Welcome to the Cruel World - Ben Harper

Ben Harper Photos   <img src="http://g-ec2.images-amazon.com/ima

Ben Harper Photos

More from Ben Harper

Fight for Your Mind	Diamonds on the Inside	Both Sides of the Gun
Live From Mars	The Will to Live	Live at the Hollywood Bowl

Harper's singing is the biggest problem. He mumbles his vocals with so little articulation and within such a narrow range that he makes Bob Dylan sound like Al Green by comparison. Moreover, Harper's overall performance is so low in energy that he makes the laid-back Cowboy Junkies sound like the Sex Pistols. His songwriting and guitar picking reveals hints of a modest talent, but they aren't nearly special enough to compensate for the narcotic effect of his singing. The heavy-handed Rodney King song, the adaptation of a Maya Angelou poem and the broken-hearted love songs are more likely to recall Chapman's disappointing second album rather than her exhilarating first. --Geoffrey Himes

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Ben Harper

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