Review:

on 2009-07-13 Rahgwood Said:

Every young artist feels the compulsion to try and be a voice for their generation. Ben Harper is no different in this. On this, his first album for Virgin, he seems sometimes to be trying to accomplish the woeful task of forcing himself to be a focal lense. The interesting bit of it is that he seems to accomplish this far more when he isn't trying. His most accomplished songs on the album play with themes that are universal and inherently human in scope instead of the topical and moralistic messages he throws into others. Songs like Pleasure and Pain, Don't Take That Attitude to Your Grave, and Waiting on an Angel take more from the blues and gospel tradition of songwriting. They speak to us the sorrow, the pain, but, ultimately, the hope of life. The intensely personal feelings that Harper expresses in these songs are so fully his as an individual, that all of us out here who also exist as individuals can't help but feel the intensity of his emotion and identify it with our own. We have a sort of real-o-meter that can tell when something comes from a heartfelt need for expression and when it comes from an abstract idea. In other songs Ben Harper does not do so well. The messages he may be talking about are important as in Like a King, however, they are abstract and indefinite. Harper does not speak about such things with poetic verve but with tired cliches. How Many Miles Must We March is an unnecessary take off on Dylan, full of childish statements about the problems in the world. I'll Rise and the title track, Welcome to the Cruel World, are just as uninspiring and dull. He is just trying too hard. Mama's Got a Girlfriend deserves special mention for being extra distasteful. It stands as a goofy and ridiculous song with not a bit of gut-wrenching soul in it, all of that emphasized by it being sandwiched in between two of the most beautiful songs on the album. Ben Harper is a great guitar player and vocalist. His songs are very well arranged, and his singing is interesting and sometimes challenging. The only thing lacking on this album is a little maturity as a song writer.
Rating: 6/10