Ben Harper
Fight For Your Mind
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NATN Recommended
Ben Harper
Fight For Your Mind
Virgin, 1995
RiYL: Dave Matthews Band's Remember Two Things, Bob Marley, Jimi Hendrix |
Most of the songs are built on smooth bass grooves. The listener is easily able to fall into them at first taste and instantly give into the music's funky trance. Harper's crisp vocals flow effortlessly over his highly efficient slide guitar work, proving he is more than a loyal student of the blues.
He is a master.
But Harper is shooting to make what he dubs the "New Blues." This isn't Keb' Mo or Robert Cray -- it's not that derivative. In other words, he is not just another Kenny Wayne Shepard, ruthlessly pillaging the Stevie Ray Vaughn song catalogue for old ideas.
A good listen to Fight and you'll appreciate his determination to come up with something of his own. The respect for history is there, but it isn't getting in the way of innovation or modernity. "Excuse Me Mr." is a rap song as much as it is a blues song, per se. Again, the bass is thick. Harper's voice is clouded in dark effects. And the attitude is bad:
Excuse me Mr.
But I'm a mister too
And you're giving Mr. a bad name
Mr. like you
The album's lyrics, on the whole, are exceptional, lending themselves to serious inspection by covering some pretty heavy subjects: God, racism and love, to name a few. Harper tends to preach more than other artists with similar mindsets, but the presentation of his beliefs and politics is quite compelling.
In fact, the singer's words have an unusually universal appeal. During the ballad "Give a Man a Home," he asks: "Have you ever worn thin? Have you ever never known where to begin?" His voice is frail, his emotion calling for tears. "Have you ever lost your belief, watching your faith turn to grief?" By the song's close, we share the singer's burden of lost love. We are caught in his web of self-pity, his pasture of endless hurt and pain.
Not bad, eh?
It's unclear why Harper hasn't become a household name. There are at least four songs on Fight For Your Mind with chart topping potential. The production is smooth and the presentation simple, but smart. In the end, the lack of public acknowledgement shouldn't matter to us.
Chalk it up to bad timing, and enjoy getting to see a performer of this caliber in a venue smaller than an arena before his luck changes for the better.
BEN FRENCH | Ben founded NATN in the winter of 1998-1999 with fellow IU alums Troy Carpenter and Jonathan Cohen. During the day time, he's working for Nielsen Business Media, publisher of Billboard. Ben's favorite acts include Bruce Springsteen, The Clash, Sonic Youth, Elvis Costello, Talking Heads, Rolling Stones, and the Beach Boys.