After the politically overcharged anti-war rant of Yell Fire in 2006, Michael Franti & Spearhead felt a musical sea change coming.

He'd recorded part of that album in Kingston, Jamaica with the legendary production team Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare.

For All Rebel Rockers they returned for more.

The end result is their finest record to date.

Reggae and dancehall are the preeminent musics here, but they aren't the only ones.

Franti set out to do what he always does, create a socially conscious set of tunes that reflected his social concerns, but he wanted to engage rather than merely express, to motivate by different means.

Reggae is synonymous with resistance, but it is also often symbiotic with joy even in times of suffering.

All Rebel Rockers focuses on both.

It is a personal album that reaches out to solicit community and motivate them into the fold through joy -- even if that joy is expressed in the middle of an oppressive, empire-minded culture.

Sly and Robbie are perfect collaborators, and the album is drenched in wonderful collisions of rhythms, textures, colors, and dynamics.

Franti is less a rapper here and more of a singer.

He's allowed his voice to relax (no crooning or yelling) and trust that his words have enough weight to make it through this dense "heavy music" mix to the listener.

He's right.