This the second Montrose album, and the last to feature Sam The Sham before his falling out with Ronnie and his departure to be a solo artist. This version has a bonus live album that was recorded at KSAN radio in ’74. It’s hard to believe it, but this album was the band’s highest charting album at #65. I always thought the first album was the best, but I guess not sales wise.
After the wam-bam of the first album, the first two tracks are a bit of a let down as they are very laid back and are both covers. It’s not until we get to The Dreamer where the volume gets turned up and Hagar does his best Paul Rodgers impression. Starliner is quite an interesting track as there is no vocal, but you can see that Ronnie was trying to change the band’s sound. I Got The Fire is the first track which could have been on the first record and it’s a great up tempo tune. The one thing you notice on this album is the guitar sound is a lot cleaner and the distortion has been dialled back.
My favourite track on the album is the dirty blues groove of Spaceage Scarifice. We’re Going Home sounds as though it should have been in Laurel Canyon in the late sixties – it feels as though its on the wrong album. The final track is Paper Money and this also has a very hippy vibe to it. If you didn’t know which album was recorded first, this or the self titled first album, you would probably say this one as it sounds older than it’s predecessor. I’m not sure if the fighting between Ronnie and Sham was the reason this album sounds very disjointed, but I guess it was having an effect.
7/10 from The Grooveman.
