Album Review: Ben Harper & Charlie Musselwhite - Get Up!

There are some things that go well together: Bert and Ernie, Johnny and June, beer and peanuts. And there are some things that don't. The music world has seen its fair share of bad collaborations, including some shockers between 5ive and Queen, Bob Dylan and Kurtis Blow, and even Ozzy Osbourne and Miss Piggy. Enough said.

But good collaborations are a whole other chestnut. They can bring us the absolute sense of awe and triumph found when two artists merge into a monogamous marriage of sound. Congratulations on your engagement, Harper and Musselwhite, because Get Up! is something sweet.

This record is clearly a Ben Harper project: the versatile artist produces writes and lays down vocals and guitar on all of the tracks. But it is not Harper as we know him, with blues harmonica legend Charlie Musselwhite stripping back Harper's usually lyric-heavy style for tunes where songwriting is given a back-seat to a joyful explosion of musicianship. A simple fusion of acoustic guitar and harmonica opens and closes the album with Don't Look Twice and All That Matters Now. You Found Another Lover is classic Harper, while We Can't End This Way is the perfect vehicle for Musselwhite's fluttery harp.

Musselwhite is restrained, confident and strong throughout and Harper has successfully produced an album that knows when to kick, when to slide and when to sit back. A natural evolution for both musicians, Get Up! ultimately earns its titular exclamation point as a successful combination of two talented veterans feeding off each other's dusky, creative spirit.