After the success of previous albums Dub Side Of The Moon and Radiodread and a big reputation playing live and on the festival circuit (they were brilliant at the Larmer Tree a couple of years ago), could The Beatles’ be one step too far for the Easy Star crew?

To be honest, I’m not a great fan of the Fab Four and whilst the Danny Holloway (belated happy birthday to him) mixtape is a bit of a ear opener (and not forgetting ‘Come Together’ off the School Me! compilation) not even Junior Jazz, Luciano and Frankie Paul can bring some reggaefied sunshine into the over played opening tracks, the title track, ‘With A Little Help From My Friends’ and ‘Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds’.

But hang on a bit, is that Carlos Niño is sending us some ‘pyschedelic cosmic love from California’? He does like a bit of Beatles on his spaceways show) as the prescence of The Mighty Diamonds (who so happened to be on that The Front Line album that I was bangin’ on about in the Soothsayers’ One More Reason review the other day) on ‘Getting Better’ marks an upturn. Then there’s Max Romeo chilling out with an extended dub of ‘Fixing A Hole’ and it’s not all stars of the 70s, Matisyahu (he of Roots Tonic) gets the best of the lot on the pysch-indo-dub of ‘Within You Without You’ (predictably by Harrison and the only non-Lennon-McCartney song).

Ranking Roger (ex-The Beat) gets into the circus spirit of ‘Mr. Kite’ and Kirsty Rock who has The Beatles previous with the ukulele version of ‘Come Together’ (worth checking that out) and she is All-Star voice of ‘The Great Gig In The Sky’ and ‘Paranoid Android’, picks up the pop-laden ‘She’s Leaving Home’ here.

And whilst Sugar Minott does his best on ‘When I’m Sixty-Four’ it’s just such an annoying tune; even in a dub format. And another The Front Line veteran U-Roy sounds as good as ever but ‘Lovely Rita’ is yet another tune I have never liked. And ‘Good Morning Good Morning’ is another, even with Steel Pulse! This is no Handsworth Revolution.

So they sing “We hope you enjoyed the show” on the reprise and in truth, only a little as I was hoping for the very best from the last track, ‘A Day In The Life’. And again, great to hear the distinctive voice of Michael Rose but rather an anti-climax for me.

For my money, Dub Side Of The Moon and Radiodread are far better than this and hopefully they won’t be touching anything else from the Apple back-catalogue again.

Hectic Mix nominations: ‘Within You Without You’, ‘Fixing A Hole’, ‘Getting Better’, ‘Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds’ (it’s a grower), ‘She’s Leaving Home’

Reviewed: Easy Star All-Stars - Lonely Hearts Dub Band (Easy Star Records) Cat. no. ES-1018 Release date: 14th April 2009
Tracklisting:
1. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band - featuring Junior Jazz (2:22)
2. With A Little Help From My Friends - featuring Luciano (3:13)
3. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds - featuring Frankie Paul (4:33)
4. Getting Better - featuring The Mighty Diamonds (3:19)
5. Fixing A Hole (Extended Dub Mix) - featuring Max Romeo (4:57)
6. She’s Leaving Home - featuring Kirsty Rock (3:10)
7. Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite! - featuring Ranking Roger (2:35)
8. Within You Without You - featuring Matisyahu (5:14)
9. When I’m Sixty-Four (Extended Dub Mix) - featuring Sugar Minott (5:35)
10. Lovely Rita - featuring Bunny Rugs and U Roy (4:06)
11. Good Morning Good Morning - featuring Steel Pulse (2:50)
12. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) (1:24)
13. A Day In The Life - featuring Michael Rose and Menny More (5:52)

Links:
www.easystar.com
www.myspace.com/easystarallstars
www.myspace.com/kirstyrock
thebeatlescompleteonukulele.blogspot.com
www.myspace.com/michaelrosereggae