MR

I love MOntrose with Sammy Hagar and even after with Bob James on vocals... I also love Ronnie MOntrose's next band GAMMA..IN fact, the first two Gamma albums have some of his best guitar playing. He is a pretty awesome guitarist. What do you all think? I think Ronnie is a great rock and roll songwriter and a great lead player .

rockeratheart wrote:I love MOntrose with Sammy Hagar and even after with Bob James on vocals... I also love Ronnie MOntrose's next band GAMMA..IN fact, the first two Gamma albums have some of his best guitar playing. He is a pretty awesome guitarist. What do you all think? I think Ronnie is a great rock and roll songwriter and a great lead player .

I'm not up on the Montrose stuff. I will check it out. I am into Sammy's solo stuff, though.

Interesting that this year Sammy has been doing a little Cabo festival which includes him fronting Montrose after playing his solo set. Since Montrose never got really big (Bad Motor Scooter is the only song I know...although the band was responsible for Journey getting Smitty on drums!!) so I find it interesting to close the show with that.

how did montrose play a role in getting steve smith into journey?

Steve Smith was the drummer of Montrose when Montrose opened for Journey in 1977/1978. When Aynsley "left" Herbie knew who he wanted because he had watched Steve play every night of the tour.

jrnyman28 wrote:Steve Smith was the drummer of Montrose when Montrose opened for Journey in 1977/1978. When Aynsley "left" Herbie knew who he wanted because he had watched Steve play every night of the tour.

Did not know that.
But the first Montrose drummer ended up in Heart.(Denny Carmassi)
I love Montrose.When they rocked they were bl**dy brilliant.Also Montrose without Hagar ,yes.
I also like Gamma indeed .Only heard the first 3 but never #4 which came out a few years ago I think.
I would love to see the original band Montrose get something together again.

NealIsGod wrote:

rockeratheart wrote:I love MOntrose with Sammy Hagar and even after with Bob James on vocals... I also love Ronnie MOntrose's next band GAMMA..IN fact, the first two Gamma albums have some of his best guitar playing. He is a pretty awesome guitarist. What do you all think? I think Ronnie is a great rock and roll songwriter and a great lead player .

I'm not up on the Montrose stuff. I will check it out. I am into Sammy's solo stuff, though.

Neil.
Get the first Montrose.It will knock your socks off.

Montrose's first album is his best, in my humble opinion. 'Warner Bros. presents Montrose', is #2 (in order of greatness, not bowel movements ), and Paper Money is in third place. His other stuff, kinda goes up and down, some good, some bad. Be nice to have a 'real' full length reunion album from Ronnie with Denny, Bill.........and, oh yeah, Sammy.

Jiffy

nice call JIFFY.. I would rank the early montrose albums the same way.. I particularly love the song MATRIARCH from Warnder Bros Presents Montrose... Do you like the Gamma stuff as well?

GAMMA is okay. I was VERY disappointed with the Gamma 4 album, though. After the first song, 'Darkness to Light', the album just falls into the crapper. But I could listen to 'Darkness to Light' all day long ! That is one great song !

Jiffy

I like the first two albums Montrose did with Sammy Hagar the best. After that there are a few songs I like, but I mainly like them with Sammy. Songs I like are Bad Motor Scooter, Space Station #5, Rock Candy, Rock The Nation, Make It Last.

The first album absolutely smokes, I found it back in '89 after I bought my first Sammy solo cassette, Red Hot. Yes, I realize it's not an actual album but it introduced me to his "pre-Geffen" stuff. Then I read in Hit Parader about Montrose's debut album and that it contained "Bad Motor Scooter" and "Space Station #5". I found it in a bargain bin and still think it was ahead of its time. And Templeman's production is so crisp and clear for 1973, I even think it's better than the early Queen albums which everyone raves about. A couple of years later I found Paper Money and realized why it's the rarer of the two. It isn't nearly as good, but does have its moments.

Fans of the original Montrose lineup probably already know this, but they did reunite for the song "Leaving The Warmth Of The Womb" from Sammy's Marching To Mars album. Carmassi actually played drums on the entire album, but the lineup on this one track is Hagar, Montrose, Church, and Carmassi.

Since it hasn't been mentioned — and I agree with all about how stellar the first Montrose and first two Gamma albums are — I'd like to throw a bone out for Ronnie's superb solo debut from 1978, the all-instrumental Open Fire. It was reissued for the first time on CD just a couple of years ago, and it's a gem. Ronnie's done some instrumental follow-ups, but this one's probably still the best. It's not a chopsfest or wankfest, by any means — thank God!

P.S. In case it isn't common knowledge (yet), a remaster of Montrose appeared last year. Definitely one of the best hard rock albums to ever come out of the USA.

Sammy Hagar With Special Guest Montrose
Filmed in Detroit, Michigan 8-6-05

I LOVE THE FIRST ALBUM BUT NEVER HEARD ANYTHING OFF OF THE SECOND.I HAVE ALL OF SAMMYS SOLO STUFF BIG FAN OF HIS,AND REALY LIKED HSAS AS WELL.