Michael Franti & Spearhead

All Rebel Rockers

Anti/FAB

Kate Harper (CHARTattack)

09/09/2008 1:48pm

There's arguably no one who's more of a musical chameleon than Michael Franti. He and his band Spearhead have played everything from rock and folk to hip-hop and reggae. All Rebel Rockers has more dub material than anything Franti and his band have released to date, and that's appropriate considering they recorded the disc in Kingston, Jamaica with Sly And Robbie, who've worked with the likes of Black Uhuru and Peter Tosh, among others. In fact, the deluxe edition features a dub version of the entire disc. Franti and Spearhead have worked with Sly And Robbie before, but this may be better than anything they've collaborated on. Franti tackles funk ("Soundsystem"), pop ("Nobody Right Nobody Wrong") and, as is to be expected, many of the tracks have the sort of reggae-fied vibe you'd find on albums like Yell Fire! Every song makes you want to dance and there isn't a bad track on the disc, which just might be the best thing Franti's released to date. It's difficult to be political and fun, but that's exactly what Franti and Spearhead have achieved here.