July 1 - Pleasure and Pain

I was introduced to Ben Harper very much the same way I was introduced to later Grateful Dead: through Norma Waterson. Her first solo album, simply called Norma Waterson, was released in 1996, and I would not have known about it had it not been for the fact that Richard Thompson played guitar on it, and my friend Thomas picked it up as the Richard Thompson completist he is. Grateful Dead's Black Muddy River is one of the standout tracks - but to me, the star of the show was a little song by Ben Harper called Pleasure and Pain. While I like her version of it, Ben Harper's naked version of it, from his debut album, Welcome To The Cruel World, is to me a couple of notches better. Ben Harper is a great singer, but an even better guitar player, so please enjoy!