BEN HARPER - Both Sides of the Gun - 2006 - Album review

BEN HARPER - Both Sides Of The Gun - 2006 - Album review
HIGHLIGHTS: Better Way - Both Sides Of The Gun - Black Rain
SOUNDBITE: /You don't fight for us but expect us to fight for you/
RATING: 2/5 or 3/5 (see below)
This is a double album. I'll just let that sink in as it does tend to conjure a sense of superstar egos giving painful birth to hideous rock odysseys. Basically what Ben's done is put all the rocky, funky, tracks and two less rocky/funky tracks which are still basically upbeat on one CD and all the tedious rock-bore (Yes! I did used to be a session musician) noodlings and meanderings plus two tracks that are alright on the other. I thought that after 'Diamonds on the Inside' Ben had finally sussed what it took to make a decent album - after all there was only one really sh*t track on the entire thing. Indeed, as a teenager wise beyond his years remarked to me on hearing that particular track - 'that's what happens when people get let in a studio with too much money'. Unfortunately for this album the funds are obviously still plentiful at Harper mansions and he seems to have been given the actual keys to a studio now too. My advice to you is make your mp3 playlist up of all the tracks on the rocky/funky CD and 'Picture In a Frame' and chilled instrumental 'Sweet Nothing Serenade' off the boring CD. This is what any half-decent band manager and record company should have insisted on in the first place. That way you'll end up with 40.3 minutes (according to my ITunes) of a fairly decent new Ben Harper album. These tracks are more like those off 'Diamonds on The Inside' than other previous outings and are relatively heavy on the funky clavinet (a good thing in my book). Also if you find at least two of the tracks recalling the Rolling Stones 'Brown Sugar' era - I don't suppose you'll be alone. In summary there's a normal length album's worth of good music here and it's not like you'll be paying much more than for a standard CD so it is worth getting (especially if you're a Ben fan) and had Ben's manager, record company or conscience done the decent thing and curtailed the more whimsical excesses I'd have given this a 3/5 or possibly 4/5 as Ben does rip into the U.S. government quite heavily on 'Black Rain'. As it is, you only need one side of the gun.