The Hyperlogos

The new effort from Michael Franti and Spearhead, All Rebel Rockers is their most boring offering yet. Almost entirely lacking the depth of lyrics which has been present in every former album, this is basically a drum & bass album for people who need more music to jump up and down to. If you love Spearhead's lyrics, you should avoid this album like the mass-market plague it is.

I've been a fan of Michael Franti since before there was a band called Spearhead - back when he was half or so of the Disposable Heroes of Hiphopracy. To my mind, things have been going downhill ever since. The emphatic, undiluted messages of the original work may have been enhanced by the addition of music, but some of the clarity and a great deal of the depth was lost then. Albums like Stay Human attempted to gain mindshare through gimmicky skits as if the album were gangsta rap instead of consciousness rock. But All Rebel Rockers is the simplest, stupidest album yet. Most songs' lyrics are composed of about twenty words with heavy repetition. ("Music is not repetition"?) This album is so bad that although it doesn't come out for eleven days (we purchased the new album at the festival) there's already multiple copies available on Amazon for substantially less than the cover price.

I really don't need to go any further into this review - I'm not going to subject myself to listening to it again just to prove how bad it is. I am shocked and dismayed to be giving a Spearhead album one star, but the music was boring at the festival, and it was boring in the car. We turned it down and talked over it on the way home, and here I am now, writing this review.

If you've never heard Spearhead before, do yourself a favor and get Home, Chocolate Supa Highway, or the next-to-last album which is actually fantastic, Yell Fire. But do yourself a favor, and ignore this particular piece of future used record store bargain-bin trash.