You may have already read my Way to Normal review, and if you read this blog at all, you already know that Katie and I are pretty big fans of Mr. Benjamin Scott Folds. I fell in love with Ben Folds Five just after they broke up and right before Ben released his first solo album Rockin' the Suburbs. Their guitarless trio blew my mind away and songs like "Philosophy" and "Selfless, Cold and Composed" made me fall in love with my piano again. Their sound was brilliantly simple yet fantastically original and I couldn't get enough. Seven years later, Ben Folds Five remains one of the cornerstones of my musical education and Ben Folds continues to captivate and inspire me. His music has grown more mature and intricate since the days of "Song for the Dumped", but it is just as refreshingly original and unique.
When Way to Normal came out, I read an interesting review on Amazon.com that suggested Ben had taken a step back from his previous album, Songs for Silverman, and had lost some of his maturity and songwriting complexity. To some extent I agree, Way to Normal is not the introspective album Songs for Silverman is. I see Way to Normal as a return to form or throwback to the days of "Song for the Dumped" (listen to "Bitch Went Nuts") and "Uncle Walter" (listen to "Errant Dog") - cheeky, brash, harmless yet musically compelling songs that are more in line with Ben's collection of EPs Supersunnyspeedgraphic or Rockin' the Suburbs than the aforementioned album. Let's face it: Ben Folds songs are not known for their class or sensitivity. If nothing else, Songs for Silverman is the anomaly. In my mind, the distinction is between Ben Folds the songwriter and Ben Folds the person. As a songwriter, Ben Folds has matured without a doubt (just listen to the comparison tracks I mentioned). As a person however, I think Ben Folds is just as likely to juxtaspose the sincere and the sarcastic as he did ten years ago with "Brick" next to "Song for the Dumped". Now it's "Cologne" next to "Errant Dog". In that respect I think his maturity or immaturity is about the same. To me what's important is that Ben is continuing to create music that pushes the boundaries of his own sound and refuses to conform to mainstream sensibilities. I mean, even his soundtrack for the animated movie Over the Hedge is terrific. Introverted or extroverted albums, I don't care, as long as he keeps writing more great music (see my review for song recommendations).
No comments:
Post a Comment