Release date: 13-11-2008

2008 UK 12-Track vinyl Lp edition, Pressing on Premium 180-HQ vinyl- Ben's 6th solo album, produced by John Alagia [John Mayer, Dave Matthews Band, continues Ben's trademark pop craftsmanship, sense of humor & uncontainable passion for life as well as representing a markedmaturity in form; with guest appearances by Mandy Moore, Benji Madden [Good Charlotte], Benmont Tench [Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers], Rachael Yamagata, the members of Rooney, Sara Watkins [Nickel Creek] and Charlotte Martin - Stickered & sealed in colour sleeve.

Tracks:
01. Love Me Like The World Is Ending
02. American Television
03. Birds And Bees - featuring Mandy Moore
04. Is This How Love's Supposed To Feel?
05. Blush
06. Numb
07. What Would Jay-Z Do?
08. Sex Without Love
09. Home
10. So Hungry
11. Just Say Yes
12. Ripe

An internationally acclaimed song ("Catch My Disease") that made the playlist for both a hit television drama and computer advertisement did nothing to alter Australia's Ben Lee. He remains youthful (still, at age 28), eminently fruitful (this marks his seventh album), and capable of surrendering addictive after captivating song (see "Love Me Like the World Is Ending," "Just Say Yes," and a half-dozen others on this 12-song set).

Not surprisingly, Ripe rides a similar vibe to 2005's Awake Is the New Sleep: quick-and-dirty pop melodies polished with chiming guitars, piano fills, and Lee's exuberant, boyish vocals. Love and affection provide a common thread, blatantly exposing themselves on the interrogatory "Is This How Love's Supposed to Feel" and "Just Say Yes," where Lee asks, "If this is right, then why resist?" while purely insinuating infatuation on both "Blush" and "Numb." The indie veteran's camaraderie pays off on "Sex Without Love," where Good Charlotte's Benji Madden joins him on a chorus dangerously Def Leppardish and the Greaselike "Birds and Bees," with pop diva Mandy Moore playing Olivia Newton-John to Lee's John Travolta. The latter plays hokey for one or two listens before dissolving into the record's delightful sequence.