Ben Harper's kinda like that cool documentary that's playing on one screen downtown that you've been meaning to catch for weeks now but somehow haven't been able to squeeze into your schedule although you've seen Romeo Must Die three times already. Harper has the right look and sound to be a subterranean music hero (his sound mixes protest folk and feedback rock, and his hairdo is a cross between Bob Dylan's and Jimi Hendrix's). But his songcraft--which is sometimes more about edginess than hooks--has always looked better on paper than it sounds on CD.
He's finally having a breakthrough moment, and...