Classic Album Review: Montrose Debut Album Ahead of its Time

When you hear Montrose's excellent self-titled debut album you'll be impressed. When you realize it was released in 1973 you'll be amazed.

After working with Edgar Winter, Van Morrison, Herbie Hancock and others, guitarist Ronnie Montrose put out his first album as a band leader in 1973. His band included Bill Church on bass, Denny Carmassi on drums and a young Sammy Hagar on vocals. The thing that is most surprising about this album is that it is not more widely hailed as a hardrock masterpiece.

Montrose was the blueprint for future American hardrock and metal bands

While the group's debut album never had a huge impact on the record buying public, Montrose did influence many budding musicians of the day. Eddie Van Halen has sited Montrose as a major influence and Van Halen even covered some Montrose tunes in the early days. It was not surprising, then, when the Van Halen camp tapped Hagar to front the band when David Lee Roth departed in 1985. And VH is just one example of the influence of Montrose. Some have called Montrose the first American heavy metal album. That may or may not be the case, but the group did make major sonic enroads into a niche that was dominated by British bands like Black Sabbath and Deep Purple.

Montrose paired a great guitarist with a great vocalist

As a group, Montrose was rock solid, but the guitar work of Ronnie Montrose and the vocals of Sammy Hagar are what really make the album shine. Ronnie Montrose was using feedback, harmonics and other lead techniques in ways that were mostly unheard of at the time. And Hagar is in fine form as the vocalist/frontman. To the uninitiated listener, Montrose sounds like it could be one of the many great rock albums to come out of the late 70's or early 80's. But then realize this is 1973! This album had the sound, the attitude, the production value of albums that would come ten years later! Compare this album to a Grand Funk, BTO or Guess Who album; that's not to slam any of those bands, but Montrose just sounds years ahead of any of those groups.

Great songs run throughout Montrose

There's not a lame track on the album, but there are a number of standouts that deserve special recognition. "Rock the Nation" is a great lead track and does an adequate job of introducing the band. I can only imagine what a rock music fan in 1973 thought of this song. I was only 6 or 7 at the time so I can't speak from experience, but I would assume this was quite a fist-pumper for the long haired set. "Space Station #5" is my personal favorite. This song features some trippy science-fiction sounds and subject matter (picture Logan's Run, Planet of the Apes, 2001: A Space Odyssey or any other 70's science fiction movie) and a really cool vocal line by Mr. Hagar. It's a great song. If there's a "hit" off of Montrose it would be "Bad Motor Scooter", a great song featuring a 'slide guitar as motorcyle' riff that has been ripped off by Motley Crue and several others over the years. Who doesn't want to sing along with this one? It's possibly one of the greatest highway rock songs ever written. Of course you would have to include "Rock Candy" in this list of great songs. It starts with an awesome Zeppelinesque drum intro and then that famous greasy, swaggering guitar riff. This song should be considered one of the all-time great classic rock songs but for whatever reason it never charts too high on the classic rock songs countdowns. It's a shame as it has all the right ingredients.

Montrose in Summary

Montrose introduced the music world to a few things. First, it exposed us to a very versatile and talented guitarist and band leader in Ronnie Montrose. Second, it was our first look at one of rock's all-time great vocalists, Sammy Hagar - who is still at the top of his game even in his sixties! Third, it showed us that a simple, straightforward approach (ie. guitar, bass, drums) can work to great effect in a heavy rock context. If you haven't already, do yourself a favor and give this excellent album a listen.

Originally published at Suite101.com.