Review: Monti Amundson – The Mean Eighteen
Monti Amundson – The Mean Eighteen
Format: Digital / Label: Continental Record Services
Release: 2024
Text: Pascal Wilhelm
Linktree The Mean Eighteen: https://lnk.to/Mean18
I do not even have to listen to this record to write a review. ‘The Mean Eighteen’ was released in 1991, I was 21 at that time and heavily into blues and rock ‘n roll. I do not remember how I got the record, but I do remember that Monti played a festival at the local youth center in the little town I grew up in, probably during the time he lived in Amsterdam for a while to build his European career.
The record blew me away, because of its transparency. Just bass, drum, guitar and vocals and original rock ‘n roll songs mostly about relationships, cars and rock ‘n roll! Simple as that!
Monti is an awesome guitar player and singer. The strings on any Strat he holds become spaghetti when he plays it. The single note riffs on Cruel Is Your Name, Shake A Leg Meg, Lesson Or Two and other songs are easy to pick up, I remember covering Cruel Is Your Name in one of the bands I played in during my college times.
Many songs are the typical songs that make you press the gas pedal and open your car windows (In Over My Head). Rock Treatment, Brain Grenade and Lightning Strikes are recorded live and show how tight Monti and his band played at the time (Debbie Smith on bass and Cory Burdon on drums). If you were born in the beginning of the century, and you are into honest feelgood rock ‘n roll, take the chance to get this record and learn how it is done!
“Big” Monti still plays regularly in The Bourbon Street Blues and Boogie Bar in Nashville. A little bit older than on the cover of The Mean Eighteen, but still doing it!
Hurrah for Monti!
Tracks:
01. Take a Walk
02. Cruel Is Your Name
03. Ninety-Nine Below
04. Shake a Leg Meg
05. Lesson Or Two
06. I’m Wrong
07. Sin No More Blues
08. Female Dictionary
09. Purple Heart
10. In over My Head
11. Big Block Rock
12. Broke Down Car
13. Rock Treatment (Live)
14. Brain Grenade (Live)
15. Red Hot Wire (Live)
16. Not a Day Goes By (Live)
17. Bad Day Rough Week (Live)
18. Lightning Strikes (Live)
Website: https://bigmonti.com/