Prior to this album’s official release, Michael Franti posted a message on his website, Spearhead Vibrations, saying that so many songs had been recorded for the last Spearhead record, “Stay Human,” that exactly nine months after their third record was due for release, another brand new album was going to be released as its follow-up. However, due to the terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001 the idea was scrapped.
A few months after September 11th, Franti appeared on a US talk show and performed a song that very strongly protested against that incident. The song in question was of course “Bomb the World.” The producers of the show were allegedly so furious about what he had done, that they edited the song out before the show was actually aired. Eventually, they decided to re-air the program unedited. Even though “Bomb The World” was never officially released in Australia as a single until May 5th, 2003, Franti & his band Spearhead actually allow their fans to record their live shows, so it wasn’t long before folks all around the globe were downloading it from fansites such as freakyandfree.com and loveisdashit.com.
Meanwhile, Spearhead fans all around the world waited with baited breath to see what exactly Michael & the crew would come up with after the classic “Stay Human” from 2001. What eventually followed was an acoustic collection of songs titled “Songs from the Front Porch,” which was only available in retail stores in Australia or via the official Spearhead site. The second release was the much-anticipated fourth Spearhead album, “Everyone Deserves Music.” Here’s my review:
What I Be: This is just a very funky & creative track about how Michael sees himself as everything from trees, to the earth, to the sky, to…even sex believe it or not. He also took the lyrics from this song and turned it into a children’s book with an accompanying audio CD. Like I said, very creatively written.
We Don’t Stop: Once again we’re gettin’ funky, but this time around we’re also rockin’ pretty hard. Lyrically it’s a ferocious rap attack on every single war in the world. Mike exclaims: “I wanna rock with punks ‘cos I love punk rock/I wanna rock with heads ’cause I love hip hop/I wanna rock my beats/All around the block/If I was in Baghdad then I would rock Iraq.” And that’s exactly what he did……..in fact he even played this song for a few Iraquis while he was over there and they loved it of course. Mike’s former beatboxer RadioActive and Blackalicious member Gift Of Gab also appear on this track.
Everyone Deserves Music: This was the second single lifted from the album. It’s definitely a song I can relate to being that I’m quite the music fanatic in the family. He’s just telling us that everyone in the planet deserves to listen to music. “Even our worst enemies Lord, they deserve music. Even the quiet ones in our family – they deserve music!” Although when he performs it live he adlibs a little bit: “Even the rich folks….even the straight folks….even the gay folks – they deserve music!!!!” Which is exactly right if you ask me. Sydney based radio station Mix 106.5 also used this song as their slogan back in 2006, which I thought was quite a shock being that they initially began their life as a boring love ballads radio station. Musically this one’s more of a rock/pop type of song as opposed to hip hop.
Never Too Late: Apparently this very acoustic based slightly hip hop influenced cut was written all about a roadie of theirs from Europe who got killed while he was on his way to one of their gigs. However, from my point of view it’s just a song of encouragement where Mike is telling the listeners to be strong willed in their lives. Although I must admit, lyrics like “Don’t be a horse race, be a marathon” seem a little hokey & even cringeworthy in my eyes. Other than that it’s pretty decent.
Bomb The World: The main message here is, “you can bomb the world to pieces, but you can’t bomb it into peace.” Just like Ice Cube & NWA in the early ’90s, Franti is one of those guys who will refrain from holding back what he really wants to say. Obviously a lot of people are going to have a problem with somebody like that. Lyrically this is a slightly different version to what was originally going to be released. Musically it’s completely different. At first it was an acoustic song but now it has more of a “mainstream”/top 40 sound to it. Kind of like soul, pop and rock all mixed together to make a totally different kind of sound. When I first heard this new version, I immediately noticed that one of the lines in the songs had been changed. Originally he was singing, “How can you feel sorry, when you kill people with no voice?,” but he replaced that lyric with: “God bless the people who cannot raise their voice.” I don’t know why he changed that. Possibly because, as he’s said once before, that he realised that all killing is wrong. That’s probably why he made the switch to vegetarianism, but that’s another story.
Pray For Grace: This song has a very strong reggae/calypso type of sound to it, and lyrically I guess you could say I missed the point for a while there, but it’s just all about being grateful for your life even though there are days where you aren’t feeling too good about yourself. In those instances you just need to pick yourself up & keep it moving. It’s a very uplifiting song in that respect, and actually it’s pretty clear that it was probably written while they were on tour, being that Radio Active is leading the crowd into a call & reponse chant of “say yay, say yo.” Great song.
Love Why Did You Go Away: Here’s another one that has more of a straight-up rock sound to it musically. While lyrically it’s just a plea for love if you like. Or at least, he’s just wondering where love was when all of the tough times were happening, like when his father got drunk & abused his mother, or when the last tree was chopped down, or when the soldiers were killed in the war. It’s obviously a very somber type of song. Very different for Spearhead.
Yes I Will: This song first came to my attention on album of Michael’s called “Songs from the front porch,” which was an acoustic album he released exclusively in Australia before eventually putting it out on his site & in other countries. Being that it was the acoustic version, it was obviously stripped down to its bare bones, but this is the full blooded funky, rocky, punchy version that’s still all about self encouragement.
Feeling Free: Let’s get funky again. Once again this song is just about self encouragement with lines like “take a bow when you feel like a superstar.” Musically it starts off as a funk song, but then halfway through it turns into some kind of weird drums & bass type of track. At first that didn’t really appeal to me, but eventually I eased into it….like easin’ into a hot tub. No doubt.
Love Invincible: This is the second song that first came to my attention on the “Songs from the front porch” album, and at that point I was expecting to hear a very Latin inspired type of song when this album was ready for release. Unfortunately I got a wack disco song instead. That said the lyrics are still on point. He’s just telling his woman to try & help him get back up when he starts to feel down about himself while getting too high & irrational. Just makes me wanna press skip, but each to their own.
Bomb The World (Armageddon Version): This is definitely the type of Spearhead jam that you would expect Franti to be doing. It’s full of anger, frustration & plenty of venom. The lyrics are also totally different and as a result make for a much more interesting listen. Radio Active & soul singer Ledisi also add their own little contributions.
Crazy Crazy Crazy: This song basically serves as one final message from Michael informing us to stand firm in life and to keep our heads up when times get tough. He also informs us that “no life’s worth more than any other. No sister’s worth less than any brother.” Excellent. Musically it’s a very acoustic based song with some very subtle percussion.
Verdict: This is a very different Spearhead album indeed, simply because of the fact that there are so many different styles of music being played on here that it’s really difficult to categorise it as one particular genre. Overall, it’s a really good disc from beginning to end. Michael always has something valid to say and it’s important to give his messages a good listen. Seriously.
