Montrose (Deluxe Edition)
2xCD
1973
MontroseRemastered 2017
Liner Notes
Montrose, produced by Ted Templeman and released in 1973, was Montro's debut album. It featured then little known Sammy Hagar on vocals. While considered a classic by many hard rock fans, tracks from the album have received scant airplay on the radio with "Bad Motor Scooter" being the only possible exception. Without proper support from the record label Montrose eventually went under. But the album has collected quite a following over the years and eventually went platinum.
Van Halen had used this album as a blueprint for their own debut and there are some similarities in the sound of the Montrose album to early Van Halen. Ronnie Montrose mainly used a Gibson Les Paul and a Fender Bandmaster and a Big Muff to record the Montrose album. Eddie Van Halen himself considered Ronnie Montrose to be an influence and "Make It Last" was covered by Van Halen in their early club concerts and is available on Van Halen bootlegs, and "Rock Candy" was rehearsed during the sessions for Van Halen's debut album. The album was voted as the 4th best Metal Album of All Time by Kerrang! Magazine in 1989.
Iron Maiden has also done a cover from this album. "Space Station #5" has been released as a B-Side from their single "Be Quick or Be Dead" from 1992.
Punk band Stiff Little Fingers used the riff from the "Space Station #5" for their single "Suspect Device" in 1978.
Other Albums
2 Redhead Comments
This album was never released in Brazil, but I released it in my country in 1973 as soon as it hit stores and I could import it. At that time we were living a regime of military dictatorship in Brazil. There was no internet, foreign music was censored by our government at the time, importing records was difficult and very expensive. Even so, I got records of rare and unknown bands to show to young Brazilian rockers. I played this record until 1998 when I retired as a DJ and founder of rock nightclub, but it's one of the records that still plays in the same house under new direction. Brazilian rock fans know and sing the songs on this album: Rock the Nation, Bad Motor Scooter, Good Rockin 'Tonight, Rock Candy, Make it Last and of course Space Station # 5 because I played these songs for 30 years on Brazil. This record is a milestone in Sammy Hagar's career because he came busting it all (kicking ass of the critics)! I mean Sammy Hagar came by showing what he came for
This was the first time that I saw Sammy, I was 16 years old. It was in Charleston WV. Not sure of the exact date (there was a lot of experimenting going on back then and my memory is not as good as it used to be). Fell in love with his music then and Sammy is still one of my favorites. Saw him again much later when he was touring Solo with ZZ Top, not sure of the year or month (here we go again with the same memory issues). I do think that Bill Church (The Electric Church) was still playing Bass for him then.