REVIEW: Ben Harper, The Will To Live (Virgin)
- Lang Whitaker
Quick - name the only artist who has opened for Dave Matthews Band, the Rolling Stones, and Pearl Jam, all in the last two years. Don't know? Yup, it's Ben Harper. You'd think after such high profile gigs, Harper would finally be coming into his own commercially. To his credit, with his newest release The Will to Live, Harper shows that the commercial is secondary to the heart:
"It's the next step. It's like crawling to walking to running to flying. Those are tough steps from one to the next." Harper says. "I could have made an entire rock record or an entire ballad record or an entire soul record, but that's not my life. My life is different movements, it's different rhythms in my heart and in my mind."
Harper's 1994 debut, the classic Welcome to the Cruel World, and his sophomore release, 1995's Fight for Your Mind, established Harper as the unique artist he is - an amazing amalgam of blues, soul, folk, rock, funk, and country. As far as I know, Ben Harper is one of the few artists fronting a band who plays entire shows without standing up, a testament to Harper's musicianship. He is able to coax a wide range of tones and emotions from his Weissenborn lap / slide guitars regardless of their open-tuning limitations.
The new album, The Will To Live, never strays far from Harper's past. Two or three of the cuts take a new direction, but generally Will walks in Harper's previous footsteps.
The song "Mama's Trippin'" is a definite departure for Harper. Utilizing a wah-wah and a horn section, the song evokes memories of Marvin Gaye or Ray Charles. The opening guitar riff also is eerily reminiscent of "Fly Like an Eagle", Steve Miller's opus. "Glory & Consequence" is another new foray for Harper, with it's two distinctly differing rhythmic parts.
Save these two songs, the album is vintage Harper. Harper's longtime collaborator and producer J. P. Plunier pulls a few production tricks that kind of spin the songs a little differently than in the past. The opener, "Faded", except for its flanging vocals, could easily be off of Fight, with it's grinding guitars and hard-hitting rhythm. "Homeless Child" is a Delta blues romp that sounds like it's lifted straight off of vinyl. "Roses From My Friends" starts off with a sea of backtracked Weissenborns, with another Weissenborn being played normally over them.
The most beautiful track is easily "I Shall Not Walk Alone", an elegaic ballad that describes how the writer's faith will never leave him lonely. This is a song that will make your girlfriend cry.
Harper's backing band, The Innocent Criminals, has been reworked from the last tour. Gone are the young drummer Oliver and percussion master Leon Mobley. Harper has replaced the both of them with Dean Butterworth, who makes the transition seamless. Juan Nelson remains on the bass, driving this train forward.
Unfortunately, it appears Harper's lyrical abilities have not matured much in the past few years. His reliance on standard catch phrases and maxims to carry his verses was understandable on his first few efforts, but begins to grow tiresome. Harper wrote much of Will on the road while touring in support of Fight, and this manifests itself in the shallowness of the lyrics. At times it sounds like Ben has an 80-word vocabulary, and he just keeps regurgitating the same words over and over. I swear the word "mama" is on every song he sings.
The lyric deficiency would be enough to sour me from this album, were it not for Harper's voice. His angelic voice has a range that dwells in a high and fragile falsetto. At times he reminds me of a young Smokey Robinson, and more often his voice recalls Bob Marley's ragamuffin tones. At times Harper's voice approaches perfection.
Harper tries to cure the world's hunger and prejudice problems with every song. Talk about ambition. If you've ever heard and liked a Harper album before, this is a must have. If you never heard Harper before, give him a try - maybe he'll help you find The Will to Live.
