“I’m sure this sounded perfectly bitchin’ blasting out of a Camaro’s hi-fi”: Sammy Hagar provides the late-70s party soundtrack on All Night Long

With his modern-day persona of a Tequila-slugging loon, it’s easy to forget that Sammy Hagar enjoyed a golden period when he could do no wrong on British shores. Whether by accident or design, the singer had a credibility and likeability that other, more aloof, American frontmen lacked. The Red Rocker was one of our own – even if he drove a Pontiac Trans Am and wrote a song called Heavy Metal that patently wasn’t.

Hagar’s studio-recorded solo albums of the mid 70s and early 80s were by and large rather flaccid affairs (yes, even Standing Hampton), but this live album, released in ‘78, was and remains a total humdinger. Sam The Ham’s puffed-up personality oozes from every pore as he rollicks and swaggers his way through a short, sharp, scintillating set. 

Make It Last and Bad Motor Scooter, two songs by former band Montrose, are so fast and furious they leave 55mph for dust, while an eight-and-a-half-minute version of Donovan’s Young Girl Blues can only be described as elegiac blue-collar rock. The UK release, retitled Loud & Clear, came out a year later and had an extra track in the shape of Montrose’s Space Station No.5. 

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Other albums released in July 1978

• Nightwatch – Kenny Loggins
• More Songs About Buildings And Food – Talking Heads
• SgtPepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – Various Artists
• Can’t Stand The Rezillos – The Rezillos
• Americana – Leon Russell
• Dream Of A Child – Burton Cummings
• Hobo With A Grin – Steve Harley
• Out Of Reach – Can

What they said…

“The initial missiles come in the form of Red and Rock ‘N’ Roll Weekend, both from his second album. Then comes Make It Last, which owners of that first Montrose LP will instantly recognise. This breaks into Reckless, with lethal guitar and rifling in the style of Zepp’s Communication Breakdown. I’m sure there aren’t many headbangers without an Imaginary axe In their hands at this stage of the proceedings.” (Record Mirror) 

“All Night Long is better than most hard rock live albums not only because Sammy Hagar is at his best when he’s on stage, but because the set list includes only his best songs, eliminating the filler that tends to clutter his albums.” (AllMusic)

“It kicks off with a signature Hagar bubblegum rocker, motoring along like an Easy
Rider gang, with whirring synths and an infectious beat. Rock ’N’ Roll Weekend could be a Boston party anthem, and there’s some dinky guitar on the piano-driven, furiously phased Turn Up The Music. The frantic pace slackens on the nine-minute Young Girl Blues, with its rattling rhythm and slinky organ, while the unit’s locomotive
interplay is to the fore on Bad Motor Scooter.” (Record Collector)

What you said…

Richard Cardenas: Excellent record with the energy of the show coming right through my speakers. I might be biased though. I was at this show. 10/10.

Keith Jenkin: Great live album that as others have mentioned was better again as Loud And Clear with the extra track in the UK. Great organic live sound which certainly didn’t appear to have been tampered with in the studio afterwards. Always found his studio albums a bit patchy but this was all killer no filler and remember getting some serious mileage from the record back in the day.

John Edgar: Massively popular car music released in the U.S. in the summer of 1978. For months you could hear this album all over the Texas/Arkansas border town where I grew up. It was the soundtrack for cruising the state line, keggers, afternoons at the lake, lazy days at the the river and on campouts in the nearby Ozark National Forest. 

In those days, Sammy filled the opening act slot at a lot of shows that came through our area. I can remember making the decision to attend some shows simply because Sammy was the opening act. His live sets were super-high energy from start to finish, and that energy translates well onto this first live release from Mr. Hagar. 

I’m sure this album was a breakthrough, of sorts, for Sammy. Sales figures tell us this was the first Sammy Hagar purchase for a lot of people. I’ve heard Sammy say that at this point in his career he sold more albums in Texas and California than the rest of the U.S. combined. I suppose we just ‘got it’. If you’re a 70s classic rock fan you need this in your collection. Turn Up The Music!

Frank Mineghino: This is his best solo album. It kicks ass! Saw him open for Van Halen, Black Sabbath, and Boston in September 1978. Great performance. Bought this album.

Jim Husk: Fantastic live album giving us insight into the potential that Sammy was going to grow into. Reckless is a true seventies rocker, and Turn Up The Music was a made-for-AOR FM radio classic. To add Bad Motor Scooter to the song list was genius for all of us 70s Sammy fans.

Gus Schultz: Never really heard of Sammy Hagar until a Boston concert at Cobo Hall in Detroit. While Boston perfectly executed their material, the raw energy and sound of the red rocker and company just seemed to blow Boston of the stage. It left me wanting more of this guy. I went out and bought Danger Zone and was impressed, albeit by an album that really didn’t take off for him. 

A few years later I added Standing Hampton to my collection which may be his most successful LO. But I always found his studio material to be hit and miss and most of his 80s material plagued by the production techniques of the time. I think his live albums are a true representation of his talents. I enjoyed this LP as it reminded me of the time I first saw him. It has that raw energy and sound that didn’t really come through on his studio work. Definitely going to check out all of his live material in the future.

Mike Canoe: All Night Long is a fun (if short) testament to Sammy Hagar’s prowess as a dynamic live performer. A few weeks ago, I described Y&T as classic double cheeseburger rock’n’roll. Well, Hagar may not have created the recipe for this kind of hard rock sound but he sure helped perfect it.

It sure doesn’t hurt that the Red Rocker has a red hot band backing him up, including future Boston guitarist, Gary Pihl, and three Montrose alums on drums, bass, and keyboards. Signature Hagar rockers like Red, Rock ‘N’ Roll Weekend, and Turn Up the Music dominate side one, which is rounded out by the Montrose/Hagar medley of Make It Last/Reckless.

Side two opens with the hit-in-waiting I’ve Done Everything for You which became a hit for Rick Springfield in 1981. Then the album throws you a big old curveball with a long and surprisingly empathetic cover of Donovan’s Young Girl Blues. Donovan’s folky yet snarky original becomes a searing blues number in the band’s capable hands and I can’t help but wonder if it’s informed by Hagar’s observation of thirteen and fourteen-year-old girls lining up to be some crusty rock star’s next girlfriend for a night. The album closes with the almost as long but much more upbeat blast through Bad Motor Scooter featuring a call out to The Electric Church on bass and a guitar duel between Hagar and the excellent Gary Pihl.

And then the album’s over. It’s not often that I want a live album to be longer but this is one of those times. A great live album.

John Davidson: I’ve never been a fan of Sammy Hagar but he’s been around since forever and there are maybe half a dozen songs on my regular playlist that he has contributed to. His studio work was always a little stodgy; The bacon, egg and chips option of American radio rock, fun while it’s on but rarely remembered in-between.

All Night Long goes some way to explaining why Hagar has survived for five decades. The songs are brought to life in a way he never managed in the studio and the whole album has a high-energy vibe. Well worth a listen.

Evan Sanders: I’m surprised that this energetic live album wasn’t more popular when it came out, maybe because Sammy had not yet hit his 1980s-era career high. All the songs are strong, and I really liked the one-two sequence of Red and Rock ‘N’ Roll Weekend to open the album. Compared to the other songs, the radio hit I’ve Done Everything For You sounded almost perfunctory. 7/10 as a worthy deep cut into Sammy’s early career.

Gary Claydon: Having one of the greatest ever heavy rock albums as your debut is all well and good but the problem is, where do you go from there? The monstrous Montrose casts a giant shadow and I don’t think Sammy Hagar has ever really escaped it, despite his real fame coming via his stint in Van Halen. 

During the period between those two events, Hagar released eight ‘solo’ studio albums, all of them largely forgettable. They had their moments, but the only thing they really had in common with his Montrose days was a penchant for truly awful album covers (Standing Hampton, I’m looking at you!). Now, Sam’s songwriting has always been fairly ‘basic’. If you’re looking for deeply meaningful lyrical content, then man, have you come to the wrong place. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t write good songs, he came up with Space Staion No.5, among others, for fucks sake! While it was entirely unreasonable to expect him to keep trotting out such masterpieces, it was still surprising that much of his solo stuff was so dull.

However, Sammy Hagar has a few other weapons in his armoury. As well as being an excellent vocalist, he’s also a more than decent guitarist. The man is a seemingly inexhaustible ball of positive energy and, above all, he is a Showman, with a capital ‘S’. I think it was Geoff Barton who dubbed him ‘Sam the Ham’ which sounds unkind but isn’t. Doesn’t matter how high you make your mountain of rock’n’roll clichés, Sammy will scale it and plant his own flag at the top.

All of which helps make him a brilliant live performer. For a time during the late ’70s and early ’80s, Sam allied himself to some fine musicians, none more so than the line-up that recorded All Night Long. Of course, 3/4 of the original Montrose personnel are on show here, so the high standard of musicianship is pretty much guaranteed. Gary Pihl’s excellent guitar work and Alan Fitzgerald’s keys further reinforce that. 

Bestriding it all is Hagar himself, his energy, enthusiasm and sheer joy of performing coming through as clearly on the album as it did in the flesh. With, apparently, little, if anything, in the way of overdubs, the production has a ‘raw’ quality which perfectly suits the album. Sam’s solo stuff is transformed into energetic hard rock. 

The Montrose material is well done, with the guitar ‘duel’ on Bad Motor Scooter being a highlight. (At this point, I’ll just add that I’m more familiar with this album as the UK released Loud & Clear which has much better artwork and an extra track in the shape of ‘Space Station No.5. This is a decent enough version of the classic but, overall, I don’t think All Night Long loses out too much by not having it). The best thing here, though, is an outstanding take on Donovan’s Young Girl Blues, which really ought to crop up more often in those frequent ‘best ever cover version’ discussions.

I was lucky enough to see Hagar and his band a time or two during this period. One gig stands out. It was at a less-than-full Sheffield City Hall. There was no fancy stage production. No trick light show. No gimmicks. What we got was a shit hot rock’n’roll band delivering a high-energy set that defied you not to enjoy yourself and All Night Long captures those qualities pretty darn well.

Brian Carr: Man, I go way back with Sammy Hagar’s music. Sure, he had radio hits before the Van Halen years, but being such a fan of his breakthrough Geffen records, at some point our household picked up his Rematch album, so I’ve been familiar with most of the tracks from All Night Long for an extensive period of time. It was later as I learned more about rock history that I found out about Montrose and the fact that there were quite a few lean years as Sammy branched out on his own. But I didn’t have this particular record until I recently stumbled across a used vinyl copy at some point in the last year.

I remember live Sammy concerts airing on the early years of MTV, both on his own and with Neil Schon on the HSAS project, so I’m well versed on how great he is live. All Night Long shows this off quite well, though it is a little disappointing that it has half as many tunes as the Rematch compilation. 

What really jumped out at me here was the showcase of his guitar prowess – since his time in Van Halen, I think Sammy is considered a singer and people might forget or not know what a solid lead player he is (or was?). A fine effort showing again how much sonic goodness Mr. Hagar has unleashed upon the world for – wow! – fifty years or more, dating back to the Montrose debut.

Carey Scott Miller: I joined this group in the hopes that it would expose me to some gems I wouldn’t normally have on my radar. Well, I’d never heard this one before, but this ain’t quite what I’ve hoped for. As somewhat of a stalwart of the Van Halen isn’t Van Halen without Dave Lee Roth camp, I’ve always assessed Hagar’s shtick as possibly the nadir of ham-fisted rock’n’roll-with-two-capital-Rs cheese. I mean, I Can’t Drive 55 is practically the blueprint. 

So I came at this one with no shortage of bias, to be fair. Taken at face value, I’m sure this sounded perfectly bitchin’ blasting out of a Camaro’s hi-fi in ’77. But that was a year before I was born, so without the filter of nostalgia these ears find the music on this live album vanilla and pedestrian, though the musicianship is solid. In “Turn Up the Music,” Sammy caterwauls “we play heavy metal music.” I beg to differ, sir. You play butt rock. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. 5/10 (I did learn that Rick Springfield’s I’ve Done Everything for You was originally a Hagar tune, so at least I’m getting some education from this exercise).

Greg Schwepe: Sammy knows what you want. Sammy knows what you need. Sammy delivers. Sammy rocks. I mean, is there anyone you know that doesn’t like Sammy Hagar? Well, except for some Netherlands-born brothers who ended up in Pasadena, CA and weren’t too pleased with him for a short while after his autobiography came out.

All Night Long is 40 minutes of high-energy rock and roll delivered with a capital “R” and “R.” Sprinkled with current solo songs at the time and some Montrose selections, Mr. Hagar would have you leaving the venue with a smile on your face and the idea that you got your money’s worth. 

While I’m not a total expert on Hagar’s career trajectory when this came out, am guessing he was headlining larger clubs, theatres, and opening (with Special Guest status!) in arenas for more established bands at the time. Also being known as “the guy that used to sing in Montrose” probably kept him off the bottom rung of the ladder when he started his solo career.

You can feel the energy on this album and Sammy pulls the audience along. If he was the headliner and his name was on the ticket; he’d make sure you had a great time. If another band’s name was on the ticket and Sammy was the opener; he’d make sure you and your buddy turned to each other and went “Wow, he kicked ass” after his set and hit the record store the next day for his latest release.

While we all have our favourite double live album, there’s something about a single live album that brings about a little more focus. You had only two sides of vinyl to stick in the songs which represented who you were at the time. This is done with the inclusion of Rock ‘N’ Roll Weekend, Montrose’s Make It Last and Bad Motor Scooter.

And in the “who knew Rick Springfield’s version would do better?” category, the inclusion of the Sammy-penned I’ve Done Everything For You shows that this live version is better than the studio one. And because Sammy knows you can’t rock 90mph the entire show, he brings along Young Girl Blues, which simmers first then cooks at the end.

A high school friend of mine saw Sammy open for Boston on their Don’t Look Back tour. He mentioned how Sammy and Gary Pihl (who would eventually end up in Boston!) “played guitar wars, pointed their guitar headstocks at each other like guns and took turns ‘pushing’ each other back and forth on stage.” Hearing Sammy introduce Gary Pihl during Bad Motor Scooter then say “let’s have a little battle” while they trade riffs; I totally know what my friend was talking about now.

The other thing I like about this is the recording. I’m no recording engineer, but it sounds like it was recorded from about the 10th row. Can’t put my finger on it but there’s something about that ambience that reminds me of being in a small arena.

9 out of 10 for me on this one. An album I could’ve played loud from a Trans Am had I had one back in the day.

Philip Qvist: Am I familiar with Sammy Hagar’s work? Well, yes and no.

Yes, I have heard a lot of his work with Van Halen and I do have 5150 and OU812 in my collection, I have heard some of his output after Van Halen, I have heard I Can’t Drive 55 before, while I know that he was the frontman for Montrose.

But no, I am not familiar with a lot of his early solo career and while it might be sacrilege to many, I have yet to hear Montrose’s debut album in full. Yes, I know – shocking indeed.

In short, All Night Long is bit of a new one to me and I liked it – a lot, in fact. It definitely rocks, the rhythm section is solid, while it was difficult to separate the guitarists on the album, as Gary Pihl did a fine job. In addition, by being just 40 minutes long, the album got straight to the point and never outstayed its welcome.

Highlights for me were the nine-minute cover of Donovan’s Young Girls Blues, Montrose’s Bad Motor Scooter, Red and I’ve Done Everything For You. For good measure I even listened to Space Station #5, which was on the UK version Loud & Clear – but the whole album rocks.

I should listen to a lot more of Sammy Hagar’s early work – and maybe that elusive Montrose album. An easy 8/10 from me – and a rather nice choice for this week.

Final score: 7.98 (83 votes cast, total score 663)

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