CD Reviews

Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals

Lifeline | Virgin

By BRETT SINGER | September 17, 2007

3.0 Stars

On Lifeline, Ben Harper’s latest disc with the Innocent Criminals, the soulful slide-guitarist captures the feel of an intimate live concert. Recorded without overdubs at Paris’s Studio Gang right after the band finished a nine-month tour, these 11 tracks are mostly mellow and melodic, with some Otis Redding–style come-ons, like the slow dance “Needed You Tonight” and the storming “Say You Will” (think “Hard To Handle”) thrown in. And with “Fight Outta You,” the disc’s first single, Harper and his Criminals have hit on the kind of hook that should be able to support another one of those RIAA gold certified discs.

Related: Digging deeper, Chops and attitude, Going on sale: June 23, 2006, More

Topics: CD Reviews , Otis Redding, Ben Harper

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ARTICLES BY BRETT SINGER

MOUNTAIN | December 26, 2007
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BEN HARPER AND THE INNOCENT CRIMINALS | September 17, 2007
On Lifeline , Ben Harper’s latest disc with the Innocent Criminals, the soulful slide-guitarist captures the feel of an intimate live concert.