Harper channels R&B for new album

By Lindsay Eanet

Published Aug. 31, 2007

Honestly, I feel kind of bad for Ben Harper.

Although decidedly on the higher rung of frat-rock artists in terms of talent and authenticity, Harper often falls by the wayside when compared to others of his genre.

His prior release, Both Sides of the Gun, was met with generally favorable reviews but to lukewarm fanfare. His decidedly better collaborators (The Blind Boys of Alabama on the spectacular gospel album There Will Be a Light) and decidedly more mediocre tour-mates (Jack Johnson) tend to overshadow him. And he got shafted for stage time at this year's Lollapalooza festival by having to compete with Daft Punk for the audience's affection.

I even heard one festival-goer refer to Harper as "a poor man's (Ben) Folds."

This is a shame because Harper has grown so much as a musician, as shown in full on Lifeline, his new album with backing band The Innocent Criminals. He has traded in his traditional adult contemporary acoustic songwriter aesthetic and has instead infused his new tracks with old-school R&B.

He sounds less like the Ben Foldses and Jack Johnsons of the world and more like the Otis Reddings, Sam Cookes and Ray Charleses. As a result, his songs are more polished and sophisticated, but with the same old soul that indicates this is still earnestly and authentically Ben Harper.

"In the Colors" is Otis Redding if Redding had a jam band backing him. It is an easy-going number that swells and slows in all the right places as a good slow jam should.

"Needed You Tonight" is a bring-on-the-pathos heartbreak anthem-made epic through the grandiosity in power in Harper's typically delicate voice.

The wistful, bluesy "Heart of Matters" sounds like it was intentionally and shamelessly ripped from Charles' "A Fool For You" but with more guitars.

But Harper's new R&B style peaks when he picks up the pace on "Say You Will," complemented by a trio of three sultry-voiced female backing vocalists. The sliding guitars and upbeat pianos on this track are straight out of The Allman Brothers Band's "Jessica," thus striking a balance between Harper's jam-heavy frat-rock past and his more soul-influenced new sound, and it sounds wonderful.

With all the piano pieces on this album, I began to wonder when Harper's beloved slide guitar would show up.

It is still there, not in full force until the last few tracks, but still there in a big way. Harper also demonstrates that he is still a gifted slide guitarist on the album's only instrumental track, "Paris Sunrise #7." The picking is simultaneously intricate and effortless, calculated and natural, elegant and simple.

Harper reverts back to his old ways on a few tracks, but there is something about his style now that feels fuller and more sophisticated. The piano on the upbeat, ska-ish "Put It On Me" adds a lush layer and complements Harper's trills and wails delightfully as the backup singers fill in where Harper alone might have fallen flat back in the day. The closing track, "Lifeline," is a no-frills acoustic love ballad in the same vein of his old standards such as "Beloved One." It has just the right amount of soul injected into Harper's simple, poppy lyrics as he asks the proverbial girl if she can see him "reaching for your lifeline."

I could have probably given this album a lower score, but I award Harper the extra points as a congratulatory gift for graduating from the school of frat-rock and coming into his own as a musician. He no longer deserves to be subjected to pigeonholing by his listeners as just another adult contemporary singer/songwriter. And instead of being a "poor man's Folds," or even a poor man's Sam Cooke, Harper and his band are finally the best they can be.