Marcus Malone

A huge blast of Blues rock from Mr Malone – one of Detroit’s finest exports.
I love the classic combination of slide guitar and howling harmonica and when you tie it up with his hearty & =grizzled vocals you get some truly fine Blues.

Malone has been around for a long while playing heavy metal and then Blues (his ‘Marcus’ album on Zoom is a classic) and his backing musicians have included Tim Bogart, Gene Slack (Joe Cocker’s guitarist) but here he has Sean Nolan & Julian Burdock on guitars, Massive Attack’s Winston Blissett on bass and Roger Cotton on keys with Will Wilde on harmonica and Dani Wilde on backing vocals.

He has a great voice, perfect for Blues but with a deep soulful feel to it as well and there is almost a gospel feel on the title track.

On first listen it is pretty much a standard Blues/rock outing but you need to listen deeper and hear the power and the real funk behind tracks like ‘Ain’t No Tellin’ which kicks ass like early Little Feat crossed with Bad Company – Stuart Dixon’s guitar solo searing and Moz Gamble’s Hammond swelling and filling the sound brilliantly.

Softer tracks like ‘It’s Gonna Take Time’ prove he can carry emotion as well as bombast in that Detroit growl.
Without question, one of the best albums of its kind I’ve heard this year - - the Blues is alive and well with Marcus Malone