Customer Reviews

Gamma 1

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Finally, for fans of Ronnie Montrose and Gamma, GAMMA 1 is available on CD!

Up till now, the only offering has been 'The Best of Gamma', a good- but not great- compilation of selected songs off Gammas 1, 2, and 3. All of GAMMA 1 except for two songs were included. Those two songs are 'Solar Heat/Ready for Action', and 'No Tears'. Ironically, those are two of my favorite Gamma songs anywhere.

Anybody familiar with Ronnie's earlier 'solo' work, especially with Sammy Hagar as the frontman really ought to check out this overlooked band. Ronnie's trademark, lean, mean, distinctive guitar tone is there as usual, but GAMMA added the additional layers of synthesizers, tastefully served up by Jim Alcivar. Perhaps one of the greatest contributions to rock music made by this band, however, was...

the discovery of vocalist Davey Pattison. This guy has a terrific, gravelly set of pipes, and was an absolutely undiscovered gem of a find for Ronnie Montrose and Rock 'n' Roll in general. Although Davey has since gone on to concentrate more on blues and do solo work and gigs in the SF area... his voice was also ideal for the excellent hard rock served up here.

The original track order is:

1. Thunder and Lightning: great rock song, with Davey's flashing, barely controlled angry vocals and tons of Ronnie's distinctive guitar tone. Above it all floats a constant, light synth tone. Lots and lots of flavor!

2. I'm Alive: the lone top-40 hit, even this surging, upbeat song has tons of Ronnie tone. It's progressive hard rock, but in love.

3. Razor King: dark and brooding, this song is a bit longer, more a moody 'tale' of sorts, interspersed rocking riffs with passages of quiet synths.. with Davey's vocal expressiveness highlighted magnificently. Many, many songs, groups, and albums of listening later, and I still haven't come across another song quite like this one. It's that unique.

4. No Tears: left off 'the Best of', but it's still one of the great ones. I believe it's actually a cover that was written by somebody else. The one 'sad' song on the album, it's still upbeat and probably the song to most prominently feature the synth.

5/6. Solar Heat/Ready for Action: while Solar Heat is truly the calm before the storm, consisting mainly of synth noises and quiet sounds, Ready for Action is the real rocker on this set. Unconscionable that it was left of 'the Best of', this song ROCKS! It's relentless and fast, and it's brutal pace and truly aggressive vibe is only stirred to a fever pitch by Davey's mean, stunning vocals. God, I love this song. And anyone who loves Montrose or Gamma would love it too!

7. Wish I Was: this is the one bluesy, melancholy number that forebode Davey's move into the blues. Then again, with the vocal chops he displays on this one, I wouldn't be surprised if this cut was his idea! This song is the one that most highlights the excellent contribution of Davey Pattison. Ronnie gets in some really expressive licks here, too.

8. Fight to the Finish: This is another aggressive rocker and the longest song on the album, and it combines many of different above elements in the same song. Not a straight-ahead rocker like 'Thunder and Lightning' or 'Ready for Action', it's something perhaps of a concept piece in the vein of 'Razor King', with distinct movements and wider dynamic swings from quiet passages to storming, all-out riffing assault.

Actually, there are really only seven songs here, and GAMMA 1 doesn't clock out to a total of much more than 35 minutes or so. Back in the early 80's and the vinyl standard, this was more normal than it is nowadays. But when it's all this good, who cares? GAMMA works well as a whole album, and the songs were extremely well chosen. It is far from a monotonous record, while still offering great tracks and no filler.

I've already bought mine. Gamma and Montrose fans, this is a must for any collector of good 80's hard rock!

It's truely amazing that it has taken this long for Gamma to be issued on CD. Thank God, someone bought the rights from Elektra or whomever held the publishing rights to this great material, as well as the other 2 original Gamma releases. This was released on album in 1979 with the other 2 releases coming in 1980 and 1982. Despite changes in the members, the core of Ronnie Montrose [guitar] and Davey Pattison [vocals] remained the same. My albums were destroyed in a flood, but I believe Mitchell Froom, Denny Carmassi [drums], and one other member comprised the band.

Gamma 1 is a title that makes my TOP 100 of all time in ROCK releases. There are no weak tunes on this CD, although the least memorable song is "No Tears", simply because I can't remember it. If you like blues, "Wish I Was" will make you as blue as you can get listening to the story of an old guitar that is happy to be strung up again. "Solar Heat" is a great instrumental that segues into another strong rocker, "Ready for Action". "Razor King" is a good song about guys wielding sharp objects. My favorite songs on this CD are "I'm Alive", "Thunder & Lightning", and "Fight to the Finish". This disc is virtually nonstop action, with great guitar work from one of the masters and a superior set of vocal chords. I don't want to make you think the drums, bass, and keyboards don't amount to much, because that would be a lie. This band is a team that plays like they have made it to the Superbowl or World Series, they are tight!

I reccomend this disc, as well as the other 2 rereleases to anyone who is a fan of Montrose, Sammy Hagar, Night Ranger, or even some Robin Trower. This isn't Thrash Metal, but it is sophisticated Hard Rock that you will enjoy as much as if it were something new that just came out. Gamma is timeless! Get this while it is available. I have been listening to the best of Gamma, which contains only 16 songs from this underappreciated band. If it is still available, you may want to start there. BEST OF... was originally released on GNP Crescendo. Then, you will spend more money to buy Gamma 1, 2, & 3 anyway.

Gamma one is an excellent cd from start to finish. It's starts out with the hard rockin Thunder and Ligthening, goes into a kind of pop tune I'm Alive, Razor King another good song, No Tears..Great song with excellent keyboars, Solar Heat/Ready for Action flat out rocks should have been on best of cd, Fight to the Finsh is a great haed rockin song especially good for the last song on the cd.

I only owned Gamma 2 but I'm glad I bought this cd. It is very good. Hard rockers on here are Thunder and lightening, Ready for Action, Fight to the finish, Razor king. Wish I was is sort of a bluesy number. I'm alive is sort of pop tune. All in all an excellent cd from a lesser known band.

5 solidgold stars, no question about it ! If you are "Ready for some Action" then this is the one for YOU !
Razor King is among my very favorites on this one.....turn up your stereo and prepare to hear some of the best music in the world. I "Wish I Was" a millionaire and there would be "No Tears"
about buying everyone a copy. But as long as "I'm Alive" and there is still "Thunder and Lightning" and "Solar Heat" this will be one of my all-time favorites.
Go to the pawnshop, sell everything you own(except for your stereo)and start buying cd's from Gamma,UFO,frank Marino, Uli
and The Frank Hannon Band !!!!!!

Guitarist Ronnie Montrose formed this group following the break up of his previous band named after his last name. In addition to Montrose, there's Davey Pattison on vocals, Alan Fitzgerald on bass, Skip Gillette on drums, and Jim Alcivar on synthesizer/keyboards. Released in 1979, "Gamma 1" is the debut of his new group and contains eight hard rock songs with synth textures as well! All songs are great!

"Thunder And Lightning" showcases the style throughout the album perfectly with crunchy guitar and a robotic voice made with the synthesizer. Their cover of The Hollies' "I'm Alive" sounds fantastic and keeps the original up to date. One of my favorites is the ballad "Wish I Was"! The melodies are top notch with an aggressive yet melodic solo from Montrose, but his best solo on the album occurs in the middle of the epic "Razor King". The more pop oriented "No Tears" shows the cool synth usage from Alcivar while the medley of "Solar Heat"/"Ready For Action" is definitely a highlight. It starts with an inventive, repeating synth line before the drums kick in and Montrose plays a shattering lead. A descending riff signals the beginning of the next track, a fast paced hard rocker! The last one "Fight To The Finish" is the longest song on the album at six minutes and a half. I like how it alternates between a keyboard laden verse with a hard rock chorus. In the middle Montrose plays a solo that makes extensive use of the tremolo arm! Without a doubt one of the best and a high key exit!

In conclusion, if you like hard rock, I think you'll like this one a lot!
Thanks for taking the time to read!
Later...

This CD is incredible.

I saw the show and it was fantastic.

Buy it while you still can !!

Lean hard rock with an electronic chaser. Excellent music but mediocre lyrics and singing. Great cover art. For hardcore guitar fanatics.

Its sound is a little dated, mostly because of the keyboards, but this album is worth it if for no reason than Ronnie Montrose's feral shrieks on "Solar Heat", the blistering hook to "Ready For Action", and the vituoso echoplex solo on "Razor King". Otherwise the album has nothing outright embarrassing... Davey Pattison is a great singer, and the other tunes are kind of poppy with a little gunt to most of them. You'll find yourself singing along with a few things in spit of yourself. A must have for Montrose fans.

Rock scribe Martin Popoff gve this album a 10 out of 10 score in his Collectors Guide to Heavy Metal: the 70's and it's easy enough to see why when you let this album unfold about you. Of course the real reason to care (until you hear the music) is guitarist Ronnie Montrose who rose to prominence with one of the most awesome debut records in hard music history with 1973's Montrose. Admittedly by all accounts that vehicle ended up sputtering to a halt in the mud of misdirection and ego but come 1979 all could be forgiven as the man teamed up with a band of Jim Alcivar (synth), Davey Pattison (vox) Alan Fitzgerald (B) and drums by Skip Gillette and produced a slice of rifferama that has flourishes of funk, blues, all the good 70's hard rock cliches, virtually none of the bad ones and plenty of heart and soul.

Production of the eight tunes on offer sounds good. Not dated at all, just warm and human. It reminds most obviously of the knob job on the Montrose album itself and also the first two Robert Plant solo platters, the latter two namechecked because of the clean nature of recording here. Everything just very much in it's own place and with plenty of room to breathe and also for the rhythm section and synths to do their interplay without too much going on. I guess it's the old adage of less is more at play.

Special props to vocalist Davey Pattison who is a suitably gifted ringmaster with the capacity to synchromesh with the catalogue of guitar skills Ronnie sallies forth with. Songwriting wise the credits are shared around and this further enhances the band feel to this release.

While some of the synth flourishes haven't dated too well they are almost welcome reminders of the decade this album came out in and taken as a whole package this is an album that probably quintessentially captures a certain style of rockin' out music that seemingly just doesn't cut through to the collective conscious anymore. A great highway album, this `un will live in your car stereo for weeks and is also light and connective enough to be played in any company.

I'm not gonna argue with Popoffs' perfect score in this instance!