Customer Reviews

Diamonds on the Inside

5 star:		(54)
4 star:		(29)
3 star:		(20)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(24)

 

 

First of all, this review will not address the actual MUSIC on this disc, which is up to Harper's usual platinum standard of songwriting and musicianship.

No, this is intended to be a warning that this CD has been laced with copy-protect technology that prevents those who paid for it from making MP3s and whatnot. It also prevents you from even listening to the disc on a computer except by using an extremely low-quality proprietary player that limits the quality to just 48 kbps -- about what you'd get from AM radio.

I own hundreds of CDs, and while my buying has slowed in recent years as family commitments and other interests take precedence, I still buy one or two discs a month. This is the first I have run across that does this. I am stunned. I bought a portable MP3 player about two years ago, and use it for all my on-the-go listening. With a baby in the house I can't even listen to much music on the home stereo. Ben Harper is perhaps my favorite modern artist, and I am furious that EMI/Virgin have carried out this underhanded assault on consumer fair use rights.

A page on the Web site of Virgin Records America confirmed the CD has been booby-trapped. A feedback form on their site did not work. I hope others are as outraged as I am and put some effort into tracking down how to voice displeasure.

As my non catchy title states this album is very good. It's good to see Ben with a new release out. It has been almost 4 years since his last studio release. I can say that the wait was definitely worth it. Ben makes his usual genre jumps all over the record. Its amazing how he (and the IC's) are able to pull this off. So anyway I'll give a brief description of the songs.

With My Own Two Hands - First single, reggae, reminds me of one of Ben's influences Bob Marley overall 8/10

When its good - acoustic bluesy type song, very good tune. Ben busts out the acoustic slide on this one. 10/10

Diamonds On The Inside - great song, remind me of Elvis Costello. 10/10

Touch From Your Lust - Nice effects on the guitar, got the Leslie (listen to Hendrix's Angel) effect going, straight foreward rock tune. 8/10

When She Believes - Slow ballad type song, strings used, acoustic guitar - pretty good tune 9/10

Brown Eyed Blues - The first funky sounding track on the album, pretty cool little bass line to this one. Nice little Bass solo on this also. I love this song. 10/10

Bring The Funk - This is an all out funk track, but I don't really like it to much. 6/10

Everything - another acoustic type song (has bass and percussion in it), bluesy feel to it, uplifting though - 8/10

Amen Omen - my favorite song on the album. Well crafted acoustic song. Best song Ben has written in a long time. 15/10

Temporary Remedy - straight ahead rock song. I think it needs to grow on me. 6/10

So High So Low - This is the Led Zep song of the album. Gonna be a great live song. 10/10

Blessed to be A Witness - Ben's voice is the highlight of this song. Mellow song. Beautiful. 10/10

Picture of Jesus - Acapella type song, just percussion and vocals. Good song but I'm not really feeling it. 7/10

She's Only Happy in the Sun - Ender of the album, is kind on weak to end the album on. I'm sure it'll grow on me. 6/10

If you like singer/songwriters at least check Ben out. If you've never heard Ben before buy "Life From Mars" the double live set. First half electric, second half solo acoustic.

Peace.

I have every one of Ben Harper's Albums, and I can honestly say that "Diamonds on the Inside" does everything but disappoint. From the opening "With My Own Two Hands", Harper hits you with a rythmic reggae beat, ultimately making one feel that he/she too can change the world. One of my favorites on the album however is "Brown Eyed Blues". With a funky beat that even James Brown would appreciate, this track is ideal for a "Friday night before the bar pump up session". Harper's spirituality, welcomed and respected, is beautifully conveyed through songs such as "Picture of Jesus" and "Amen Omen", as well as "When She Believes".

Ben Harper is truly one of the best singer/song writer/musicians in this day and age, and it's a shame that he recieves no where near the acclaim that he has proved he deserves. While he may lose some fire in the studio as compared to the live stage, Ben Harper takes one on a funky, spiritual ride, with Bob Marley and Jimi Hendrix ever present in the rear-view.

I really enjoyed Ben Harper's last solo studio release before "Both Sides of the Gun"; but it has a couple of flops that merited the 4-star rather than 5-star rating.

For one thing, I'm Ben Harper's age, and thus old enough to remember Paul Simon's "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes." This is the song that Ben Harper used to rip off, errmm, bring Simon's influence into "Picture of Jesus," which is a dreadful tribute to Simon's "Diamonds"; yet nowhere in the CD liner notes does Harper credit or even thank Simon for this influence--which, as a musician, I thought was kind of classless.

The other "misstep," as the original Amazon.com reviewer succinctly called it, was "When She Believes." I'm not sure if Ben Harper wants us to envision that we're on a gondola in Venice while this song is playing, but the corny "That's Amore"-esque violins playing in the background sure made it feel that way.

Now for the good stuff--standouts on this CD include the opening track, "With My Own Two Hands," which is akin to a beautiful prayer-cum-traditional reggae celebration of a song. "When It's Good" is sultry, sexy, bluesy, and minimalist all at the same time; and the title track, "Diamonds on the Inside," is soulful and loving in its tone while being masterful in its guitar sounds. "Brown Eyed Blues" and "Bring the Funk" are danceable and, well, wonderfully funky; and the eloquent "Blessed to Be a Witness" is a fitting almost-bookend for the opening number. Perhaps the most introspective, yearning song with a masterful blend of both piano and acoustic guitar is "Amen Omen," a passionate ballad. The two rock numbers, "Temporary Remedy" and "So High So Low", also don't disappoint.

So if you don't let the two sloppy tracks I ranted about, as well as the mediocre "Everything" and "She's Only Happy in the Sun", bother you, this is well worth the investment.

As a fan of Ben Harper's work from the get go this one was highly anticipated but ownership has proved a struggle.

It kickoff with a cracker 'With my own two hands' which is as reggae as Harper's ever been. With the title track and 'Touched by your Lust' it's a strong start.

Past that it's a struggle. Sure the bloke can play and play with passion. And there's no shortage of that. It's just that the latter half of the disc is melodically monotnous for my liking.
The real sticking point for me is that it is lyrically far too stuck in the religous groove. I'm happy enough to have an artist get spiritual on me but not for song after song especially when a large part of it just seems to me to be 'wailing to Jesus'. And if you aren't of that mind (like me) then it gets seriously annoying.

I suspect the bloke is exploring grooves and themes that he feels he needs to but he lost me with this one. So far. I'll keep working on it but I'm not too hopeful.

Overall it is an interesting development in Ben Harper but not one I'd wholey recommend especially if you are new to Harper. Start with 'Fight for Your Mind' and 'Burn to Shine' or even the live album. Leave 'Diamonds on the Inside' for another day.

The other superbly painful thing about this CD is the copy control software. A decent hifi player will have no real trouble with it but if you use a computer to play music, this CD (and most other Virgin CC efforts) sounds repellant. Unbelieveably it sounds even worse when you use the media player that is included in the disc. I don't object to the CC concept but truely this is a godawful effort at it.

Diamonds on the Inside is a very inconsistent album. On his earlier albums, Ben Harper did a masterful job of melding his genre-bending styles into a cohesive whole. That aspect is noticeably missing from this album. It definitely has its moments, and simply based on Harper's amazing musicianship, this album is better than 99% of the stuff out there today, but for an artist with his talent, it leaves a lot to be desired.

Nonetheless, as Harper sings on this album, "When it's good, it's so, so good." The song that lyric comes from, "When It's Good," is a nice bit of raw blues. The title track sounds like it could have been written by Elvis Costello (which is a compliment). On its own it is a nice pop song, but like most of the tunes, it is performed in such a different mood than the rest of the songs that precede and follow it, it feels a bit out of place. Ballads "When She Believes" and "Amen Omen" are as beautiful as anything Harper has written and translate better to the recording studio than the more upbeat songs.

The best song on the album is the 4th track, "Touch From Your Lust," a regal rock anthem that captures Harper at his best. The song is beautiful in its desperate longing and features his most inventive work on the Weissenborn since "Ground on Down."

While there is enough to satisfy most Harper fans, Diamonds on the Inside is just not as strong as his prior albums. Some tracks are barely listenable, including his failed piece of funk "Bring the Funk" and the overlong opening track, the reggae-tinged "With My Own Two Hands."

As a side note, this album has a strangely 80's vibe to it. This is neither positive nor negative, simply interesting. It often evokes Paul Simon's Graceland, amplified by the fact that the album is called "Diamonds On The Inside" and includes an a cappella track with Ladysmith Black Mambazo.

If you are a huge Ben Harper fan, go ahead and get this album. It certainly has its moments and no doubt the faster songs will translate very well to his live performances. If you aren't a big fan though, I'd recommend buying one of his earlier albums or better yet, his fantastic live album "Live From Mars."

I second the comment from M. S. Hillis. The copy protection on the new ben harper cd means I won't be buying it. Further, if you go to the virgin website and try to leave feedback your message is not accepted. I guess that explains why they never get any complaints...

I simply hope this is not a problem that will occur with all virgin releases - if it is, guess I'll have to listen to different labels.

The amazon.com reviewer was fairly dead on. This album is ridiculously diverse, but still sounds like Ben Harper. And in an era when bands like Creed and Nickleback are releasing the same albums of glugging 4-chord, minor-keyed, talentless Pearl Jam covers it is quite refreshing to hear an album as diverse as this one.

Kicking things off with the upbeat reggae of "With My Own Two Hands" the album provides a totally new feel. While it may not be his best lyrical work the song is fun, and has a good, if somewhat cliched, message. Thumping bass drum and slide guitar blues harken back to Ben's roots in "When It's Good". The title track is an acoustic rocker with a bluesy country feel that is one of the most solid tunes on the album. With "Touch from Your Lust" Ben really hits his stride on both musical and lyrical fronts as this tune proves to be the real diamond in the rough here. "When She Believes" is an accordian-drenched, lilting tune that is perhaps a little too lush on this disc. It's one of the tunes you'd like to hear stripped down to Ben's voice and an acoustic guitar, but we'll have to wait for that. "Brown Eyed Blues" is the better of the two funk charts on the album, neither of which are truely remarkable, but both of which provide a nice change of pace. "Bring The Funk" however lacks either lyrical prowess or energy depending on how you look at it, though its still a good tune. "Amen Omen" is another more traditional Ben Harper tune featuring a lot of acoustic guitar, and great lyrics. "Temporary Remedy" and "So High So Low" both show off the power Ben packed into his last studio album "Burn To Shine", with the latter opening with a quiet acoustic guitar interlude before blasting power chords with Ben's screaming vocals. The Innocent Criminals, and in particular the percussion section take center stage (Juan Nelson already having proven his worth on bass in the funk section) for the two African-tinged tunes "Blessed to be a Witness" and "Picture of Jesus". The spirituality in the lyrics adds to it, and the music is just so diverse that it really is nice to hear. The album closes with "She's Only Happy in the Sun" an acoustic masterpiece showcasing Ben's beautiful voice and pensive lyric writing ability.

All in all this is one of the most diverse albums you could ever hope to own, reading more like a library of tracks rather than an album by one artist. Yet it still maintains some semblance of cohesion, and what it lacks in that department it makes up for in the talent and breadth of Harper's songwriting skills. Surprisingly the lack of his acoustic slide guitar prowess is not even missed, but with this repetoire of material, how could you?

this album is damn good despite the negative reviews. it spans such a wide variety of genres. you get reggae, blues, country, funk, hard rock, and folk. i believe this album has two of ben's strongest tunes in amen omen and blessed to be a witness. the lyrics to amen omen in the tradition of walk away and another lonely day perfectly capture the pain of lost love, plus its got a ben wail that will rip your heart out. ben just knows how to capture real emotions is his music. blessed to be a witness is one of ben's many spiritual tunes. it speaks of living life to the fullest despite the greif and the pain. the only low point on the album is when she believes. this song is great lyrically, but is the victim of what happens all to often on ben albums, the symphonic touch cheeses the song instead of enhancing the emotion of the tune. all though not as good as fight for your mind this album is much better than the crap on top 40 radio. other key tracks: with my own two hands, when its good, diamonds on the inside, brown eyed blues, shes only happy in the sun.

Ben Harper (along with his excellent band, The Innocent Criminals) has always been a better artist to see live than to listen to, because of his phenomenal improvisational skills. Seen live, Harper will pull pieces of songs out of nowhere, and create on the spot lyrics that attest to his great artistry. The spirit of these skills have finally been captured on CD with "Diamonds On The Inside".
Harper went into the studio with his songs written, but unrehearsed, and just let the recording machines run while he and his bandmates (and some special guests) played with structure, tone and instrumentation.
Harper also ventures into a huge number of genres on this recording, again much like his live shows. You get some great funk ("Bring The Funk", one of the best tunes on this disc), some real down home rock ("Touch From Your Lust"), and an extended jam session that works great within the confines of the studio ("Diamonds On The Inside"). The real gem of this set, in my opinion, is the work that Harper and his mates do with LadySmith Black Mambazo, turning "Picture of Jesus" into a true worldbeat celebration, with Afrocentric percussion and brillliant guitar work.
If you have ever seen Ben live, this disc will remind you of how enjoyable his live shows can be. If you aren't familiar with Harper's work, this is a great point to familiarize yourself with one of our most underappreciated talents.