Gamma-Gamma 2 (1980)

Gamma was the second band led by guitarist Ronnie Montrose, following his first project, Montrose with whom he released a series of great works such as "Paper Money" (1973), "Warner Bros. Presents…Montrose" (1975), and "Jump It" (1976). After releasing his first solo album, "Open Fire", in 1978, he formed Gamma with Davey Pattison on vocals, Jim Alcivar on keyboards, Alan Fitzgerald on bass, and Skip Gillette on drums. With this lineup, he recorded the album "Gamma 1" (1979). A year later came "Gamma 2", which featured several changes from the previous lineup, with Denny Carmassi and Glenn Letsch replacing Gillette and Fitzgerald, respectively. "Gamma 2" would become a fundamental reference point for Ronnie Montrose's sound, confirming Davey Pattison as one of the best hard rock vocalists of the 1980s and showcasing a solid and powerful rhythm section with Carmassi and Letsch. The album features the opening track, "Mean Streak", a powerful hard rock number, followed by the frenetic rock of "Four Horsemen" and the AOR track "Dirty City". The rest of the album explores bluesy territory with powerful blues-rock tracks like the atmospheric and brilliant "Voyager", the hard blues of "Cat On a Leash", and the progressive blues of "Skin and Bone", while the heavy rock track "Mayday" showcases Montrose at his peak, demonstrating his superb technique on the six-string.