Montrose (album)
Encyclopedia
Montrose is the debut album by the band Montrose
in 1973 which was produced by Ted Templeman
.
, Herbie Hancock
and Edgar Winter
, this was Ronnie Montrose
's first record leading his own band. It featured then little known Sammy Hagar
(then known as Sam 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. It has been said that Warner Bros. Records
did not know how to market Montrose, the band or album and already had Deep Purple
and the Doobie Brothers
to cover the hard rock genre. Montrose eventually went under as a result. But the album has undergone a renaissance since then, eventually going platinum and some critics have gone as far as to label it the "first American heavy metal album".
Van Halen (which Hagar would eventually join) had used this album as a blueprint for their own debut (which Templeman also produced) 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. There are at least two, slightly different, versions of the Montrose album cover. Also, the tracks are in a different order on different copies, again with at least two versions. 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.
Montrose (band)
Montrose was a California-based hard rock band. The band originally featured Ronnie Montrose on guitar and future solo artist and former Van Halen frontman Sammy Hagar...
in 1973 which was produced by Ted Templeman
Ted Templeman
Ted Templeman is an American record producer.-Career:He began his career in the mid 1960s in the Santa Cruz area as a drummer in a band called The Tikis. At the suggestion of Lenny Waronker, the group decided to change their name. Harpers Bizarre was born in 1966, with Templeman switching to...
.
History
After having done sessions work for various musicians including Van MorrisonVan Morrison
Van Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely...
, Herbie Hancock
Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...
and Edgar Winter
Edgar Winter
Edgar Holland Winter is an American musician. He is famous for being a multi-instrumentalist. He is a highly skilled keyboardist, saxophonist and percussionist. He often plays an instrument while singing. He was most successful in the 1970s with his band, The Edgar Winter Group, notably with their...
, this was Ronnie Montrose
Ronnie Montrose
Ronnie Montrose, is an Amercian rock guitarist who has headed his own bands as well as performing with a variety of musicians, including Sammy Hagar, Herbie Hancock, Van Morrison, The Beau Brummels, Boz Scaggs, Beaver & Krause, Gary Wright, Tony Williams, The Neville Brothers, Dan Hartman, Edgar...
's first record leading his own band. It featured then little known Sammy Hagar
Sammy Hagar
Sam Roy "Sammy" Hagar , also known as The Red Rocker, is an American rock singer, guitarist, and songwriter. Also sings Country Music....
(then known as Sam 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. It has been said that Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
did not know how to market Montrose, the band or album and already had Deep Purple
Deep Purple
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford in 1968. Along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, they are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although some band members believe that their music cannot be categorised as belonging to any one genre...
and the Doobie Brothers
The Doobie Brothers
The Doobie Brothers are an American rock band. The group has sold over 40 million units worldwide throughout their career. The Doobie Brothers were inducted into The Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2004.-Original incarnation:...
to cover the hard rock genre. Montrose eventually went under as a result. But the album has undergone a renaissance since then, eventually going platinum and some critics have gone as far as to label it the "first American heavy metal album".
Van Halen (which Hagar would eventually join) had used this album as a blueprint for their own debut (which Templeman also produced) and there are some similarities in the sound of the Montrose album to early Van Halen. Ronnie Montrose mainly used a Gibson Les Paul
Gibson Les Paul
The Gibson Les Paul was the result of a design collaboration between Gibson Guitar Corporation and the late jazz guitarist and electronics inventor Les Paul. In 1950, with the introduction of the Fender Telecaster to the musical market, electric guitars became a public craze. In reaction, Gibson...
and a Fender Bandmaster
Fender Bandmaster
The Fender Bandmaster was a musical instrument amplifier made by Fender. It was introduced in 1953 and discontinued in 1974. This page focuses solely on the Bandmaster...
and a Big Muff
Big Muff
The Big Muff is a fuzzbox produced in New York City by the Electro-Harmonix company, along with their Russian sister company Sovtek, primarily for use with the electric guitar...
to record the Montrose album. Eddie Van Halen
Eddie Van Halen
Edward Lodewijk "Eddie" Van Halen is a Dutch-American guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter and producer, best known as the lead guitarist and co-founder of the hard rock band Van Halen, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...
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. There are at least two, slightly different, versions of the Montrose album cover. Also, the tracks are in a different order on different copies, again with at least two versions. The album was voted as the 4th best Metal Album of All Time by Kerrang!
Kerrang!
Kerrang! is a UK-based magazine devoted to rock music published by Bauer Media Group. It was first published on June 6, 1981 as a one-off supplement in the Sounds newspaper...
Magazine in 1989.
Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band from Leyton in east London, formed in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. Since their inception, the band's discography has grown to include a total of thirty-six albums: fifteen studio albums; eleven live albums; four EPs; and six...
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
Be Quick or Be Dead
"Be Quick or Be Dead" is the first single from the Iron Maiden album Fear of the Dark, released in 1992. The song is about several political scandals taking place at the time of its release, including the Robert Maxwell banking scandal, European stock market crashes, and the BCCI case...
" from 1992.
Punk band Stiff Little Fingers
Stiff Little Fingers
Stiff Little Fingers are a punk rock band from Belfast, Northern Ireland. They formed in 1977, at the height of the Troubles. They started out as a schoolboy band called Highway Star , doing rock covers, until they discovered punk. They split up after six years and four albums, although they...
used the riff from the "Space Station #5" for their single "Suspect Device" in 1978.
European Release
The album was released in Europe (via Germany) in 1974, re-titled "Rock The Nation". This version had an identical tracklisting but a different sleeve showing a painting of a girl.Track listing
- "Rock the Nation" (Ronnie Montrose) - 3:03
- "Bad Motor ScooterBad Motor Scooter"Bad Motor Scooter" was the second track from the album Montrose by the band of the same name. It, along with "Rock Candy" was arguably the best known song by the band, Montrose, with lyrics penned by frontman Sammy Hagar. The song's intro, a distorted electric slide guitar sound which closely...
" (Sammy Hagar)- 3:41 - "Space Station #5" (Hagar, Montrose) - 5:18
- "I Don't Want It" (Hagar, Montrose)- 2:58
- "Good Rockin' Tonight" (Roy BrownRoy Brown (blues musician)Roy James Brown was an American R&B singer, songwriter and musician, who had an influence on the early development of rock and roll music. His "Good Rocking Tonight" was covered by Wynonie Harris, Elvis Presley, Ricky Nelson, Jerry Lee Lewis, Pat Boone, and the rock group Montrose. In addition,...
) - 2:59 - "Rock CandyRock Candy"Rock Candy" is a song by Montrose, the last song written and recorded for their 1973 debut. It was composed by all four members of the band. The song still gets performed on Sammy Hagar's solo tours and even had been re-recorded as the b-side to the Hagar single Little White Lie by the original...
" (Denny Carmassi, Bill Church, Hagar, Montrose)- 5:05 - "One Thing on My Mind" (Hagar, Montrose, Sanchez) - 3:41
- "Make It Last" (Hagar) - 5:31
Alternate track listing
- "Rock the Nation"
- "Space Station #5"
- "I Don't Want It"
- "Make It Last"
- "Bad Motor Scooter"
- "Good Rockin' Tonight"
- "Rock Candy"
- "One Thing on My Mind"
Personnel
- Sammy HagarSammy HagarSam Roy "Sammy" Hagar , also known as The Red Rocker, is an American rock singer, guitarist, and songwriter. Also sings Country Music....
– lead vocals - Ronnie MontroseRonnie MontroseRonnie Montrose, is an Amercian rock guitarist who has headed his own bands as well as performing with a variety of musicians, including Sammy Hagar, Herbie Hancock, Van Morrison, The Beau Brummels, Boz Scaggs, Beaver & Krause, Gary Wright, Tony Williams, The Neville Brothers, Dan Hartman, Edgar...
– guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with... - Bill ChurchBill ChurchWilliam 'Bill' Church , started out playing bass in a band called Sawbuck in 1969, with Mojo Collins, Starr Donaldson, Ronnie Montrose and Chuck Ruff. As the band was beginning to record their first album, Montrose and Church left Sawbuck to join Van Morrison on his Tupelo Honey album...
– bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick.... - Denny CarmassiDenny CarmassiDenny Carmassi is an American drummer.Carmassi was a member of the first four line-ups of the band Montrose. After Montrose, he played with his former Montrose bandmate Sammy Hagar as a solo artist, and with his former Montrose bandmates Ronnie Montrose and Jim Alcivar in the band Gamma.He also...
– drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
Production
- Produced by Ted TemplemanTed TemplemanTed Templeman is an American record producer.-Career:He began his career in the mid 1960s in the Santa Cruz area as a drummer in a band called The Tikis. At the suggestion of Lenny Waronker, the group decided to change their name. Harpers Bizarre was born in 1966, with Templeman switching to...
- Engineered by Don Landee and Stephen Jarvis
- Mastered by Steve Hoffman