Customer Reviews

The Very Best of Montrose

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ronnie Montrose is one of the first hard rock guitar heroes. Before he formed his own band he played guitar on sessions by people such as Van Morrison, Edgar Winter and Herbie Hancock. He can play in variety of styles. Although his hard rocking style is featured prominently here. His band Montrose was an influence on such bands as Van Halen. Interestingly enough Sammy Hagar(ex-Van Halen) sang on Ronnie's first two solo albums. The music is classic mid-seventies hard rock from the United States. Ronnie is a highly underrated guitarist. His solo in "I Got The Fire" and his slide playing in "Clown Woman" are excellent. Other stand out tracks include "Rock Candy", "Rock The Nation", "Dancin' Feet", "Let's Go" and the cover of "Twenty Flight Rock". The sound remastering is good, however I can not give this compilation a five star rating because some of my favorite cuts like "Make It Last", "Black Train" and covers of "Good Rockin' Tonight" and "Connection" were left of in favor of lesser material, especally those cuts from the Mean album. There were also no cuts included from his band Gamma. Many of the musicians featured on these tracks later appeared on Sammy Hagar sessions. Fans of guitar heavy rock from the seventies will enjoy this compilation. I only wish someone would compile a disc of his out of print instrumental material now.

I was actually reading up on the new George Lynch CD (Furious George) and I noticed he does a cover of "Space Station #5) by Montrose. That brought back fond memories of that fantastic album and after reading 61 consecutive excellent reviews on Amazon (that has to be some kind of record!) I decided to go out and re-purchase it. However I could not find it locally and I ended up with the Best of CD which is fantastic. I was especially glad to see they retained the sequence of the Montrose Album with Rock the Nation, Bad Motor Scooter and Space Station #5 (the best 1-2-3 sequence I have ever heard) and since I got the Best of collection I also got "I got the Fire" (a personal favorite) as well as some other later Montrose songs.

It's amazing to think this stuff is going on 30 years old - it truly stands the test of time and is probably some of the best America Hard Rock ever produced. You just don't hear this kind of guitarwork (technical skill not to mention tone and excellent effects) in today's music, and in my opinion Hagar never sounded better than he did with Ronnie Montrose. The guitar work is phenomenal (the lead in Bad Motor Scooter still sends chills up my spine). I am so happy I got this! Oh yeah, one last thing - this CD is meant to be played LOUD - enjoy!

I really like the Rhino Records series of 'Best-of' reissues. They are a boon to music lovers everywhere.
'The Very Best of Montrose' is a very good example of how lovingly the folks at Rhino approached the job of bringing back so many Montrose gems from the early and mid-70's. And with 14 tracks, you know they didn't skimp on getting us the most music they could on a single CD.
As with any career retrospective, some great music must necessarily be excluded, and you can't end up pleasing everybody. I believe that pretty much all of the 14 tracks on this album were well chosen, and apparently with the blessings of Ronnie Montrose himself, who wrote the introductory notes. And I must add that the enclosed information booklet is pleasingly detailed, with notes and comments on each song. Rhino did not simply throw this one out, but took time to give the detailed presentation and history that a band like Montrose deserves.
I also believe that all the tracks were remastered for this compilation, because the sound quality is uniformly high. For those of you who are used to listening to your old Montrose tunes on a crackly LP or dull-sounding cassette, you will be glad to know that this latest presentation is the last version you will ever need of these songs in terms of sound quality. Just makes me want to turn it up even higher!
Ronnie Montrose's distinct guitar tone and style is of course wonderfully preserved here as well. This recording also reveals well how the songs were mixed in the studio to highlight his playing, not just the solos, but even the rhythm guitar work. Pay attention (as if you didn't already on Bad Motor Scooter) to the slide guitar work on 'Let's Go', an underrated classic from the 'Jump on It' album. Of course, the most important inclusions for most fans (not necessarily me, though I agree that they are great songs and hard rock classics) are the mainstays from the first Montrose album: Bad Motor Scooter, Space Station #5, and Rock Candy.
Montrose was one of my favorite hard rock bands growing up. And while Ronnie Montrose went on to do some possibly even better work with Gamma, I think that many hard rock fans would agree that Sammy Hagar has never sounded better than he did while he was in this band.

The first Montrose album was one of several that rocked my high school world, with Ronnie Montrose emerging as a serious contender for guitar god honors. But it seems as if something happened to derail his career somewhere along the way (Poor management? Record company apathy?). For the uninitiated, this is a good place to start, featuring all of the essential tracks from that glorious first slab of vinyl as well as most of the highlights from the rest. Fans of 1970's hard rock, however, would be wise to hunt down the original releases as well, even though vocalist Sammy Hagar left the band after "Paper Money." Loses one star for failing to include "O Lucky Man" from "Warner Brothers Presents...".

18 blazing tracks with Ronnie joined by a variety of solid-to-excellent supporting players. A must-have for any true fan of (a) hard rock or (b) killer guitar tone. And as for the guy who asked who picked the tracks, hey! Wake up and read the liner notes! These were Ronnie's personal picks as the best of Montrose.

Even though I like the first album even better, this Montrose best-of is still the best place to pick up some of the forgotten songs from the group's later years. Montrose, along with Nazareth, Head East, Ted Nugent, Mountain, Grand Funk Railroad, Bad Company, Foghat, Humble Pie, Robin Trower, Free, Blue Oyster Cult, and all of the Southern Rock bands, provided the groundwork for what we now call heavy metal. Sammy Hagar is in the best form of his career, and Bob James is pretty terrific, too. Ronnie Montrose himself really pours it on all over and is more influential than most people ever realized. This really is the ultimate Montrose anthology.

Shame on whoever decided what tracks would be included on this CD! WHERE IS STARLINER? That was on the Paper Money album released in 1974...over a quarter of a century old yet it still sends chills down my spine. There are definitely tracks of lesser value that could have been omited; especially M for Machine (gag). Merry-Go-Round is also missing, and that too takes much away from the appeal of this collection. Montrose is one of my favorites, but I'm glad to already have all his albums and not be at the mercy of whoever put this collection together.

Finished listening to the autobiography by Sammy Hagar that I purchased from audible.com and I have been going back and filling in collection of things I did not have. Believe it or not I never owned a Montrose album. I do now and it's excellent.

If you like cool guitar riffs, an awesome rhythm section and great vocals this album is for you. The first five tracks have tunes that will be stuck in your head for days (which is a good thing)! The rest of the compilation is okay, but bear in mind that Sammy Hagar is only featured on about the first eight tracks. It's still worth the money, though.

Probably the best band you've never heard of.

I owned the original Montrose album years ago. I had never heard any of the later tunes, but this CD is a strong testament to his endurance and quality. I started playing the CD and was surprised that there were so many songs that sounded like I should know them, but I had never heard before (if that makes sense). The songs are strong, production is great and the sound is big. If you listen to 70s guitar rock and you wish you could find some more music besides the same old songs that classic rock stations WEAR OUT, give this one a try.