[.ca] Standing Hampton

Tied with 3 Lock Box as Sammy's best.:
This is one of those fun, tuneful hard rock albums. If you want to only buy one of his full studio albums, start with this one. The pounding soundtrack song "Heavy Metal" is here. The title is pretty descriptive too, as the song talks about that very subject. The somewhat '70s tinged classic/hard rocker "Baby's On Fire" is a song telling the story of a girl he knows. In this same vein, the cover of "Piece Of My Heart" is easily as good as the original. "I'll Fall In Love Again" is a mid tempo, somewhat heartfelt song that still rocks, albeit with a lighter, more pop based '80s sounding beat. This should've been a huge hit. My absolute favorite song of his, though, is the fast, anthemic "There's Only One Way To Rock". It's a celebratory, fun song that also sounds more reminiscent of 80s hard rock. It's perfect in the sense that it's still extremely catchy, with a tiny bit of pop thrown in. The other songs are good too. "Baby It's You" is an obscure, very nice sounding power ballad. "Surrender" is a cover, that's similar in style, but not as good. The heavier "Sweet Hitchhiker" is another song about picking up a girl. Sammy is great at subjects like this! "Inside Lookin' In" is a lighter, more melodic rocker that could've been a hit. "Can't Get Loose" is a longer, more epic rock song that isn't quite as good, but not bad. Sammy Hagar is still fairly well known and liked today, even among people who aren't big hard rock fans. The age range, both young and old, among people who like him is bigger too. One reason I think he's not lumped in with the '80s is that he's JUST different enough from alot of his peers of the decade to stand out. He's not quite as silly sounding or trendy as Poison or Whitesnake. He's not as thrashy or loud as Megadeth or early Metallica. He's heavier than typical '80s AOR such as Loverboy or Survivor, and used less keyboards than them. Many of the afforementioned artists are what I'd call guilty pleasures today (or, maybe even than, if I'd been high school/college aged in the 80s), whereas Sammy is more timeless sounding.

THERE IS ONLY ONE SAMMY......:
Not much to add to what everyone has said. Sammy is immensely talented, with a flair to write great catchy,hard rocking songs.This and "Three Lock Box" are my two fave Sammy albums. Not sure which I would pick as the better one-they are both outstanding. The music scent today is seriously lacking great rock music that Sammy and a few others have made famous. "There's only one way to rock" and "Heavy Metal" are on the harder side while "Baby it's you" and "Surrender" are not as heavy but still great tunes that deserved to be hits! Everyone who loves Sammy already has this but if you are new to his music, you can't go wrong here

One Of Sammy Hagar's Best:
From the opener, "I'll Fall In Love Again", STANDING HAMPTON got it right for Sammy Hagar. Combinig the pure Detroit rock of Bob Seger and Ted Nugent, the Southern boogie of Skynyrd and the Outlaws, and the metal of Humble Pie, Foghat, and Montrose, Hagar adds his own elements and comes up with his own special blend of hard rock that both rocks and swings, a sound that he formed in the 70s and has continued to develop into the 80s and since leaving Van Halen. This is one of the great 80's rock albums, and it should have been a huge hit.

His best album:
I bought the album in 1981 and I still love it. It made me a Sammy Hagar fan. I still remember the time when I listened to it the first time and how much it impressed me. "I'll Fall In Love Again" (a smaller hit in the USA, which just touched the top 40; in my opinion it should have become a No. 1 hit), "There's Only One Way To Rock", "Baby's On Fire" and "Heavy Metal" are among the best songs he has ever written. Unfortunately he never released an other album that was as good as this one. It's one of the best rock albums ever.

Among the best rock albums of all time.:
Hagar fans already know how amazing Standing Hampton is. So here's something for those of you who don't already know Hagar. If you like straight-up rock, if you like heavy, guitar driven rock, if you like songs that are fun but do actually have something to say, then listen to this album. I very rarely give a five-star rating to anything. My first exposure to Hagar was Three Lock Box, which I loved (but still only gave 4 stars). Because I enjoyed that one so much, I bought Standing Hampton. That was a couple of decades ago, and I still love this album. There are so few albums that are so fun, so skillfully written, so amazingly performed and produced, and that can hold up so well for so long as this album. If asked the classic "if you could only have 10 albums for the rest of your life..." I would definitely include this one.

• I'll Fall in Love Again
• There's Only One Way to Rock
• Baby's on Fire
• Can't Get Loose
• Heavy Metal
• Baby, It's You
• Surrender
• Inside Lookin' In
• Sweet Hitch-Hiker
• Piece of My Heart