Ben Folds By Track – Track #9

See here for the idea behind this series of blogs. Here we go onto the next tracks from the Ben Folds (Five) catalog. The Tracks Nines were a bit stronger than I was anticipating, which made ranking them slightly more difficult. It almost ended up being a three-way tie for third.

“Best Imitation of Myself” from “Ben Folds Five” – Sad female story of this blog: Being as how I really started listening to BFF with “Whatever,” this album was largely unknown to me at the time. What introduced it to me, somewhat pathetically, was a quote that some girl had on her Bolt.com profile, which was a very early version of a social media site. She quoted a line from this song and for some reason I had to pick up the album. No regrets on that at all. However, for some reason, I remember that her screen name was “AdrienneC” and that she was from Connecticut. And, no, she is not the person that I met on that site that would later cause me to move to CT, get married, and get divorced. Just an odd coincidence I suppose.
“Steven’s Last Night in Town” from “Whatever and Ever Amen” – One of my favorite BFF songs. Has one of the best openings of any BFF in my opinion. You could ask my friend Megan about this, since when I made a mixed tape for her back in high school; I kept repeating the beginning before getting on with the song on her tape. Epic. I told my high school band teacher that I would have been in jazz band if we played a song like this. Alas, he said no.
“Brainwascht” from “Way to Normal” – Another song that was previously a “Song of the Week” back in the day. I’ll let you check that link out to check out some other links as to what this song is about. Another good song from this album.
“From Above” from “Lonely Avenue” – The first “official” single from this album, and probably for good reason. Though if you don’t listen to adult contemporary or some other kind of station, you’d probably hear it. If it was me, I would have chosen the next song off this album as the first single, but that’s just me.
“Not the Same” from “Suburbs” – A song about a man climbing a tree while tripping on acid and becoming a born-again Christian. A very good song, and seems to be popular when played at concerts. Also on the “University A Capella” album, with what I think is a wrong word, but I digress.
“Regrets” from “Reinhold Messner” – I like some of the percussion on this song, and the song is about regrets from growing up. It fits well with the past few tracks of this album.
“Sentimental Guy” from “Silverman” – The second half of this album overall is not that great, but it’s alright. If anything, this song displays the range of Folds’ singing voice.

Average ranking by album to this point, even though by this point I think “Suburbs” is going to “win”:

“Rockin’ the Suburbs” – 2.3 (21)
“Whatever and Ever Again” – 3.4 (31)
“Way to Normal” – 4.1 (37)
“Ben Folds Five” – 4.2 (38)
“Songs for Silverman” – 4.4 (40)
“Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner” – 4.6 (41)
“Lonely Avenue” – 4.8 (43)

Until next time…

Ben Folds By Track – Track #8

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. Definitely need to finish this in time for the concert, and so that I can get working on some other writing projects I’ve been neglecting.

“Password” from “Lonely Avenue” – The second half of this album, at least in my opinion, really helps to redeem the overall quality in whole. This song is no exception. I like the spelling of key words from the verses during the refrains, and the anger expressed in the final refrain about being lied to, yet another song written after a breakup.
“Carrying Cathy” from “Suburbs” – This is a good song, and it really picks up at the end. The individual songs from this album do not make it my favorite so far, but the combination of all of them and Ben Folds’ ability to sing from different perspectives in all the songs that make it, at least so far, my favorite Ben Folds album. However, we’ll have to see how this all plays out as we get closer to the Track Twelves, which I think is about how far this will end up going when all is said and done.
“Bitch Went Nuts” from “Way to Normal” – This song is alright, but I like the “fake” version of this song better. Like many other songs, this is a song obviously written from the viewpoint after a relationship ends and how she overreacted just a bit.
“Uncle Walter” from “Ben Folds Five” – This song helps the album recover from the odd “Sports and Wine” and includes humorous lyrics to boot. I have always liked this song.
“Late” from “Silverman” – This song was written after a friend of Folds died, and includes lyrics that he wishes he could have told him before he died, kind of a eulogy in song format.
“Cigarette” from “Whatever and Ever Amen” – Short, but decent, song. Mentions Fred Jones, so often referred to as “Fred Jones, Part One.”
“Your Most Valuable Possession” from “Reinhold Messner” – A answering machine from Ben Folds’ dad, with some piano in the background. Meh.

Average ranking by album to this point:

“Rockin’ the Suburbs” – 2 (16)
“Whatever and Ever Again” – 3.6 (29)
“Songs for Silverman” – 4.1 (33)
“Way to Normal” – 4.3 (34)
“Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner” – 4.4 (35)
“Ben Folds Five” – 4.6 (37)
“Lonely Avenue” – 4.9 (39)

Until next time…

Ben Folds By Track – Track #7

“Free Coffee” from “Way to Normal” – This song really shows Ben Folds’ talent with making his piano sound like something other than a piano. I don’t know how he gave it the unique sound in the studio, but I know when he plays this song live, he feeds the piano through some sort of distortion and puts a tin of Altoids and a pie tin on the strings of the piano. Besides that, the song is about how he is treated differently now that he is rich compared to when he was not. I really like this song.
“Losing Lisa” from “Suburbs” – Due to the overall weakness of the Track Sevens, this song cracks the top half of the rankings. It’s not that it is a bad song; it is simply very similar to a lot of the other songs on “Suburbs” (“Zak and Sara,” “Carrying Cathy,” and “Annie Waits” come to mind).
“Give Judy My Notice” from “Silverman” – I like this song, but I like it better as the version that is on one of the EPs that he released. I don’t really like the arrangement and sound from the “Silverman” album.
“Claire’s Ninth” from “Lonely Avenue” – This song assists this album in getting better as it goes along. I really enjoy some of the orchestrations of the song and the overall feel of the entire track.
“Your Redneck Past” from “Reinhold Messner” – A decent song to follow “Army,” but not that strong overall. As this album heads into the last half, this is not a great way to start it, but the next few tracks aren’t really that great either, leading into probably the best finishing Ben Folds song at Track 12.
“Smoke” from “Whatever and Ever Amen” – A decent song in its own right, but kind of nondescript. I don’t really know how to describe it.
“Sports and Wine” from “Ben Folds Five” – A disappointing follow-up on the album to “Underground” for sure. Real peppy, and fits well with a lot of the early BFF songs, but not that good overall.

Average ranking by album to this point:

“Rockin’ the Suburbs” – 2 (14)
“Whatever and Ever Again” – 3.3 (23)
“Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner” – 4 (28)
“Songs for Silverman” – 4 (28)
“Way to Normal” – 4.4 (31)
“Ben Folds Five” – 4.7 (33)
“Lonely Avenue” – 5.4 (38)

Until next time…

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?

“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.
(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.
(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.
“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.
“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.
“Trusted” from “Silverman” – See “The Ascent of Stan.” A decent song, just not on par with some of the other Track Sixes.
“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:

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

Until next time…