Customer Reviews

Everyone Deserves Music

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

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.

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."

I am not generally a big fan of hip hop, rap, etc. However, I must tell you that this is the CD that I have waiting for ever since the Bush war era started. It's great to see a musician who isn't beholden to the big corporations and isn't afraid to speak his mind.

On top of it all, Franti is extremely gifted musically and the CD is great listening. It's impossible to listen to this music and not want to move around and sing (or shout, as the case may be). The phrase "We can bomb the world to pieces, but we can't bomb it into peace" keeps paying in my head. You gotta get this!!! I am planning to send this to as many friends and family as I can, and maybe even my congressmen...

Michael Franti & Spearhead continue to address social and political issues, but this time do it in a far less serious/heavy-handed manner than the outstanding, Stay Human. Franti's lyrics remain challenging, insightful, and clever. The music is far more upbeat than any of the other Spearhead CD's, taking on a funk/disco feel. The title song, Bomb The World, Pray For Grace, and Love Invincible (which I prefer from his live set) demonstrate the group's diverse talents and Franti's powerful, yet urgent calls for societal action.

There is not a weak song amoungst the collection. The only question I have is, "When will the world discover Michael Franti & Spearhead?"

Peace Out !!

Michael Franti & Spearhead continue to address social and political issues, but this time do it in a far less serious/heavy-handed manner than the outstanding, Stay Human. Franti's lyrics remain challenging, insightful, and clever. The music is far more upbeat than any of the other Spearhead CD's, taking on a funk/disco feel. The title song, Bomb The World, Pray For Grace, and Love Invincible (which I prefer from his live set) demonstrate the group's diverse talents and Franti's powerful, yet urgent calls for societal action.

There is not a weak song amoungst the collection. The only question I have is, "When will the world discover Michael Franti & Spearhead?"

Peace Out !!

P.S. Spearhead, when are you coming to Detroit???

Michael Franti is a musician who has sat on the border of my consciousness ever since I heard The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy's "Television, The Drug of a Nation" on radio years ago. Imagine my surprise when years later I'd hear this superb protest song and discover after a bit of research it was the same guy who penned that disturbingly fantastic rap song. So I went out a picked up a couple CDs, including "Everyone Deserves Music", and I can safely say why the heck isn't this guy bigger? Franti and Spearhead effortless blend genres.

"Everyone Deserves Music" has the protest piece I heard-- "Bomb the World", and it's really quite an example of what Franti has to offer-- soulful, defenseless and honest, concerned not with any self-interest but with finding a solution-- "we can bomb the world to pieces but we can't bomb the world to peace".

The rest of the album maintains an enormously high level of quality, blending driving pop ("What I Be"), reggae ("Pray for Grace") and rootsy rock ("Love, Why Did You Go Away?") and a dozen other forms. The result is unnervingly brilliant.

Invariably, I can't imagine anyone wouldn't find something to love on this-- this album is remarkably good. Highly recommended.

I'm an educated, cynical atheist and proud of it. But when my life went into a tailspin, only Spearhead's music and lyrics could reach through to my heart. I actually felt hope! I always thought hope and faith were for suckers and chumps. I still mostly think that. Drug addiction and mental health issues affected me and my spouse, and still are. I was listening to Spearhead in the car on the way back from visiting the "institution" my spouse is in and I heard "Pray For Grace" and it spoke to me and everything in my life. I want to travel out to S.F. and find Franti and shake his hand and thank him for giving positivity to this horrible, dark world. I saw Spearhead live with Ozomatli a few years ago also. That was the most positive experience! I left that show not just feeling happy, but feeling good about humanity, which is real hard for a hardened cynic like myself. Mr. Franti, thank you.

I just can't get enough of this album. I first heard of Michael Franti & Spearhead when hanging out at a friends house who only had three cds, one of which was "Stay Human." In no time I found the lyrics from that album running through my head all day, so I decided to make my next cd purchase a Spearhead album. Since I got this cd it has become the most played album of my collection. Never have I hear a musician draw from so many genres of music so effortlessly. The album has such an array of different sounds, and each song is diverse in of itself. When you add that to some of the finest contemporary protest poetry, you're left with an irresistable cd that is perfect for any situation... chillin' out by yourself at home, or cranking up the positive vibrations at a party. If you like any forms of hip-hop, soul, r&b, reggae, folk music, or really any good music in general, this is a must have for your collection

I'm not a hip-hop, R&B or rap fan by any stretch of the imagination. Then again, to cram Franti and Spearhead into any one of these categories does a huge disservice to the incredible blend of intelligent and human lyrics, fantastic grooves and masterful engineering.

I first heard "Yes I Will" on the local radio station and I fell in love immediately. It was far outside the norm of what I listen to, but it was so full of feeling and raw power that I went out and bought the CD right away. I was a bit surprised to hear it. I had no idea what Franti and Spearhead was all about.

Everyone Deserves Music is definitely a one of a kind in my collection not only because of the genre, but because of the incredible force. This is by far one of the best releases of the past decade. This is a "desert island disc" plain and simple. If you don't own this, do your ears and your brain a favor and go get it.