Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals
Burn to Shine (Virgin)
That Ben Harper’s gospel-tinged blend of soul and blues music has gotten progressively grittier with each new album is a blessing for the most part. Crankin’ up an amp and kicking a pedal produced the title track off his last release The Will to Live, and now make up a good part of his new Burn to Shine, but it’s likewise started a trend toward long, drawn-out, and over-earnest grinders like “Please Bleed” and “The Woman in You.” Still, a lesser Ben Harper song is better than most, and Burn to Shine has plenty to recommend it. “Steal My Kisses” is like a new beginning for the album, and as it turns into the title track with a grinding Weissenborn riff, the whole first side fades like a warm-up. Here’s where Harper is at his best: rocking treatments of soul music built on a solid guitar melody. He pulls off “Suzie Blue” with a Dixieland band, while the dark and sinister “Alone” and “Two Hands of a Prayer” are powerful statements and memorable tunes. Plus, interspersing rockers and straight up gospel on side two, bouncing the testifying waltz “Show Me a Little Shame” off of the burning slide guitar of “Forgiven,” and following that with the orchestral “Beloved One,” before closing with a prayer “In the Lord’s Arms,” is a song sequence that is nothing short of genius. (Ben Harper plays the Austin Music Hall, Saturday, Nov. 20) 
This article appears in November 12 • 1999.