Live At The Apollo - Ben Harper, Blind Boys of Alabama

I know more Gospel than Blues but a friend gave me an album - I was listening to it at the gym today. One of those experiences that sends tingles down your spine. Marvellous!

Take My Hand - Ben Harper

Ben Harper - White Lies For Dark Times

Allmusic Review

The bassline is enormous and the second guitar matches both volume and nastiness with that slide. In other words, this sounds like a band playing this jam, not Harper and his band. One can hear traces of Jimi Hendrix, early ZZ Top, and Johnny Winter in the attack, but it's pure rocking blues thunder and lightning spit out via Texas and the Delta.

White Lies For Dark Times

New Release - Ben Harper - White Lies for Dark Times

White Lies For Dark Times


For White Lies For Dark Times, Ben Harper put his long time band the Innocent Criminals on hiatus and hooked up with a new group: three Austin, TX transplants to Los Angeles called Relentless7, comprised of guitarist Jason Mozersky, bassist Jesse Ingalls, and drummer Jordan Richardson.

These 11 tracks are rock and Texas Blues to the bone. I really like the first track Number With No Name, and it starts right there with the slow slide guitar doing blues like Harper does it. A big bassline with more guitar completes the sound and makes it round an fat, just like I like it. It smokes, like good blues rock always does, I can feel the influences of Texas and the Delta.

Shimmer & Shine, the set's first single, starts off as hard driving rock song with cool drum breaks, and punches some power chords that rocks. Why Must You Always Dress in Black is blues-rock for sure, with their excellent guitar riffs.

Track Listing

1. Number With No Name 3:05
2. Up To You Now 5:01
3. Shimmer & Shine 3:06
4. Lay There & Hate Me 4:15
5. Why Must You Always Dress In Black 4:41
6. Skin Thin 4:33
7. Fly One Time 4:12
8. Keep It Together (So I Can Fall Apart) 4:56
9. Boots Like These 3:54
10. The Word Suicide 5:03
11. Faithfully Remain