Monte Montgomery – Monte Montgomery (Provogue).
Already in the Top 50 All-Time Greatest Guitar Players, Alabama’s Monte Montgomery is a guitar player’s guitarist. This is his second album for Provogue and showcases 11 original Montgomery songs that reinforce his writing talent and brings it to the same level as his renowned guitar playing. River is, like all of Montgomery’s songs, acoustic based. His use of slide is handled well and the song flows like the mighty Amazon itself. He is a strong contender in the guitar stakes with his wicked flurries. The addition of strings on Let’s Go helps to build a wall of sound. Acoustic guitar is his weapon of choice and he pushes the instrument to its limits. It’s all too easy to forget that he is singing too and he has a great rock voice that shouldn’t be allowed to be overwhelmed by his guitar wizardry. There’s a bit of Sammy Hagar in him and none more so than on Everything About You with its harmonics r us chorus. Company You Keep is acoustic rock of the highest order and his style is just so fluid that it washes over you and you come out so refreshed. The ballads are pleasant enough and the first of these, Love’s Last Holiday, is a prime example.
He lays down some slinky moves on Moonlight Tango, which is as sharp as an Argentinean on speed. Can’t Fool Everyone has a distorted vocal and hi-octane guitar. This should be a great live track. Montgomery goes all smooth and sultry on Could’ve Loved You Forever and as with the previous track, the backing vocal fits perfectly. This has a big chorus and epic guitar. Be Still is a classy acoustic rock with an electrifying solo and How Far is another of the ballads that serves as a good counterpoint to the more hectic stuff. Is it me or does everyone do Little Wing these days? However, Montgomery’s instrumental version is unlikely to be bettered. Taking us from delay and reverb effects at the start to over 10 minutes of superb guitar playing he gives us a true epic in every way. As Crocodile Dundee would say “that’s not a guitar solo – this is a guitar solo”. He closes with Midlife Matinee and although he needed to slow down it is a bit of an anti climax. It’s gentle and there’s nothing really wrong with it but he has set such a high standard with some of the previous tracks.
http://www.provoguerecords.com/
http://www.montemontgomery.com/
David Blue.
Already in the Top 50 All-Time Greatest Guitar Players, Alabama’s Monte Montgomery is a guitar player’s guitarist. This is his second album for Provogue and showcases 11 original Montgomery songs that reinforce his writing talent and brings it to the same level as his renowned guitar playing. River is, like all of Montgomery’s songs, acoustic based. His use of slide is handled well and the song flows like the mighty Amazon itself. He is a strong contender in the guitar stakes with his wicked flurries. The addition of strings on Let’s Go helps to build a wall of sound. Acoustic guitar is his weapon of choice and he pushes the instrument to its limits. It’s all too easy to forget that he is singing too and he has a great rock voice that shouldn’t be allowed to be overwhelmed by his guitar wizardry. There’s a bit of Sammy Hagar in him and none more so than on Everything About You with its harmonics r us chorus. Company You Keep is acoustic rock of the highest order and his style is just so fluid that it washes over you and you come out so refreshed. The ballads are pleasant enough and the first of these, Love’s Last Holiday, is a prime example.
He lays down some slinky moves on Moonlight Tango, which is as sharp as an Argentinean on speed. Can’t Fool Everyone has a distorted vocal and hi-octane guitar. This should be a great live track. Montgomery goes all smooth and sultry on Could’ve Loved You Forever and as with the previous track, the backing vocal fits perfectly. This has a big chorus and epic guitar. Be Still is a classy acoustic rock with an electrifying solo and How Far is another of the ballads that serves as a good counterpoint to the more hectic stuff. Is it me or does everyone do Little Wing these days? However, Montgomery’s instrumental version is unlikely to be bettered. Taking us from delay and reverb effects at the start to over 10 minutes of superb guitar playing he gives us a true epic in every way. As Crocodile Dundee would say “that’s not a guitar solo – this is a guitar solo”. He closes with Midlife Matinee and although he needed to slow down it is a bit of an anti climax. It’s gentle and there’s nothing really wrong with it but he has set such a high standard with some of the previous tracks.
http://www.provoguerecords.com/
http://www.montemontgomery.com/
David Blue.
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