Ben Harper may be pure of heart in enlisting classic gospel act the Blind Boys of Alabama to collaborate with him on There Will Be a Light, but even the Blind Boys' graceful voices can't wholly redeem the jammy date-rock icon's platitudinous lyrics ("Take My Hand") and his generic barrelhouse-blues arrangements ("Wicked Man"). The traditional, a cappella "Mother Pray" is the best pure collaboration on the album, a mash of gospel austerity and soul pleading. But mostly the alliance works best when Harper hangs back a bit. "Where Could I Go," which plays like an elegantly spaced Fifties rock ballad, is a wonder, and the stark Bob Dylan composition "Well, Well, Well" sounds like a lost, brilliant 78-rpm side.

“He Will Break Your Heart”

A lightly swinging Latin-influenced, almost cha-cha groove and close harmonies decorated Jerry Butler's early soul hit "He Will Break Your Heart," delivering a stately warning that his rival would never love his girl like he did. The melody came to Butler as he was driving on the highway from Atlantic City, New Jersey, to Philadelphia with Curtis Mayfield, and as Butler told Rolling Stone, "I just sang the melody and Curtis put the chords to it." The song's premise, Butler added, "was something that I'd lived ...The lyric was an experience rather than a revelation. Whereas music is usually a revelation."