***Ben Harper Appreciation Thread***

Hi!

https://youtu.be/DqukFhJePhs

LukinFan

Hi! said:

West Coast getting the love this year. Might have to wait til next year for ( hopefully) some Midwest shows. 

Shouldn’t Harry Styles be opening for Ben?🤷‍♂️🙂

I thought the same. Stoked for the new album 

Hi!

LukinFan said:

Hi! said:

West Coast getting the love this year. Might have to wait til next year for ( hopefully) some Midwest shows. 

Shouldn’t Harry Styles be opening for Ben?🤷‍♂️🙂

I thought the same. Stoked for the new album 

Ha! It’s cool though, will be a fun looking at the setlists. I’m guessing probably like 12 songs give or take per show as an opener. Got a whole Euro tour first though.  

A little snippet I got from RecordStoreDay website:

It was like I was moving forward and venturing into places I had never been before. Taking everything I've learned from every other record and kind of setting fire to it all and starting over," Ben Harper says of his new album Bloodline Maintenance. "And I knew the sounds I was hearing in my head were so unorthodox that I had to do most of it myself." The result is a fearless and immensely soulful work largely inspired by the loss of a longtime friend and the lingering influence of a mercurial and charismatic father. Along with guitar and bass, Harper also played the drums including an eclectic assortment of percussions. The deliberately open spaces and accented beats influenced in large part by the exploratory rhythms of the hip-hop he has loved since his teens. The result is less a direct influence than the applying of hip-hop's inventiveness to longstanding paradigms of soul, blues and jazz, spinning it all forward into a reconfiguration of a new black Americana. "If this is my Mule Variations, then hallelujah." Harper says, referencing the groundbreaking Tom Waits record. Bloodline Maintenance is both a political and personally revealing work. It is soul music, but never a stylistic tribute to some bygone era. The sound and words are essential and undeniably timely. Harper acknowledges that much of the exploration on the record was fueled by an awareness of time. "It's this notion of mortality and the people we have lost. The way I hoped it would all turn out and the realization that, as beautiful as it all can be, perhaps none of it matters beyond these moments.

F Me In The Brain

That sounds interesting,  look forward to it.

CarryTheZero

Sounds great, so excited he is putting out a new album. Love his stuff with Musselwhite, but excited to hear a new, non-instrumental album!

My first Ben Harper show was my first PJ show back in ‘96! He’s always so amazing!

Pap

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAMcjFGVddc

mfc2006

Is anyone seeing a vinyl presale yet?

LukinFan

mfc2006 said:

Is anyone seeing a vinyl presale yet?

Only on Amazon:

Bloodline Maintenance https://a.co/d/cSNzO69

out 9/30/22

mfc2006

LukinFan said:

mfc2006 said:

Is anyone seeing a vinyl presale yet?

Only on Amazon:

Bloodline Maintenance https://a.co/d/cSNzO69

out 9/30/22

Thanks, man! I must've missed that!

LukinFan

mfc2006 said:

LukinFan said:

mfc2006 said:

Is anyone seeing a vinyl presale yet?

Only on Amazon:

Bloodline Maintenance https://a.co/d/cSNzO69

out 9/30/22

Thanks, man! I must've missed that!

It’s the only place I’ve seen it on vinyl 

LukinFan

Anyone find any vinyl variants for the new album? I’m still only finding black 

LukinFan

Autographed copy in Ben’s store:

https://shop.benharper.com/products/bloodline-maintenance-autographed-insert

Hi!

Love the new album. Love the hip-hop elements in Problem Child. Love all the different elements you hear throughout the album. Love the lyrical content.  3 full listens so far and I am  looking forward to familiarizing myself more with it. Another gift from Ben that’ll last a lifetime. Harper 4 Life

mfc2006

LukinFan said:

Anyone find any vinyl variants for the new album? I’m still only finding black 

Only black that I’ve seen

LukinFan

Loving the new album! I think my early favorite is “Smile at the Mention”. So good. 

CarryTheZero

Agree! It is really good! So good to have a new album.

mfc2006

LukinFan said:

Loving the new album! I think my early favorite is “Smile at the Mention”. So good. 

That's my favorite as well. Just a fantastic album from start to finish.

Hi!

New Album?

Pap

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkwrXP4bGkQ

Hi!

Pap said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkwrXP4bGkQ

Nice. I wonder if it’s going to be another instrumental album. Nevertheless looking forward to it. 

CarryTheZero

Thanks for sharing! Love Ben and his music. He opened my first PJ show in 96. Had no idea who he was, but I was floored after his set. Been a fan ever since.

Hi!

That’s awesome. I wasn’t turned on to Harper until the release of Fight For Your Mind. At that time I wasn’t even aware of his affiliation with Pearl Jam. You can imagine my excitement when it dawned on me. I think the first time I realized  was searching the Ames site and noticing his name on some of the Pearl Jam concert posters. 

Hi!

Yeah, I think my timeline of when I first had seen Harp is off. Looking at the dates and sets I think the first show of his I attended was the 1999 night #2 at the Riv in Chicago. I remember they were handing out blue match books with the Burn to Shine album cover picture on them.

LukinFan

Thanks for posting! I saw his post but totally missed the new album announcement 

Hi!

Fo’ shizzle!! Lookin’ like another great year for music next year. Looking forward to it. Now I need to get the fuck off the internet so I can focus on work, lol.

Hi!

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/grammy-winner-and-producer-ben-harper-shares-struggles-and-emotions-in-his-music/#x

Ran across this interview with Harper that ran recently on CBS This Morning. Nothing major, I learned a few things I didn’t know before, and there were a few things I was already familiar with. Something about seeing him in the music shop he grew up in always strikes a chord with me. Some of the musicians that would pass through that shop too. I also started to wonder if this next album is going to have his kids playing with him. Maybe a whole collaborative album with them or something. Time will tell.

LukinFan

Hi! said:

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/grammy-winner-and-producer-ben-harper-shares-struggles-and-emotions-in-his-music/#x

Ran across this interview with Harper that ran recently on CBS This Morning. Nothing major, I learned a few things I didn’t know before, and there were a few things I was already familiar with. Something about seeing him in the music shop he grew up in always strikes a chord with me. Some of the musicians that would pass through that shop too. I also started to wonder if this next album is going to have his kids playing with him. Maybe a whole collaborative album with them or something. Time will tell.

Very cool! Thanks for posting this! 

Hi!

LukinFan said:

Hi! said:

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/grammy-winner-and-producer-ben-harper-shares-struggles-and-emotions-in-his-music/#x

Ran across this interview with Harper that ran recently on CBS This Morning. Nothing major, I learned a few things I didn’t know before, and there were a few things I was already familiar with. Something about seeing him in the music shop he grew up in always strikes a chord with me. Some of the musicians that would pass through that shop too. I also started to wonder if this next album is going to have his kids playing with him. Maybe a whole collaborative album with them or something. Time will tell.

Very cool! Thanks for posting this! 

Sure thing! I thought the interview was nice. Short but sweet. 

Now I just have to figure where he gets his hats from because I’m sure we suffer from the same affliction. 

Hey Ben, bald is beautiful! ✊🏻

Hi!

New song with JJ is killer. Lots of new show dates added. Can’t wait! 

LukinFan

https://youtu.be/Q_3cR2Q8rzc