Michael Franti & Spearhead - All Rebel Rockers

Franti and cohorts make no bones about how accessible they want their music to be. They don’t do small scale either: this is an album targeting as large a worldwide audience as possible. Celebrated reggae producers Sly and Robbie have been enlisted on the project to help get the whole globe dancing. Hands are in the air straight away with opener Rude Boys Back in Town and the stupidly fun A Little Bit of Riddim. Franti expressly encourages said hand waving in Life in the City, an optimistic update of Stevie Wonder's downcast classic Living For the City. A serious nod to old skool reggae in its purest form, musically and lyrically it could grate that absolutely no new ground is being broken. It would be churlish to do so however, because the world needs activists like Franti who can deliver a simple message while being extremely entertaining at the same time.[Sylvia Higgins]