Details
Track Listing
1. One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces
2. Fair
3. Brick
4. Song For the Dumped
5. Selfless, Cold and Composed
6. Kate
7. Smoke
8. Cigarette
9. Steven's Last Night in Town
10. Battle of Who Could Care Less
11. Missing the War
12. Evaporated
Album Notes
Ben Folds Five: Ben Folds (vocals, piano); Robert Sledge (vocals, bass); Darren Jessee (vocals, drums).
Additional personnel: Alicia Svigals (violin); John Catchings (cello); Matt Darriau (clarinet); Frand London (trumpet); Caleb Southern (Hammond organ).
Boldly hacking his way through the muck-infested swamplands of post-Nirvana alternative rock, Ben Folds comes to save the day with an album of pure pop delights that provide a welcome alternative to "alternative." Despite the name, the Ben Folds Five is a trio consisting of Folds on piano and vocals, a bassist and a drummer. There are echoes of everything from vintage Todd Rundgren and Joe Jackson to Hoboken-based popsters like the dB's and Freedy Johnston in the band's frothy compositions. And there are no guitars.
Bassist Robert Sledge is on a one-man mission to bring back the fuzz-bass, utilizing the '60s bass technique to fill out the sound of the trio, and sometimes sounding more like a guitarist or keyboardist. Folds is an accomplished pianist, and has no qualms about giving the instrument the rock and roll spotlight that it's often denied. Ignore the knee-jerk Elton John comparisons. Folds may be equally influenced by show tunes and the Beatles, but WHATEVER rocks more convincingly than a gaggle of guitar-worshipping grunge puppies.
Industry Reviews
Included in Q Magazine's 50 Best Albums of 1997.
Q (01/01/1998)
Ranked #27 in the Village Voice's 1997 Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll.
Village Voice (02/24/1998)
3.5 Stars (out of 5) - ...Folds has written another batch of sweet songs and supports each with disciplined, downright patient arrangements....This is about as close to bliss as the radio gets.
Rolling Stone (04/17/1997)
9 (out of 10) - ...WHATEVER AND EVER AMEN, signals a welcome return to rock as physical comedy. Like his sad-clown elders--Elton, Randy Newman--Folds knows that intense sincerity and oafish glitz are hardly incompatible. In fact, that's something we used to call entertainment...
Spin (05/01/1997)
...Guitarless, cool, and compositionally overqualified, BFF have everything you'd want out of a rock band right now except a wah-wah pedal. - Rating: A
Entertainment Weekly (03/28/1997)
4 stars out of 5 - ...Music for those who'll spend the rest of their lives 'off games', the bone-dry humor and sunny melodies still compensate for a multitude of sins.
Q (10/01/2000)
9 (out of 10) - ...WHATEVER AND EVER AMEN, signals a welcome return to rock as physical comedy. Like his sad-clown elders--Elton, Randy Newman--Folds knows that intense sincerity and oafish glitz are hardly incompatible. In fact, that's something we used to call entertainment...
Spin (05/01/1997)
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