Continuing a countdown of my favorite albums of 2005…
#4 – Songs for Silverman – Ben Folds
Ben Folds’ second solo album dropped the tongue-in-cheek, juvenile elements of his previous work in favor of a more mature, thoughtful song cycle. Some fans were disappointed in the direction, but I was delighted.
Don’t get me wrong… I love many of Folds’ silly songs. But I also love to see artists evolve and explore new territory, especially when they are as talented musically and lyrically as Ben Folds.
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.
Meet Me In Montauk 