Review: Whole Lotta Love: An All-Star Salute To Fat Chicks -- Culture Brats

What do you get when you invite members of hair/glam/hard rock bands of yesteryear to the studio to sing the praises of plus-sized women everywhere? You get Whole Lotta Love: An All-Star Salute To Fat Chicks, "a musical homage to the big, beautiful women who make the rockin' world go 'round."

There are some really great covers on this album. L.A. Guns frontman Phil Lewis (arguably the biggest name on the album, with apologies to Cinderella's Jeff LaBar, Danger Danger's Ted Poley, and Twisted Sister's Jay Jay French and Eddie Ojeda) kicks off the disc with a great rendition of Queen's classic "Fat Bottomed Girls." Unknown Celisa Stratton, backed by Quiet Riot's Frankie Banali, does an amazing job with Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love." A big woman herself, Stratton has a great voice and I look forward to hearing more from her.

L.A. Guns singer Phil Lewis
[source]

Candye Kane, a lady with an extremely powerful voice, contributes "You Need A Great Big Woman," an original tune that harkens back to blues of old. Poley's cover of Electric Boys' "All Lips N' Hips," while a straightforward affair, was a welcome addition because it's a semi-obscure song I've always loved. I just wish they would've nixed the sitar intro, something I've always felt marred the original. There are also covers of Poison's "Unskinny Bop," AC/DC's "Whole Lotta Rosie," Ted Nugent's "Thunder Thighs," and Spinal Tap's "Big Bottom."

Two tracks on this disc stood above all the rest. The first was Trixter lead singer Steve Brown's cover of Mika's "Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)." Being a big Mika fan, I was convinced there was no way "Big Girl" could work as a rock song. I was mistaken. Brown's cover rocks hard and gives a new spin on the song. The second was a cover of Six Mix-A-Lot's "Baby Got Back." I know what you're thinking: "Didn't we declare a moratorium on rock versions of old rap songs?" Yes, but we let this one slip through for two reasons:

The song is performed by Don Jamieson, a comedian and co-host of VH1's That Metal Show
The "Oh my God, Becky. Look at her butt." beginning of the song was removed and replaced with--get ready for this--David Lee Roth's conversation with the guitar at the beginning of "Yankee Rose." Does it work? Oh, hell yeah.

Well played, Mr. Jamieson.

Whole Lotta Love: An All-Star Salute To Fat Chicks can be purchased at SplitScreen Entertainment.