GOOD DEAL
dickydo | Warwick, RI USA | 10/20/2009
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Essential packages or Greatest Hits often times aren't the best way of becoming familiar with an artists work. However when the tracks are personally selected by the man himself it thankfully provides an excellent primer for Montoya's percolating brand of R&B and soul/ blues. The Albert Collins and John Mayall protege is a master showman who can fire off tight leads with the best. The opening track, a cover of Robert Ward's "Fear No Evil" starts things off beautifully. "Am I Losing You", and "Sending Me Angels" are mid tempo gems showcasing warm expressive vocals in Montoya's signature rich deep baritone. Hopefully this will lead you to all his Blind Pig recordings from the 90's which are all still in print and without question his best work."
RICK ""SHAQ" GOLDSTEIN SAYS: "TOE-TAPPING BLUES-ROCK & MESME
Rick Shaq Goldstein | Danville, Ca, USA | 10/31/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I'm an electric-blues fanatic and my all-time favorites are Albert King, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Buddy Guy, Otis Rush, Luther Allison and Albert Collins. And when you think of these string bending blues-men you think of down and dirty... growling... rough and tumble blues. This CD of early Coco Montoya songs is a combination of blues... blues rock... and blues ballads. Coco's music doesn't emanate the kind of blues that takes you down dark alleys... jail cells... gun battles and painful physical destruction. At least not like the other fella's I just mentioned. And that isn't necessarily a bad thing. With Albert... Stevie... Buddy... and the boys... you know going in you're going to be tumbling in the mud and if you're wearing a new suit it's going to be a filthy mess. But what Coco presents on this CD is such a beautiful... velvety voice... that it seems almost too beautiful to be singing the blues. The imagery that his "blues" voice creates is one where Coco is wearing a brand new white suit... and as he jumps into muddy water... he comes out on the other side without a spec of dirt on his clothes. His guitar work is in a different category than my favorite "six". Where Stevie and Buddy can bend thick "steel-girders" with their magical blues fingers... and your ears can literally "see" the mystical reshaping of those strings... Montoya's strings are like *SILK-ON-POLISHED-STEEL*. This CD contains twelve songs that total fifty-seven-minutes-and-thirty-six-seconds... and everyone of them... rock and ballad alike are flawless.
Coco Montoya on this CD delivers a combination of voice and guitar that is absolutely pristine."
Track Listings (12) - Disc #1
