Michael Franti, Michael Franti & Spearhead - Stay Human
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CD Details
Artist: Michael Franti & Spearhead, Michael FrantiEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2001-05-15
Music Label: Six Degrees
Soundtracks:
- Oh My God
- radio segment
- Stay Human (all the freaky people)
- radio segment
- Rock The Nation
- Sometimes
- radio segment
- Do Ya Love
- radio segment
- Soulshine
- Every Single Soul
- radio segment
- Love'll Set Me Free
- Thank You
- radio segment
- We Don't Mind
- radio segment
- Speaking Of Tongues
- radio segment
- Listener Supported
- radio segment
- Skin On The Drum
Music reviews of Stay Human
Music Review: Brilliant, Beautiful
Rating: 4 Stars
I got to hear this entire album played today on an online broadcast for a small radio station. Coming in in the middle, like the first listeners to Orson Welles's "War of the World's" broadcast, I must confess that I initially thought the fictional story of "Sister Fatima" -- over-layed like a local DJ's mix of news onto the album tracks -- to be a genuine retrospective of some real events -- that's how accurate the story was to similar aspects of our real-life world, at least in parts. (I caught on when the Governor who backed her execution in the storyline actually cared when he got caught).
What made this album move me was the accuracy in the portrayal of voices. The Sister Fatima's bravery reminded me so much of people I've admired -- friends and icons -- and the characteristics of their bravery under pressure. The Governor's exaggerated causticness is a caricature, but really not that much less subtle than our real-life fascists, "neocons," world-destroyers, now rampant worldwide, in business, government, media, judiciary.
Set against the album's heart-felt uplifting music and lyrics -- which could easily stand on their own -- the faux news is faithful enough to life to make both more poignant. With the storyline overlay, the album may wind up filed away as a novelty album by some, but it seems easy enough to burn a copy without those tracks.
(At first listen, I thought the storyline was actually superimposed over music, which might have bothered me -- but the track list and other reviews assure me that the storyline tracks are separate... yes?)
Thanks to the artists for a beautiful piece of work, beautifully performed.
Description of Stay Human
There aren't many hip-hop artists out there today who give a damn about putting positive messages in their music, but Michael Franti is one of them. Ever since his days with seminal group Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, Franti has infused his sounds with insightful and thought-provoking lyricism, and this latest Spearhead joint is no exception. Stay Human tackles, among other things, the subject of capital punishment. Through a make-believe community radio station, Franti tells the tale of Sister Fatima, a healer and activist who is being put to death for a crime that her community believes she didn't commit. The "live" broadcasts act as elaborate skits between Franti's insouciant, soul-rap hybrids and help to expose the arrogant nature of America's judicial system and the brutal finality of the death sentence. Musically, Franti has created a richer, more string-laden backdrop for his tracks, creating some of his best idiosyncratic, feel-good vibes to date. But while the funkadelic edge of "Rock the Nation" and laid-back ballad style of "Do Ya Love" are worthy in their own right, Franti's real genius lies in his ability to weave opinions into compelling narratives so that we don't feel we're being battered over the head with someone else's ideas. Emotive, soulful, and opinionated, Spearhead are almost single-handedly keeping alive a tradition epitomized by Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye, and Bill Withers. Don't sleep. --Paul SullivanGeneral CDs
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