4 1/2 of 5 stars
Back in 1994, when Ben Harper released his first album Welcome To The Cruel World, and in the years since, Harper has stood out from other jam bands in that he has a lot more soul and experimentation in his music. He is still the top pick among surfers as their musical idol, and it’s not hard to see why. His smooth tenor and laid-back acoustic jams relax and take the listener back to a carefree time.
On his latest album Both Sides Of The Gun, Harper adds thoughtful and politically important lyrics to the mix and offers a handle full of soulful ballads to boot. Instead of a traditional double album, Both Sides of the Gun is 18 songs split into two separate discs: side A and side B.
Side A contains the upbeat, rock songs that have been tweaked with a little more muscle than past ventures and shows Harper screaming lines like: “You left them swimming for their lives/Down in New Orleans,” on the Bush-bashing “Black Rain” and “You whip the back of freedom/’Til it bleeds an oil stream,” from “Gather ‘Round the Stone.”
On Side B however, Harper turns down the volume, replaces his acoustics with melodic strings and makes nine soulful yet simple ballads that hold their own against the up-tempo tracks on Side A. “I can’t know the hell you love/But I know you’ve had enough,” Harper sings on the painfully beautiful “Reason to Mourn,” a song that shares the same contradictions as the rest of his ballads: beautiful music backing sorrowful lyrics about real love.
Side A starts off with the East-Indian sounding “Better Way,” the funky title track and the exceptional “Engraved Invitation,” where Harper sings, “This life’s not big enough/To fit our love inside/’Cause I remember you from heaven/The last time I died,” an earnest pick-up line that fits the vibe of the song: wanting desperately to figure out how to find his woman’s lost love.
The next few songs get a little muddled in political preaching and monotonous melodies, but rescue comes quickly with “The Way You Found Me,” a playful romp that glides along a swinging groove and take-it-or-leave-it lyrics about acceptance, “The less I think, the more I feel/Folks don’t change/They just reveal.” Side A ends with “Serve Your Soul,” a rousing eight-minute guitar jam that lets Harper get out any pent-up experimentation he had left. It’s not much on melody, but Harper keeps the song’s promise and takes his guitar on a visceral journey that pleases even the most discerning listener.
“A finger’s touch upon my lips/It’s a morning yearning,” starts “Morning Yearning,” the first track on Side B: a showcase of Harper’s more intimate feelings and lamenting string arrangements. “Waiting For You” follows afterward with lyrics on giving up on a hard relationship, “You can kill a lot of time/If you really put your mind to it.”
Haunting pianos back “Never Leave Lonely Alone,” where Harper sings, “All that we can’t say/Is all we need to hear/When you close your eyes/Does the world disappear?,” to his distraught lover. And on the three-minute instrumental “Sweet Nothing Serenade,” Harper croons on his acoustic in a way that’s best left without words.
Harper’s lover tries to get back in good graces with him on “Cryin’ Won’t Help You Now,” and asks for forgiveness from her on “More Than Sorry.” But it’s on the finale “Happy Everafter In Your Eyes” that Harper’s elegant piano and sweeping strings frame a melody worthy of a gospel hymn. “The morning sunrise spread her wings/While the moon hung in the sky/Held the sea in your hands/And happy everafter in your eyes,” sings Harper, half-crying about his love’s indescribable beauty.
Both Sides of the Gun is a masterpiece for Harper if only accounting for the ballads he packs into Side B. The ballads alone make for a substantial album of beautiful, but also meaningful, love songs. Harper brings party on Side A with plenty of up-tempo energy to spare, and arguably the best sounding Bush-hating music to come out this year. But his songwriting is the spotlight on Gun, where no emotion or idea is safe from Harper’s lyrical dexterity. “They keep telling me Jesus walked on water/He should’ve surfed,” sings Harper on “Get It Like You Like It,” proving that even under all the new strings and introspective lyrics, his music’s still all about the attitude.