It’s been over a decade since Easy Star Alls-Stars, the New York based collective known for adapting iconic rock and pop albums into reggae music, has released an album, but their latest tribute project, a reggae rendition of David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust perfectly titled Ziggy Stardub, was worth the wait. Under the meticulous creative vision and direction of Easy Star Records co-founder, Michael Goldwasser, Stardub impeccably reinvents the British rock deity’s 1970 classic rock masterpiece as a modern reggae album, a work of genius in its own right.

Some may wonder why so much time elapsed since the group’s last record, but a conversation with Goldwasser provides a reasonable explanation. Many factors contributed, including the pandemic to some extent, but essentially, a vast amount of time and energy go into the numerous components that comprise a work of this magnitude.

“First of all, we like to take our time and think about what the right album to cover,” Goldwasser began. “Then, once we figure that out, I spend quite a long time listening to the source material and writing the arrangements.  And then the recording process always takes a while because we use so many guest artists and we have to work with their schedules.  Also, I do a lot of production work outside of Easy Star Records so that slows down this process, too.”

So how did Goldwasser and his gang of talented musicians finally settle on Bowie’s Stardust?

“We had thought about doing the Ziggy album a long time ago, after we did Radiodread.  So, it’s been on our mind even though we opted to go for The Beatles (Easy Star’s Lonely Hearts Dub Band) and then Michael Jackson (Easy Star’s Thrillah) for our third and fourth albums in the series.  I’ve been a Bowie fan since I was a teenager, and I especially loved the Ziggy Stardust album.  I also thought it would be cool to do something less expected and cover Aladdin Sane, but it made more sense to go with one of his most iconic albums.”

Curious, I asked Goldwasser what other albums they had deliberated remaking. I kind of expected him not to reveal other options they had considered, and my hunch was unfortunately correct. No hard feelings though, as I am sure these other ideas remain future possibilities, which offer Easy Star fans anticipation for what may lie ahead.

For now, though, we will thoroughly enjoy the glorious sounds of this incredible work of music.

As mentioned above, a large portion of the time it takes to produce an album like this is Goldwasser creating the musical arrangements. It starts with him listening to the original album many, many times – hours and hours of close analysis. Goldwasser’s own words best describe his method: “There are several facets to my approach.  I want to make an album that I would enjoy listening to as a fan.  I also tend to lean towards classic reggae/rocksteady/ska because that’s what I enjoy the most.  I also love the sound of analog, so I record to tape through a great console and use a lot of outboard gear when mixing, especially for the dub elements. Most of the delays that you hear on the album are the sound of me twisting knobs in real time as the mix went down.  That said, I’m not a purist – I want it to sound great, but I don’t always care how we get there.  Also, in terms of recording, I like to record at least a quartet of musicians live at the same time – in this case it was drums, bass, rhythm guitar, and one keyboard.”

Photo Credit: Joshua Reynolds

Continuing, he explained, “In terms of process, it all starts with listening, over and over.  I had heard the Bowie album many times before, but I had to start listening with my arranger and producer hat on, figuring out the keys of each song, the chord progressions, the melodies, the tempos, and the time signatures.  As I’d listen, I’d jot down notes on ideas that would come to me or sometimes scribble a musical phrase on staff paper.

“Often, the first part of an arrangement that comes to me is the bass line – I mean, what is a reggae song without a good bass line, right?  So, I’d work that out first and then probably think of what kind of drum pattern I’d want for the song – I try to mix it up.  I’ve heard reggae tribute albums where every song is a one-drop beat and that kind of bores me.  Once I’ve got an idea for the bass and drums, then I’ll make a demo and start adding the other reggae elements, such as the bubble and bang, the guitar pick and chop, percussion.  And all the while, I’m thinking about which elements from the original I want to interpolate or just reference exactly as they appear on the Bowie album.

“Meanwhile, after I’ve recorded the basic tracks, I have to reach out to all of the guest vocalists and explain the project, pitch the song or songs I want them to consider, and then figure out how recording the vocals will go down once we’ve come to an agreement with the artist.  Simultaneous with lining up and recording the vocals, I’m doing a lot of overdubs, editing the tracks as needed, and thinking about aspects of the mix for each song so that when it’s finally time to mix I can give clear direction to the mix engineer.”

Goldwasser pointed out that mixing is a very important part of the process, “especially finding the balance of adding dub effects to the songs without detracting from the vocals.”  Then, after mixing and revising the mixes, they go to mastering. “And again, I need to have a good sense of what I’m looking for in order to guide the process.”

The album was mixed by Scott Jacoby at Eusonia Studios in Manhattan and mastered by Robbie Robinson at Robinson Mastering in southern California.  “A really great team,” said Goldwasser, who mentioned that Scott and Robbie both worked on his album with Jason Mraz, Look For the Good, as well. “Fortunately, Scott and Robbie know my tastes, so it’s not difficult to achieve what I’m looking for in those processes.”

A big part of what makes this album so special are the awesome vocal performances by a diverse range of extremely gifted singers. I wondered how Goldwasser selected the vocalists and how he decided which song each artist would be featured on.

“This is another long process,” Goldwasser began. “I made a list of vocalists that I wanted on the project and then I discussed at length with my Easy Star co-founders Eric Smith and Lem Oppenheimer. We aimed for a balance of reggae veterans, up-and-coming artists, and some artists from outside of the reggae world.

“And we love to feature artists from the Easy Star family – on Ziggy Stardub we’ve got contributions from Mortimer, The Skints, The Expanders, SunDub, Kirsty Rock, whom we’ve done extensive work with, and also Naomi Cowan and Samory I, who were part of the Gratitude Riddim EP that we released last year. (We’re putting out full albums by Mortimer and Samory I later this year.)  And, of course, Steel Pulse has appeared on our last two Easy Star All-Stars tribute albums.  Carlton Livingston has been an honorary member of the crew for years and it was only a matter of time before he voiced for us. Last but not least, JonnyGo Figure, who is in the touring band, contributes some great deejay-style vocals.”

Regarding which artist would be featured on each song, he continued, “A lot of it comes down to my knowledge of artists’ voices and ranges – they need to be able to sing the song convincingly in the original key because we don’t change the keys on these projects.”

With so many memorable performances that elevate this album, did any in particular stand out to Goldwasser?

“I’d say that Macy Gray tops the list,” he opined. “Early on in the process, I identified her as someone that I’d like to sing ‘Rock’n’Roll Suicide’ – she’s got such an interesting and passionate singing style and that song needs to end the album with a bang.  Luckily, I toured with the drummer in Macy’s band when I was Musical Director for Jason Mraz and he put me in touch with her manager. The manager turned out to be a big fan of our Radiodread album, so he really wanted Macy to do it, which certainly helped. Then, months later, when I finally got to record Macy, it was pretty special to hear her bring her vibes to the song and take it to the next level when the song comes to a climax at the end.”

Goldwasser added that he really loved getting Maxi Priest and Fishbone on the album as he’d been a fan of both since the beginning of their recording careers in the mid-80’s, and that there are another couple of contributors beyond vocalists that he is super-excited about — Vernon Reid from Living Colour and Alex Lifeson from Rush, who both contributed guitar to a song.  “Mind blown!”

As James Searl of Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad said in my recent interview with him about the new Panda album, “Recording music involves thousands of decisions. Each one can drastically change the final product.”  I mentioned this comment to Goldwasser and asked him about some of the tougher decisions that he had to make throughout the making of the album.

Photo credit: Joshua Reynolds

“It’s funny,” he responded, “I’m sure that there were tough decisions, but I can’t think of any right now.  I try to cast every challenge as an opportunity.”

Speaking of challenges, I asked Goldwasser if any songs in particular proved to be a greater challenge than the others, and his surprising response revealed a little nugget of cosmic synchronicity.

“I’d say that the biggest challenge was ‘Hang On To Yourself.’  I had a concept for what I wanted to do, which was to base the arrangement on the famous ‘Sleng Teng’ riddim because the story is that the preset in the Casio MT-40 keyboard that became the basis of ‘Sleng Teng’ was actually inspired by…the original ‘Hang On To Yourself’ by David Bowie!   Referencing all that really appealed to the music nerd in me.

“Then I had to find the balance between having it programmed and having the live band. My original concept was to blend both, so I recorded the band along with a programmed beat from an actual MT-40 that Ivan Katz, our drummer, had from back in the days.  Eric and Lem felt like my arrangement leaned too heavily on the live sound, so I re-played and re-recorded the MT-40 drums and bass that Ivan had played, and also the piano that Matt Goodwin, our keyboardist, had played, to fit a new arrangement that was much more ‘Sleng Teng’-y, but then I felt that it was missing the essential harmony of the original chord changes.  So, I wound up going back and creating a new track that kept the digital vibes but retained much of the song structure of Bowie’s version. In the end, the only people playing on the track are me and Vernon Reid on guitar.  I’m very happy with how it came out and how it provides a contrast with the other songs – the journey was worth it.”

The icing on the cake for this project is a testament to Goldwasser’s attention to detail with each Easy Star work. Even in this age of music streaming which has largely diminished the impact of album art, he made sure to replicate the Ziggy Stardust album cover with eye-popping similarity. “We knew early on that we wanted to reference the classic image from the cover of the original album,” he said. “Since our version is NY-based, we thought it would be cool to have the street scene be in New York City instead of in London, Our art director, Brian Freeman, found a model with dreads to be on the cover in place of Bowie, and worked with us to put together the photo shoot. Once we had an image that we liked, then we chose a font similar to the original album’s typeface. So, it was all about creating a great image that would stand up on its own but also harken back to the Bowie album.”

While the Bowie album consisted of 11 songs with under 39 minutes of playing time, fans will appreciate the four extra tracks included on this release which consist of dub remixes of “Five Years,” “Moonage Daydream” and “Lady Stardust” as well as one final bonus – a reggae-fied version of “All the Young Dudes.” The Easy Star performance of this track, which was written and produced by Bowie but made famous by Mott the Hoople, features the lovely vocals of longtime contributor, Kirsty Rock.

Easy Star All-Stars are working on upcoming tour dates in the U.S. in addition to the few that they have already scheduled for the summer.  Keep an eye here for updates.

Michael Goldwasser will join Rootfire editor, Dave Shiffman, for a Ziggy Stardub listening party on the Rootfire Stationhead channel on Tuesday, June 20th, at 8pm ET.