This is an ambitious choice for the Easy Star All Stars: the Beatles’ tracks feature fast tempos and layered melodies that offer less room for versioning than Easy Stars’ previous covers. The Beatles devoted 4 months to creating Lonely Hearts Club Band, widely considered to be their magnum opus and described by Rolling Stone Magazine as the greatest rock album of all time. Every track on Lonely Hearts Club Band is instantly recognizable and studded with enough of the Beatles’ unique creative touches to make any versionist run for the hills. But the Easy Stars arrive well prepared for this massive undertaking, combing their years of experience as reggae hitmakers and studio musicians with a knockout lineup of featured reggae vocalists including U Roy, Luciano, Matisyahu, Sugar Minott, and more.

While past Easy Star albums have all included similarly strong lineups by guest vocalists, Lonely Hearts Dub Band trades much of the sound engineering found on their previous releases for heavier emphasis on the singers’ performances. Lonely Hearts Dub respectfully maintains much of the Beatles’ original song structures with relatively clean recordings and tight keyboard, brass, and percussion counterpoints. Fans expecting more of the heavy dub instrumentals found on Dub Side of the Moon, will be in for a surprise. This new album pushes fewer boundaries and feels more reggae than dub; an open air festival instead of a smoky den, it will appeal to reggae fans and Beatles fans alike.

The Easy Stars Lonely Hearts Dub Band journey begins with the CD’s vibrant packaging, a trifold cardboard sleeve saturated in colorful images that are reminiscent of the Beatles’ original cover with some fresh reggae touches including a red, green, and gold color scheme and fields of ganja instead of flowers (see a sneak peek of Easy Stars Lonely Hearts Dub Band album art here). The music begins with the classic Beatles background noises, but quickly brings a dub flavor reminiscent of Dub Side of the Moon‘s Money with sounds of bubbling and coughing, interrupted by an air horn that sounds straight out of Black Ark.

The first track sets the album’s overall tone with Junior Jazz singing Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band over a reggae melody, with light dub effects and some toasting thrown in for a fun song that retains much of the Beatles’ original sound. Luciano follows on With A Little Help From My Friends, a track that is miles away from the reggae artiste’s recent troubles with his “friends” Andrew “Shooty Shooty” Senior and Freckles Trench. Jah Messenger finds new friends in his backup singers and a rollicking track that continues the album’s uplifting tone and culminates with a chorus so joyful that the listener cannot help but smile and bob along.

Frankie Paul takes the baton with Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, the album’s second single. The Easy Stars turn up the dub on this trippy, mellow track with stronger overdubs and skanky keys and guitars infusing the core melody. Getting Better follows with a loose, repetitive structure that gives room for more overdubs and a simple dub track sound behind The Mighty Diamonds harmonious vocals.

Easy Star fans who were hoping to find some pure dub versions reminiscent of the 4 bonus dub tracks on Dub Side of the Moon will enjoy Fixing A Hole, the first of 2 extended dub mixes on Lonely Hearts Dub. The dub effects that have flown beneath the previous tracks’ melodies burst the levee and engulf Max Romeo‘s smooth voice as the band’s low key instrumentals take center stage. The next track,She’s Leaving Home was the album’s first single, with good reason. Kristy Rock‘s smoky, smiling voice dives right back into the dub sounds that made Easy Star famous in their previous releases, flowing effortlessly to create a warm, nostalgic vibe that’s well-suited to the lyrics. Rock flexes her talents effortlessly and the sound engineer is unafraid to get dubby, resulting in a meditative masterpiece.

Ranking Roger follows with Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite! At its outset, this track continues the mellow dub tone set by its predecessors while getting closer to the Beatles’ orignal melodies. Things suddenly get interesting when it cuts to a brash dancehall infused bridge, complete with toasting and raucus brass instrumentation. Then, just as suddenly, the track returns to the mellow dub sound counterpointed this time with jangling samples of carnivals and bells.

Within You Without You is another highlight, in part because the light vocals and recursive melodies provide ample room for dubbing. Young Hasidic reggae star Matisyahu voices the perfect cover for George Harrison‘s original lyrics, bringing his own spirituality and incredible talents to create a version that in many ways outshines the original. Sitar and tabla stylings from Roger Lipson and Loren Oppenheimer, respectively, create a rich sound that flows over and alongside Matisyahu’s ecstatic beatbox whispers. The only thing missing from this track is Matisyahu’s now-famous hip hop toasting that brought new dimensions to his version of The Police‘s Message in a Bottle.

When I’m Sixty-Four is the second extended dub music mix on the album, and it’s as good as the first. Sugar Minott‘s voice lends itself to overdubbing while preserving the original song’s melodies. The trombone’s toasting that jumps in and out, culminating in a long dub instrumentation that deconstructs the whole piece into an echoing riddim. U Roy‘s toasting pairs well with Bunny Rugs’ singing on Lovely Rita, where the duo slyly suggest that Rita, the buttoned up meter maid, join them to smoke some tea, and the track wanders into dub territory in its second half with U Roy musing on his love for Rita.

Steel Pulse bring us back to the opening tracks’ cleaner tone on Good Morning Good Morning, a faster paced song that drops most of the dub effects in favor of a straightforward reggae cover. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) provides a quick interlude that also remains similar to the original track before cutting to A Day In The Life. Michael Rose and Menny More trade vocal responsibilities on this last track with singing that brings drama to the song’s opening verses and urgent humor to the second half. This closer also wavers between close reggae cover and wandering dub expression, showcasing Easy Star All Stars’ fluency with both ends of the spctrum.

While Dub Side of the Moon will no doubt retain its status as Easy Star All-Star’s greatest work and Radiodread remains a personal favorite, Easy Star’s Lonely Hearts Dub Band complements its predecessors and has arrived just in time for summer music festivals and backyard sound systems. The release is Easy Stars’ most approachable to date, an album that invites the listener to join the fun, first humming along and finally singing and dancing. While the album opens and closes with relatively lightweight tracks, it peaks with several excellent versions in the middle that will continue Easy Star’s legacy on the dub reggae scene.

Want to hear the album yourself? You can preorder Easy Star’s Lonely Hearts Dub Band from Amazon.com today and save $2 or hear it live: the band’s tour schedule is posted on their website. You can also hear the album’s singles on the Easy Star All-Stars website.

You can also find the Easy Star All Stars online:

• Easy Star All Stars MySpace page
• Easy Star All Stars on Facebook
• Easy Star All Stars on imeem
• Follow Easy Star All Stars on Twitter
• Order Easy Star’s Lonely Hearts Dub Band album from Amazon.com

See our prerelease story for more information about the Easy Star All Stars band.

What’s next for the Easy Star All-Stars? No doubt another cover of a concept album from a famous rock band. While I’ll continue to enjoy Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Dub Band, I’m more of a dubber than a straight reggae fan, so I hope they’ll follow with a slower album that gives them more room to rub a heavier dub… perhaps The Flaming Lips‘ Soft Bulletin?

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Easy Star All-Stars are lining up to release another dub reggae hit with their reinvention of The Beatles‘ classic Lonely Hearts Club Band album. The 12-track album will be titled Easy Star’s Lonely Hearts Dub Band. The hotly-anticipated release is scheduled for April 14, 2009.

Lonely Hearts Dub Band follows Easy Star Allstars 2 earlier chart-topping dub albums: 2003′s Dub Side of the Moon (a dub reggae tribute to Pink Floyd’s psychadelic rock concept album Dark Side of the Moon) and 2006′s Radiodread (a dub version of Radiohead‘s OK Computer, another concept album). Both of the previous album were subjects of critical acclaim: Pitchfork called Dub Side of the Moon a “smashing success” and Rolling Stone magazine noted that Radiodread was “again impressive”. Dub Side of the Moon lived on Billboard’s Top Reggae Chart for over 5 years, becoming one of the most successful modern reggae albums, and Radiodread continued to impress with 18 months on the same reggae chart.

Order Easy Star’s Lonely Hearts Dub Band from Amazon.com and save $2.

After the dub reggae band’s first 2 releases, The Beatles classic was an obvious next step. Easy Star All Stars cofounder and musical director Michael Goldwasser explained that the group has “focused on re-envisioning concept albums as reggae and it’s really important that the source material works as a whole and is not just a collection of songs. So, what better to take on next than the mother of all concept albums?”

The Lonely Hearts Dub Band track listing includes:

1. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
2. With A Little Help From My Friends featuring Luciano
3. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds featuring Frankie Paul
4. Getting Better
5. Fixing A Hole
6. She’s Leaving Home featuring Kirsty Rock
7. Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite!
8. Within You Without You featuring Matisyahu
9. When I’m Sixty-Four (Extended Dub Mix) featuring Sugar Minott
10. Lovely Rita featuring Bunny Rugs and U Roy
11. God Morning Good Morning
12. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
13. A Day In The Life

In true ego-free rasta tradition, Easy Star All-Stars are an organic collective of dub and reggae artists based in the New York City area. The cast of Easy Star’s Lonely Hearts Dub Band is made up of Easy Star veteran and cofounder Michael Goldwasser (AKA Michael G) on guitar, cofounder and frequent producer Victor “Ticklah” Axelrod on keyboards, Victor Rice on bass, and Patrick Dougher & Eddie Ocampo on drums and percussion. Goldwasser also handled production, arrangement, and engineering for the album. As with the collective’s previous 2 releases, Lonely Hearts will feature extensive guest vocals from the greatest names in reggae, dub, and dancehall music today, including:

• Matisyahu
• Steel Pulse
• Black Uhuru‘s Michael Rose
• Luciano
• U Roy
• Third World‘s Bunny Rugs
• English Beat‘s Ranking Roger
• Sugar Minott
• Frankie Paul
• Max Romeo
• The Mighty Diamonds

Other members of the Easy Star All Stars collective also contributed to individual tracks, including Ras I Ray on bass and vocals, Jennifer Hill on sax and flute, Buford O’Sullivan on trombone, Ivan Katz on drums, Kirsty Rock, Tamar-kali on lead and backing vocals, Junior Jazz on guitar and vocals, and Menny More on lead and backing vocals.

The Easy Stars’ publicist has confirmed that the band will release a dub reggae track for download in the near future; it will also be available here at Dub & Reggae. At our suggestion, they are also considering releasing an Easy Star ringtone similar to the Mavado ringtones released by VP Reggae.

The dub album’s release will be supported by The Easy Star All-Stars touring group. Easy Star’s collective nature leads to varied lineups of top reggae talent at different shows, which in the past have blown out shows at festivals and headlined shows around the world, including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Chile, Poland, Turkey, Mexico, Argentina, Israel, Croatia, Ireland, Egypt, Brazil, and beyond. Unlike the studio lineup, the touring group has remained nearly unchanged, gelling through repeated performances together with Ras I Ray, Junior Jazz, Ivan Katz, Tamar-kali, Jenny Hill, and Menny More joined by Jeremy Mage on keyboards. The experience is made truly unique through a live mix by a dub engineer, usually Marcos Ferrari or Jocko Randall of John Brown’s Body.

Other members of Easy Star All Stars join the touring group wherever possible for shows, leading to surprise appearances by Ticklah and Michael G as well as reggae legend Ranking Joe, Victor Rice of the Version City All-Stars, Pam Fleming of the Burning Brass, Groove Collective’s Jay Rodriguez, singer Stephanie McKay, Antibalas’s Stuart Bogie, John Brown Body’s Josh Driscoll. This unique chemistry leads to different sounds at every show, allowing the Easy Star All-Stars to consistently deliver an inspiring, invigorating performance time and again.

Order Easy Star’s Lonely Hearts Dub Band from Amazon.com.

Easy Star All Stars‘ tour schedule is posted on their website.

Easy Star was founded by Goldwasser, Axelrod, and executives Eric Smith and Lem Oppenheimer in 1997. Like many reggae production bands in the past, The Easy Star All-Stars functioned primarily as a studio recording group until they released Dub Side of the Moon 6 years later. Dub Side’s runaway success led Goldwasser and company to form a touring group to take their unique brand of dub versions to the people. The All Stars truly live up to their name, having toured and recorded with Burning Spear, Toots and the Maytals, Jimmy Cliff, Gil Scott-Heron, The Toasters, The Meditations, Bernie Worrell, DJ Logic, MC Solaar, King Django, Antibalas, The Scofflaws, Diana King, Dennis Brown, Monty Alexander, Sister Carol, and others.

You can learn more about Easy Star All Stars online:

• Easy Star All Stars MySpace page
• Easy Star All Stars on Facebook
• Easy Star All Stars on imeem
• Follow Easy Star All Stars on Twitter
• Order Easy Star’s Lonely Hearts Dub Band album from Amazon.com

In the meantime, if you’re interested in more dub reggae covers of popular music, check out Reggae Spirits, whose album, Spirits in the Material World: A Reggae Tribute to The Police includes performances by Toots & The Maytals, The Wailing Souls, UB40‘s cofounder and former frontman Ali Campbell, Joan Osborne, Junior Reid and Lee “Scratch” Perry. 4 Spirits tracks are available on Dub & Reggae:

• One World (Not Three)
• Invisible Dub
• Synchronicity I
• Can’t Stand Losing You

We’ll keep you posted on the Easy Star All Stars release.

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