Album Review: Ben Harper - By My Side

In this retrospective release, Ben Harper has handpicked and collated 12 of his favourite ballads spanning his 20-year career, including a rare studio version of Not Fire Not Ice, a previously unreleased song which had only been played in his performances, and, to close the album, a brand new number, Crazy Amazing.

This album is an exercise in divine simplicity, both in its content and in its presentation. The cover itself is reminiscent of a '70s vinyl LP with a simple close-up portrait of the singer on the front. The aforementioned new song echoes this simplicity. Unlike Harper's other ballads, which use a drawn-out poetic narrative, Crazy Amazing is composed of a mere five lines of non-rhyming verse set to a four-chord tune. It is modest and genuine, giving a sense of calm, composure and peace. This is perhaps one of those cases where less really is more. In any event, with all of Harper's most intimate ballads laid back to back on a single disc, it would be difficult to conclude with new material which states something that he has not already said with his habitual heavenly lyricism. It will be interesting to see in which direction he has taken his new album, Get Up!, which is due to be released later this month.

By My Side is a blissfully beautiful collection of songs gathered from seven of Ben Harper's ten studio albums, bringing together some of his most soulful, lyrical and emotional work.