Product Description
BIG AL AND THE HEAVYWEIGHTS - BLUES POWER
BIG AL & THE HEAVYWEIGHTS
Blues Power
VizzTone
You can hear Marcel Anton coming from a long way off. The Big Al and the Heavyweights guitarist/vocalist announces his arrival on guitar and vocals on the opener “Big Freight Train,” bellowing like the freight train he’s likening himself to.
The Al in the group is drummer Big Al Lauro, who had the title bestowed on him when the band came together in the mid-nineties, when Roguie Ray LaMontagne (soulful folk rocker Ray LaMontagne’s dad) hired him and didn’t want his name on the marquee for legal reasons. Big Al and the Heavyweights debut record, That Ain’t Nice, came out in ‘96. Before that, Big Al had drummed for country outlaw David Allen Coe and later for the Unknown Blues Band with Warren Haynes. The latest lineup features harpist Dangerous Dale Robinson and bassist Dennis “the Menace” Cedeno along with Anton and Lauro.
Lauro is a native of Southern Louisiana, and Anton is of Creole descent. The Heavyweights’ roots are showing on “Red Line,” a sweaty Zydeco stomp that features Anton as a gritty soulful traveler trying to get some form of transportation to get him out of here. “Blues Power” sounds lifted from a Little Feat set, echoes of Feat vocalist/guitarist Lowell George’s sound on ‘73’s “Dixie Chicken” resonating throughout courtesy of Anton’s vocal and slide guitar.
“If” lets Anton show off his soulful side with this swamp pop creation that mixes soaring soul with screamin’ blues guitar. “Wasted So Much Time With You” features Anton once again tossing vocal grit on top of some wiggly guitar licks that could belong to the King family, Albert in particular. Even though Anton’s footprints are deeply embedded in each offering, the quartet coalesce around him like they’d been joined at birth. Dangerous Dale Robinson’s harp shoulders its way in to stand toe to toe with Anton’s powerful vocal and instrumental presence with bassist Cedeno funkin’ around Big Al’s rock solid cadence.
“I Want To Know” conjures up Screamin’ Jay Hawkins poppin’ out of his coffin to splatter shovelfuls of swamp mambo hoodoo around with Dangerous Dale huffing like a lost soul sniffing out his former carcass to re-inhabit. Big Al and his cronies show that they deserve to be in the heavyweight division, punching their way toward a knockout in every bout.
– Grant Britt