Red Mosquito

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.

Yes yes yes.

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)

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

yup

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?

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.

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.

This doesn't suck