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There was a time when reggae was the music of revolution… some
few bands have continued to carry on that tradition while the rest
of the genre has fallen into lazy songs about marijuana. Michael
Franti has released a new record that returns reggae to its political
roots and does it with a style and flavor that has been long absent
from the reggae scene. The impetus of Yell Fire! was a trip
that Franti took to the Middle East last year, spending time with
the locals as well as the Americans who were stationed there, just
a man and his guitar. Then he returned to the States and wrote and
recorded Yell Fire! It must have been an amazing trip, and
I'll tell you why…
From the very first word on Yell Fire! Franti is hitting his
message home. "Those who start wars never fight them/ and those
who fight wars never like them/ those who recite laws can recite them/
and those of us who just fight laws, we live and die them". The
title track is a call to the people to rise up and demand a change
in the system that has propagated war and the destruction and oppression
of peoples all over the world. "I Know I'm Not Alone" is
a hopeful throw-down that preaches the message that all people are
one people, urging us to throw aside our differences and embrace our
human brotherhood. I'll give Franti huge props for certain lines in
"East To The West", but especially when he sings out "One
to the healer who fights a disease and one to the Lorax who speaks
for the trees". Classic. "Sweet Little Lies" is an
acoustic mid-tempo love song that is a brilliant respite from the
political urging on the rest of the record. It's a lovely track that
makes me wish Franti would do more acoustic albums.
The idiom that the world is one nation is heavily continued in "Hello
Bonjour" with its strong words and unifying message. "One
Step Closer To You" is one hundred percent pure reggae music
in its purest sense. The lyrics are an amazing blast of love to the
entire world, person by person, but even if you miss the message,
the song is filled with groove and cool key modulations and tempo
breaks that really capture the best of what reggae music can be. The
record continues to have some of the most vibe-heavy and brilliant
reggae grooves in years, proving hands down that Michael Franti is
more adept at reggae music than most current Jamaican artists…
I'd love to put him and Ben Harper in the same room for a few
hours of recording and see what turns out.
The songs on Yell Fire! speak heavily with anti-war sentiment,
but even as heavily messaged as they are there is an overwhelming
feeling of hope and joy in the music of Michael Franti. That has long
been the magic of Spearhead and Franti… taking a heavy
message and presenting it in a format that their audience can groove
to while chanting along with revolution in their eyes, always giving
the feeling that life is good and being alive is the best gift we've
been given.
-Embo Blake
Track Listing:
1. Time To Go Home
2. Yell Fire
3. I Know I'm Not Alone
4. East To The West
5. Sweet Little Lies
6. Hello Bonjour
7. One Step Closer To You
8. Hey Now Now
9. Everybody Ona Move
10. See You In The Light
11. Light Up Ya Lighter
12. What I've Seen
13. Tolerance
14. Is Love Enough?
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Michael
Franti And Spearhead
