Tag Archives: Ben Folds

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Song of the Day #652: ‘Landed (a cappella version)’ – The Yale Spizzwinks(?)

One of the things I love about Ben Folds is how fully he embraces new ideas in his music. While Ben Folds Five was still together, he put out his first solo album under the moniker Fear of Pop. The album, Volume One, relied heavily on samples, electronica, spoken word pieces and ambient noise. The first single featured a deadpan William Shatner opining on the battle of the sexes.

He’s also taken in stride the Internet’s encroachment on the recording industry, releasing a series of EPs through his Web site between albums and adopting Twitter when it was first catching on. Recently he worked a Chat Roulette feature into his concert, improvising songs for a random string of chatters.

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Song of the Day #219: ‘The Frown Song’ – Ben Folds

Because I’ve left just one Ben Folds studio album uncovered, I’m adding a bonus day in order to cover all the bases.

Folds’ third solo offering, 2008’s Way to Normal, was a big step down for the man responsible for the albums I’ve covered over the past five days. While I found myself frustrated that I could pick only one song from each of the others CDs, in this case it was a struggle to pick one I like enough to feature.

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Song of the Day #218: ‘Late’ – Ben Folds

silvermanFolds’ second solo album, Songs for Silverman, contained his most mature and sublime work yet… almost on par with the first two Ben Folds Five albums.

I remember reading a lot of “fan” criticism that the album lacked the gutter humor and anarchic style of some of Folds’ earlier work and his live shows. As if the gorgeous ‘Jesusland‘ or achingly sweet ‘Gracie’ were somehow lacking. Give me a break! I love that Folds is able to excel in multiple styles.

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Song of the Day #217: ‘Annie Waits’ – Ben Folds

suburbsBen Folds’ first solo album, Rockin’ the Suburbs, could easily have been another Ben Folds Five album — more smart piano/bass/drums pop. It was also a step up from Reinhold Messner because Folds focused more on writing good songs than delivering an oddball concept album.

Still, in a way Rockin’ the Suburbs is a concept album in its own right. Almost all of its songs are character sketches, short stories told in three minutes’ time. And Folds proved to be an expert at these mini-narratives.

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Song of the Day #176: ‘You Don’t Know Me’ – Ben Folds

benfolds3Ten Best Songs of 2008 – #6

Yesterday I wrote about my biggest surprise of 2008… now I come to my biggest disappointment.

Ben Folds is one of my very favorite artists and through his career with both Ben Folds Five and as a soloist, he has almost never made a wrong step. But his latest album, Way to Normal, is his first to leave me cold.

Following his recent (and third) divorce, he decided to steer clear of the traditional breakup album and release something frivolous instead. And that’s fine. But this particular batch of songs is beneath his extraordinary talents — laden with unnecessary profanity and sophomoric humor, light on melody and heavy on monotony. I hope his next album steps up to the plate and apologizes for this one.

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