Montrose: Space Station #5 1973

In 1973, respected session musician Ronnie Montrose formed his own band, Montrose. He  had played on albums by Herbie Hancock (Mwandishil) and Van Morrison (Tupelo Honey & St. Dominique's Preview). The original Montrose line up included Sammy Hagar. But the reason I am posting this is more personal. When I was 17 one of my favorite bands was the Irish Punk band Stiff Little Fingers. Over the years I came to realise that some of their best ideas were not their own and that they were not the most original of bands. But I always thought their debut single Suspect Devise was a great song. One day someone told me to listen to Montrose’s Space Station #5. I finally tracked it down and put it on. After 50 seconds of spacey hippy noises on came the Suspect Devise riff. I was, as we say in my country, gutted. This is the song Stiff Little Fingers stole the riff for Suspect Devise from. The B-Side is a cover of the Roy Brown / Elvis song Good Rockin' Tonight.

Produced by Ted Templeman

Sam Hager               Vocals
Ronnie Montrose      Guitar
Bill Church                  Bass
Danny Carmassi       Drums

Space Station #5

Good Rockin' Tonight

As a bonus here's Stiff Little Fingers' Suspect Device. This is the Rigid Digits  Records single version. Which is different to the one on the album Inflammable Material.

Suspect Devise