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Taken from JamaicaObserver (October 03, 2008)
All Rebel Rockers a real Reggae alternative
Michael Franti & Superhead might be old stuff for those into indie-rock, but the American band is poised to share their sound with a whole new audience, compliments of super-producers Sly & Robbie.
by Roland Henry, Observer staff reporter
 Franti's latest release All Rebel Rockers is literally a melange of sounds that's like drugs for the ears. Getting addicted to this sound is exciting since Franti and his bandmates experiment with folk, hip hop, reggae, jazz, jam band rock and seemingly anything else that the musical scale may accommodate. The album is a follow- up to the 2006 release Yell Fire and is collectively an ode to early dancehall (rub-a-dub, cool-and-deadly and all that good stuff), musicians with a cause like U2, Marley and singers of such ilk. Rude Boys Back In Town is the album's strong opener which has Franti musing over his eclectic life experiences on the road.
He's been around long before The Fugees, but the follow-up track A Little Bit A Riddim featuring dancehall-soulster Cherine Anderson offers that Wyclef/ 'L Boogie'-vibe fans miss. And it doesn't hurt that Riddim's got some deep lyrics too.
"I was born with a sword in my hand/ and a microphone sent to this land/ with an amplifier/ I set on fire... I tried to warn yah!"
Love too Life In The City with its hip hop-tinged flavour and catchy "ai yi yi" hook that paints Franti as a calmer, more pensive version of Lil' John, if only briefly. The fourth track, Hey World (Remote Control Version) is easily the album best and its formidable funk should sit well with rock-heads and those who appreciate the anti-establishment.
But while this is so, tracks like All I Want Is You and the album closer Have A Little Faith fail to inspire much and are little more than soft love songs (emphasis on soft).
The fun resumes on Say Hey (I Love You), a youthful ode to puppy love that also features Anderson. And again she pops up on Soundsystem (Was there a shortage of female vocalists?) an interesting track that could have been more so had the producers not put it so close to Say.
That aside, there's much beauty and simplicity in the soothing Hey World (Don't Give Up Version) that brings hope to rebels worldwide. The Future is bright and an apt precursor to the melodic High Low, which features Zap Mama followed by the penultimate number Nobody Rising.
Largely, the album gives Franti & Spearhead a strong reggae showing, but sends the message that rootsrock is clearly the soundtrack of the oppressed. Franti, an advocate for peace in the Middle East, on Rebel shows he understands what it means to be a citizen of humanity. In fact, it's akin to Ziggy Marley's Love Is My Religion and his brother Stephen's Grammy-winning Mind Control. But what sets this work apart though is its ability to defy genres and at the same time tackle issues. The setback is, however, much of listening Jamaica are still limited in their definition of what ought to be considered reggae. Notwithstanding, kudos to Sly & Robbie for giving the Jamaican ear an alternative - literally.
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