Montrose - I Got The Fire Complete Recordings 1973-76.

MONTROSE

I GOT THE FIRE COMPLETE RECORDINGS 1973-76

(Cherry Red)

By Paul Davies.

If ever a reminder was needed of when early to mid 70s all American bands memorably Rocked the nation with an impassioned delivery of grit, melody, and groove across timeless Rock anthems then this box set delivers in spades. All these years later it’s still astonishing to hear Ronnie Montrose attacking each chord and riff as though the frets upon which they are shaped have each done him a personal injury as he alchemised his feelings into musical gold. Sammy Hagar does as much with a microphone in this fine reminder of their stellar partnership together. Throw into the mix souped up drummer Denny Carmassi and the hefty bottom end by Bill 'Electric' Church (himself a refugee with Ronnie Montrose from Van Morrison's Tupelo Honey band) and this original band Hard Rocked the gold fillings out of the silvery tongued mouths of Warner Brothers‘ record company execs. Their initial album, produced by Ted Templeman (who was integral in fixing up their recording deal), remains a Hard Rock classic with Rock The Nation, Bad Motor Scooter, Space Station #5, Rock Candy and more...it rightly goes down in the Rock annals as one of the all-time great debut band recordings. Also included are bonus mono and stereo song mixes.

Delving deeper into this box, the second disc lifts off with a choice of debut release demo mixes and, to maintain the debut theme, their first 1973 live recording for KSAN radio where they stood in for a late cancellation by Van Morrison and, boy, do they make the most of this inaugural live recording opportunity. Follow up release Paper Money is given the same treatment with the whole album tailing off into a selection of mono and stereo tracks. Another stellar KSAN radio live recording from 1974 charts the rise and growing status of this group with I Got The Fire and Spaceage Sacrifice added to their set list displaying more honed song arrangements than previously.

Further line-up changes, with Hagar leaving to pursue a highly successful solo career, introduced Bob James' commendable vocals and Ronnie Montrose's production is reflected in the more commercial Hard Rock approach on 75's Warner Bros Presents Montrose! This album's chugging opener Matriarch, the acoustic Rock ballad effect on All I Need plus the epic Progressive overtones to Whaler, reveals a band developing its oeuvre and aligning with the changes in the then musical climate. Helmed by another production giant, Montrose's final album release (until the band was reconvened in the late 80s), the Jack Douglas produced Jump On It, is kick started by the stone-cold classic Let's Go that slides and boogies with the impunity of a song on day release from an obscure sentence. The good news for fans is that this box set finally releases these songs collected with a couple of contemporaneous live recordings to reassert the controlling influence of this band that spawned so many Classic Rock tracks and musically birthed their individual members into rock history and one or two into future Hard Rock superstardom.