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C Dubya 04

Ben Folds - Way to Normal

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I don't know---those types of songs are not my favorite and his swearing generally does come off as forced and cloying but "Bitches Ain't Shit" is a well done parody/homage. The G-Funk synthesizers really drive the song home...that and the British guy.

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It's also not like he added a bunch of swears to a clean song he was covering.

 

 

I was randomly listening to "The Secret Life of Morgan Davis" last night, and I think that's one song where Ben's swearing comes off perfect. It's unexpected, but not overly corny.

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Yeah, I really dig "The Secret Life of Morgan Davis" as well. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that most of The Rockin' The Suburbs b-sides are better than anything off of his last two albums. The only one I recall not really liking was the boy band spoof ("Girl" I think it was called) and that wasn't actively bad, just one of those songs that's just a forgettable goof B side.

 

Did I ever mention on the board that the last time I saw Ben Folds live, he randomly decided to play "The Secret Life of Morgan Davis". This is pretty cool in itself but he forgot the words somewhere in the second verse and my younger brother (who drove up to the show with me but for some reason was in another part of the auditorium) shouted out the lyrics, leading to Ben inviting him up onstage to finish the song. That was perhaps the greatest concert moment I've witnessed.

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Since we're talking about Folds live, I guess I should add that the beginning of the end for me may have been his Live album. I'm embarrassed to admit this, since having a fanbase ruin an artist for you is kind of a douchebag reason for not liking an artist anymore, but the perfectly-sung crowd participation moments started me down the road to being an ex-fan. At that moment, I began to envision snotty, suburban, pleated khaki, high-school theatre dorks as Folds' target audience (despite myself being a suburbanite at the time who was a theatre dork in his H.S. past). Next, there was nothing I really appreciated in the EPs except maybe "Give Judy My Notice." Third, I wasn't compelled to buy Songs for Silverman after hearing the sample clips. Finally, Ben "it's funny when you say 'fuck and 'bitch' in piano pop" Folds released this latest album with song titles like "Effington." I'm still a little intrigued, but the tipping point to me flat out disliking him is wondering how I can take someone seriously that fills his albums with love songs like "The Luckiest" yet just completed something like his fourth (?) divorce. I know it's not all related to the music, but he's seriously getting on my nerves.

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Hey now, I was a snotty, pleated khaki wearing high school theatre dork...I believe Czech was as well (though he was probably more band geek than theatre geek). Naturally, I enjoy Ben Folds Live as well as his less heralded, second live album Songs For Goldfish. My brother also has a few bootlegs and from what I've heard, those sound pretty good as well.

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Guest Czech please!

I can't stand audience singalongs either in this case. Of course, it was cool when I stood on an aluminum picnic bench and off-key yelled the lyrics to "Carolina Hard-Core Ecstasy" while semi-rhythmically swaying, but that's different. That's getting into the spirit of the music you love. Having been at a Ben Folds concert with the audience singalongs, it didn't feel like a genuine outpouring of enthusiasm that the music elicited, it was more of the meeting of expectations for a Ben Folds gig, where you and your ppers communally rise up to Be Part Of The Show by singing along with the lyrics or even singing them in lieu of the person whom you paid to see.

 

I raised objections with "The Luckiest" becoming a sorry piece of crap once he left the wife/mom of his kids for whom he wrote it, but someone told me I was stupid for connecting the author and his work. I submit that you can do that when the artist puts himself out there to forge a connection with the listeners and you're able to forge a connection with him. So many of Ben Folds's songs are about Being Ben Folds A Particular Dorky Musician From North Carolina; it's not like it's just a Brill Building love song or something where it doesn't matter who penned it. On that basis, "The Luckiest" isn't just a punctured bubble of schmaltz, it's dishonest and fraudulent and really makes me kinda mad.

 

I was a band geek and part-time theatre geek and forensics/mock trial geek. Yikers. At least I can say I wasn't a techie, with the teenstache and misplaced confidence that comes with knowing how to climb a scaffold and put a sheet of cellophane over a light.

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Hey now, I was a snotty, pleated khaki wearing high school theatre dork...I believe Czech was as well (though he was probably more band geek than theatre geek). Naturally, I enjoy Ben Folds Live as well as his less heralded, second live album Songs For Goldfish. My brother also has a few bootlegs and from what I've heard, those sound pretty good as well.

 

You can usually find a few torrents of his live shows at etree.

 

Speaking of live Ben shows, I've never once been satisfied with the length of the show after seeing him. He's been good to great each time, but it always ends a lot sooner than expected.

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Last time I saw him I thought he went about a half hour too long. He played for like three hours. It was odd....great show overall though, just too much Songs For Silverman crap at the beginning.

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