Great Rock Albums of 1986: Sammy Hagar- Three Lock Box

 

By 1982, Sammy Hagar was attracting the attention of many people in the rock world, including mine. After several kick ass albums and some great songs on a couple of soundtracks, my curiosity was certainly aroused. It was this 1982 album "Three Lock Box," that allowed me to listen to the Red Rocker in his fully glory.

The opening title track ever most definitely sets the pace for the album straight away. His opening vocals, "Suckers walk, money talks, but it can't touch my three lock box," has been etched in my mind for all eternity. It's not just the lyrics though, that fuzzy blues rock guitar that kicks in a second later propels it through to the ionosphere. The song not only allows me to appreciate Hagar's vocal ability but I can also give him respect as a guitarist. Funny thing is that "Three Lock Box" isn't my all time favourite Hagar song, that's still to come.

"Three Lock Box," the album, doesn't depreciate as it goes further down the line with more songs. "Remote Love" has a good intro and I like it as a rock song but it's the very next song that wins my award for the album's best hidden gem. "Remember the Heroes" is a true rocker with a great rocking introduction and some fantastic guitar soloing in the middle. What a great song, maybe they should of released that one as a single but instead, the known single from the album is "Your Love is Driving Me Crazy." The song is what it is, great single material and I did like it when it came on the radio in the day. After the single, the album goes back to some more good Hagar sounding rock. He stretches out a bit with the next song, "In the Room." Maybe he was trying to sound more new wave here, I don't know. Saying that, I won't take anything away from it, I do like it. Things go more hard rock with the next track, "Rise of the Animal" and I can hear some good guitar tweaking in that one. It does go out with a cool guitar solo. That leads the album to the end with the four remaining tracks although I really dig the straight forward rocker, "Growing Up." It precedes the closest thing Sammy has to a ballad on the album, "With Never Give Up." That too was released as a single but it didn't do as well as "Your Love is Driving Me Crazy." Still, it's not a bad song and then there's the closer, "I Don't Need Love." Another cool rock song that at first listen had me asking myself, "Why is this the last song on the album?" Then I answered my own question when I heard how the guitars ended the song. In short, after hearing "Three Lock Box," I was converted to Sammy Hagar.

Track Listing

1. Three Lock Box
2. Remote Love
3. Remember the Heroes
4. Your Love is Driving Me Crazy
5. In the Room
6. Rise of the Animal
7. I Wouldn't Change a Thing
8. Growing Up
9. Never Give Up
10. I Don't Need Love
11. [caption id="attachment_1954" align="aligncenter" width="228"] Sammy Hagar[/caption]

    Sammy Hagar- vocals, guitar

12. Bill Church- bass

Gary Pihl- guitar

David Lauser- drums

Guest musicians

Jonathan Cain- keyboards on "Remember the Heroes"

Mike Reno- vocals on "Remember the Heroes"

Sammy Hagar not only made a believer out of me in 1982, he made one out of many people. "Three Lock Box" is the reason why. It is my favourite album of Sammy's and listening to it, reminds me why.

Next post: Diamond Head- Borrowed Time

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