Gamma - What’s Gone Is Gone - Complete Elektra Recordings 1979-1982

Following the demise of Montrose in 1977 and an instrumental solo album in 1978, guitarist Ronnie Montrose formed Gamma.  The band was initially rounded out with vocalist Davey Pattison, drummer Skip Gillette and former Montrose band members Alan Fitzgerald on bass and Jim Alcivar on synthesizers, both of whom had also played on Montrose’s solo album.  Over the course of five years, along with a few lineup changes, Gamma released the three albums found in the box set What’s Gone Is Gone - Complete Elektra Recordings 1979-1982, before breaking up in 1983.  The band also released another album in 2000, but that was not on Elektra Records, and is not included here.  

Wanting to remain vital, as the music of the times was changing, and the use of keyboards was becoming more predominant, Gamma 1 found him moving in more of an AOR direction and relied a lot more on synths.  As always, Montrose’s guitar playing is stellar throughout and while overall the album is really good, there are times when you can tell they were still working out adding the extra element to their music.  “Thunder and Lightning” gets things going and is a strong rocker reminiscent of Bad Company, but with vocoder and a lot more synths.  Next up is “I’m Alive”, originally recorded by The Hollies and the first of two covers on the album.  It starts with synths and vocoder and evolves into a meaty rocker that is very catchy.  Probably the high point of the release is “Razor King”, a dynamic track that still has that Bad Company / Foreigner sound, but with great synth passages that take it into prog territory and one of the album’s strongest guitar solos.  Starting off with almost video game sounding keys, which today definitely sound a bit dated, “No Tears” has a bit of a Rod Stewart feel and is one of the album’s weaker tracks.  The instrumental “Solar Heat” shows their more experimental side with spacey synths and a great Montrose solo.  Another album highlight is “Ready For Action”, a really catchy, muscular rocker with a bit of a bounce to the beat.  The second cover is their take on Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame singer-songwriter Mickey Newbury’s “Wish I Was” which adds a little diversity to the album, and is a really nice, laid-back bluesy version.  The album closes out strongly with “Fight To The Finish”, a tempo shifting rocker that at times shows some traces of Foreigner’s “Juke Box Hero”, which is of course the better-known track but was actually released a couple years later.  

Album number two, Gamma 2, found the band with two new members, Glenn Letsch on bass and Denny Carmasi (another former member of Montrose) on drums.  By this time they also seemed to figure out how to better incorporate the synths and the result is a more cohesive release, something that is evident immediately with the first two tracks, the muscular “Mean Streak” and “Four Horseman”, which blasts off with a fast-paced opening and turns into a solid rocker reminiscent of Rainbow.  While “Dirty City” is just a so-so track, sounding a lot like early Foreigner, “Voyager” is one of the album’s best, with a really nice, laid-back blues rock groove and a touch of soul.  Maintaining the catchy spirit of the original, their cover of Thunderclap Newman’s “Something In The Air” gives the song a bit of a rock kick.  “Cat on a Leash” is another album highlight, starting with synths before the guitar kicks in to create a solid rocker that sounds like a new wave version of Montrose.  The Montrose vibe continues on the meaty “Skin and Bone”, an interesting cut with synth flourishes and a bit of an experimental side.  Closer “Mayday” opens with crunching power chords before chirping synths and drums kick in to create a whirling dervish of guitars and synths swirling around each other to create an infectious rocker.  

Gamma 3 was the final album from the band until they reunited eighteen years later.  In addition to another member change with Mitchell Froom now taking over on keys (not synths which is what Alvicar was credited with on the first two), they moved a lot further into keyboard heavy AOR.  Montrose’s guitar work is still outstanding, but it's not in the forefront as much as before.  Openers “What’s Gone Is Gone” and “Right The First Time” display this perfectly.  While they are both very catchy, they are more melodic with the synths definitely pushed to the front and even Pattison’s vocals seem to have lost some of their bite.  Ironically this shift gave them their biggest hit with “Right The First Time”, hitting seventy-seven on the US charts and twenty-seven in Canada.  “Moving Violation” is one of the better songs, bringing to mind the heavier sound of Foreigner, but with a lot more synths.  The six and a half minutes plus “Mobile Devotion” is an album highlight and while still a little synth heavy, they are more rapid fire, and the track is a bit more on the hard rock end of things with a lot of shifting tempos and moods.   Carmassi’s drums are really heavy with some machine gun sections and Montrose’s soloing is back and better.  “Stranger” is a simple AOR rocker with a little more of a laid-back groove, and the instrumental “Condition Yellow” is a bouncy synth rock tune that has some good soloing from Montrose who shares the spotlight a lot more here than on previous instrumentals.  The light and breezy “Modern Girl” is a really nice laid-back track with an infectious groove, largely driven by Montrose's acoustic guitar.  Following “No Way Out”, another synth and vocoder heavy AOR track, is closer “Third Degree”, an album highlight that is darker and moodier with a hint of spacey prog thanks to Froom’s keys. The box also includes six bonus tracks that are all single edits of album tracks.  What’s Gone Is Gone - Complete Elektra Recordings 1979-1982 represents an interesting chapter in Montrose's career and is definitely worth picking up.  

(HNE Recordings)