Best Ben Folds/Ben Folds Five songs....

[Guest "Go, Mordecai!"]

Haha, I remember Dynamite Hack from that farmclub.com show that used to be on after Raw. I had their "Boyz in the Hood" cover they played until I lost all my MP3s.

 

Anyway, the ballads are his strongest songwriting achevements that really make you go "hey, this guy is something special" ("Brick," "Fred Jones Pt. 2," "Still Fighting It"), the anthemic rock stuff is great too but not his tippity-top best work ("Jackson Cannery," "Kate," "Army") and the comedy does little for me.

[C Dubya 04 0]

Yeah, the Boyz in the Hood cover is a lot of fun.

 

I'm not sure where Philosophy fits in, but it is excellent.

[King Kamala 0]

I'm potentially seeing him on May 9th playing with The Boston Pops. It would be my third time seeing him (A good but slightly blah show at The University of New Hampshire in May '05 and a really good show at The University of Maine last April were the other two times)

 

 

 

Should be interesting to say the least to see him play with one of the world's most famous orchestras.

[C Dubya 04 0]

I have a dvd of him playing with an Austrailian (I think Sydney) Orchestra and it is excellent, so I would expect the same with the Pops.

[King Kamala 0]

Don't know if I would call it one of my favorites but I really enjoy his cover of The Clash's "Lost In The Supermarket" from The Over The Hedge soundtrack. It's easily more fun than most everything off of Songs For Silverman (Which was a pretty big letdown IMO).

[SamoaRowe 0]

I felt let down with "Songs for Silverman" too, though it was still a solid album. I grew to appreciate more of the songs after hearing them live. The album still has a few great moments, like in "Time" and "Prison Food."

[daileyxplanet 0]

Am I the only one who likes "Not The Same" ?

[Guest "Go, Mordecai!"]

No, I really like that song too.

 

Quick thought re: the s/t, does anyone else think "Best Imitation Of Myself" should've opened the album rather than "Jackson Cannery"? It just feels so introductory, you know what I mean?

[C Dubya 04 0]

Yeah, I'd agree on that one. I'd also say that Best Imitation is one of his lyrically finest pieces. I think that it might be his best use of humor without overdoing it as a gimick in a song.

 

Songs for Silverman looking back is a good album, but like others I couldn't help but be disappointed in it. I think that it was the overly high expectations that I have for all of his stuff that did it in for me.

[Guest "Go, Mordecai!"]

No it's not. Sorry, Songs for Silverman is a pile of crap. Not by Ben Folds standards, by music standards. He wrote a song called "Jesusland," ferchrissakes. When you're writing songs based on Internet memes that weren't even funny, you're creatively bankrupt. What was the B-side for the single, "The Ballad of Star Wars Kid"?

[C Dubya 04 0]

Okay, that's fair.

[snuffbox 0]

I'm surprised so many posters here, myself included, like Ben Folds' music.

[King Kamala 0]

I don't think Songs for Silverman is as terrible as Czech does but it's certainly a pile of mediocrity. The best tracks on there (Bastard, Landed, Time) would be decent filler on Rockin' The Suburbs. It has its moments but I'd say it's a **1/2 album and that's being charitable.

 

 

 

Honestly, I like his EPs over Songs for Silverman. I always really like at least one song on the EPs, there wasn't a song I can say I really liked on Silverman.

[C Dubya 04 0]

I got the new "combo" of EPs (I think that I've dl'd most of the songs off of the EPs though). It is a little unsatisfying and feels kind of oddly put together. It's almost as though someone was just randomly pulling songs off of the releases and sticking them on.

[SamoaRowe 0]

There were several good songs on "Silverman" but also a bunch that I didn't care for.

 

"SuperSunnySpeedGraphic" really is just a "best of" of his internet work, so it really shouldn't be judged as a cohesive unit. The EP's themselves all clicked well together on their own and were excellent, so I too was let down a bit with "Silverman" because I had dug the EPs so much.

[Mecha Mummy 0]

The only song on Songs for Silverman I enjoyed, to my recollection, was "Landed," which was more than catchy enough to keep my attention. Everything else really bored me out of my mind.

[C Dubya 04 0]

Okay, so I listened to "Rockin' The Suburbs" last night on my drive home and now say I like the album as a whole. Maybe not quite as much as Whatever or Reinhold, but it's quite good.

 

The songs that really stand out for me on it are "Gone", "Fred Jones pt. II" and "Annie Waits". Annie Waits IMO is one of his best written (lyrically speaking) songs. I like the whole theme of the song and especially think that the line "and so, he forgot, he forgot, maybe not. Maybe he was seriously hurt. Would that be worse?" is really good.

 

Just my 2 cents.

[Fro 0]

"Sports and Wine" is a great rocker too

 

It's pretty much all been covered already besides that... but everything up to and including "Whatever and Ever Amen" is pure gold. There's also good stuff on Autobiography, but that's an entirely different tone.. first few songs + "Army" are amazing though. Rocking the Suburbs is great and his second best album. I don't really care for Saving Silverman. The EPs had their moments.

 

I really hope Folds records his next album with the drummer/bassist he's been touring with lately... they're like the Five... but better.

[Guest "Go, Mordecai!"]

I'm surprised so many posters here, myself included, like Ben Folds' music.

Explain?

[King Kamala 0]

I hate to bump an old thread. But rumor has it that Ben Folds will release an experimental (Fear of Pop Vol.2?), synth heavy record by the end of the year. I haven't heard much of Fear of Pop (Though I do have it on ITunes) but the two or three songs I've heard are....interesting to say the least. It's almost like Beck-lite.