Ben Folds By Track – Track #6

See here for the idea behind this series of blogs. Here we go onto the next tracks from the Ben Folds (Five) catalog. Even though I was unable to attend the concert on the 17th, I thought I should at least finish this little project, so here we go. However, now that a concert has been added in New York City on December 14th, it might not be all for naught. Just need to find someone to accompany me to the show before I buy tickets. Maybe someone that already lives in New York?

1. “Underground” from “Ben Folds Five” – One of my all-time favorites. I think he’s played this live one time when I was at a concert, and I was very excited. This song was also a “Song of the Week” when I was doing that back in the day. I love the lyrics, especially since I’ve been out of high school for (over) ten years.
2. (tie)”Army” from “Reinhold Messner” – Of course I like this song, even though it is not really about the Army except for the first line. However, it is probably one of my favorite songs when performed live because of audience participation with the trumpet/sax part prior to the end of the song.
3. (tie)”Kate” from “Whatever and Ever Amen” – I think this might be the first track so far with a tie. Either way, this is one of the songs that really got me liking BFF back in the day.
4. “Practical Amanda” from “Lonely Avenue” – One of the better songs from this album in my opinion. It really helps set up the second half of the album, redeeming it from some of the earlier songs on the album.
5. “The Ascent of Stan” from “Suburbs” – It’s not that I dislike this song. It’s just that some of the other Track Sixes were so much better. This song does feature more great piano playing from Mr. Folds.
6. “Trusted” from “Silverman” – See “The Ascent of Stan.” A decent song, just not on par with some of the other Track Sixes.
7. “Errant Dog” from “Way to Normal” – Kind of a strange song that I am still trying to understand. Not a favorite.

Average ranking by album to this point:

1. “Rockin’ the Suburbs” – 2 (12)
2. “Whatever and Ever Again” – 2.8 (17)
3. “Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner” – 3.8 (23)
4. “Songs for Silverman” – 4.2 (25)
5. “Ben Folds Five” – 4.3 (26)
6. “Way to Normal” – 5 (30)
7. “Lonely Avenue” – 5.7 (34)

Until next time…