Album Review: Easy Star All-Stars deliver fresh reggae take on David Bowie classic in “Ziggy Stardub”
Photo courtesy of Easy Star Records.
David Bowie is one of the greatest musicians of our lifetime and his 1972 album, “The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars” is an all time classic. The incredible Easy Star All-Stars are now introducing a new generation to Bowie’s music while putting their unique reggae sound on the musical experience in “Ziggy Stardub”.
The album kicks off with “Five Years” and I love the Easy Star Records team’s choice to feature Steel Pulse on this track! It’s fun listening to Bowie’s original track and then grooving to these updated takes. The Easy Star All-Stars make these songs sound so good and natural sounding!
The irie bass line on “Moonage Daydream” is jamming and Naomi Cowan lays down beautiful vocals on this standout track.
Maxi Priest brings “Starman” to life as does the horn section and catchy drumming. The song’s chorus is magical and Priest does Bowie proud in a major way!
Joanna Teters and SunDub showcase the band’s smooth signature sound in “Lady Stardust” and will surely have you singing along mid track.
Easy Star All-Stars and The Skints bring “Ziggy Stardust” to life and the reggae composition puts a whole new energy behind the Bowie song’s meaning and feel. I absolutely love it!
The team at Easy Star Records is always extremely thoughtful when it comes to its production and choosing talent to showcase and I loved hearing Michael Goldwasser, producer, arranger, and multi-instrumentalist of Easy Star and his thoughts on teaming with Macy Gray in “Rock ‘N’ Roll Suicide”.
“The main key was finding an emotive and ground-breaking vocalist, and we did just that with Macy Gray, who is truly inimitable in every song that she sings, including this one,” said Goldwasser.
I had never heard Gray sing on a reggae track, but her energy really was perfect for this tune.
Breathing new life and crossing musical genres is no easy task, but the Easy Star All-Stars flawlessly take a David Bowie classic and infuse the reggae sound we all love so much! Seeing the band play these songs during their live sets will be must-see action!
By CB.
