White Lies For Dark Times

Wow!
I have never been a huge Ben Harper fan, but after this CD I am well on my way. Ben Harper has teamed up with some fantastic musicians on this album. The drummer and the bass player lay a great foundation for Ben Harpers vocals and incredible guitar playing. If you like 60's style rock and blues with an emphasis on the rock, you will enjoy this cd. This is my first Ben Harper cd since his first 2, and let me tell you, he has come a LONG way. The simplest way to sum up this album....WOW!

Nothing to Get Excited About
Unfortunately, nothing shimmers or shines about this album. Its quite soulless and boring. You'd expect Harper to create something with a really cool groove to it, but this album fall, sadly, flat. Thin vocals, crunchy guitars, less than catchy riffing, all makes for an unsatisfactory listen. I have more soul than this album . . .

Plugged in and rocking hard
The last we saw from Ben Harper was the 2007 "Lifeline" album with his Innocent Criminals band. That album was as introspective and acoustic as anything Ben Harper had ever done. With that bug seemingly now out of his system, Ben decided the moment was right to take time-out from the Innocents Criminals and instead he assembled a new band simply called Relentless7. The moment that the new album "White Lies for Dark Times" (11 tracks; 47 min.) opens with "Number With No Name", you know this is going to be a very different affair from "Lifeline". Indeed the sound is heavy, even bluesey. Comparisons with the Cream immediately came to mind, check out "Up To You Know", but also Jimi Hendrix. "Shimmer & Shine" is an up-tempo rocker. The first half of the album closes with two other hard-charging tunes: "Lay There & Hate Me" (with the line "Never trust a woman/Who loves the blues", ha!) and "Why Must You Always Dress In Black". Wow, talk about a fantastic first half. "Skin Thin" kicks off the second half of the album in a decidely more relaxed fashion. In fact, there is only one more heavy track, namely "Keep it Together". The closer "Faithfully Remain" is a great way to round out this collection. As much as I liked "Lifeline" for what that was, I really really like this album. I think Ben Harper benefitted tremendously from assembling a new backing band, as it seems to have energized him. Ben's songwriting has never been better in my opinion. I've seen Ben on tour with the Criminal Innocents, and can't wait to see him at some point on stage with Relentless7.

The Very Thing that Drives You Can Drive You Insane
For his tenth studio album, Ben Harper has traded his normal backing band the Innocent Criminals for a new one the Relentless7, but make no doubt, White Lies for Dark Times still sounds like a Ben Harper album. What the Relentless7 adds can be heard most on the rock songs that sound bluesier and closer to a garage band, the three musicians come from Texas, sound than the more polished Innocent Criminal sound. That influence can be heard of the drums and fuzz first single Shimmer & Shine and the album opener Number with No Name which is a slide guitar from down on the bayou that takes a pit stop in Seattle. The spacey yet raw Up to You Now is reminiscent of something off of Mirror ball which famously saw Neil Young replaced for the album Pearl Jam with Crazy Horse. Lay There & Hate Me features an opening piano groove and bassline that borders on disco with some "ooh's" that could have been lifted from a Rolling Stones record yet mix together perfectly. While Why Must You Always Dress in Black sounds like something from the Jimi Hendrix catalogue. Keep it Together (So I Can Fall Apart) starts out that way until it breaks down into kind of jam band type groove. The slower songs sound more like vintage Harper for better or worse. Skin Thin sounds like it has appeared already on his previous nine albums with just a changed lyric or two. On the flip side of the coin is Fly One Time that just builds and builds with a driving groove to the point where Ben's voice starts to crack. Hopefully the rejuvenation from the Relentless7 keeps Ben Harper putting out listenable music for another ten albums.

Ben delivers the full on rock album suggested years ago
I remember years ago, back when Ben had released another of his signature wildly eclectic albums, "Diamonds on the Inside", Ben was asked in an interview if he ever considered making a full on rock album. At the time he seemed to be placating the interviewer and said he might do so as a new challenge compared to his natural eclectic leanings. I thought "whatever, that's not his style." Well, never say never. Ben has continued to evolve as an artist and now we have his first true ROCK record. Ben seems to be following the exact opposite of most artists progression who typically put out some straight up rock records when they're young, full of fire but not sophisticated songwriters and only later starting to explore and incorporate other genre's and styles of music. Ben, on the other hand, started out as a great songwriter mastering songs in all genre's of folk,rock,reggae,blues,funk,jazz,soul and gospel...whew! White Lies for Dark Times is a GREAT ROCK RECORD. It's got the raw looseness of young band just starting out, and in a way it is since he's now rocking with a new group, Relentess 7. I love the Innocent Criminals (his previous band), but the IC's are such seasoned and sophisticated players, I don't think they could have quite pulled off an album this raw and fresh. I look forward to hearing more of Ben and the IC's, but for now, this is hitting the spot for great summer rock tunes you can blast with the windows down!! Although, its a focused rock record there's still a healthy mix of funk, folk and soul, introspection and fist pumping anthems. Ben's slide guitar sounds stellar as always and although guitarist Jason Mozersky may pale in comparison, particularly on solos, he has an interesting less is more style that works well with Ben's riffs and solos. Most impressive is the rhythm section of drummer Jordan Richardson and Jesse Ingalls. They can really lay it down and "Boots Like These" has the kind of drumming and rhythm that recalls Zeppellin's "Four Sticks." IMO, Harper is continuing to ride a creative and commercial high since "Diamonds on the Inside." Harper has never made the same album twice and I can't wait to see what he does next either with Relentless 7, the Innocent Criminals or whoever. In the meantime, get this album and have a blast rockin' out to what Ben Harper's doing now, because it changes like the weather.