The Midnight Raver Blog is the only site on the web where you can download lossless live performance audio of select Easy Star shows. This show from April 2011 features Cas Haley performing his hit “Better.”
For a complete listing of current tour dates, and to listen to the first single from the forthcoming “Thrillah” tribute album, please click HERE.
Easy Star All-Stars The Orange Peel April 2, 2011
01. Don’t Stop The Music [05:56] 02. All The Way [03:31] 03. Paid My Dues [03:39] 04. Breathe [03:06] 05. On The Run [01:09] 06. Time [06:59] 07. Karma Police [05:54] 08. Airbag [04:23] 09. Let Down [06:09] 10. First Light [05:37] 11. I Won’t Stop [05:19] 12. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band [02:21] 13. With a Little Help From My Friends [04:07] 14. Better* [03:31] 15. Reggae Pension [04:15] 16. Something Went Wrong [04:01] 17. Paranoid Android [07:12] 18. A Day in the Life [04:36] 19. encore break [04:19] 20. When I’m Sixty-Four [02:27] 21. Money [07:39]
I recently had the opportunity to interview Michael Goldwasser of NYC’sEasy Star All-Stars about their new tribute album, a dub interpretation of Michael Jackson’s landmark 1983 album Thriller. One listen to the first single off the album, a Luciano-voiced “Billie Jean,” tells me that this could be their best yet.
Easy Star All-Stars are primarily known for their critically and commercially successful dub-tribute albums Dub Side of the Moon, Easy Star’s Lonely Hearts Dub Band, and RadioDread. Through incessant recording, touring, and fan-building, Easy Star basically paved the way for the new wave of American reggae acts that have been so successful of late.
Thrillah is slated for an August 28, 2012 release date. The band will be hitting the road this summer and through the second half of 2012 in support of the album. Visit their website to get the latest information on the album and tour.
So why Thriller?
“We chose Thriller for several reasons. First of all, it’s always good to shake things up – we’d done three albums from the world of rock and it would be too obvious to keep going down that path. (And) It makes so much sense to do an r&b album since r&b has always been such a major influence on Jamaican music, from ska in the early 60′s to the most current dancehall. Just as he is all over the world, Michael Jackson is revered in Jamaica like few other artists. But most importantly, we always want to do albums that are made up of great and interesting songs that will be cool as reggae, and Thriller certainly fit the bill. It’s also part of our mission to spread reggae to new people, and by taking on the best-known album of all time, we feel that we are able to do that on a larger scope.”
Was there a close second choice (my guess was Wilco)?
The Easy Star All-Stars announced today that their next dub-tribute album will be Michael Jackson’s groundbreaking “Thriller.”
They have already crafted successful tribute albums to The Beatles, Pink Floyd, and Radiohead. These albums, largely characterized by reggae and dub versions of those classic tunes, have been both commercially successful and critically acclaimed.
The tribute album, called “Thrillah,” will feature guest appearances by The Green, Mojo Morgan, Steel Pulse, Cas Haley, and many more.
A few years ago when I first heard that this obscure reggae band from New York was planning to do a dub version of Dark Side of the Moon (a perfect album by the way) I was thoroughly unimpressed. So unimpressed that I didn’t even subject myself to this disaster until several years after it’s release.
Then I listened to it.
Easy Star All-Stars is a reggae collective with a rotating roster of musicians and singers founded by the co-founders Michael Goldwasser, Eric Smith, Lem Oppenheimer and Remy Gerstein of New York City-based Easy Star Records in 1997. They are best known for covering popular albums in a reggae and dub style and have released three cover albums to date.
They also recently released their first original title First Light (2011), which features the likes of The Meditations, Cas Haley, Junior Jazz, Lady Ann, and Tony Tuff.
They are a stellar live act that never fails to bring the heavy dread and a groove like no other American reggae act touring right now. The All Stars have worked with the best and brightest in Jamaican roots music including Horace Andy, Sugar Minott, Toots and the Maytals, Citizen Cope, Big Youth, Israel Vibration, Frankie Paul, Sluggy Ranks, and many more.
Their street cred is earned and real, legitimized even more by the stature of the artists that continue to appear on their albums.
I spoke recently with Eric Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Easy Star Records and he tells me that the All Stars are in the studio right now working on the new tribute album due out this summer. Of course he won’t reveal which album they are “blessing” right now, but he assures me that they plan to press release it in June.
Until then, stay close to the Midnight Raver Blog, the only place to find live and lossless Easy Star dub on the web.
01. UNTIL THAT DAY 02. THE VAPORISER 03. BED OF ROSE 04. SGT. PEPPERS FALSE START 05. SGT. PEPPERS LONELY HEARTS DUB BAND 06. A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS 07. LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS 08. SHE’S LEAVING HOME 09. GIMME A LIGHT/ONLY THE FINEST ? 10. BREATHE / ON THE RUN 11. MONEY 12. EXIT MUSIC (FOR A FILM) 13. LET DOWN 14. PARANOID ANDROID 15. WHEN IM SIXTY FOUR 16. A DAY IN THE LIFE 17. ENCORE CROWD 18. TIME …………….. 19. LOVELY RITA METER MAID 20. …BAND INTRODUCTIONS ETC…
For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of seeing Easy Star live, you are missing one of the greatest live acts in modern dub reggae. It is not often, if at all, that I give love to modern reggae acts, especially American modern reggae acts. You may see a SOJA post now and again, but they are hometown. And they bring it every time. Most of these modern American reggae acts are just out there watering down the place.
Looks as if I’m the only one sharing these Easy Star shows online. I do hope that others will pick up on this band and give them the massive exposure they deserve.
I must give a huge shout to my friend Roots Souljah on ReggaeTraders who graciously seeded a bunch of Easy Star shows for me. Good lookin’ out bro….
Enjoy the first live performance of the Easy Star All Star album “Dub Side Of The Moon”!
