SIGN OF FAITH CD (1993)
by Big Danny & The Lost Leader Band

Earlier this year, when Big Danny Gallagher told me that he and his Lost Leader Band were finally going to cut an album, I told him that it was about time. After all, Big Danny and the boys had been bouncing around the Jersey Shore music scene for years. They'd been playing beer joints and smokey bars, pumping out a brand of frenetic, blues-based rock'n'roll that was strong enough to jumpstart even the deadest battery. If one Jersey band deserved to make a record, it was Big Danny and the Lost Leader Band.

As both a vocalist and a frontman, Gallagher has always been an imposing figure. I remember once when he strolled onstage at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park during the opening night of the Jersey Shore Jazz & Blues Festival. Looking like a holy man straight out of an irish epic poem, his long red beard and massive frame practically dwarfing the mike stand in front of him, Gallagher called out a number and the band kicked in with a furious, romping blues. In an instant, they had transformed the Pony into something akin to a revival meeting where souls might be saved and trust in both the blues and rock & roll could be restored with blistering intensity.

You'll hear a lot of that same excitement and energy on, the appropriately titled, SIGN OF FAITH. Driven by Steve Schraeger's pounding backbeat. Kirk Budelman's soaring guitar work, Bob Ackerman's booming bass, Ken Sorenson's wailing harp, and, of course, Big Danny's even bigger vocals. These 10 tracks are testament to the Lost Leader Band's ability to rave it up in the studio as effectively as they do onstage.

So crank this baby up and let Big Danny and company take you on a grand tour of Jersey Shore blues and rock & roll. Who knows where you'll end up?

Robert Santelli
November 1993