This acoustic album is
impregnated with the Blues. A Blues transported from the
Mississippi Delta to the Inland Empire. A Blues re-rendered
through the sound of a lap steel guitar influenced by Chris
Darrow and David Lindley — both slide guitarists and
natives of Claremont. Influence of Chris Darrow appears
in the very first song :
Whipping Boy, a song he
wrote in 1972. Second song is a traditional Blues entitled
Jesus on The Main line. Then, Ben Harper and Tom
Freund play covers of
Pay The Man (co-written by
David Lindley and George 'Baboo' Pierre) and
Quarter
Of A Man (a sublime song written by Robert 'Frizz'
Fuller -
note).
These two songs were already gathered in David Lindley's
album called
El Rayo-X (released 1980).
Mama's
Got A Girlfriend Now (written by Ben Harper), and
Angel
From Montgomery (written by John Prine) bring a country
music touch to the album. Then album turns into Rock 'n
Roll sound with two songs by Tom Freund :
Click Yo'
Heels and an incredible
You Should Have Come To
Me. King of the Delta Blues, Robert Johnson, couldn't
be left out : ardent covers of
Dust My Broom and
Sweet Home Chicago precede an already very accomplished
version of
Pleasure And Pain (a Ben Harper's original).
Ben Harper : "There is a
little bit of my parents in my first record. I remember
a day at the shop, I had just written my first true song
:
Pleasure And Pain. All the family gathered around
me in the workshop and I sang. There was a very sweet atmosphere
in the back shop; a profound joy, a feeling of plenitude.
After that our neighbors used to come to our house and listen
to my songs. My grandparents and my mother wrote poems which
I put in music. Everybody on the block was singing."
