BIG AL AND THE HEAVYWEIGHTS

WORLD FULL OF TROUBLE

2019-03-21

This 12 cut set features “Big Al” Lauro on drums and a rotating cast of other musicians including, Bob Margolin, Lance Younger and Jon Lisi on guitars, Jason Ricci and Destin Thibodeaux on harmonica, Wayne Lohr and Lance Younger on vocals, Dean Galatas and Destin Thibodeaux on bass, Dwight Breland on steel guitar, Glenn “Kool” Sears on percussion, Greg “Shatzy” Shatz on piano accordion, Lance Ellis on horns and Cathy Pace and Donna Slater on background vocals. Hailing from New Orleans the band mixes and matches blues, rock, country and zydeco. All of the tunes are originals and mostly walk down the well-worn path of the perfect love," Love So Fine", "Crazy About Your Baby", and "Millionaire Baby", trouble attracting love, "Fool For You", love in trouble, "Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Right" and the pain of losing love, "Testify" and "Spanish Moss". There are side trips though: The rocking title track, which is one of the strongest numbers on the disc, wonders at the state of things while on "Bayou Life: the band jumps into a light zydeco groove as it extols the virtues of, well, a bayou life! "Big Old Rusty Car" is a song about just that and is redeemed from its pedestrian lyrics by a funky groove and a wailing horn chart. "Mother Trucker" is a countrified rocker that features some hot picking and is reminiscent of any number of Commander Cody releases. Former band member Jason Ricci’s harmonica playing is a highlight on the disc with strong contributions on "Crazy About You Baby" and "Millionaire Baby". Smitty

review by Mark