Michael Franti and Spearhead - All Rebel Rockers (Album)
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Michael Franti, self-proclaimed rude-boy, is back in town after a period of world touring and has returned to the studio with legendary Jamaican rhythm-section-come-producers Sly and Robbie. The resultant album, All Rebel Rockers, continues along the same trajectory as Yell Fire!, delving deeper into Jamaican Reggae, Dancehall and Rocksteady for inspiration. With Sly and Robbie at the helm I was quietly confident that this was going to be an ass-shakingly good record and the riddim’s don’t dissapoint. The grooves are infectious enough to be hazardous to your health. In fact, I was literally hospitalised (briefly) after slicing off a chunk of my finger while trying to cook and listen to the album at the same time. Take note – Michael Franti and sharp knives are not a good combination.
Sonically, things are in less good shape and, in keeping with current trends in dance production, the dynamics are squashed to within an inch of their life. Though infused with a party-vibe, the album sounds flat and lifeless in parts, lacking the contrast and more full sound of Yell Fire! or Everyone Deserves Music. Lyrically too the album signals a shift away from Franti’s more recent output. Where Franti has always been at his best when spitting vitriol or anthemically rejoicing in life and love, All Rebel Rockers appears disengaged or otherwise divested of a personal stake in world events. Perfectly encapsulating this shift in emphasis Franti sings ‘I don’t want to write a love song to the world, I just want to write a song about a boy and a girl’. The problem is not that All Rebel Rockers has more of a party-album vibe or that Franti has somehow ‘abandoned’ politics, but that this change in direction has been accompanied by a lethargy – at worst apathy – when it comes to the hooky choruses and acerbic couplings that normally cause Franti’s lyrics to wedge in your subconscious.
On balance though All Rebel Rockers' is a solid collection that gets everything right musically and suffers only from the weight of expectation associated with any recording artist of Franti’s stature and longevity.
