Album #4: Fight for your mind (1995)
Ben Harper
Genre: Alternative Folk Rock
Dedicated to MB Member: Spike*Spiegel
1. "Oppression"
2. "Ground on Down"
3. "Another Lonely Day"
4. "Please Me Like You Want To"
5. "Gold to Me"
6. "Burn One Down"
7. "Excuse Me Mr."
8. "People Lead"
9. "Fight for Your Mind"
10. "Give a Man a Home"
11. "By My Side"
12. "Power of the Gospel"
13. "God Fearing Man"
14. "One Road to Freedom"
Out of the gates with a steady, mellow reggae influenced number, “Oppression” sets the tone for Harper’s final solo project which is already nearly 15 years old. This album melds all of Harpers musical influences, jazz, soul, gospel, R&B, reggae and rock with his spiritual and political ones and finds a delightfully peaceful balance. The pass jumps up and back down on the next two tracks with the electric “Ground on Down” and the peaceful whispered ballad “Another Lonely Day” The simplicity of his soulful voice and a austere acoustic guitar are undeniable; transporting the listener and filling them with peace and serenity. The cascading guitar rhythm that propels the fourth track is among the albums highlights. Carrying the music along with a barely noticeable bass and drum section; these are the type of Songs that made me a fan for life shortly after seeing Harper live on the San Jose streets in 1993.
Innocent love songs are another signature of Harpers music unparticular his earlier stuff. “Gold to me” is a simple bass and drum driven song with a pure message of adoration of conviction. Including a fun and free performance on the slide guitar for an instrumental outro. The dynamic nature of reggae music is on display within the next two tracks as a light hearted casual song and a political tinged stinger are the next two numbers and both stepped in the Island funk. “Excuse me Mister” features heavy production that gives the vocals a distant but defiant sound to go with the heavy bass and screeching guitars projecting the memory or identity of the melody. “People lead is next” followed by the title track. Both find a place somewhere between electric and acoustic and let the bass take the lead. A couple of energetic songs before the album takes a very melancholy leap.
Rounding out the album are some of my favorite and least favorite tracks. This final third’s inconsistency is the only disconcerting flaw I find in this album. The strongest song on the album and what I feel should be the closing track “Give a Man a Home” is a powerful, morose but hopeful song about unconditional love and faith. The song hits like a wave and momentarily paralyzes you; just the right atmosphere for the message. Next is the country tinged “By my Side” which is solid and strong, but out of place on the tail end of the album. Still its casual country rhythm with gospel piano compliment provides ample reason to enjoy. There are some startlingly brilliant moments throughout the final tracks, but overall it’s a bit heavy handed for a musician like Harper and almost waters down an otherwise cohesive excellent album. It’s not the religious message, quite the contrary, despite being an atheist I love Gospel and enjoy hearing people pour their faith into music. Five combined minutes of intro, six more of outro and repetitive lyrics relegate this to background music, and even if enjoyable it’s a step down from the rest of the album. The finale “One Road to Freedom” sort of gets back to the formula and foreshadows the direction of the music of Harper’s next project his first of what would be many with the Innocent Criminals. This is still my favorite Ben Harper album just ahead of Lifeline and Welcome to the Cruel World. It’s full of hits and has a great flow for the first ¾ and never has an off putting note.