Top 10 Ben Folds

I'm kind of surprised I've never done this on the blog before, but I wanted to do something fun before school starts in the fall, so over the next month I'm going to take ten of my favorite artists and list my top 10 songs of theirs, along with some micro-commentary. Please, please feel free to add your own favorites (by leaving a comment) or create your own top 10 list for your favorite artist.



To kick things off, I have to go with my old standby Mr. Ben Folds - he really has been with me through a lot and I consider him one of the finest musicians around. He's supremely normal and incredibly talented at the same time. He has a ridiculous amount of energy on stage (I love that he stands up to play the piano) and his songs are as witty and sardonic as a Woody Allen movie (another one of my heroes - I know, judge me now).

Song title - Album title - micro-commentary
(in no particular order)
1. Smoke - Whatever & Ever Amen - my favorite song from the first Ben Fold's album I ever heard. My musical sensibilities were never the same.
2. Philosophy - Ben Folds Five - years later I still love that intro, "the inbetweens are never understood", so true
3. Regrets - The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner* - Ben Folds Five rejects pretty much every rule in the mainstream music guidebook and I love it.
4. Don't Change Your Plans - The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner - it sounds like it's from a musical, which in this case, is a very good thing.
5. Selfless, Cold and Composed - Whatever & Ever Amen - I like the jazz influence in this number and the strings are beautiful
6. Kate - Whatever & Ever Amen - Why is this song so infectious? One of many "person's names songs" by Ben over the years. They're some of his best. "when all words fail, she speaks, her mixtape's a masterpiece"
7. Where's Summer B? - Ben Folds Five - another person's name song. is this the first tambourine instance in Ben Folds history? now there's a tambourine guy.
8. Zak and Sara - Rockin' the Suburbs - "she saw the lights, she saw a pale english face. some strange machines repeating beats and thumping bass, visions of pills to put you in a loving trance, that make it possible for all white boys to dance". enough said.
9. You to Thank - Songs for Silverman - one of the most mature and impressive songs by Ben, truly one of my favorites - I love the rock/classical/jazz transition two-thirds in. Brilliant!
10. Army - The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner - it was tough choosing one last top 10 song, it was between this, "Cologne" and "Underground". There's a lot of good stuff on Ben's EPs too, but one listen to "Army" and you'll hear why I had to include it on this list. "cause my peers, they criticize me and my ex-wives all despise me"

* I thought this tidbit from wikipedia was interesting. In regards to the album title The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner, the name was used by drummer Darren Jessee on fake IDs as a teenager without knowing there was a real Reinhold Messner, who was the first man to climb Mount Everest without the aid of an oxygen tank. The band thanks Messner in the album's liner notes for his understanding and cooperation. Later, Messner contacted the band to let them know that he was highly pleased with the album.