Customer Reviews

Can't Look Back

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Probably the best of all of his albums in terms of evenness and quality of songs, although I prefer the more bluesy first album Gotta Mind to Travel. A number of standouts, including the slow blues Can't See the Street for My Tears with an interesting chord progression/pattern and the funky and fun Women Have a Way with a Fool and Back in a Cadillac. The nicely textured cut Holding Out for You is on a par with Am I Losing You off the first album -- while both are poignant, Losing You is about anguish and doubt; Holding Out is about love realized. The final cut is a nice tune about beating a "jones" or addiction. Overall, the mixes are tight and smooth, with the exemplary guitar work CM cranks out -- this is a strong CD that serves up some hot Coco.

After several mediocre releases on Blind Pig, Coco Montoya switched labels a couple of years ago opting to try his luck with Alligator. This is Coco's second release on Alligator Records and probably his best outing in many years. Alligator has had a lot of success over the years, jump starting and breathing new fire into stalled careers, most notably, Johnny Winter, Hound Dog Taylor, Buddy Guy, Luther Allison and now, Coco Montoya. On this disc, Coco can be heard to play his solos in a manner that would make his mentor, Albert Collins smile from ear to ear. The songs themselves have a rockish/popish quality both in the rhythms and the lyrics. While this is somewhat refreshing and at times enjoyable, Coco's vocals don't always suit the bill. "I Won't Beg", "Can't See The Streets" and "Free" all have a familiar sound that will have you trying to pin point where you have heard it before. Best blues cut on the disc is probably, "Back In A Cadillac".

I ran out and bought this cd after experiencing Coco's 2 hour show at Seattle's Bumbershoot Festival last year. I had been trying to catch up with his live show for years, and the wait was worth it. It was a guitar clinic that seasoned ax players would salivate over.

The cd carries the rollicking good time that the live shows give us, but of course, the songs are all crystal clear and perfect. "Same Old Thing" and "Back in a Cadillac" are standouts, but "Something About You", is a great rocking tune and I dare you to sit through it during his live show. In person, he definitely kicks it up several notches, with his blue strat reverberrating, or the chorus pedal effect kicked in, each song is uniquely different than the last.

I drove to Portland to catch Coco again in October and just recently a couple months ago again in the same town. He must really like it there. Folks, go out of your way to catch him live. The last show I experienced clocked in at 3 hours. No lie. The man is a master, and is always ready to meet anyone after the show.
A class act, I will be more than ready for his next cd release!

With this release Coco returns to a style more like Gotta Mind To Travel. The production and songwriting are on par with Suspicion, but the sound is cleaner and more straight blues than the rock oriented Suspicion. I personally liked the harder edge of his last release but many of his longtime fans wanted a return to his older style and it looks like they got it. Great keyboard work from Benny Ye and a tight rhythm section along with Coco's always tastey guitar work make this an enjoyable ride for both blues and rock fans.

Coco has not released a good album since his early blind pig days. When he jumped ship and went to alligator I all but wrote him off. When "Suspicion" was released my worst fears were realized. This talented former Collins/Mayall axeman morphed into a syrupy pseudo R&B artist. When "Can't Look Back" was recently released I held my breath and sampled a few tunes. Pleasantly surprised, I actually like most of the disc. Though not a total homerun, Coco did bring back some of the edgy blues I know he can crank out. It is a varied album and I do skip a few tunes, but overall a big improvement over suspicion.

Coco is a masterful player with a great tenor voice. I just wish his recordings could capture the intesity of his live shows -especially those in the micro venues. I remember the days of old at max capacity 30 people CJ's in Pasadena, CA...whew Coco blew the doors off that place.

After seeing and hearing Coco Montoya in the late Eighties (with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, where he held the same job as Eric Clapton, Mick Taylor and Peter Green before him), he has been one of my favorite guitar players. With this album, Coco fills the shoes of his mentor Albert Collins. Gotta have it.

A blues neophyte, Id never even heard of Coco when, for some strange reason, I took a [price] flyer on this CD. Was actually looking for a more traditional sound, but after about four listens, became Cocos newest fan. Have always been somewhat contemptuous of those who boogie-while-driving, but defy you to listen to cuts like Running Away From Love and I Wont Beg without doing your own imitation of a bobble-head doll. Coco has a rock-solid voice thats reminiscent of the original and best lead singer from Chicago (the group not the city) whose name escapes me. His guitar work is nimble, versatile and precise and can be melodic or pulsating without beating you into submission. In fact, its difficult to decide what Coco does better, sing or play guitar. But what does it matter when music such as this is the result his combined effort? Buy this. Youll like it.

first, i LOVE electric blues.....i've been a blues fan for years.....i don't know where this guy has been hiding, but i'm sure glad i found him...he leaves Clapton and everbody else i've EVER heard eating his dust....

not only does he have an unbelieveable touch on the guitar, but he is an awesome singer/songwriter....he seems to know instinctively when to back off, and when to let it rip...

"Can't see the streets for my tears" is now my all time favorite song EVER!!!

i would also recommend "Suspicion" and "You think i'd know better" to ANY blues fan....like i said....COCO IS THE MAN!!!!!

This is another case (See Shaq's other reviews.) where having ½ stars in the rating system would allow more accurate ratings. I guess some reviewers either don't appreciate the "value" of a 4 or 5 star rating, and, I guess these same people, want to go to public schools, that don't give A's,B's,C's,D's, and F's! They dream of going to schools that only give a pass or fail! This is a decent CD, but it sure isn't any classic. His new release (Jan 2007) is way, way, superior! If people give this a 5 star rating, have they been locked in a dark cave for the last 30 years? If this is a 5, do these people explode into spontaneous combustion, when they walk by a copy of anything from Albert King, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Otis Rush, Buddy Guy, Luther Allison, Albert Collins??? This CD has some hits and some misses. Some are bluesy, some are pop rock. The best cut on this 3-½ star CD is "BACK IN A CADILLAC". I strongly suggest that any person, really interested in true electric blues, always checks to see if Shaq, "The King Of The World Blues Reviewer", has reviewed it. Otherwise you may buy a recording, of a deaf, dumb, troll, playing a kazoo, under a bridge, with a pork pie hat on, while humming, the theme song, from "The Three Stooges", as he drools, on a moon pie wrapper, because it was rated 5 stars, by a neophyte cave dweller!