Everyone Deserves Music

Michael Franti & Spearhead | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 19, 2003)
• Original Release Date: 2003
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Reincarnate Music
• ASIN: B0000AQS0I
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,528 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #64 in Music > Rap & Hip-Hop > Experimental Rap

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

As usual, Michael Franti and Spearhead resist any kind of pigeonholing. Though it could be loosely classified as a hip-hop album, Everyone Deserves Music is, more accurately, a well-crafted and eclectic collection of political protest songs and power ballads. Franti and crew confidently build upon a vast array of musical styles, ranging from the electro-Caribbean funk that bubbles through "Pray for Grace" to the smooth, classic-rock styling of "Love Why Did You Go Away." "We Don't Stop," featuring Gift Of Gab's adept rhymes, recalls the Clash's instrumental party track, "The Magnificent Dance." R&B singer Ledisi adds soul to the Sly & Robbie-produced "Bomb the World (Armageddon Version)." The disc also contains a 23-minute mini-documentary, which highlights the band's creative process. Spearhead is a band unafraid to bring positivity to light and listeners should appreciate the message. To quote Franti himself, "Power to the peaceful." --Rebecca Levine

Product Description

2003 album on which Franti has now found a confident new voice. His songs reflect on fatherhood, life, & untimely death. 'Everyone Deserves Music' centers on what's happening in the world right now & how we cope with it. 12 tracks & a 28-page booklet with --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brave New Michael, September 27, 2003

By 

Karl Miller "kemspeaks" (Phoenixville, PA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Everyone Deserves Music (Audio CD)

A big YEAH! for the return of Michael Franti and Spearhead.
A powerful blend of political insight, classic r&b riffs, electronica influence and one of the best baritones in the business, "Everyone Deserves Music" is an incredibly worthy successor to one of the best albums of the last five years, "Stay Human".
The best tracks (practically) bookend the collection - "What I Be" is a playful romp that uses Michael's voice as well as any instrument - excellent beats and real uplifting lyrics. And "Bomb The World" (Armageddon Version), makes great use of a guest appearance by the too-long-missing Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespear to recraft this song into a rocking Carribean jam. And when Michael's impassioned voice calls out "We can bomb the world to pieces - but we can't bomb it into peace", you can't help but feel affected.
"Everyone" is, much like "Stay Human" an irresistable blend of rock, soul, hip-hop, and many other genres. But the one constant is, as always, some of the most uplifting lyrics you will ever hear committed to CD. Pay close attention to the words (primarly written by Michael) to enjoy one of our most empowering, universal-love embracing lyricists.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As close to perfect as it gets, October 6, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Everyone Deserves Music (Audio CD)

Michael Franti and Spearhead have one of the best live shows going - and consistently back it up with great recordings. This offering is at least as good as "Stay Human".
Yes, there's a world view here - which you shouldn't just take or leave - it's positive but not without complexity and the variation on this CD's title in the lyric, "Even our worst enemies deserve music" pretty much nails it.
It must be tough on folks with such high critical standards that they can't get to positive expressions about love and peace in music, but they're invited to the party and asked to give it some consideration.
Of course, even if it's too acidic for your political litmus test, you can just get to the grooves and the beauty of some of these melodies and block what's being offered lyrically here. Your loss if you do, because it's basic to the experience, but you're free to see it as red or blue.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Michael Franti is a magician, August 23, 2005

By 

flabbergaster (Edinburgh, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Everyone Deserves Music (Audio CD)

I saw Michael Franti play a free acoustic show here in Edinburgh this Sunday. We were waiting in line outside the venue at one in the afternoon. Then, boom, he just walks out the front door with his rasta hat, his bare feet, his guitar and a huge smile. He shouted out that the weather was so nice that he was moving the concert outside. We all sat down, I took my shoes off too and listened. He sang "Yes I will" right in front of me on the sidewalk, and mixed it into Bob Marley's "Sun is Shining".

This album rocks. I first heard Bomb the World (Armageddon Mix) on Thurston Moore's protest records website. Heard it again when Franti played the anti-war marches in San Francisco. Pray for Grace is a favorite, although it sounded even better and more soulful live and acoustic.

I have something like 3000 CDs and know the music of kajillions of bands. Michael Franti and Spearhead make the top five. Elliott Smith has a song called "A distorted reality is now necessary to be free." Usually I agree with that, but not when I listen to Spearhead. Franti travelled to Bahgdad to visit children in hospitals who'd been blown apart by bombs, and play music for them. He can bring this reality into your mind--a reality most of us strive to hide from (with the able assistance of our media)--but he does it in such a graceful way that we are moved to sorrow but at the same time we are in touch with the joys of life.

This music will make you whole again. It is catharsis to a dance rhythm.

Buy it. Support Spearhead. Go see them live.

Said Franti at the show: "It takes more courage to reach out and connect with people than it does to bomb them or strap explosives around your gut."