having a little buyers remorse for getting tix to this tour.
maybe since IC are reunited they will bring a live show circa 1999 - one can hope.

Fingers crossed for you, BDB.

Been listening to Ben Harper for a long while. Still think his first five records are excellent. Still spin 'Diamonds' or 'the will to live' occasionally. I've bought every album since. And every album had some moments I liked. As a whole I like those post 'diamonds' albums less. White lies for dark times was the only worthy addition, than album rocked hard. Especially that live CD at the montreal fest. After that he dropped a bit. But this new record is the first stinker he made. Everything on this new BHIC sounds like something that he has done before better. Truly uninspirational album, it sounds lazy. It sounds to slow, not energetic at all. But it's still a talented dude. He could still have another creative peak years from now. Ill not write him off, but this new record does nothing.

The couple of tunes he did with Ringo Starr were great.

6 years and 3 months since this thread has been revived.

Ben Harper has really one of those fascinating careers for me. I mean his star was really growing big time with those first three albums: Welcome to the Cruel World, Fight For Your Mind, and The Will to Live. He opened for Pearl Jam on that ‘96 US tour armed with a blazing cover of Voodoo Chile. I was hooked.

Burn to Shine largely showed a huge rock turn and it is a pretty killer album, except the hit is Steal My Kisses, a sort of mishmash of styles that works great as a “deep track” more than a single for me, in large part because it is the most disposable piece he had in his repertoire at that point. Whether it was that, or some hunger to spread his wings, Diamonds on the Inside, while a fabulous record, really becomes almost confusing and represents really the first point where Ben Harper is almost shoehorning himself into various items (Bring the Funk is a fun song but the ultimate example of what feels like a square peg in a round hole).

Set aside There Will Be a Light/Live at the Apollo for a moment - they are excellent collaborations with the Blind Boys of Alabama.

Both Sides of the Gun - full of great moments - similarly suffers from the Diamonds curse of just quite barely not fitting among the efforts to squeeze himself into a thousand sounds - like he is trying to find his sound in real time and just barely missing it. Lifeline is then an album with a few songs but takes this square peg problem to its most obvious moment. It just doesn’t suit Ben Harper very well. A reinvention gone bad.

Then Ben Harper starts over, tosses aside the Innocent Criminals for Relentless7 and creates the biggest rock sound of his career - Zeppelin sized riffs and a big statement - even if this band maybe needs more time writing together. Both White Lies For Dark Times and Give Til It’s Gone are pretty good with this band, but then apparently lacked staying power.

Then he gets another resurgence playing the blues with Charlie Musselwhite - often feeling like a return to form, a decent album back with the Innocent Criminals in between those albums, and weird one offs recording with his mother and putting out an instrumental album.

But even with all that, there’s something that’s not wholly Ben Harper.

Which brings me to Bloodline Maintenance, his brand new album released on Friday. I can’t put my finger on it, but there’s a vintage sound to this, like Lifeline in a way, but fixing that malady. It feels the most him of any of his albums in a long time (We Need to Talk About It, the first single, is the exception, it feels like the same misfitting mistake that plagues Both Sides…). The whole thing largely fits together very cohesively despite showing a fair bit of range without blowing the speakers with reverb - his way of typically going hard rock. He just hits that right balance, FINALLY! It likely won’t be my favorite album of 2022, but it is really something I didn’t know I needed. It isn’t ultimately the sort of bold level of genius that justifies me defending this guy’s talent for 26 years, but it gives me more faith in his ability to still make me a genuine fan all that time in.

Thanks for this, liebzz.

He was huge for me for a time, then faded exactly as you described. I'm eager to hear this now.

Had no idea he was married to Laura Dern for a time

Yup. Around the time when he covered his arms in tribal tattoos.

That’s the power of the gospel

Thanks. I really don’t like We Need to Talk About It (like taking Oppression and With My Own Two Hands and very poorly mashing them together), but the rest is really good.

I'm glad this thread got bumped. I saw a video of Ben peforming a couple of these songs live, and it didn't really grab me, but I dig the album. Early favourite would be More Than Love

yeah, i listened to this guy in 2009 maybe? i saw him play an amazing version of Red Mosquito with PJ, out of this world good.

but he fell off my radar a long time ago yeah.

Thanks for this. Followed him up until lifeline - which still gets a spin at our place for some agreeable background noise.

Some of those early tours were incredible in Oz. The Burn to shine tour started with a 5 min standing ovation, Ben fist pumping the air, before he even sat down in his chair. Seeing him for the first time felt like a cultural moment.

We loved him and Jack Johnson (bit different) over here back in the early 2000s.

Will check out the new album.

Yeah, I saw him open for Pearl Jam 4x between. 1996 and 1998 tours and didn’t get to see him on a headlining set on his own until the Diamonds on the Inside tour in 2003, but after that, between the Innocent Criminals, solo, and Relentless7, I am up to like 15 shows of his. I last saw him with the Innocent Criminals just before the pandemic on a twin billing with Trombone Shorty in 2019 and he was still great live. Also in 2016 with the Innocent Criminals at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester. Both shows were excellent (I weirdly have only seen him on very small venues over the years outside opening for Pearl Jam - Irving Plaza, Bowery Ballroom, Kenny’s Castaways, Mercury Lounge, Highline Ballroom, The Supper Club [with Jeff Ament in attendance], Capitol Theatre - and I guess as a headliner in 2007 Lollapalooza, Pier 17). He has never disappointed live.

He's probably the artist I've seen the most often. Last time was in 2020 when things were still normal over here......with a sense of foreboding. Great show - although I had to carry some dude out who had collapsed and get him to the medical tents at the back of the grounds after he collapsed. Last I saw of him he was getting rushed off in an ambulance.

Yeah- he's always good.

I've seen him in a couple of small venues over here (the old festival hall in bris..) before more outdoors stuff- byron bay blues and roots, his out door auditorium tour with jack johnson... There are probably others. Though I haven't seen him since 2009 when he opened for PJ. Cool you've got to see him heaps - and it sounds like he's still great.

I think the first time I saw him Jack Johnson opened for him - there was a huge difference in stage pressence between the two

Oh for sure, JJ is way more one dimensional.

I think they are friends and liked touring over here together during our warmer months.

Oh for sure - Up north at least when he's here - he's often spotted out surfing.
I remember after that first gig hanging with some of The Innocent Criminals and pretty much thier one goal was to score some weed.