ARTIST: Ben Harper and Charlie Musselwhite
ALBUM: Get Up!
LABEL: Stax/Concord Music Group
RELEASE DATE: January 29, 2013
Blues Brothers
Written by Silas Valentino
A good blues record can make the listener feel as if they’re a fortunate fly on the wall, hanging around a few bluesmen playing with one another as if it’s their last gig before the bell rings. A good blues record could have been recorded on the steps of a rocking chair porch, in a rundown room of some offbeat hotel in Texas or in the fabled studios of Stax Records. A good blues record doesn’t worry itself with producing a creative album cover; instead it opts to use a photo of the players themselves as if it symbolizes you know what you’re getting yourself into. A good blues record is hard to find today because it’s thrown-in towel has been rung-out and their old amplifiers can’t compete with the MP3 bass system. But this doesn’t mean that there are no more good blues records. Contemporary soul man Ben Harper and harmonica hero Charlie Musselwhite have banned together to produce Get Up! A collection of collaborative blues songs that without a doubt create a good blues record.
Harper and Musselwhite met at a John Lee Hooker concert in 1994. Harper, who at the time was rising into his role as a passionate musician and songwriter, was a fan of Musselwhite, a blues legend who’s worked with more people over the last 5-decades than the D.M.V, minus the bureaucratic fuss. Since meeting, the two have played with one another on stage at music festivals and last year Musselwhite contacted Harper asking if he had any new material. From there the ball rolled and molded into Get Up! A solid blues record that satisfies the weathered soul in all of us, while tapping our foot against the floor. There are the songs for the damned (“Don’t Look Twice,” I’m in I’m Out I’m Gone,” and “All That Matters Now”) for the aggressive outlet (“I Don’t Believe a Word You Say,” “Blood Side Out,”) and for the reconciled bandit (“You Found Another (I Lose a Friend.”) Some tracks sound merely as blues standards re-envisioned by two greats both old and young and others sound as if this record was summoned by the blues years ago, just waiting to be recorded. “You Found Another (I Found a Friend)” is a highlight for it illuminates the strengths of both artists. Harper’s slow acoustic melody and lyrics telling of failed love’s humble wishes are sweetly accompanied by Musselwhite’s trembling harmonica. You can’t tell who’s leading whom but the musical destination sounds fantastic. “She Got Kick” slaps your knee for you and “We Can’t End this Way” offers insight to our society’s potential demise, rhythmic claps included.
Get Up! is 40-minutes and to the point. The combination of Charlie Musselwhite’s sensational harp and Ben Howard’s fiery guitar/lyrics blend well and its creation is something you can put on while working or playing. Harper and Musselwhite play as if they care about one thing: the blues. They don’t worry themselves with any other feats and it’s with this attitude that the album’s goal is achieved. “I think I’m gonna use this one” is spoken towards the final moments of closing track “All That Matters Now.” After it’s said, the other one laughs and the song winds down, the band gets up and the lights go off.