I am by no means a fan of Sammy Hagar. Nor am I big fan of Arena Style rock. At least, I don't think I'm a big Arena Rock fan. I might be though, just because of when I grew up. I mean, Big was in, and I like Big, Loud music. So maybe I like Arena Rock more than I want to. I don't think that matters, though. So what? At least a band like Montrose was aspiring to something. They wanted to Rock the Nations, and on this album, when Sammy Hagar was just Sam, and Ronnie Montrose was an up and coming guitar god, these guys came up with a Big, Loud, Fun album.
Just think about Bad Motor Scooter. Almost any song with a guitar that sounds like a motor of some sort is okay in my book, and Bad Motor Scooter has that in spades! I mean, think about it - how cool can a scooter be? Cool ones are Vespa's and they come in colors like pink and teal. But the girl Sam (not Sammy) is singing about lives on a farm and her brothers probably put a Harley engine on it, and now her scooter sounds like a cool guitar running through twenty Marshall stacks. That's a baaad motor scooter, for sure! But why is she going to hang out with Sam (not Sammy)? She's got this awesome motor scooter and he's afraid to come over to her house because he's afraid of her dad. No wonder he changed his name.
I always kind of wanted to fly in a spaceship. Mostly because you can probably really, really haul ass with warp drive. There are certain songs that I've always felt would just be good to play while hauling ass around Alpha Centauri, and Space Station #5 is definitely one of those songs. I mean the coolest things about this album are definitely Ronnie's guitars, but the whole thing actually works pretty well. Actually every song on here that works really well is built on a big assed riff that just won't quit, and I'm pretty sure that's the recipe to follow to write awesome rock songs. Montrose succeeds on every level on this album.
I'd like to say I knew all about this back in 1973, but I didn't. The girls I looked to for musical guidance half the time probably liked Rock Candy because you could dance to it (I bet it was popular in strip clubs for awhile), but none of them really seemed all that interested in a record like this. So I suppose this is a guy's album, more or less. I know the first time I heard it I had already heard some Punk, and this is far removed from that, but this is just really fun music. I can remember hearing Rock Candy on the radio, but I never knew who it was. I bet I didn't buy this until the mid to late 80's, and I still probably don't play it as much as I would have if I had heard this before I had a car.
The funny thing is that the first side is really great, all the way through. The second side is good, but it also has Rock Candy on it, which is smart because it's the best song on the album and gets you to listen to some of the songs that aren't quite good enough to fit on side one. Songs like Good Rockin' Tonight and One Thing on My Mind are good, but they'd never have made it onto side one. Still, if you play side two first and then flip it over, it's a record that just gets better and better, so that's the way to do it.
My record is nice and flat and has a little surface noise, but it's not bad. It doesn't have a bar code, but it has a plastic inner sleeve. So I either bought it used or got a new sleeve for it, I'd guess. I bet you can get one of these real cheap and it would be a nice addition to your collection.
