By RUSSELL BAILLIE
(Herald rating: * * * )
Nouveau soul-bluesman Ben Harper is certainly old-school enough to think that delivering a double live collection after four studio albums is what's expected.
Undoubtedly the fans who have made him a regular visitor here will thank him for it — especially those of greater
attention span as this extends to 25 tracks (including a couple of 10-minute workouts) across its two discs.
On the up side, it shows Harper's a more exciting player, of his weissenborn slide guitar especially, on stage than in the studio when he stretches out instrumentally and gives it some volume.
The best examples of that on the high-decibel first disc include the swerve into Led Zeppelin territory, in style on Alone and in substance on a cover of Whole Lotta Love, and his slide'n'burn Ground on Down.
The other covers of Marvin Gaye's Sexual Healing, and the Verve's The Drugs Don't Work are nice enough but they also remind in an odd way of Harper's main failing: that as a songwriter he's fairly hit and miss.
Still, he's sensitive and gently political with it, as the second disc shows with its run of solo acoustic tracks which end after a particularly earnest hour or so with I'll Rise with lyrics by African-American writer Maya Angelou — obviously Ben's been watching a lot of Oprah.
Can't help but feel he's stretched things a bit thin across two discs, but to the faithful Live From Mars could well sum up Harper and his old-school appeal just fine.
Label: Virgin
