Ben Harper: Give Till It's Gone

Ben Harper
Give Till It's Gone
Virgin Records [2011]









Fire Note Says: Another stable offering from Ben Harper.

Album Review:
Ben Harper is now officially on his 10th studio album with Give Till It's Gone and it offers a complete mixed bag of styles. There are the strong rockers "Rock N' Roll Is Free" and "Clearly Severely", there are the thoughtful ballads in "Free Love" and "Don't Give Up On Me Now", there is a jamming instrumental in "Get There From Here", there are two tracks that Harper gets a helpful hand from Ringo Starr and then "Pray That Our Love Sees The Dawn" features Jackson Browne on backing vocals. Not bad for the 11 songs here in just under 50 minutes to have so much going on except for Give Till It's Gone has a slight cohesion problem. It is not that anything here is boring or awful but there is also not that many tracks that stand out. Personally the rockers in the group sound good even though they suffer a bit lyrically. Ben Harper always will have the potential for something great and there are plenty of moments on Give Till It's Gone that longtime fans should enjoy. This probably is not a record that will grow Harper's fanbase but it also does not detract from his catalog and is simply another stable output.

Key Tracks: "Rock N' Roll Is Free", "Clearly Severely", "Get There From Here"

Bands With Similar Fire:
Citizen Cope
Jack Johnson
Lenny Kravitz

Fistful Of Mercy: As I Call You Down [Fire Note Review 11/12/10]
Ben Harper And Relentless7: White Lies For Dark Times [Fire Note Review 5/14/09]

Ben Harper Website
Ben Harper Facebook
Virgin Records

-Reviewed by Christopher Anthony