Among the American trustbusters lined up against the British heavy-metal monopoly, Montrose ranks about a Tom Hayden to Aerosmith's Ralph Nader. They do good stuff, but haven't quite gone over the top in the public imagination. The next obvious move is to cloud the issues with some demagogy: glow fire at the sky, promise the audience that whosoever believeth in them shall not perish but have eternal life and become the next Kiss/Jerry Brown.

After laying a solid foundation with a demented defense of the gold standard on their first album, Montrose is apparently not following this irrefutable logic. Their latest starts well with "Let's Go," an unrelenting road song riding center line between the absurdist humor of "You Can't Catch Me," and the ecstatic release of "Born to Be Wild." Another tasty rocker, "What Are You Waitin' For?," places more emphasis on lead guitar over bass and drums. The third song is an almost-acoustic instrumental. Sucked in by this typical Led Zep song pattern, the listener is primed for an all-time gut-thumper like "When the Levee Breaks." Instead, he gets a piano and violins on a self-pitying lament, "Music Man," whose sentiments are worthy of Barry Manilow. When the Stones wallow in this morass, at least they offer to stick knives in their hearts.

Side two holds one solid rocker, "Jump on It." The melodies are all interesting, though short of the adrenalin one might expect. Obeisance is being paid to the Frampton flotilla rather than the Kiss Army.

- Charles M. Young, Rolling Stone, 11/16/76.

Bonus Review!

This hard-rockin' album, produced by Edgar Winter, includes vocalist Bob James. * * *

- David Szatmary, The All-Music Guide to Rock, 1995.

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