Sold Date:
July 25, 2023
Start Date:
June 25, 2022
Final Price:
$24.98
(USD)
Seller Feedback:
9370
Buyer Feedback:
0
Ronnie Montrose
10 x 10
12"
VINYL
RECORD LP
BRAND NEW & FACTORY SEALED
Rhino Entertainment
R1 557775
UPC | 081227942205
2017
TRACK LISTING
SIDE 1
1. Heavy Traffic
ft. – Dave Meniketti, Eric Martin
2. Love Is An Art
ft. – Edgar Winter, Rick Derringer
3. Color Blind
ft. – Sammy Hagar, Steve Lukather
4. Still Singin' With The Band
ft. – Glenn Hughes, Jimmy "Z" Zavala, Phil Collen
5. Strong Enough
ft. – Tommy Shaw
SIDE 2
1. Any Minute
ft. – Mark Farner, Ricky Phillips
2. The Kingdom's Come Undone
ft. – Joe Bonamassa, Ricky Phillips
3. One Good Reason
ft. – Brad Whitford, Bruce Turgon
4. Head On Straight
ft. – Davey Pattison, Marc Bonilla
5. I'm Not Lying
ft. – Gregg Rolie, Lawrence Gowan, Tom Gimbel
When Ronnie Montrose passed away on March 3, 2012, he was in the
midst of working on an album that would have thrilled fans of his
original Montrose (1973-1974) and Gamma (1979-1983) periods. The
artistically restless Montrose followed his muse without question, but,
in 2003, he called in bassist Ricky Phillips (Styx, Bad English) and
drummer Eric Singer (Kiss, Alice Cooper) to tackle a power-trio project
that would rock harder than anything he had done in years.
The idea was to record 10 songs with 10 different singers and call the album 10X10. He brought Phillips and Singer to Doug Messenger's studio in North Hollywood, and the three musicians set up to record live — no pre-production rehearsals and no overdubs — and knocked out ten basic tracks in two or three days. Sadly, Montrose was unable to see the album through during his lifetime and it quite possibly may never have been heard beyond a few Montrose-family friends. Montrose did manage to record some of his chosen vocalists — such as Sammy Hagar and Edgar Winter — but finances, schedules, and a frightening illness conspired to slow and eventually stop progress.
"I was talking to Eric Singer about 10x10 after Ronnie died, and I was pretty sure that I wanted to see if I could finish it, but I hadn't been able to move forward on it," says Phillips. "But Eric said, 'It has to be you. You and I were there to record it. We were there when Ronnie was talking about it — what he wanted to do, who he wanted to sing on it, how he wanted it to sound. If someone else gets into this thing, it's going to suck, and you're going to hate it.' That did it. I called Leighsa Montrose."
Phillips made it his mission to finish the songs by enlisting a small army of Ronnie's musician friends to record the vocals and the guitar solos for each song, completing the album over the course of recent years.
The songs represent some of Montrose’s best work. According to Ricky Phillips, "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.' On 10X10, we hear Ronnie at the top of his game, from the opening crunch guitar of 'Heavy Traffic,' all the way to the closing song, 'I’m Not Lying,' which was Ronnie’s tip of the hat to his friend Robin Trower."
The album features inspired pairings, like Deep Purple singer Glenn Hughes with Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen ("Still Singin' With The Band") and singer Sammy Hagar with Toto guitarist Steve Lukather ("Color Blind"). Legendary blues guitarist Joe Bonamassa also showcases his guitar talents on the track "The Kingdom's Come Undone" with Ricky Phillips on vocals. A few artists both sing and play, like Edgar Winter ("Love Is An Art") and Tommy Shaw ("Strong Enough").
Several artists who appear on 10X10 had recorded with Ronnie during his career, like Edgar Winter, who included the guitarist on his 1972 album, They Only Come Out At Night. Sammy Hagar got his start singing with Montrose. Between 1973-75, he recorded two influential 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 Ronnie's final 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. This was something he truly had a vision for" says Hagar.