Review by RMF Forum user :  rockfan

Michael Franti & Spearhead announced in November last year that they would be opening for the 2010 John Mayer “Battle Studies Tour” in the spring. It was difficult to picture Mayer, known mostly for his colorful love life rather than his guitar compositions, and Franti, known for his fights against political, religious and racial wars, on the same stage.

Franti’s practicing what he preaches. He is closely involved with CARE, an organization trying to educate mainly women and girls in developing countries in quest against poverty. He travels all around the world on CARE missions. One of the last places he visited was East Timor.

A few years ago Michael Franti & Spearhead released their Yell Fire! album, inspired by Franti’s trip to the Middle East war zones including Israel, Baghdad, Iraq, and the Gaza Strip. 

But despite the mixed reactions after the announcement of the collaboration, Michael Franti was confident that his music is compatible with Mayer’s and that Michael Franti & Spearhead would connect to Mayer’s audience.

Franti, in whose veins flow all kinds of blood, is equally open to people of all ages, genders or races. And according to the positive reactions of fans after the first concerts of the Battle Studies Tour, he was right. The light, positive music blending hip hop with funk, reggae, jazz, folk, and rock, turned out to be a perfectly matching opening act for John Mayer’s “Battle Studies.”

Michael Franti & Spearhead gained mainstream recognition last year with the hit single “Say Hey (I Love You)” from their “All Rebel Rockers” album. “Say Hey (I Love You)” turned out to be a gold mine and became double platinum with more than 2 million sold copies sold.

“All Rebel Rockers” was recorded mainly in Jamaica. Franti finds inspiration not only in Jamaica but also in classical albums like Stevie Wonder’s Songs In the Key of Life. But what really makes their sound so unique is the live performance of the band. Something that draws Michael Franti to reggae are the vibes that the band creates when they play together.

Right now Michael Franti & Spearhead are working on their next album.

Tags: 2010, album, all rebel rockers, band, Battle Studies Tour, double platinum, folk, funk, hip-hop, i love you, jamaica, jazz, john mayer, michel franti, new album, platinum, political, poverty, reggae, review, RMF, rock, rockfan, say hey, songs in the key of life, Spearhead, stevie wonder, user, user review, Yell Fire
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A new poster on the RMF has recommended a new pop artist to our readers.   If you’re a regular reader of the RMF then I’m sure you’ll know already how I feel about the pop industry, (and if not, you should start by reading my “Recent Music Releases” article).   So a word to the wise… if you’re here to deliver SEO spam, be prepared for your link to be reviewed in true RMF style.

So, without further ado, here’s my review of Gabriella Cilmi – Sweet About Me…

Gabriella Cilmi: Nothin' sweet about her?

I’ve got to say, compared to a lot of pop artists, she’s not too bad… there’s certainly a lot of potential there, but it appears to me that the label and producer had too much say in her “sound” for my liking. They seem to have placed the emphasis on making her fit in with modern pop trends and ignored her actual strengths. 

Voice:   This is a case-in-point for me.   She’s reasonable enough in the bits where she stops putting on The Whinehouse Effect – you can hear that under the neuveau-pop surface she can probably actually belt them out with the best of them.   It’s a shame that her label / producer have forced her to sing in that Winehouse-esque pseudo-Anastasia post-Gabrielle half-throaty-and-half-nasally style, because it’s certainly not her natural voice – you can tell in the bridge sections where she almost lets herself sing properly.   Macy Gray opened a door a few years ago, showing the labels that this kind of voice had a market, and since then every other “alternative pop” vocalist seems to have this same croaky edge.   The majors are doing the same thing to this sound that they did to indie music in the mid-90’s – taking a tiny part of what makes it “good” and exploiting it by papering over the cracks of bad pop music with this new sound to market the same tired old crap with a new wrapper.   Such a shame. Such is the modern pop industry.  

The band:   Real instruments played by decent session musicians, but the whole thing’s just a bit too… “poptastic” for my liking.   With the wealth of talent at her fingertips, having a band full of session musicians of obvious skill, and yet the song is a formulaic 4-chord stumbler.   She probably has to kick them during performances to keep them awake.

Hit / Miss?   Miss for now, but a definite “wait and see”…. if she gets enough limelight from this album, she will have more sway with the label for her “sound” for the 2nd album, and hopefully she’ll let her musicians have more input for the song structures and start singing with her real voice, and who knows, maybe, just maybe she’ll fulfill her Real Music potential and leave the mindless pop thing behind. 

P.S.  Cilmi?   This surely isn’t her real name, is it?    How is it pronounced?    “Kill me”?    A cry for help perhaps?    Cynical and jaded about her own project from the outset?

Do the right thing, Gabriella, sack off the major label pop chart thing and start playing jazz clubs for a few years.  Start hanging out with Donavon Frankenreiter too.  It’ll make all the difference.  Trust me.

Stay tuned for more up-to-the-minute news and reviews of the pop charts and recent music releases.

Tags: charts, forum, gabriella cilmi, jazz, music, news, News > Chart, Pop, real, real music forum, recent music releases, review, sweet about me
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