If there’s one thing BEN HARPER’S been over the past few years, it’s all things to all people. Some prefer him in groove-bound electric mode, while others yearn for the more direct and stripped-down singer/ songwriter and yet more simply dig him for his apparently in-built eclecticism and his Beck-style desire to try whatever takes his fancy at any given time.
So, whilst Harper clearly possesses far too much nous to realise you can’t please all the people all the time, with his new album “Both Sides Of The Gun” he’s happy to cater to the diverse desires of his fan base without sacrificing either the gentle, personal side of his work or the social awareness that has been his hallmark along the way.
Recorded over three months with still-hip LA producers The Dust Brothers, “Both Sides Of The Gun” might seem a little daunting initially, because it presents us with a generous 18 tracks over two CDS and comes with advance notice from Harper that “It’s a charged record. Justice is for those who can afford it in America. If you can’t get justice through the political and social structure as it’s currently organised, I’m damn sure going to get some justice in my music.” Whoa.
Thankfully, though, the reality is considerably more approachable. Yes, there are 18 songs, but neither CD lasts for much for than 30 minutes (indeed the 8-minute closer “Serve Your Soul” is the only out and out epic) and Harper’s arrangements and performances are succinct and soulful throughout. As for the socio-political aspect, well surely he’s never shied away for that, and in any case the ‘issue’ songs only make up about 30 per cent of the record, so it’s hardly a Crass-style diatribe either. Not that such a recording wouldn’t have its’ moments, I’m sure.
Nonetheless, the majority of CD1 finds Harper in largely downhome troubadour mode. The opening “Morning Yearning” possesses a title reminiscent of Tim Buckley and is a soulful, spiritual and warm glide of a thing more akin to the likes of Buckley senior or Nick Drake than Lenny Kravitz. It sets the tone for most of what succeeds it, too. “Waiting For You” drips with longing and cunningly flirts with the melody from T-Rex’s “Cosmic Dancer”; “Never Leave Lonely Alone” is poignant and tinged with sorrow and the evocative instrumental “Sweet Nothing Serenade” sounds like the kind of thing Calexico or a desert-bound G Love & Special Sauce might do.
Actually, the only place CD1 even really threatens to rock is on the rueful “Picture In A Frame” when the band get hold of the chorus and begin to press down on the ‘anthem’ pedal, but even here Harper is wracked with doubt and regret and the song ends with the sorrowful line “I remember when your kisses were for me”. Blub. Elsewhere, Harper strips things back even further, with “More Than Sorry” being supported only by Danny Kalb’s fragile guitar and Harper singing “too many people say goodbye before they say hello/ step into the morning and disappear” and recalling Jeff Buckley’s ghostly “Opened Once” along the way. He pulls it all together for “Happy Everafter In Your Eyes” where strings and vibes are on hand to support Harper’s tiptoe-ing vocal and provide a dignified exit to the album’s first half.
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While CD2 isn’t quite the all-out rock attack the advance notices hint at, however, it IS largely Ben Harper in outgoing rock’n’groove mode, with plenty of diversions to keep you happily on your toes. One such off-roader is the opening “Better Way”: a typically defiant Harper vignette to positivity and staying strong (“you have a right to your dreams and don’t be denied”) with a distinctly trippy, Eastern feel provided by droning tamboura and tabla-style strings. The ensuing “Both Sides Of The Gun” (“systems rotten to the core/ young and old deserve much more than struggling every day ‘til you’re done”) introduces some jaywalking funk akin to the Chili Peppers’ circa “Uplift Mofo” while the gutsy “Engraved Invitation” and the louche “Get It Like You Like It” might as we BE The Stones (down to the drawled vocals and Keefchording) but are hellishly enjoyable for all that.
The wrath of Harper’s bombast, though, is reserved for a certain Southern gent in the White House, and thus both “Gather ‘Round The Stone” and the seething “Black Rain” provide the album’s most vivid and energised moments. The former begins redemptive and bluesy, before morphing into a Free-esque stomp with Harper spewing anti-Dubya vitriol like “You whip the back of freedom ‘til it bleeds an oil stream/ then you sail down upon it in your killing machine.” Even this pales against the Hurricane Katrina-influenced “Black Rain”, where over a hot and funky backbeat Harper fumes “You left them swimming for their lives down in New Orleans/ can’t afford a gallon of gasoline with your useless degrees” and dispensing with the formalities in no uncertain terms.
The one place he could come unstuck is on the lengthy, closing “Serve Your Soul” where his Led Zep fantasies are finally given free rein. Nonetheless, the band are on fine, emotive form and turn up the heat as and when required and Harper turns in one of his most impassioned vocals as well as some, er, expressive guitar solo-ing. It’s arguably the one track your reviewer might think of lancing, but even then CD2’s 9 tracks clock in at 38 minutes, which is hardly “Tales Of Topographic Oceans” now, is it?
But even this blemish aside, “Both Sides Of The Gun” is an accomplished affair which accentuates the positive, puts the song first and should satisfy both hardline Harper-ites and casual observers alike. I’d say that’s a wrap.
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