When you draw comparisons to Bob Marley, Marvin Gaye and Neil Young, it’s hard to live up to expectations. As a result, Ben Harper’s career has been an anomaly since his solo debut in 1994 – he’s been a minor blip on the pop-culture radar and yet can still fill amphitheaters across the country.
And Harper’s albums have faced a similar fate. While earlier efforts Welcome To The Cruel World and Fight For Your Mind were heralded by critics and fans alike, his recent genre-bending albums, Diamonds On The Inside and 2006’s double-disc, Both Sides Of The Gun, haven’t lived up to the potential he showed earlier in his career.
For his seventh solo album, Lifeline, Harper looks to harness all his unbridled talent on one genre – soul. However, while Harper and his band, The Innocent Criminals, do produce some interesting moments, Lifeline ultimately features too many forgettable songs, and this flaw prevents the album from reaching classic status.
Recorded straight to analog in Paris over the course of only one week, Lifeline is an exercise in the old-school way of making a record. The analog recording gives the album a spontaneous live-in-studio feel, a factor which so many albums today lack. While Harper is still at the forefront, it’s very apparent Harper’s long-time backing band deserves credit – and it finally gets it with a full-band shot on the album cover. The other musicians on the album, especially keyboardist Jason Yates, shine throughout Lifeline.
“Younger Than Today” is almost completely driven by Yates. His piano guides the song, while drummer Oliver Charles uses a tin-sounding drum as the backbeat. For Harper, this is one of several songs on Lifeline that show the singer’s realization of his own age and life.
Harper, 37, shows on these songs that “[burning] one from end to end” is no longer his focus. Instead, he’s a father, a husband and most of all, a role model. As Harper’s priorities change, so do his lyrics – he understands that he’s no longer a 25-year-old rock star. In “Younger Than Today,” He sings, “You and I were looking at old pictures yesterday/ Sitting in disbelief at how time slips away/ Oh, at a loss for words to say/ Knew we’d never be younger than today” – lyrics that show regret over the aging process but acceptance of life’s lessons.
The focus of the album, however, is firmly planted in the soul dynamic, the world of Motown and the Wall of Sound – with a bit of blues and gospel influences thrown in. Harper previously hinted at his ability to sing gospel on 2004’s Grammy-winning There Will Be A Light, his collaborative effort with gospel legends The Blind Boys of Alabama. But this is Harper’s first time tackling a specific genre on his own, and for the majority of the album, it works. Songs such as “Say You Will,” “Put It On Me” and “Heart Of Matters” sound like modern spins on soul, but have Harper’s stamp all over them.
Despite Lifeline’s soul-and-band-oriented sound, it’s the album’s final two songs that provide the most power. It is standard fare at this point for Harper to sequence a solo acoustic instrumental song at the end of an album, but “Paris Sunrise #7” shines above its predecessors. Beautifully sublime, the song emotes more without a single word than any song on the album before it.
Then, Harper ups the ante by seamlessly segueing into the title track, a subtle, subdued and sentimental “Lifeline.” The song displays Harper’s new attitude on romanticism – whereas 13 years ago, Harper showed with “Walk Away” a tendency to let go and move on, “Lifeline” exhibits how Harper doesn’t have forever to wait – and the singer-songwriter puts it beautifully.
Despite all its successes, Lifeline is not without its faults. “Fight Outta You” has odd, half-spoken verses, and is yet another Harper song about persevering through adversity, an all-too-common theme in his work. This one, however, lacks the energy to be truly inspiring. “In The Colors,” the album’s first single, “Having Wings” and “Fool For a Lonesome Train” are also mundane and don’t leave a noticeable stamp on the listener.
Nevertheless, Lifeline is by no means a bad record – in fact, it’s Harper’s most cohesive to date. But it’s also not Harper’s best collection of songs, either. Only time will tell which, if any, of these songs become live staples, but for now it’s up to the fans to decide if Harper’s decision to hone in on one style sounds forced and flat or genuine and inspiring.
Contact reporter Rudi Greenberg at rudi.greenberg@gmail.com.
