Ben Folds - Way to Normal

[C Dubya 04 0]

I don't find the new Ben Folds album to be good.

[King Kamala 0]

I don't find the new Ben Folds album to be good.

 

Ain't this the truth. Songs For Silverman is no longer the worst Ben Folds album. I'll grant that this is more ambitious than that but this falls flat on its face hard. He lays it on way too thick with the goofy shit. That said, I'll listen to it a couple more times to see if my mind changes.

[Guest C*Z*E*C*H]

Ben Folds is DONE, you guys. It's only now obvious in hindsight, but did he have an expiration date on his forehead or what. Oh well. We'll always have Rockin' the Suburbs and the Ben Folds Five albums. Go gently into that good night of scoring films.

[King Kamala 0]

Ben Folds is DONE, you guys. It's only now obvious in hindsight, but did he have an expiration date on his forehead or what. Oh well. We'll always have Rockin' the Suburbs and the Ben Folds Five albums. Go gently into that good night of scoring films.

 

Yeah, you're probably right. I'd hate to write someone off after one bad album but I'm game after two.

[Guest Czecherbear]

I spun this thread off in hopes of sparking further Ben Folds discussion. Also, I listened to this today to see if it got any better. No, not really. "You Don't Know Me" would've been better on a forthcoming Regina Spektor album (is there one? I hope there is!), since it's her vocals and general style (those protoolsed string-synths and drum loops are very Begin to Hope, not many extended jazz chords here) that make the song any damn good. It's interesting that he did a duet with her, since she's taken the relay baton from Ben in a few regards, for those of us who enjoy weirdos banging pianos. The rest of it...I'm sorry, but "the bitch went nuts, she photoshopped my face"? So this is how it is now? Barf.

[Smartly Pretty 0]

Wikipedia says that there is a forthcoming Regina Spektor album. Let's talk about her instead. She's a Jewish piano player from Fair Lawn, New Jersey. She's drinking something strong out of a bottle on the Soviet Kitsch cover. She's the hottest ugly chick ever.

[devo 0]

Whatever and Ever Amen is a fantastic album. "One Angry Dwarf And 200 Solemn Faces" is one of my favorite opening songs. "Brick" is not as powerful as it once was but still deeply emotional. "Kate" is what I want out of every rock ballad - it's energetic and fun, but still a song filled with love and admiration for the subject. And "Steven's Last Night in Town" is one of my favorite tracks ever to sing along too.

 

"Selfless, Cold and Composed" is my favorite track on the disc, though. There's a certain cool jazziness about the instrumentals (particularly the piano, but the drums are nice too) that makes me smile and gives me chills at the same time. The tracks they added on the re-release are kind of a mixed bag. "Video Killed The Radio Star" and "She Don't Use Jelly" are competent, interesting covers. "The Theme of Dr. Pyser" and "For All the Pretty People" are excellent instrumental songs on different ends of the spectrum. The rest is kinda just there.

[Guest Czecherbear]

I prefer the minimalist stuff from 11:11 and Songs to all the busy electronic stuff on Begin to Hope (I suppose Soviet Kitsch is sort of a transitional), but I grew to love "On the Radio." Oh oh! I discovered Nellie McKay around the same time and I like her better, but Regina's cool too. My sister is a bigger fan than I am.

 

Yeah, "Selfless, Cold, and Composed" is pretty awesome. I don't share your love for the opener, but "Evaporated" is a great closer. I have to fix your post because it's bothering me.

[devo 0]

Haha, I don't mind. I don't talk about music very often so I'm not as familiar with the grammatical rules as I should be.

[Smartly Pretty 0]

I don't particularly mind all the fun stuff on Begin To Hope, but I love pop music. I still really like her vocal part on that Strokes song. Nellie McKay isn't somebody I'm familiar with. I'll investigate.

[King Kamala 0]

Ranking Ben Folds/Ben Folds Five

 

1. Ben Folds Five

2. Whatever and Ever Amen

3. Rockin' The Suburbs

4. The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner (Really the Top 4 are interchangable. For a while I thought this was more of an interesting misfire but the more I listen to it over the years, the more I like it)

5. Supersunnyspeedgraphic, The LP

6. Songs For Silverman

7. Way To Normal

 

If we're ranking live albums and outtakes albums, I'd put Ben Folds Live at #3, above Reinhold Messner and RTS but below the first two albums.. I'd put Naked Baby Photos above the last two solo albums but below Supersunnyspeedgraphic. I'm not sure where I'd put Songs for Goldfish or Fear of Pop as I haven't listened to either more than a few times.

[PUT THAT DICK IN MY MOUTH! 0]

The rest of it...I'm sorry, but "the bitch went nuts, she photoshopped my face"? So this is how it is now? Barf.

 

Is that a real lyric?

[Mecha Mummy 0]

4. The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner (Really the Top 4 are interchangable. For a while I thought this was more of an interesting misfire but the more I listen to it over the years, the more I like it)

 

See, that's exactly what happened to me too. The first two or three or so times I tried to listen to that it just didn't work for me, and then something about when I listened to it last time made it seriously click for me and now I enjoy it on about the same level as the other two Ben Folds Five records. And I really don't know how or why it happened; I still get sort of bored with some of the stuff in the middle stretch but it opens and closes really strong and that's basically how I felt about their other two albums as well.

[panthermatt7 0]

The rest of it...I'm sorry, but "the bitch went nuts, she photoshopped my face"? So this is how it is now? Barf.

 

Is that a real lyric?

 

 

"The Bitch Went Nuts"

Artist: Ben Folds

 

The bitch went nuts

She stabbed my basketball

And the speakers to my stereo

She called me cunt

But nothing prepared me for

What I found when I came home

 

Oh and I

Make my own bed

I lie in it

You lie in yours (you lie, you lie in yours)

But they want more

They're at my door

With torches

Please leave me alone

You know just shut it just shut it just shut it

 

The bitch went nuts

She photoshopped my face (shopped his face)

On to every boy who'd done her wrong

Then she burned them telepathically

Onto the brains of all her embittered drones

 

Oh now

Now they want more

They're at my door

With torches, scores and scores and scores

To settle with themselves

Who would have thought

I'd scorned them all

They've got a doll of me

They're burning, they're burning, they're burnin

Their own memories

 

Why do they all know? (Go!)

 

The bitch went nuts y'all

But everyone said she might

Oh, holy fuckin' shit

Seriously now

Now they want more

they're at my door

with torches, scores and scores

You would have thought

I'd scorned them all

They've got a doll of me

They're burnin'

 

Why do they all know? (Go!)

 

As a pianist, I'm still required to be a Folds fan -- his live shows are incredible (I've been to two, one as a headliner and one opening for John Mayer). I do take his new albums with a grain of salt, though.

[Guest Czecherbear]

That's like concentrated bad, but I guess even "The Best Imitation of Myself" would be kind of hokey and lame if it were coming from circa-2008 Ben instead of circa-'95. He can still write music, like, you know, notes, but he's just too old to keep playing the Ben Folds character like this, and efforts to write like a grown-up are clunkers too, so what's he to do?

[King Kamala 0]

I suggest he does kids movie scores ala Randy Newman (I think you suggested this earlier, Czech). Either that or do a nostalgia reunion tour with Ben Folds Five. I think he's got to strike while the iron is hot for '90s nostalgia.

 

I'm sure he still does a damn good live show though. I'd put a Ben Folds show I went to on the night of the '06 NCAA Men's Basketball Finals in Orono, Maine in the upper-echelon of great concerts I've been to.

[C Dubya 04 0]

Well, he did basically do the soundtrack/score for "Over the Hedge" and I thought that worked out really well.

 

I'm a Ben mark, so I'm holding out hope that he'll turn it around and this album was a result of him getting bitter over a messy divorce (note, I have no idea if his divorce was messy or not, I'm just hoping it was to add to his bitterness and increase my own level of hope in a potential turn around, whew).

[SamoaRowe 0]

I actually like Way to Normal quite a bit. Not every song clicks (don't really care for Dr. Yang) and a few others are generally good songs with a few awkward lyrics here and there ("Cologne" sets a good atmosphere, but is lyrically weak). However, I can't see how everyone who states that they have been big Ben Folds fans in the past can hate songs like "Brainwascht" or "Kylie from Connecticut." "Kylie" in particular sounds like it would have fit in perfectly on "Rockin' The Suburbs."

 

Either way, it's not his best work, but is far superior to Songs for Silverman.

[King Kamala 0]

*bump*

 

Listened to this again on account of a non Ben Folds fan telling me he liked it. Still not very good. "You Don't Know Me" is the only one I really like. There are few songs that are tolerable and the rest is crap.

 

I'm not sure where I stand on the worst album argument. Way To Normal aims higher and falls flat on its face. Songs For Silverman aims much lower and almost succeeds. I enjoyed three songs on that one, which is two more than Way To Normal. As for his next step, I think he should probably do a back to basics album ala the first two Ben Folds Five albums. Just piano, drums, and bass. It's a pipe dream but I can hop.e

[Skywarp! 0]

He needs the rest of the "Five" to ground him. They added that extra "oomph" to the rockers (propulsive drums, funky fuzz-bass) that is sorely missing from Folds' solo attempts, and they also made his slow songs sound heartbreakingly sad and sincere, while in Folds' solo world they just sound like souless soccer mom-pop.

 

They also were amazing harmonizers together. There were but three of them but they could fill a room with their "AAAHHHs". On the flipslide, I don't think I can stand to listen to one more Folds song where he layers his own voice several times to create the world's douchiest clone choir with bad teeth.

[Guest Czech please!]

"Brainwascht" has grown on me precisely because it reminds me of what I liked about Rockin' the Suburbs, but the rest of the album is still really bad. Even "Kylie From Connecticut" is weak and predictable and does nothing for me. I'm not moved. I'm just knee-deep in schmaltz.

 

There shouldn't be a next step for Ben Folds if it involves writing songs, recording them, and putting them on an album. The magic is gone. Let's just treasure what we have. Like "Where's Summer B?", for example. There are those awesome room-filling "AHHHHs" of which you speak. Or "Philosophy." What a great song.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

I can't believe I didn't make a "more like Gay to Normal" joke back in December.

[Skywarp! 0]

Gay to Normal sounds like a concept album about a homosexual and his Christian Conservative family attempting to "rehabilitate" him. Particualrly if his father was a high-profile Evangelical minister or a Deep South Senator.

 

 

[King Kamala 0]

There shouldn't be a next step for Ben Folds if it involves writing songs, recording them, and putting them on an album. The magic is gone. Let's just treasure what we have. Like "Where's Summer B?", for example. There are those awesome room-filling "AHHHHs" of which you speak. Or "Philosophy." What a great song.

 

Yeah, I'll still end up burning my younger brother's copies of his albums but I'm not buying his shit anymore. Like I said earlier, you can get a pass for one bad album but two bad albums in a row...you're

I'll still see him live though. I haven't had the opportunity to see him on this tour yet but I saw him twice on the last tour and he ranks up there in the pantheon of great live acts. I think his solo band is underused- they sound nearly good as the Five live and their harmonies are pretty good but his last album was so drenched in studio wankery that it was hard to tell.

 

Since I've ranked Ben Folds' albums, let's do Top 5 favorite songs...

5. "Best Imitation of Myself"

4. "Battle of Who Could Care Less"

3. "Don't Change Your Plans"

2. "Magic"

1. "Alice Childress"

[Guest Czech please!]

I believe Edwin and I had a dust-up over the merits of Ben Folds Five like a year and a half ago. A winner was never formally declared, though I think I got him to admit that "Philosophy" was pretty cool or something.

 

My of-the-moment Top 10 and reliably timeless Top 5 for band and solo, resp.:

 

01 Brick

02 Philosophy

03 Kate

04 Smoke

05 Where's Summer B.?

06 Magic

07 The Best Imitation of Myself

08 Steven's Last Night in Town

09 Alice Childress

10 Army

 

1. Not the Same

2. Annie Waits

3. Fred Jones, Pt. 2

4. Still Fighting It

5. You Don't Know Me

 

Damning indictment of his solo career that four of the five are from one album, with nothing from Silverman or the EPs cracking the list. It was "You Don't Know Me" or "Give Judy My Notice," but hey, Regina.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

It was "Best Imitation of Myself" that I liked. And, if I recall, "Sports and Wine" that killed that buzz and made me want to rape all over again.

[C Dubya 04 0]

I believe Edwin and I had a dust-up over the merits of Ben Folds Five like a year and a half ago. A winner was never formally declared, though I think I got him to admit that "Philosophy" was pretty cool or something.

 

My of-the-moment Top 10 and reliably timeless Top 5 for band and solo, resp.:

 

01 Brick

02 Philosophy

03 Kate

04 Smoke

05 Where's Summer B.?

06 Magic

07 The Best Imitation of Myself

08 Steven's Last Night in Town

09 Alice Childress

10 Army

 

1. Not the Same

2. Annie Waits

3. Fred Jones, Pt. 2

4. Still Fighting It

5. You Don't Know Me

 

Damning indictment of his solo career that four of the five are from one album, with nothing from Silverman or the EPs cracking the list. It was "You Don't Know Me" or "Give Judy My Notice," but hey, Regina.

 

I'm surprised with Brick as your number 1, as to me that hasn't held up all that great.

 

My top ten Ben would be:

1. Philosophy

2. Battle of Who Could Care Less

3. Mess

4. Fair

5. Fred Jones, Pt. 2

6. Army

7. Annie Waits

8. Best Imitation

9. Alice Childress

10. Eddie Walker

 

 

These probably would change though if I sat down and listened to each album end to end right now.

[King Kamala 0]

It was "Best Imitation of Myself" that I liked. And, if I recall, "Sports and Wine" that killed that buzz and made me want to rape all over again.

 

Yeah, "Sports and Wine" is one of the few duds off of the self titled debut. I've also never been a fan of "Uncle Walter" or "Julianne" but they're more middling than outright terrible. Everything else is good to great. I'd say Whatever and Ever Amen has a more solid set of songs but the highs are higher on the debut.

 

I originally meant my Top 5 to be a composite of Five and solo songs but no solo songs happened to make the list.

 

Well I'll do Top 5 solo then

5. Bitches Ain't Shit (I'm 98.2% sure that Czech's not a fan of this one but this is about as well made of a novelty cover as you can get)

4. Zak and Sara

3. Still Fighting It

2. Not The Same

1. Annie Waits

[C Dubya 04 0]

Off the solo stuff, I really think that Gone is pretty great too. I always forget to include that one, but I love the "I wake up, in the night" part of the song.

 

 

Oh, also, I think that Bitches Ain't Shit is just fantastic by Ben. It's one of the few novelty covers that for me lasts longer than one or two listens.

[Guest Czech please!]

It's everything that I can't stand about Ben Folds, the preciously profane songs where you can tell how impressed he is with himself for melodically singing "fuck" and "bitch." Obviously, he'd been doing that to some extent even on the first two Five albums, which are awesome, of course, but it hadn't become an act-defining conceit till fairly recently, concurrent with him no longer being very good.