Music used to be regional.\u00c2\u00a0 And despite being featured in all the Warner Brothers hype, nowhere I lived ever played Montrose on the radio.<\/p>\n
But now the satellite’s got a national footprint.<\/p>\n
Which is how I ended up hearing "Good Rockin’ Tonight".<\/p>\n
I was driving up a leafy boulevard, the kind upon which XM maintains a signal and Sirius loses it, and this song came over the radio.\u00c2\u00a0 A cover of Roy Brown’s classic "Good Rockin’ Tonight".\u00c2\u00a0 Do we need another cover?\u00c2\u00a0 By Montrose?<\/p>\n
Now I know Sammy Hagar got his start with Ronnie.\u00c2\u00a0 But this didn’t sound quite like him.\u00c2\u00a0 The vocal wasn’t quite full-bodied enough.\u00c2\u00a0 And I don’t know why I didn’t push the button on this lame remake by a latter-day incarnation of the band when suddenly the guitar started to SOAR!<\/p>\n
Go to the NAMM show.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s in Anaheim next week.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ll see tatted up dudes with hair piled up high tapping their axes in imitation of Eddie Van Halen.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ll see wannabes with a lot of technique, but very little style.\u00c2\u00a0 This does not describe Ronnie Montrose.\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, he’s practiced.\u00c2\u00a0 But it’s when he chooses to play, and when not.\u00c2\u00a0 But, even more, it’s the lyrical sound of his picking, sometimes fast, sometimes sustained.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s like he’s dancing all over the fretboard, all over the track.\u00c2\u00a0 And sure, he can play fast, but it’s the way he puts the notes together, in a fashion that’s positively melodic!<\/p>\n
I thought Ronnie was retired.\u00c2\u00a0 But Wikipedia tells me he’s still out there, after battling prostate cancer.<\/p>\n
And I also learned "Good Rockin’ Tonight" comes from the band’s debut.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The 1973 album with "Bad Motor Scooter", "Space Station No. 5" and "Rock Candy".\u00c2\u00a0 All of which have infiltrated my brain over the decades.\u00c2\u00a0 They’ve survived, via play in bars, at house parties, occasionally on the radio.\u00c2\u00a0 Montrose may have made no initial impact in my neck of the woods, but their sound is living on.<\/p>\n
And it is Sammy Hagar vocalizing.\u00c2\u00a0 He hasn’t fully developed his sound yet, it’s not quite as full-bodied, not as rich as "Eagles Fly".<\/p>\n
How to explain this.<\/p>\n
The way you go to the bar today, to move to the bass-heavy productions of studio wizards…\u00c2\u00a0 We used to go to the gig. For three, four or five dollars.\u00c2\u00a0 And these skinny guys used to stand on stage and wring this sound out of their instruments that made us shimmy and shake, writhe like bugs.\u00c2\u00a0 "Good Rockin’ Tonight" is positively seventies.<\/p>\n
But listen today and you’ll find it’s not even dated.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s like a rocket ship from outer space has entered our atmosphere. You’re wide-eyed, you’re dazzled, you want MORE!<\/p>\n
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