See here for the idea behind this series of blogs. Here we go onto the next tracks from the Ben Folds (Five) catalog. Since some of the albums will only have 11 tracks, this might be those albums last chance to improve their overall “score.”
- “Saskia Hamilton” from “Lonely Avenue” – According to Nick Hornby, Saskia Hamilton is a real writer, and he wrote the lyrics to the song as if there was a fan of her that is semi-stalker creepy about her. The music that Folds placed with the lyrics is what really completes the song in my opinion.
- “Effington” from “Way to Normal” – “Effington” is not the name of the town that is on the way to Normal, Illinois. It is actually Effingham. Either way, I do like this song. Folds wrote the song, or at least came up with the idea while driving past the aforementioned Effingham while on tour or something. The a capella version of this song is good and features his children.
- “Rockin’ the Suburbs” from “Suburbs” – Folds went a little outside his comfort zone on this song, including the first appearance of electric guitar on a Ben Folds song. The song is alright, and the version he wrote for “Over the Hedge” is also okay, but I don’t think it will stack up well against the other Track Tens.
- “Battle of Who Could Care Less” from “Whatever and Ever Amen” – Great song to follow “Steven’s Last Night in Town,” and some of the best song writing from the BFF days.
- “Time” from “Silverman” – This song is probably best known (maybe) for the background vocals provided by “Weird” Al Yankovic. If you can call any song featuring those two performers as being famous.
- “Jane” from “Reinhold Messner” – I don’t know how to really describe this song, but the melodic feel of the song really fits well with the last three tracks of this album.
- “Video” from “Ben Folds Five” – Another nondescript song from the BFF days. Apparently, this was one of the earliest written BFF songs according to other interviews that Ben Folds has given.
Average ranking by album to this point:
- “Rockin’ the Suburbs” – 2.4 (24)
- “Whatever and Ever Again” – 3.5 (35)
- “Way to Normal” – 3.9 (39)
- “Lonely Avenue” – 4.4 (44)
- “Ben Folds Five” – 4.5 (45)
- “Songs for Silverman” – 4.5 (45)
- “Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner” – 4.7 (47)
Until next time…
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