Live From Mars

by

Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals

Edit

this is how you make a live album. too many artists simply throw together a bunch of hits that they took to the road and package a live recording to make a quick buck from fans who can't afford to follow them cross-country. from the outset of "live from mars", it's clear that harper has put considerable effort into assembling this project. literally sifting through hours of recorded material from the past seven years (nearly every show was taped), he picked out what he thought were the best versions of the best songs. nearly every selection surpasses its album counterpart musically and emotionally. tellingly, the opening disc's "burn one down," features an ecstatic crowd singing along to every word. another crowd favorite, a guitar-driven cover of marvin gaye's "sexual healing," carries the energy and vivacity a live track should have. a fitting close to the first disc (which features harper backed by his full band, the innocent criminals) is the jaw-dropping medley of the 1997 hit "faded," and the led zeppelin classic "whole lotta love." those eleven minutes undeniably confirm this band's ability to display their grittier rock-n-roll roots. jimi hendrix would be proud. of course, as you might expect if you are familiar with harper's shows, he just happened to throw in a second, entirely acoustic disc - a man and his guitar, as the saying goes. it serves as an ideal balance to the first disc in its simplistic, mellower mood. kicking off with the beautiful "waiting on an angel," this set makes it known that this is the ben harper we know best, a compassionate, reflective singer/songwriter who finds beauty and simplicity in everything. unlike many of his contemporaries, he can pull this off without seeming forced or sappy, or even worse, boring. his startling cover of the verve's "the drugs don't work," and a remarkable take on his brooding "another lonely day," exhibit these abilities best. harper finishes with the political "like a king," and the maya sngelou inspired "i'll rise," another medley of epic, though more subdued, proportions. what's wrong with all this, you ask? well, it's nitpicking to argue with the track-list, as harper did his best to include personal as well as fan favorites. the one drawback is that it's rather difficult to swallow so much quality material at once, but in reality, that just speaks to harper's accomplishments as a dedicated and gifted musician. if you like ben harper at all, i can't imagine any disappointment after listening to this.

I was first turned on to Ben Harper with his "Fight for Your Mind" CD. The entire CD was strong, partially due to the wide breadth of music that he touched on...from Reggae, to R&B, to Soul, to funk. Many of his other CDs are very one dimensional. Boring ballad after ballad that sound very much alike. I bought Live From Mars hoping that he would open it up a little for a Live performance. Well, I was partially satisfied. The first disc has the "Ho Hum" stuff that I mentioned previously. Very pretty songs, but without any meat to them. The second disc is much more to my liking. He does a fantastic version of Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing" along with many of his stronger songs such as "Burn One Down", and "Excuse Me Mister". His soul comes out and the diversity in the tunes keep it interesting. My advice would have been to just sell it as a single live album as opposed to a double CD. But of course, the record company wouldn't make as much moola. At least they didn't stretch it to three CDs...I guess.