Ben Harper - Diamonds On The Inside • CDs • Vinyl Records • LPs • Music Albums

seems to be singing about some spangly rock chick, he's crooning about the Queen of Heaven -- at least that's the case with "When She Believes," a lullaby that's all accordions, harps and fuzzy-blanket chords.

Harper works out of a tradition that is older than rock: the African-American church and its more secular members' tradition of blending gospel righteousness with pop grooves. "Brown Eyed Blues" is good wah-wah funk, but it's Harper's quavering, weak-with-lust vocal that makes it irresistible. He understands that pop music isn't just a parade of brand-new things -- it's about reinvention, too.

On Diamonds on the Inside, Harper does better than that: He blows up like an inheritor and improves upon his influences with a few jewels of unique and exquisitely tender rock & roll.

PAT BLASHILL
(From RS 918, March 20, 2003)