Harper & Musselwhite | Get Up!

[zeb]

Some of this is very good. Listening to I Ride At Dawn I feel like Ben has just stepped out of a time machine from 1996. Sweet zombie jesus.

[zeb]

Yes yes yes.

[conoalias]

Ride at Dawn is great, highlight of this album. It was a nice surprise to see him go back to more bluesy/slow/sparse stuff, suits him much better than what he released in the past years (although there's still a bit of that 'rock' thing going on there)

[zeb]

He should just do this type of stuff forever. I know I'd be back onboard.

[conoalias]

yup

[zeb]

I didn't know he broke up with Dern. I know it sounds trite but is this why he's gone back to making music that sounds vital?

[southp]

Been off Ben Harper for years but I heard the end of one song on the radio the other night and didn't know who it was until the DJ said it was Harper & Musselwhite and that peaked my interest. Which song is the single?

Meanwhile, in the car the other day I heard Burn to Shine and again it made me want to come back to his music.

[liebzz]

I'm not sure what the single off this album is, but I think it is fantastic. Ben Harper has been a real strange thing for me for many years. From about 1997-2010, I was basically a superfan, but kind of lost interest because he was too uneven basically since Diamonds On the Inside. I liked the rock side of Both Sides of the Gun, the first Relentless 7 album, and bits and pieces of everything else (though I really did enjoy his collaberation with the Blind Boys of Alabama). But after the second Relentless 7 album (billed as his album, but ultimately with the same musicians) felt forced to me, I basically put his music down for quite a while.

I picked up this album because I remembered how great Musselwhite sounded with Ben Harper in 2005 when he guested on a few dates of the small club dates Ben Harper did around the release of Both Sides - particularly on "Dressed in Black" (a live version of this with Musselwhite is available on the 3rd live disc off Both Sides). Needless to say, I was really impressed. I don't think there's a weak song on this album, and at least on the turntable, everything sort of fits together nicely. Lots of blues variety without seeming to be all over the place.

[kreng]

This doesn't suck