Montrose - Montrose
Rock Candy Records
www.rockcandyrecords.com
Rating: A+
The 1974 debut album from the band Montrose is one of the most
influential hard rock recordings ever to be released. Guitarist
Ronnie Montrose fronted a band of superstars; on bass, Bill
Church, on vocals a young Sammy Hagar and on drums, a master of
his instrument Denny Carmassi. The four musicians accidentally
created a hunger for a powerful, new Americanized version of
hard rock. Hagar and Montrose proved to be a prolific, yet
short lived,
songwriting team. What they did, ironically, influenced bands
such as the future superstars Van Halen, for which producer Ted
Templemen, engineer Don Landee and vocalist Sammy Hagar would
later find fame.
The album is only eight songs long but of those eight tracks,
four are AOR classics. "Rock the Nation," "Bad Motor Scooter,"
"Rock Candy" and "Space Station # 5" made music fans, as well as
musicians sit up and take notice. This was hard rock that was
not centered around minor chords. This was hard rock music that
could be equated to sunshine, fun, girls and partying. This was
the future.
Rock Candy has remastered the CD, added incredible liner notes
featuring in-depth interviews and never before seen photos. In
this rare case, they have made the re-release more powerful than
the original. To own Montrose is to own a piece of rock
history. The bottom line here is to buy this one, crank it up
and play it often.
By Jeb Wright
