(Modern electric blues) Coco Montoya - I Want It All Back - 2010, FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

...from Ruf Records

Long ago, Albert Collins took a young Coco Montoya aside and told him, "Son, just play what's in your heart." That has been Coco's mantra as he's toured the world cultivating fans with his intense music and warm personality.
The advice for Coco's Ruf Records debut is, "Son, just sing what's in your heart." From the opening riffs, Coco Montoya has shed the familiar and is ready to challenge himself and his audience. His first words unveil a voice that possesses as much soul as his guitar. That leap of faith, to trust in his voice, came at suggestion of Coco's friend and three time Grammy winning artist Keb' Mo'.
Working together, Keb' encouraged Coco's intimate vocal delivery to articulate the story. The world knows Coco as the blazing guitarist who nightly transforms genuine human emotions into eloquent notes that connect with the hearts of his audience. By developing Coco's vocal vulnerability backed by his aching guitar for the emotional reference, these songs connect faster than any records Coco has previously recorded.
"People know where I'm at with the guitar, but here the vocals are being concentrated on," said Coco. "There will certainly be guitar, but the focus has been on song structure and my vocals.
"I think it's healthy to take chances. It's being able to humble myself and take direction and guidance. As co-producers, Keb' and Jeff Paris have been working extensively with my vocals. I'm very proud of the performance they're getting outta me. At first it was real difficult and even a little frustrating, but they were very patient. Now, I'm startin' to hear it and I'm looking at my instrument in a different way."
Keb's job in the studio as co-producer was to sharpen Coco's singing while keeping his human compassion and gracious touch. "I want to make a record where the audience can get to know Coco as more then just a guitar player," said Keb'. "I think he has a great voice, but in the past, he's used his voice as a way to get to his guitar playing. Here, the vocals have to be taken seriously for what they are, the most important part of the record."
Though Montoya's one of the best finding emotion on the fretboard, he also possesses a soulful and expressive voice. At times, the quivering vibrato he wraps around words breathes a heartfelt vulnerability into a song's fragile pleas; other times his voice will steam roll like a heavyweight's knock-out punch.
From that starting point, Coco and Keb' began to search out songs to best fit Coco's voice and spirit, songs that spotlight Montoya's distinctive, aching tenor. They started with tunes wrapped in nostalgia of 45 records. Mary Wells' "The One That Really Loves You," The Penguins' "Hey Senorita," and Coco's most daring song, the Marvelettes's stylish sixties soul tune "Forever." They called in Rod and Honey Piazza to deliver the blues Coco loves on Buster Brown's "Fannie Mae."
But at the same time, Coco lives in the musical verses of today's fresh experiences. And as an artist, he always searches for new ways to express his own personal growth in a way to reach people's hearts.
The opening song "I Want It All Back," by Coco's friend and writing partner David Steen, is a joyous showcase of this fresh outlook. Add two songs, "Cry Lonely" and "As Close As I Have Come," by Nashville's Gary Nicholson, another songster Coco has found an affinity with, two from Jeff Paris, and a modern take on Jackson Browne's bouncy "Somebody's Baby" and you'll hear Coco's pure voice and torrid guitar as never before.
With his producer's hat on, Keb' said, "When you're making music, you have to make a new mold for every song. That takes more time and craftsmanship. It's a delicate balance of trust in the studio. Coco was listening to us, but it's just as important for us to listen to him. If we lose his voice in the process, we lose the record."
That balance and compromise in the studio between Coco and Keb' is immediately apparent in that here musicians were taking chances and making the creative decisions. At the same time, that very special bond he creates between himself and his fans is as intense as ever.
The essence of the blues is purest when one person connects with another from the heart. Only a select few are born with that talent. Most spend a lifetime searching for that unique ability. From his early days in the blues as the drummer behind blues legend Albert Collins, Coco Montoya's journey in life has been to discover that essence of the blues.
"Albert was very much a father," says blues guitarist Coco Montoya. "The gifts I've received from him were soul, compassion, faith in myself, faith in the music, and how to continue on. Albert taught me blues about playing from your heart. It's a music that you can't chart. If your heart's there, it's real. That's what keeps the blues going. Fads come and go, but the blues always stays."
Coco's first meeting with Collins came in 1971. "He just floored me. He walked out of the club, and I had goose bumps everywhere. When I heard his voice, it was religious. When he was done with his set, I was sweating." Asked to join Collins as a drummer, Coco sat behind the Master of the Telecaster from 1972 to 1975 and began his blues education.
Born October 2, 1951, Coco grew up in Southern California during the late 1950's and early 1960's, Montoya was immersed in music at an early age. Whether it was his father's big band records or his older brothers and sisters rock and roll records or the early rock and roll and doo wap that flooded AM radio, Coco took it all in with open ears. At the same time, English musicians like John Mayall and Eric Clapton were developing blues styles. "When I first heard Eric Clapton doing "Hideaway," was my re-education into the blues."
As a teen, Montoya discovered the guitar as a way to voice the inner feelings that needed expression. "I remember being young and having a hard time expressing myself. When I found the guitar, I found the way to express my heart." But it was as a drummer in local rock bands that first put Coco on stage.
Then seeing Albert King showed the youth how to play the blues. "I went to see Iron Butterfly and Creedence Clearwater and a guy named Albert King was playing in between them. He picked up his guitar, did "Watermelon Man," and changed my whole life. That was the first time I heard music that came from the heart."
Montoya is a self taught guitar slinger who plays with an emotional intensity few string benders possess. Playing left-handed and up side down like Albert King, Montoya learned his guitar techniques from his years with Collins. "I never had a lesson in my life. "I would watch other guitar players to catch what they did. I would wait for that one moment when they would do it, and just stare at them and try and remember where their hand was, where their fingers were.
"People ask, 'Did you take lessons from Albert?' It's more from just hanging out in the hotel rooms. He would grab his guitar and I would pick up one and we'd play I just learned by listening, all by ear. I just play it the way I hear it. He was always saying, 'Don't think about it, just feel it.' He taught me to tap into an inner strength. I don't know all the licks in the world, but I know the ones I can express happiness or sadness or emotion."
From 1976 until 1984, Montoya had lost some of the feel for music and worked bartender jobs to survive. In 1984, his second mentor, John Mayall, was celebrating his birthday in a bar where Montoya was performing. Montoya's from the hip version of "All Your Love" caught Mayall's ear and Coco was asked to pack his Strat and follow previous Bluesbreaker guitarists Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Mick Taylor in the Bluesbreakers. "I would never be doing what I'm doing now if I hadn't gotten the phone call from John Mayall."
After three records with Mayall as a member of the Bluesbreakers, Coco decided in 1993 it was time to take the lessons from his two musical fathers and begin to sculpt a solo career. In the early 1990's he was signed to Blind Pig Records and released three critically acclaimed discs, Gotta Mind To Travel, Ya Think I'd Know Better, and Just Let Go.
In the middle of his Blind Pig days, Coco also received national recognition when he was named the Blues Foundation's Best New Blue Artist at the 1996 Blues Music Awards.
In 2000, Coco took his music up a notch and signed with Alligator Records, the country's top blues label. In his seven years with Alligator, Coco released three more outstanding records, Suspicion, Can't Look Back, and 2007's Dirty Deal.
Today, in 2009, Coco Montoya has found a new home in the old world. Europe's premier blues label, Ruf Records, signed the guitar giant and is poised to bring Coco Montoya's heart to a world audience. I Want It All Back is the first step in that commitment.
"This is an exciting journey," said Coco. "To my fans who love my guitar, I say come to me with open ears. The guitar is still there, but it's not the only voice I have. Listen to me as an artist who is growing and grow with me."

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Review from bluesinthenorthwest

The latest solo release from Californian guitarist, Coco Montoya, may come as a bit of a shock to those fans used to his blistering guitar playing – as this album, his first for Ruf Records, sees co-producers Keb’ Mo’ and Jeff Paris – concentrate more on his vocals, and very fine they are too – on a set of mainly radio-friendly soul-tinged tunes, with few straight blues tracks. But don’t panic – his upside-down, right handed Stratocaster is still featured prominently, but perhaps a bit more restrained, than previous albums.

The man from Santa Monica, California, who learnt guitar under the wing of the legendary ‘Master of the Telecaster’, Albert Collins, and was a member of John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers for ten years – during which time, for a period, he traded licks with Walter Trout – is accompanied on “I Want It All Back” by a crack core band, with Keb’ Mo’ on rhythm guitar and co-producer Jeff Paris on keyboards, with an absolute top-notch rhythm section in Reggie McBride (bass) and Steve Ferrone (drums).

The opening take on The Penguins “Hey Senorita” has a nice rolling feel, with some tasteful, fluid guitar lines and solos, with the title cut, “I Want It Back” following – a soulful tune, written by his friend, David Steen. The 60s’ soul tune, “Forever”, recorded by The Marvelettes, is a standout, with Montoya’s warm vocal and Jeff Paris’s keyboards a joy on this.

The best three tracks for me run in sequence – another really soulful tune in “The One Who Really Loves You”, a Smokey Robinson song that was recorded by Mary Wells back in 1962, another great vocal from Coco Montoya and a great guitar solo; followed by really the only straight blues here, the standard “Fannie Mae”, with the lusty harmonica and sparkling piano of Rod and Honey Piazza helping out, with some tough guitar from Montoya; the swampy funk of “Don’t Go Makin’ Plans – co-written with Little Feat guitarist Paul Barrere – is a treat, riding on the groove of Jeff Paris’s keyboards, and a little reminiscent of classic Average White Band.

Jackson Browne and Danny Kortchmar’s “Somebody Baby” is given a modern reading, with glorious vocals from Montoya and Keb’ Mo’, with some tasteful saxophone from Paulie Cerra and soaring, pure guitar from Montoya . . . a very nice way to end proceedings!

GRAHAME RHODES

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Exact Audio Copy V0.99 prebeta 4 from 23. January 2008

EAC extraction logfile from 12. March 2010, 0:19

Coco Montoya / I Want It All Back

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REM GENRE Blues
REM DATE 2010
REM DISCID 880C980B
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