I Want It All Back

This isn't a blues CD, it's largely R&B. In fact, it's in many ways Coco Montoya's Buddy Miles side…minus all Miles' caterwauling. Toned down, in other words. A goodly account for the very Motown-ish flavor this time around can be located in one of the disc's co-producers: Keb' Mo'. Sporting a talented backing band (Reggie McBride, Steve Ferrone, Keb' Mo', co-producer Jeff Paris) and Rod Pazza on one cut, there's also a very island-ish flavor involved, evidenced on the very first cut, Hey Senorita. Look to Courtney Branch's percussion for a lot of that flavor throughout.

Then there's Coco's trademark fluid guitar, snaky and sinuous, threading all through the album alongside his mellowed vocals. I Want it All Back is a CD to sip daiquiris by, a laid-back cool breeze anticipating the hot summer, and decidedly a shift in tenor for a bluesman who has worked with many of the greats and was a member of John Mayall's band. Having seen Coco live here in Manhattan Beach (we host a summer series of free zydeco, blues, swing, and other musics in tandem with a couple of Shakespeare performances), I can attest to his hi-energy concert presence, so it's probably past time that he issued the sort of disc that widens his creative palette.

Track List:

Edited by: David N. Pyles
(dnpyles@acousticmusic.com)