Virgin

Ben Harper has been involved in so many projects lately that it’s hard to pinpoint where his sound is these days. Rolling high from recent stints with side bands Relentless 7 and Fistful of Mercy, Harper returns to the harder, sharper edged sounds that characterized his solo work a decade ago on the eleven-track Give Till It’s Gone. Self-doubt, lost love and faith remain key lyrical components – evidenced in the opening “Don’t Give Up on Me Now” and “Spilling Faith.” The latter track extends into a searing six-minute instrumental, “Get There from Here,” which features some of his best guitar work yet. And while he returns to the Beatles-era harmonies summoned on last year’s Fistful record with “Rock and Roll Is Free,” the real beauty of a Ben Harper album lives in the naked honesty of “Pray That Our Love Sees the Dawn” – a certain standard that will have crowds singing along for years to come.