2008 Woodie Awards
Harper's Lifeline is mellow and mediocre
Stef Dennen
Issue date: 10/18/07 Section: Entertainment
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10/18/07 - OK, so right about now I'm feeling pretty silly. When I volunteered to review Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals' new release, Lifeline, I had the front man confused with someone else.
For some reason, I thought Harper was another scrawny kid with a guitar, like John Mayer or Patrick Park. Instead, I pop in the CD and some folksy adult contemporary starts playing.
Oops! So now we're in this together.
Lifeline isn't too bad. Actually, it reminds me a lot of 1960s Motown and "American Idol," especially "Fool for a Lonesome Train." The songs rely on an acoustic guitar and a set of drums. There's even a harmonica on the fourth track!
This is the kind of album that people learn the lyrics to fairly easily and belt out the words when they're driving in the car.
Then again, many of the tracks defy a genre label, such as track six, "Say You Will," which falls somewhere between country and gospel. This may not appeal to all listeners.
The piano tracks, like "Younger Than Today" are likely to be far more accessible to a broader audience on the "easy listening" stations.
"Put It On Me" is pretty fun and upbeat, with its little '70s disco flare going on. For whatever reason, this song reminds me of "Mama Told Me Not to Come" by Three Dog Night. Its familiarity makes me happy, so this the first track I actually don't mind listening to the whole way through. I may even use it the next time I feel the urge to dance as I clean my room.
I like "Heart of Matters" for the same reason: it reminds me of the Otis Redding version of "Try A Little Tenderness" where his voice gets rough in the middle when he sings "You`ve got to love her/Hold her/Don't tease her/Never leave her."
Even "In the Colors" reminds me of John Mayer's "Slow Dancing in a Burning Room."
I'm not such a fan of track 10, "Paris Sunrise #7," however, because it is just instrumental music for the whole five minutes and 20 seconds. The entire track was played only by a guitar with a folk-country twang produced by the guitarist bending the string and vibrating the finger to change its resonance.
The title track concludes the album, sung in a whisper with minimal instruments. It had an effect quite similar to a lullaby. That is to say that it made me very sleepy just listening to it. I'll have to remember this for my next nap. I'm always up to improving my naptime soundtrack.
That doesn't necessarily mean that the song was boring, but rather, it was very peaceful and soothing, and actually quite pleasant compared to some of the songs earlier on.
Overall, I found the album to be OK, not too bad, but clearly not going to be one of my favorites. I would give it 2 out 5 stars and recommend it for fans of folk and soul music.
For some reason, I thought Harper was another scrawny kid with a guitar, like John Mayer or Patrick Park. Instead, I pop in the CD and some folksy adult contemporary starts playing.
Oops! So now we're in this together.
Lifeline isn't too bad. Actually, it reminds me a lot of 1960s Motown and "American Idol," especially "Fool for a Lonesome Train." The songs rely on an acoustic guitar and a set of drums. There's even a harmonica on the fourth track!
This is the kind of album that people learn the lyrics to fairly easily and belt out the words when they're driving in the car.
Then again, many of the tracks defy a genre label, such as track six, "Say You Will," which falls somewhere between country and gospel. This may not appeal to all listeners.
The piano tracks, like "Younger Than Today" are likely to be far more accessible to a broader audience on the "easy listening" stations.
"Put It On Me" is pretty fun and upbeat, with its little '70s disco flare going on. For whatever reason, this song reminds me of "Mama Told Me Not to Come" by Three Dog Night. Its familiarity makes me happy, so this the first track I actually don't mind listening to the whole way through. I may even use it the next time I feel the urge to dance as I clean my room.
I like "Heart of Matters" for the same reason: it reminds me of the Otis Redding version of "Try A Little Tenderness" where his voice gets rough in the middle when he sings "You`ve got to love her/Hold her/Don't tease her/Never leave her."
Even "In the Colors" reminds me of John Mayer's "Slow Dancing in a Burning Room."
I'm not such a fan of track 10, "Paris Sunrise #7," however, because it is just instrumental music for the whole five minutes and 20 seconds. The entire track was played only by a guitar with a folk-country twang produced by the guitarist bending the string and vibrating the finger to change its resonance.
The title track concludes the album, sung in a whisper with minimal instruments. It had an effect quite similar to a lullaby. That is to say that it made me very sleepy just listening to it. I'll have to remember this for my next nap. I'm always up to improving my naptime soundtrack.
That doesn't necessarily mean that the song was boring, but rather, it was very peaceful and soothing, and actually quite pleasant compared to some of the songs earlier on.
Overall, I found the album to be OK, not too bad, but clearly not going to be one of my favorites. I would give it 2 out 5 stars and recommend it for fans of folk and soul music.