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Ben HarperAlbums ReviewedWelcome To The Cruel World (1993)Fight For Your Mind (1995) The Will To Live (1966) Burn To Shine (1967) Diamonds On The Inside (1967) Welcome To The Cruel World(1993)American musician Ben Harper is somewhat of a fence sitter, occupying the middle ground in many aspects of his musical career, whether in musical style, race, and even market positioning, covering the same black socially aware folk-pop crossover that Tracy Chapman did with her debut five years earlier. Harper's signature instrument is the Weissenborn lap-slide guitar, which gives many of his songs a distinctive tone. While he's managed crossover hits like 'Steal My Kisses', 'Faded' and 'Diamonds On The Inside', he's largely evaded mainstream success, and remains in a strange nether region between popularity and a cult Indie following. He's the kind of musician that people who don't really follow music use to feel musically sophisticated, like the college students who listen to Ben Harper to embrace their sensitive side or the housewives for whom he's the closest they'll ever get to the delta blues. He can sing well, play well, writes solid songs, his lyrics are thoughtful, and he covers a fair amount of stylistic ground in his later records; he's adequate in every facet without being particularly outstanding in any. He's not without talent, but he's not really interesting enough to avoid feeling burnout after listening to too much of him; I get pretty bored by this early material, and I'd recommend heading for his later albums or waiting for the inevitable hits compilation. Welcome To The Cruel World is centred around acoustic singer-songwriter material, rooted in folk and blues. While I guess it has a nice earthiness and authenticity to it, it does become wearying over the course of the entire album; I suspect that this might be stronger on a song by song basis than the muddled eclecticism of Diamonds On The Inside, but I know which I find more entertaining. A few songs do stand out - 'Forever' is really pretty acoustic ballad (which my workmate used as her wedding song), 'Pleasure and Pain' uses a memorable and elegant minor key melody, and the piano driven anthem 'I'll Rise' ends the album on a triumphant note. The other track that stands out is 'Mama's Got A Girlfriend' but for all the wrong reasons; musically it dabbles in soppy Paul Simon world music territory, while its lyrics go out of the way with their political correctness to show Harper as an open-minded modern man. This moral superiority that permeates Harper's lyrics is distracting; he tends toward potentially interesting social commentary, but it often seems like he has an agenda of proving how enlightened his attitudes towards lesbianism and marijuana are. Welcome To The Cruel World is does have consistency going for it, and it's feasible that it would have a fanbase somewhere, but in essence it's just a whole bunch of competent acoustic blues songs in succession, with neither the arrangements, melody, lyrics, nor melody to hold my attention. 
Fight For Your Mind(1995)Like the previous album, I'd like to be able to enjoy this, but Harper still hasn't figured out a way to hold my attention. This is more ambitious than his debut, with a few epic tracks that are more intriguing anything previously, but it's not really an improvement, stretching out to nearly seventy minutes without breaking out of the acoustic gospel/folk/blues territory that Harper concentrates on in his first two albums. I've been listening to this every day at work for the last two weeks, and even on breaks from work (on Tuesday our boss took us out for coffee and for some bizarre reason the café was playing Fight For Your Mind's "look how politically correctly I can smoke pot" anthem 'Burn One Down' on continuous repeat for the entire half hour we were there), but just like his debut it's not making an impression; it's like a few interesting pieces stuck among a whole pile of competently played bores. This time around the good songs are more distinctive than previously and make more of an impact, and there's more of a jam vibe and band feel to the best songs, but the longer running time cancels out any benefit of this, and the net effect is much the same as previously. The most interesting song on Fight For Your Mind is the twelve minute slide epic 'God Fearing Man', where Harper's Weissenborn lets rip; it's telling that the most interesting tracks are when Harper stretches out or jams rather than relying on songwriting. 'Ground On Down' kicks ass with a funky rhythm and more excellent slide work. The string drenched 'Power Of The Gospel' at least has a haunting atmosphere going for it, and it's another of the record's most interesting pieces. The a capella beginning to 'One Road To Freedom' also excites me, but mostly because I always anticipate Genesis' More Fool Me' instead. When this record works, it's when the energetic and ambitious playing propels it to new levels. Elsewhere Harper's guitar playing and vocals are perfectly competent; but just like the debut, Fight For Your Mind lacks qualities like melodies or rawness to push it over the bar, so unless you have some cosmic connection to Harper's politically correct muse there's no need to rush out and buy this.
The Will To Live(1997)A while back my sister neglected to consult the physical version of the Fyfeopedia, and accidentally bought Lenny Kravitz's Greatest Hits when she meant to purchase an album by Ben Harper. She definitely drew the short straw, because Lenny Kravitz is the most predictable, arrogant and derivative rock star in a day's march while Ben Harper is at least quite pleasant most of the time. While Harper is a capable guitarist, and is ably supported by his rhythm section The Innocent Criminals, he's primarily a singer/songwriter and much of the focus is directed on to his lyrics. Harper's a little too clumsy to be the next Dylan; the best comparison I can think of is to Tracy Chapman, except that Ben Harper hasn't forgotten how to write hooks after only one album. Harper has similar concerns with social justice; like Chapman's 'Fast Car', his stories are on the microcosmic level of 'Widow Of A Living Man' or 'Mama's Tripping'. Harper's other main preoccupation on The Will To Live is spirituality; whether it's reflections on mortality in 'Roses From My Friends' and 'Glory And Consequence', or more direct in 'I Want To Be Ready' ("Nailed across from hand to hand. For the sin of woman and man."), Harper's message is constantly thoughtful and life affirming. The Will To Live begins strongly with the single 'Faded', which has an aggressiveness and jaded lyric that's out of step with the rest of the material. 'Faded' is also the most memorable piece, but Harper keeps the rest of the album interesting with tasteful and classy performances and a nice stylistic variety that works well within his boundaries. The abrasive edged songs 'Roses From My Friends' and 'Glory And Consequence' blend in well with subdued ballads 'I Want To Be Ready' and 'I Shall Not Walk Alone', while the picture is rounded out by jazzy touches in 'Homeless Child' and 'Mama's Tripping'. The Will To Live is a remarkably even record; at worst 'Jah Work' drags a little, but everything else works really well. You should be warned, however, that enjoyment of The Will To Live hinges on appreciation of Harper's lyrical content to a greater extent than is usual for a music album. Harper's melodies, and on his occasion his lyrics, aren't as arresting as they need to be to propel The Will To Live out of the shadows of what's proceeded him, but it's still a tasteful and impressively consistent effort.
Burn To Shine(2000)I'm not sure if Burn To Shine really is the worst Ben Harper album to date, or I'm just really getting sick of trudging through his discography, but either way I'm not very impressed by this record. It's more eclectic than previously, although that's not a point in it's favour - essentially it's half boring dark rockers like 'Less' and 'Please Bleed' and half disjointed miscellany like the string soaked ballad 'Beloved One' and the Dixieland 'Suzie Blue'. It's full of unfortunate contrasts like the jump from the delicate and pretty 'Two Hands Of A Prayer', straight into the bludgeoning and awkward 'Please Bleed'. And lyrically, instead of the social and spiritual themes that dominated his earlier work, it's dropped back to relationships - at least there's nothing as irritatingly self-righteous and 'Burn One Down', but it's non descript nonetheless. The album starts weirdly with the low key, repetitive 'Alone', and never really picks up steam. There were some excellent rockers on the previous two records, but there's practically nothing here - there are too many ugly pieces like 'Less' and 'Woman in You', although 'Forgiven' works fine with more of a funk feel. Despite the criticism, the most effective tracks are the most diverse - the Dixieland 'Suzie Blue' and the funky pop crossover 'Steal My Kisses' are arguably the best two songs here, both with memorable arrangements and melodies that are lacking elsewhere. Elsewhere, 'Two Hands Of A Prayer' is kind of pretty, but the rest of this stuff isn't really interesting, despite Harper's efforts to window dress it with diversity. There's nothing particularly bad on here, so fans should be able to sit through it fine, but Burn To Shine is a dull affair for anyone else.
Diamonds On The Inside(2003)This time around, Harper gets the diversity working for him, and the result is much more colourful and accessible than the wearying Burn To Shine. Diamonds On The Inside encompasses reggae, country, folk, hard rock, blues, as well as an a capella 'Pictures of Jesus' with Ladysmith Black Mambazo. With such an incoherent range of styles, it is not surprising that Diamonds On The Inside doesn't coalesce particularly well. But Harper's on top of his game here, and most of the individual pieces work. The diversity mainly works in Harper's favour and Harper's voice is an adaptable instrument, soothing in the title track and belligerent in 'Temporary Remedy.' The band sound is fuller than on The Will To Live, which adds musical interest, with multiple guitars and tasteful keyboards. The focus is directed squarely onto the music, and the result is a summery and colourful record. The individual songs that don't work are 'Pictures of Jesus', which is overlong and not particularly enlightening if you're already familiar with Paul Simon's Graceland, while lead off single 'With My Own Two Hands' is overly formulaic take on reggae (although it is possible unfair to expect Harper to innovate in every genre that he attempts). 'Bring The Funk' is a little tenuous, but Harper is black enough to pull it off. Conversely, he's also white enough to pull off the title track, a lovely country tinged ballad. There are plenty of delightful low key songs scattered throughout Diamonds On The Inside; 'Everything' is an infectiously bouncy pop tune, 'Blessed To Be A Witness' is wonderfully minimalist while 'She's Only Happy In The Sun' closes proceedings on a nice sombre note. 'Touch From Your Lust' is a dynamic rocker, while 'So High So Low' launches into a furious assault from a gentle introduction. Best of all is 'Amen Omen', with a satisfying sense of spiritualism and ellipticism. Diamonds On The Inside is more a collection of individual songs than a cohesive statement, but it's such a good collection of songs that no one's complaining too loudly.
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Written 2001-2007, Graham Fyfe
