UPDATE: This post was re-uploaded 08/22/2013. Enjoy, NØ.
There was one band that I saw at Winterland even more than Humble Pie. Bill Graham would stick them on any bill that needed another band & a little wake-up-the-crowd musick.
That was Montrose.
They seem to have been lost in the 70s history rewrite, especially when other American hard rock bands like Grand Funk Railroad & Aerosmith have gained much more (undeserved) exposure.
I would really like to post up Jump On It just because of all the testosterone-laced memories it brings up. That cover gives the 'Red Rocker' new meaning. Brother, that’s no camel-toe.
But, fact is, Montrose' self-titled first album is a greater hard rock album. Ronnie Montrose is a talented virtuoso guitarist who had a vision...a vision to rock & to rock hard.
Released in 1973, this record introduced a young Sammy Hagar to the world, but the explosive aggression of Ronnie Montrose's biting guitar left no doubt as to why the band was thusly named. Then there is the rock-solid rhythm section featuring drummer Denny Carmassi & bassist Bill Church.
Songs like "Rock the Nation" & "Good Rockin' Tonight" lay the ground rules for an entire generation of late-70s California bands. But it was the sheer euphoria of "Bad Motor Scooter," the adolescent nastiness of "Rock Candy," & the gargantuan riffage of the phenomenal stand-out tune "Space Station #5" that propelled this slab o' vinyl. If this musick doesn’t rock you, then you’re rock done rolled away. You better go find it, zombi.
Side A -
Rock The Nation
Bad Motor Scooter
Space Station
I Don't Want It
Side B -
Good Rockin' Tonight
Rock Candy
One Thing On My Mind
Make It Last
Enjoy,
NØ