On The Will to Live, Ben Harper's third full- length release, we find the artist who has always been critically acclaimed but never commercially accepted trying to cover all his bases at once. And at times, it's a mess.

Unlike the shocking nakedness of Harper's amazing debut, Welcome to the Cruel World or the grace of Harper's second album, Fight for Your Mind, The Will to Live is overblown and saturated with needless effects and extracurricular instrumental voicings.

Harper again hooks up with J.P. Plunier, his long-time producer, this time pulling no punches. The lead track (and first single), "Faded", is a perfect example of Harper and Plunier's excess. The thick decay on Harper's acoustic Weissenborn overwhelms the music itself. Pile this on top of the flanging and panning that Harper's vocals are bathed in, and you're left wanting to rescue Ben from the studio. To make matters worse, right when you're sure the break is about to start, it does. All the electric instruments cut out and a couple of twelve string guitars pluck around for a while, until Ben's affected vocal begins a slow fade back in.

Harper's voice, normally hushed and fragile, often ends up harshly overamplified on "Will". This heinous production saps Harper's tones of their slow- burning intensity and feeling. In addition, Harper's lyrics, which have always teetered on the edge of causing a saccharine overdose, rush headlong into Hallmark land. The biting social commentary that once marked Harper's terrain has vanished.

But all is not lost, since Harper still glows on occasion. "Ashes" is an Appalachia- rooted loping waltz that rises above its greeting card libretto thanks to a lovely acoustic combine of guitars and mandolins, with a tenor sax thrown in for good measure. Harper's backup band, The Innocent Criminals, returns, albeit with a shift in line-up. New drummer Dean Butterworth proves capable, but the world music feel that former drummer Leon Mobley brought is definitely missed. Bassist Juan Nelson turns in his finest performance yet, punching out a bass sound as thick and round as Pam Grier's booty. On "Mama's Trippin," Nelson's licks approach the realms of Victor Wooten.

Overall, The Will to Live isn't horrible. From any other artist, this could be considered a breakthrough album. Harper, though, has set his own stakes high, and now he has to find the will to live up to them.

-Lang Whitaker