Ben Harper - Both sides of the gun!

EPhi1430

I have been a big Ben Harper fan for a long time, but when i first heard that both sides was going to have an acoustic disc and a funky rock disc, I was a little scared but when i heard it (especially the first) i was taken away. It is to me the best album of the year...until May

CM1847

MINDWIREUK wrote:

I got it, only heard the first disk in the car as no home cd player at the mo. I'm trying to put on my mp3 player but no luck as yet. Any ideas how to? I hate this copyright protection stuff, I mean I understand and all but I buy my music, I bought this album and I just wanna put it on my player without all this hassle.

Is anybody else having this problem? I just tried to rip a song from it to my computer and it works fine without any problems at all. Is mine defective or what? I got the standard version by the way.

foxymophead

best album of 2006...until may 2nd!!!

CM1847

giventoyfly316 wrote:

I love a good portion of the "Diamonds on the Inside" album, particular the titular track, and really dig the acoustic disc of the "Live from Mars" double album. However, "Fight for Your Mind" is very hit and miss (far more misses than hits) for me even though it contains the best collective Ben Harper lyrics I've ever read. Far too often, Ben's vocals inspire complete indifference in me even though I know he's capable of more. For example, the live version I've heard of "Excuse Me Mr." is amazing, but the album version just puts me to sleep.

That is exactly how I feel. I got into him from Live From Mars and I tried to go back into his older stuff, but it didn't work for me. The songs are much better on "Mars" than they are in the studio IMO. So I could never get into any studio albums pre-Diamonds on the Inside. I love Diamonds on the Inside though, my first new album I got to experience as a fan, really good stuff.

And I agree about what Ben is saying on the "rocking" disc. Whether or not you agree with his views, you have to respect that he is putting them out there in a completely to-the-point manner, almost all of those songs are obviously about politics. Many artists(Pearl Jam included) have strong views on these things, but only scatter one or two songs about them into their albums. Maybe that is a good thing, but I still respect Harper for coming out so strong on that disc and never letting up.

Heart of Gold

More Than Sorry, & Gather 'Round the Stone are my favorites

LedZepFan

CM1847 wrote:

That is exactly how I feel. I got into him from Live From Mars and I tried to go back into his older stuff, but it didn't work for me. The songs are much better on "Mars" than they are in the studio IMO. So I could never get into any studio albums pre-Diamonds on the Inside. I love Diamonds on the Inside though, my first new album I got to experience as a fan, really good stuff.

\.

Same here, but I also like Burn to Shine. Both Sides of the Gun is my favorite album so far though

beachdweller

Woodstock69 wrote:

I just heard the album , and can't take it out of my player : the first CD is totally acoustic and only ballads but the second one is GREAT and very funky . my favourites are "Black rain" a song he wrote about what happened in new orleans , and "Don't talk about murder" is a rock blues country mixture and a geat slide solo! and the best song , one of the best in the Ben Harper catalogue is "Serve your soul" maybe a tribute to "Led Zeppelin" one of his influences , the song recalls one of their hits "No quarter" excelent album !!

holy crap, I was and still am listening to Serve Your Soul as I read your post, great f'ing album, and Serve Your Soul is my fav on the second disc. the third disc is next with alternate versions, if you bought the special edition. Every song on the first disc is really deep, and the second disc is very funky like others have said. good stuff....

Thumbing My Way

I can't stop listening to it!!!!

More Than Sorry is really doing it for me, and this album is so special already

lumpyfred

Just got the album and have been listening nonstop. This is definitely Ben Harper's best overall work in my opinion.

He pulled this off way better than the Foos. Excellent.

hippiemom

MINDWIREUK wrote:

I got it, only heard the first disk in the car as no home cd player at the mo. I'm trying to put on my mp3 player but no luck as yet. Any ideas how to? I hate this copyright protection stuff, I mean I understand and all but I buy my music, I bought this album and I just wanna put it on my player without all this hassle.

I had no trouble at all putting it on my iPod.

I just got it yesterday, I'm on my third time through now, liking it more and more each time

Oh, Jimmy

The mellow side is solid.
The "heavy" side sucks. I wish he would go back to playin more rock and roll style for his heavy stuff. Jaded, Glory and Consequence, thats the stuff right there.

tverehol

Anyone have the song "Dressed in Black" off of the bonus disk Internet Special edition of "Both Sides of the Gun" in mp3 format. I bought the special edition of the album on Tuesday, not realizing that the special edition in stores was different than the one on the net, and I am hearing that Dressed in Black is not to be missed. Anyway if somebody out there has it in mp3 format, wonder would they be so kind as to share it/email it? The album by the way is awesome.

Thanks so much,


Terry Holloway.

tvh69@hotmail.com

i got id

i love both cds...i can't wait for his us tour...

giventoyfly316

I guess I need to listen to both discs more and allow the album to grow on me because right now I'm just not all that blown away.

CM1847

I am really into the political disc right now, I think it is really solid from start to finish with the exception being "Gather Round The Stone"(if that is even the name of the song, I don't look at the case enough, the song with the Red Sox verse). Almost all of the songs on that disc are excellent. I like the love disc too, but right now I am really into the politcal one.

Really surprised he pulled this off, a good double album is hard enough to do, but with the completely contrasting subject matters it is pretty much two different albums packaged together.

Baba O'Briley

I just bought the disc yesterday, I have a question...is this album considered a solo disc, I know that the members of the innocent criminals contribute to a few songs, but for the most part Ben seems to do all the playing on a bunch of the tracks and I don't see '& The Innocent Criminals' anywhere on the cover.

pickupyourwill

Woodstock69 wrote:

I just heard the album , and can't take it out of my player : the first CD is totally acoustic and only ballads but the second one is GREAT and very funky . my favourites are "Black rain" a song he wrote about what happened in new orleans , and "Don't talk about murder" is a rock blues country mixture and a geat slide solo! and the best song , one of the best in the Ben Harper catalogue is "Serve your soul" maybe a tribute to "Led Zeppelin" one of his influences , the song recalls one of their hits "No quarter" excelent album !!

this album sounds like it would be really good. i only know a couple of ben's songs--i really like With My Own Two Hands. just recently got the Curious George cd w/ him and Jack Johnson singing it. lookin forward to getting this album.

Thumbing My Way

Baba O'Briley wrote:

I just bought the disc yesterday, I have a question...is this album considered a solo disc, I know that the members of the innocent criminals contribute to a few songs, but for the most part Ben seems to do all the playing on a bunch of the tracks and I don't see '& The Innocent Criminals' anywhere on the cover.

Ya, Ben plays all the instruments on quite a few of the tracks....

He also produced it by himself too, instead of JP Plunier??

I love the album so much!!!! And according to benharper.net it is a "Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals Tour" this summer so that's reassuring.

I was worried there for a while that maybe there had been some problems but seeing the tour name with the Innocent Criminals I hope all is well.

It's a real new approach though, the fact he played so many of the instruments, I'm really happy with the result though:)

krzzzymary

VEDHEAD27 wrote:

This album is absolutely beeeeautiful. I wouldn't expect anything less from Beautiful Ben. The gorgeous soul can do no wrong and has yet to disappoint me. In my opinion, when you have it ,you HAVE IT...and Ben has an never-ending supply of heart, SOUL, funk, SPIRIT, feeling, honesty, PASSION, compassion, intensity, POETRY, TALENT and BEAUTY ...which in turn leads to an endless supply amazing music!!! The soul and feeling behind the music is sooooooo powerful. It always manages to makes me tear up and gives me chills. The beautiful man is always consistant with bringing us gorgeous albums overflowing with incredible musicianship! And it all just keeps getting better and better!


I currently cannot get passed...

*Picture In A Frame
*Reason To Mourn
*Crying Won't Help You Now





I love this man! This album SHINES and I know it's only gonna get brighter and brighter with each listen.

THAT is exactly how I feel about him but I could never express myself as beautiful as that.