Ben Harper And The Innocent Criminals — Lifeline

There are several amazing things about this record. First, Harper and company recorded it directly on the heels of a nine-month tour. Second, they did it in pure analogue. And third, they recorded it in seven days. The result is 40 minutes of Harper gold. Choosing a relatively archaic recording method and keeping the instrumentation mainly acoustic gives the songs great warmth, though it can't be said that there are many rough edges, as these guys musically gel in an almost symbiotic way. The overall vibe is smooth, '60s-era soul. With the exception of "Fight Outta You," Harper parks politics at the studio door and has opted for poetic storytelling ("Younger Than Today") and heartfelt, soulful, baby-you-done-me-wrong exhortations ("Needed You Tonight"). This is the way records used to be made and kudos to Harper and the Innocent Criminals for stepping up just to prove that they could do it well. This kinda puts to shame those folks who need six months and four studios to squeeze out 10 ProTooled songs.

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