• Political heavyweight takes a break from preaching.
For years, Michael Franti has been writing intensely political tracks and raising awareness with his rootsy, hip hop outfit, Spearhead. Now, with six albums worth of articulate polemics, Franti finally felt a change was due in favour of something lighter. “I wanted to give people something positive,” Franti was recently quoted as saying, and while All Rebel Rockers is indeed a party album, it doesn’t lose sight of the turbulent times it tries to remedy. In fact, it would be apt to compare it to Marvin Gaye’s Vietnam War classic, What’s Goin’ On. Patriot Act wiretaps and border searches form the backdrop to late-night neighbourhood block parties kept moving by sublime production work from dub legends Sly and Robbie. If Franti's lyrics evoke Gaye, then Sly and Robbie's work here directly recalls vintage Kingston Studio One albums like Augusto Pablo’s Roots Rock Reggae, a potent combination designed to keep turntables spinning well into this year’s political campaign season.
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