Montrose - Montrose
On October 17, 1973, "Montrose", the debut album of the band "Montrose", was released.
In the early 1970s, the world of heavy rock and proto-metal was almost entirely dominated by the British "Empire", with giants like "Led Zeppelin", "Black Sabbath" and "Deep Purple" setting the global tone. In the United States, heavy and rough bands like "Blue Cheer", "Grand Funk Railroad", "Mountain" and "Alice Cooper" stood out, but the American sound remained largely rooted in the roots of psychedelic blues, southern rock or garage rock. The historical turning point that changed the balance of power and laid the cornerstone for modern American metal occurred in the fall of 1973 in San Francisco, when virtuoso guitarist Ronnie "Montrose" decided to form his own band and record one of the most influential masterpieces in the history of heavy music.
Even before forming his eponymous band, Ronnie "Montrose" had built an impressive reputation as a sought-after session player and lead guitarist. He played on Van Morrison's 1971 masterpiece "Tupelo Honey," where he met bassist Bill Church, and later joined Edgar Winter's band and played on the platinum-selling 1972 album "They Only Come Out at Night," which included the legendary instrumental hit "Frankenstein" and "Free Ride." Despite his enormous commercial success alongside Winter, "Montrose" felt that his creativity and aggression needed an independent, uncompromising stage. In 1973, he left the band, rejoined bassist Bill Church, and recruited the powerful drummer Denny Carmassi. The final piece of the puzzle was found at a local club in San Francisco, where "Montrose" discovered a young, charismatic, and completely unknown singer named Sammy Hagar, who was endowed with a tremendous vocal range, an endless hunger, and an explosive stage presence.
The new quartet was signed to "Warner Bros. Records", which entrusted the production task to the young producer Ted Templeman and the brilliant sound engineer Donn Landee. The two recorded the album at Warner Bros. Studios and Sunset Sound Studios in Hollywood, with guitar accompaniment at Wally Heider Studios in San Francisco. The combination of "Montrose"'s electric playing, which used a Gibson Les Paul guitar connected to a Fender amplifier and a "Big Muff" distortion pedal, and Landee and Templeman's innovative recording technique, created a sharp, polished, fast, and aggressive guitar and drum sound that had never been heard before in the United States. Five years later, Templeman and Landee would use the same revolutionary sound formula to record Van Halen's historic debut album.
The album opens with a bang and zero delays with "Rock the Nation," a rhythmic, kick-ass statement of intent that immediately makes it clear that this is a new breed of American heavy rock. Ronnie "Montrose"'s sawing riff and Denny Carmassi's racing drumming set the stage for Sammy Hagar's entrance, who shouts with the confidence of a veteran rock star and leads the song with explosive energy.
It's immediately followed by "Bad Motor Scooter," the first song Sammy Hagar ever wrote, which has become one of the band's biggest signatures. The song opens with one of the most famous effects in rock history, as "Montrose" uses a metal slide on the guitar strings to perfectly mimic the growl of a motorcycle engine revving up to full speed, before the band bursts into a heavy, infectious hard rock groove.
The third track, "Space Station#5", takes the listener into darker, more psychedelic and progressive realms, showcasing the album's heaviest, most metallic side. The song, co-written by Garrett and "Montrose", is built around a monumental riff, dramatic tempo changes and space effects that give it a Star Trek feel. The track left a deep mark on the British metal scene and was later covered famously by the band "Iron Maiden".
The first side is closed by the short, fast and edgy "I Don't Want It", which demonstrates the tight chemistry of the rhythm section. The second side of the record opens with a salute to the roots of rock and roll with an electrifying and fast cover version of Roy Brown's rhythm and blues classic "Good Rockin' Tonight", made famous by Elvis Presley. Here, the band transforms the 1940s song into a muscular and modern hard rock show.
Immediately after comes the album's ultimate climax and one of the greatest anthems in the history of heavy rock, "Rock Candy". The song opens with Denny Carmassi's iconic, heavy drum beat, born in the studio after producer Ted Templeman asked him to play a slow, crushing rhythm in the spirit of John Bonham of the band "Led Zeppelin". Over the drums comes one of the most unforgettable riffs of the 1970s, with Sammy Hagar delivering a powerful vocal performance that combines bluesy roughness with pure metal power.
Towards the end, the band continues to maintain a high energy level with the catchy and rhythmic "One Thing on My Mind", before closing the album with the moving and epic piece "Make It Last". The final song, written entirely by Sammy Hagar and lasting over five minutes, is built in two dynamic parts and combines a melancholic atmosphere with virtuoso guitar bursts by Ronnie "Montrose", who demonstrates phenomenal control over melody and rhythm and closes the album with a sense of musical completeness.
In reality, upon its release in the fall of 1973, "Montrose" did not enjoy immediate commercial success and only reached number 133 on the American Billboard charts, mainly due to limited public relations and the fact that American radio did not yet know how to digest such a heavy and uncompromising sound. The internal tensions between the two big egos of the band, Ronnie "Montrose" and Sammy Hagar, led to Hagar's departure after the second album, "Paper Money" from 1974, in favor of an extremely successful solo career, which culminated in his historic joining of the band "Van Halen" in 1985 and recording masterpiece albums such as "5150". Drummer Denny Carmassi also became one of the most sought-after drummers in the world and later played with "Heart", "Whitesnake" and the giant duo Coverdale-Page.
But as the years passed, "Montrose"'s debut album became a cultural phenomenon and a magnet for an entire generation of musicians. The album sold steadily over the decades until it reached platinum status in the United States with sales of over a million copies. Many music critics and historians have hailed it as the first American heavy metal album and its connecting blues that bridged the heavy blues rock of the early 1970s with the speed and sharpness of the 1980s. In the UK, the album became a bible for the pioneers of the new wave of British heavy metal, with Steve Harris of "Iron Maiden", members of "Def Leppard" and "Saxon" all citing it as one of the most significant influences on shaping their sound. More than five decades after its release, and years after the tragic passing of Ronnie "Montrose" in 2012, this debut album remains a masterclass in pure energy, thirty-two minutes without a single dull moment that catapulted American metal into the future.
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