Blues
Ben Harper's history with the Blind Boys of Alabama has been an evolving one that has moved from being a guest on their landmark Higher Ground offering and touring with them in Europe, to the Blind Boys joining Ben and the Innocent Criminals on-stage at the front and back of the show. This album began as a series of rehearsals for collaboration on a Blind Boys of Alabama record. Recorded in two sessions, the vibe in the room was loose and creative enough that the two acts ended up with an album of collaborative material for joint release. And this is a collaboration in the truest sense of the word. It's not just Ben playing gospel, or the Blind Boys of Alabama singing on a Ben Harper record. These ten tunes — with seven Harper originals written specifically for the sessions, the rest traditional gospel tunes and covers — showcase Harper and the Innocent Criminals alongside the Blind Boys of Alabama. The album kicks off with Harper's "Take My Hand," a funky gospel tune that showcases a Fender Rhodes and Harper's wah-wah pedal underscored by the call and response of the Blind Boys repeating the title after each sung line of the verse, before Clarence Fountain takes it out. "Wicked Man" is a Southern soul tune that has a Muscle Shoals groove and a beautiful vocal weave on the refrain. "Church House Steps" is pure gospel groove with a Hammond B3 and a smoking duet between the Blind Boys' layered harmonies and Harper on the verses with full-on blues feel in his singing and playing. There's a killer cover of the Bob Dylan/Danny O'Keefe tune, "Well, Well, Well," with Delta blues bottleneck shimmering through the intertwined vocal lines. The deep, nocturnal sparseness of "Satisfied Mind" is a complete re-reading of the nugget with a swampy backbeat. And this album works beautifully. Nothing sounds forced, all of it loose and comfortable and the vocal performances on both sides are simply stellar. Highly recommended.
By Thom Jurek. AMG.
**
Jam Nation hero Ben Harper tones down his lap-slide guitar flash in favor of the holy spirit for this blend of originals and gospel classics, his first full-length album with the historic singing group. They've worked together before, on the Blind Boys' excellent Higher Ground and Spirit of the Century, but here the pairing that Harper has termed "a spiritual soul movement" sounds like an outright tent-revival mission. His fevered wah-wah strutting and sweet high voice take their places in the chorus alongside the raw-throated howl of Blind Boys leader Clarence Fountain and his fellow bass George Scott, who plead for salvation like powerful old lions on "Take My Hand." The group's alto, Jimmy Carter, sails over the funky, hiccupping blues beat put down by Harper's Innocent Criminals on the classic "Satisfied Mind." The best cut may be Harper's "Picture of Jesus," a country-music-informed adventure in old-school church harmonizing with the passionate power to touch souls. By Ted Drozdowski.
**
There Will Be a Light delivers in every way on its promise; it's a passionate meeting of kindred spirits. Ben Harper has made the liberationist side of gospel a cornerstone of his music for over a decade, and the Blind Boys have done their thing for nearly six times that. Old souls, indeed. With the versatile Innocent Criminals backing up a quartet of Harper and septuagenarians Clarence Fountain, Jimmy Carter, and George Scott, There Will Be a Light shines equally on tradition and innovation. The opener, "Take My Hand," shimmies along to a gospel gait, but is rocked out with wah-wah guitar and keyboard flourishes. Harper's lap-steel picking on "11th Commandment" segues into Bob Dylan's "Well, Well, Well," reinforcing the gospel-blues atmosphere of this collaboration. Rather than praise or hymns, Harper and the Blind Boys concentrate on moral songs whose wisdom is universal, such as "Satisfied Mind," which extols spiritual ease instead of worldly luxury. "Picture of Jesus," the most explicit reference to the identity of the man upstairs, is a Harper original recorded on his 2003 album Diamonds on the Inside. There is a sweet inevitability to this recording; Harper was a demon guitarist from day one, but he's never sounded better or more in control of his voice. On the a cappella "Mother Pray," his road-tested falsetto seems to mature into its full expressiveness. It seems like Ben Harper could sing anything now, and that enticing path is but one which this Light illuminates.
By Mark Schwartz.
**
Bobby Butler- Vocals
Jimmy Carter- Vocals
Oliver Charles- Performer
Rock Deadrick- Performer
Clarence Fountain- Vocals
Ben Harper Guitar, Vocals
Ricke McKinnie- Vocals
Leon Mobley- Performer
Juan Nelson- Performer
Tracy Pierce- Vocals
George Scott- Vocals
Michael Ward- Performer
Joey Williams- Vocals
Jason Yates- Performer
**
01. Take My Hand 3:54
02. Wicked Man 3:33
03. Where Could I Go 4:09
04. Church House Steps 4:46
05. 11th Commandment 1:34
06. Well, Well, Well 3:15
07. Picture of Jesus 3:45
08. Satisfied Mind 3:15
09. Mother Pray 3:00
10. There Will Be a Light 3:22
11. Church on Time 4:17
**
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