Before his death in 2012 at age 64, Ronnie Montrose began recording an album with bassist Ricky Phillips (Styx, Bad English) and drummer Eric Singer (Kiss, Alice Cooper)....
Before his death in 2012 at age 64, Ronnie Montrose began recording an album with bassist Ricky Phillips (Styx, Bad English) and drummer Eric Singer (Kiss, Alice Cooper). The idea was to record 10 songs with 10 singers and call the album 10X10.
Unfortunately, Montrose was unable to see the final product during his lifetime. However, Phillips made it his mission to finish the songs; he enlisted a small army of Montrose's friends to record the vocals and the guitar solos for each song—and he actually completed the album. In fact, it'll be released September 29 via Rhino.
"His songs still have the fire and angst of a young rebel, but with some added wisdom and foresight voiced in his own unique language of 'guitar-speak'," Phillips says.
You can hear one of the new songs—"Color Blind"—below, and judge for yourself. The track features vocals by Sammy Hagar and guitar by Steve Lukather.
The disc also features appearances by Glenn Hughes with Phil Collen ("Still Singin' with the Band"), plus Joe Bonamassa ("The Kingdom's Come Undone"), Edgar Winter ("Love Is an Art") and Tommy Shaw ("Strong Enough"). Several artists heard on 10X10 had recorded with Montrose during his career, including Winter, who invited the guitarist to play on his 1972 album, They Only Come Out at Night.
Of course, Hagar got his start singing with Montrose; between 1973 and 1975, he recorded two albums—Montrose and Paper Money—with the band and toured the world. More than 40 years later, Hagar was among the first who agreed to help finish this album.
"It's valuable to have 10X10 be seen as Ronnie's last work, rather than going and digging up some stuff from his past," Hagar says. "This was something he truly had a vision for."