.
In hindsight the LPs initial
damp-squid reaction was strange especially given that the amazing hard-hitting
radio-friendly riffage of "Montrose" had arrived in a world where Led
Zeppelin's "Houses Of The Holy" had gone to No. 1 and ZZ Top, Joe
Walsh, Uriah Heep, Edgar Winter, The Allman Brothers Band, Spooky Tooth, The
Rolling Stones and Mott The Hoople (all kick-ass Rock acts) largely dominated
the album charts. It would take until the 11th of May 1974 for the album to hit
the US Top 200 and then it only managed a peak of No. 133 and an overall
12-week run.
But history has proven our
deaf ears wrong and Kerrang Magazine right (No. 4 in their Top 10 list of best
Metal albums ever) because the record has now taken on an almost mythical air -
some even suggesting that its the greatest Hard Rock album ever made (I don't
know about that but it's up there). Which brings us to this 'Rock Candy' CD
reissue of 2009 (the label literally taking its name from their song on Side 2)
that is a first CD reissue for the UK and Europe. Here are the bad motor
scooters...
UK and Europe released 19
October 2009 (re-issued July 2011) - "Montrose" by MONTROSE on Rock
Candy CANDY062 (Barcode 827565000289) is a straightforward transfer of the 1973
eight-track album on a 'Remastered & Reloaded Collector's Edition' CD that
plays out as follows (32:16 minutes):
1. Rock The Nation [Side 1]
2. Bad Motor Scooter
3. Space Station No. 5
4. I Don't Want It
5. Good Rockin' Tonight
[Side 2]
6. Rock Candy
7. One Thing On My Mind
8. Make It Last
Tracks 1 to 8 are their
debut album "Montrose" - released December 1973 in the USA on Warner
Brothers BS 2740 and March 1974 in the UK on Warner Brothers K 46276. Produced
by TED TEMPLEMAN and Engineered by DONN LANDEE - it peaked at No. 133 in the
USA (didn't chart UK). "Rock The Nation" written by Ronnie Montrose,
"Bad Motor Scooter" and "Make It Last" by Sammy Hagar,
"Space Station No. 5" and "I Don't Want It" by Ronnie
Montrose and Sammy Hagar, "Rock Candy" by Montrose, "One Thing
On My Mind" by Hagar, Montrose and J. Sanchez and finally a cover version
of the Roy Brown hit "Good Rockin' Tonight".
MONTROSE was:
SAMMY HAGAR – Lead Vocals
RONNIE MONTROSE – All
Guitars
BILL 'THE ELECTRIC' CHURCH –
Bass
DENNY CARMASSI – Drums
The 16-page booklet features
an enthusiastic and hugely entertaining 4000-word essay on the band and the
album's history by BRIAN BRINKERHOFF (Ronnie's stints with Van Morrison) that’s
peppered with live photos and contributions from founder members Ronnie
Montrose and Bassist Bill Church. Not surprisingly both musicians sing the
praises of and hold huge affection for the dynamic audio duo of Ted Templeman
and Donn Landee (Producer and Engineer) with tales of clever pre-digital
multiple-microphone placing, letting the band rip live in the studio and
crawling around rooms with blankets to get that 'sound' the LP is famous for.
Speaking of audio - I've had
the July 2005 American-only 24-Karat Gold "Montrose" HDCD for years
to have the album in its best form - a Steve Hoffman Remaster on Audio Fidelity
AFZ 028 (Barcode 780014202828) and it's a belter as you can imagine. There are
also tracks from the LP on a Rhino "Best Of" CD in Remastered form
that sound awesome too. The latest Rock Candy version from 2009 offers a new
JON ASTLEY Remaster which is described as 'sound shaped from 24-bit digital
tools via POW-r technology' - whatever that means. All I can say is that it
this mother 'rocks' with the lewdness and swagger of Dave Lee Roth on steroids
and the visceral punch of an irate mule with daddy issues. The album was always
loud - but here it has power too - and not just trebled for the sake of it
either - I love it.
Warner Brothers UK took the
opener "Rock The Nation" and tagged on "One Thing On My
Mind" onto the B-side in July 1974 (Warner Brothers K 16428) - but like
the equally ass-kicking "Bad Motor Scooter" from April 1974 on Warner
Brothers K 16382 (with the same flipside) - both 45s tanked. Maybe they were just too much at the time -
but re-listening to them now followed by that astounding power-riff in
"Space Station No. 5" - it makes you wonder was it that truly cruddy
artwork that put people off? Unsung album heroes come in the shape of "I
Don't Want It" (just quit my job making tooth-picks out of logs) - the
great fun-rock of "Good Rockin' Tonight" where Montrose take Roy
Brown's 1949 "Rockin' At Midnight" and update it into a fantastic
Rock raver. And while you could understand why they used the huge riff of
"Rock Candy" in the movie "The Rose" as the helicopter flies
over the concert crowd below - my real poison has always been the brilliant but
simple Rock of "One Thing On My Mind" and the big-mickey swagger of
"Make It Last".
Montrose managed three more
albums on Warner Brothers (Ronnie did a solo record also in 1978) - their
second platter "Paper Money" in particular having some decent tracks
like "Underground" and "Connection" - but mostly the rest
of their output felt like that initial album magic was gone. The debut would
also lead maestro Producer Ted Templeman and genius Engineer Donn Landee to
Eddie Van Halen and Dave Lee Roth and their band VAN HALEN where they
collaborated to amazing effect on VH's first six albums - especially their
equally explosive self-titled debut in 1978 (also on Warner Brothers).
Montrose's original vocalist Sammy Hagar would of course join Van Halen's ranks
in 1986 for "5150" and three other No. 1 albums after whilst Drummer
Denny Carmassi would swell the pirate crews within Heart, Whitesnake and
Coverdale/Page. Ronnie would helm his band Montrose for years - then join with
Edgar Winter and Gamma - and in 2004 and 2005 he would bring the whole story
full circle by joining the original four-piece of Montrose on stage with Sammy
Hagar.
"The Pretenders",
"Dire Straits", "The Clash", "The Cars",
"Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers" - just some of the debut albums
that took us all by storm.
Well, 1973's "Montrose" is up there with the best of them and this Rock Candy CD reissue of it has done their huge and influential legacy proud...
Well, 1973's "Montrose" is up there with the best of them and this Rock Candy CD reissue of it has done their huge and influential legacy proud...
CD Remasters of MONTROSE
on Rock Candy Records
1. Montrose (December 1973
Debut LP) – 2009 CD on Rock Candy CANDY062 (Barcode 827565000289)
2. Paper Money (November
1974 2nd LP) – 2015 CD on Rock Candy CANDY278 (Barcode 5055300387462)
3. Warner Bros. Presents
Montrose! (October 1975 3rd LP) – 2015 CD on Rock Candy CANDY279 (Barcode
5055300387479)
4. Jump On It (September
1976 4th LP) - 2015 CD on Rock Candy CANDY280 (Barcode 5055300387486)
