Customer Reviews

Rockin the Suburbs

5 star:		(228)
4 star:		(41)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

In the 70's, I and many a peer were captivated by the music and genius of Todd Rundgren- a kid who exploded onto the scene as part of the group Nazz with searing, psychedelic phased guitar riffs that paid tribute to British Invasion groups like the Who and Cream. Todd went on to rule the studio, playing every instrument, singing all vocals, and putting his musical ideas and idioms to vinyl with an indelible personal stamp. Much to his credit on Rockin' The Suburbs, Ben Folds proves himself to be a modern-day Todd, sprouting beautiful melodies, edgy accomplished instrumentation, and vignettes that paint musical landscapes of everyday life and the people who flow in and out of it. Ben's magic lies in his juxtaposition of sad, borderline-existential lyrics with exuberant, happy melodies. Throughout it all, he weaves the underlying melancholy of time marching on to the beat of the young growing old. The album features eleven tracks, each as inspiring as the next:

The pop hubris of "Annie Waits", handclaps and all- a Billy-Joel-sounding anthem that finds Annie waiting for a friend who, like Godot, never shows.

The up-tempo exuberance of "Zak and Sara"- two madcap hippies who revel in each others musical adventures and their own uniqueness (Zak spelled without a "c" and Sara spelled without an "h"), taking everyone else along for the fun ride

The wisdom of "Still Fighting It", harking back to some of the Beach Boys' most earnest hymns, as a father describes to his son what he will someday feel like to fly away on his own and fight the inevitable sadness of growing old

The 6/8 tempo of "Gone"- with a triumphant flick of the middle finger from the one who was dumped

The emptiness of "Fred Jones Part 2" and what it must feel like to retire, realizing you have to face yourself even more than when you could hide in the comfortable everyday activity of a regular job

The flowing keyboard lines and soaring melodies in "The Ascent of Stan", a tale of the inevitable cop-out of a former hippie who joins the echelon of the institution and finds out why his father was once such a resigned man

The steady bounce and happy melancholy of "Losing Lisa" with its personal reaffirmation of letting go with pride

The wistful waltz of "Carrying Cathy"- the sad recollections of a dear friend after pall-bearing at her funeral, realizing someone was "always carrying Cathy" until her tragic fall to death

The steady bounce of "Not the Same"- the trials and tribulations of a clergyman hanging onto the "one good trick" he uses to help people with their problems

The uninhibited nod to the bass line of Lou Reed's Walk on The Wild Side in "Rockin' The Suburbs"- replete with Weird Al lyrics that mock the white middle-class suburbanites who try to be cool, but not without plenty of self deprecation in lines like "I'm rockin the suburbs just like Michael Jackson did...except that he was talented" and "some producer with computers fixes all my sh...y tracks"

The vaudevillian up-tempo "Fired" with its major seventh chords that seem to tap on the shoulder of the guy who wants to walk away after discovering that "everybody here was fired" and shouting it out to a Motown tempo

The beautiful balladry of "The Luckiest" which, like Big Star's "Blue Moon", borrows the cascading lines and chord progressions of Pachabel's Cannon to express the comfort and fortune we feel to be in the company of loved ones- and the urgency we should feel in letting them know how much they're appreciated before these short lifetimes are over.

Then, just as the album ends, Folds proclaims himself the luckiest, takes a deep breath, and exits stage left...
Good morning, son, you are indeed a bird, flying higher than you've ever done before...

I'll admit stright off the bat that I'm not a fan of Ben Folds Five. I've tried a few times to get into them, but couldn't. However, I've always been drawn to Ben Folds' voice and songwriting, and the beautiful piano parts of their music.

When Ben Folds' solo release came out, I was tempted to buy it, but put it off because I was worried some of the jokey stuff would still be there. After hearing a few songs off the CD, I just went ahead and got it. All I can say is "WOW". This is one of my favorite CDs of the year. There's still a lot of wit to it, but the lyrics are more provocative, and the songs a little more serious. "The Luckiest" is one of the most beautiful songs ever written. "The Ascent of Stan", "Annie Waits", and "Fred Jones" are probably my other favorites on the CD.

If you are putting off buying this CD because you don't like BFF, don't hesitate. I know there are a lot of huge BFF fans out there, and that's great, but I like Folds' solo stuff *much* better. I can't wait to hear what he puts out next.

The breakup of Ben Folds Five was very disconcerting for their many fans. After their third album, which some consider their best, the disbanding was a terrible shame. Fortunately, Folds' talent still shines without the aid of Darren Jesse and Robert Sledge, the other two musicians who completed the trio Ben Folds Five. Folds' songwriting seems stronger and more consistent on this album. The subjects he chooses to focus on, though, remain the same, the crafting, however improves. The vast majority of the songs are character studies, which focus on the tragic circumstances of people, such as "Fred Jones Pt.2," "Not the Same," and "The Ascent of Stan." Folds displays his pity and empathy for his subjects, and the result in every song is poignant and beautiful. Besides character ballads, Folds' other songwriting tool has always been musical irony and comedy. He pulls this trick as well, as the first single "Rockin' the Suburbs" exhibits. Folds also offers his take on love in "The Luckiest," which is the complete opposite of his earlier love song "Song for the Dumped" from BFF's second album. Folds' music, like his songwriting, also isn't greatly different from his earlier group efforts. Folds plays every instrument on this album, including, of course, the piano. The songs are catchy and complex, and will stay with you because of their message or because of their cleverness. Overall, this album is nearly flawless, and I would recommend it to anyone, especially Ben Folds Five fans. Ben Folds is an excellent songwriter and musician whose musical gift continues to evolve magnificently.

This is an excellent album, and carries on in the tradition started by BFF. In the past, Ben Folds Five has always produced albums that felt like two seperate records: one, humorous, parody-laden and clever; the other passionate, superbly written and inevitably moving. Inbetween there were usually, at least for me, a couple of tracks that didn't quite fly. This album is heavily weighted towards the pasionate and moving end of the spectrum. Most of the songs in this category are excellent, though Zak and Sara must be a musician thing since I totally fail to see the point. The only remanent of the "humor" category is the title track, which most reviewers are panning as "prepackaged pop fluff." Of course it sounds like pop fluff, that's what it's parodying, does no one know sarcasm when they hear it?

Anyway, if you liked songs like "Mess" from Messner and "Brick" from Whatever and Ever you'll really enjoy this album. If you pick it up hoping for "Song for the Dumped" or "Army" style wackiness, you might as well just get the single. Overall a fantastic effort on Folds' part if you ask me, but be aware of what you're in for.

To be completely honest, I have never been much of a fan of Ben Fold's Five. Whatever and Ever Amen was a good album, but for some reason or another, none of his previous work ever really interested me. On the recomendation of a friend, I purchased Rockin' the Suburbs, not expecting too much, and was I ever wrong. I've been wanting to review this album for quite some time now, but I always try and wait quite some time to see if my opinion of it changes. Well, after 6 months of heavy rotation in my cd player, I can say that Rockin' the Suburbs has only grown on me. I have a new favorite every week. Right now its 'The Ascent of Stan.' The song has some spectacular piano playing from Mr. Folds, as do most of the songs on the album. The song manages to progress from an intricate, classical sounding intro into a new wave-ish chorus without sounding awkward at all. This is one of the things I appreciate most about this album--its diversity. Ben Folds manages to gracefully jump from style to style on this album. From the beautiful, low-key 'Fred Jones Part 2' to the Beach Boys-like harmonies of 'Gone' to the extremely sarcastic 'Rockin the Suburbs' (Which, in my opinion, summarizes the sad state of pop music today) there isn't a clunker on this album. Every friend I have played this for has enjoyed it, even those like myself, who are fairly new to the Ben Folds' catalogue. So do yourself a favor and go out and hear it for yourself.

The break-up of Ben Folds Five did affect the music of Ben Folds, but not in a bad way. Songs that were once driven by fuzz bass and hard-hitting drums now rely heavily on 70's AM radio arrangement/production while taking hints from every source imaginable. What the album lacks in the instant energy found on Ben Folds Five albums is replaced with slick, seemingly effortless production that cues the listener in on what they should have known all along: Ben Folds is an extremely talented individual. Moving with ease between piano pop(Annie Waits), mock rap/rock(Rockin' The Suburbs), and melancholy waltz(Fred Jones), Folds is a jack of many trades and comes close to mastering all of them. As always the melodies are hook-laden and the lyrics are as clever as they are catchy. Imagine a young Randy Newman or possibly Gershwin on acid. To sum it up, if there is a reason not to like this album, I haven't found it yet.

Let's be honest. No disrespect to Darren Jessee or Robert Sledge, but the Ben Folds Five WAS Ben Folds. Except for a few different orchestrations, "Rockin' the Suburbs" can mainly be seen as the fourth BFF Studio album. And the maturity continues...Rare that you have someone who can play the piano so well, and then turn around and write such beautiful, haunting music for that particular instrument. And he does so in an alternative music genre. Songs like "Gone" are reminiscent of a long lost ELO track, while others like "Not the Same" recall the pop sensibilities of Elvis Costello or Elton John of the mid-70's.

After one listen other tracks that stand out to me are "Still Fighting It," and "The Ascent Of Stan," which after one listen shows exactly what is wrong with the popular music that is on the radio now. Will this album ever see the light of day in the world of N'Syncs or Limp Biskits? Probably not. But rest assurred that Ben can take his place along Aimee Mann, Michael Penn and others that truly care about the state of good pop music.

If ever anyone really needed to question who was the dominant creative force in the group Ben Folds Five,well it's answered emphatically in Ben Fold's first solo album "Rockin' The Suburbs".It's as good if not better then any of his previous work.Ben Folds plays the vast majority of the instruments here except for some of the guitars.As with most of his previous work,the guitars are nearly a redundant instrument as he tends to use drums,bass and of course piano more so.On this album many of the tracks are given that extra velvet sound of gorgeous string arrangements or just gentle effects.

Fold's has always had an amazing gift for the catchy melody.This album is no exception.Many tracks are driven by several catchy hooks.taking the first track as an example-"Annie Waits" is the sort of track that reels off hook after hook.I mean the verse is catchy,then we have an amazing bridge,before we're bombarded with an instantly accessible chorus.It really is such a great feast for the aural senses.You'd imagine that tracks that are so laden with strong melodies may lack a certain longevity-but this is certainly not the case with these tracks.As usual he gives the piano a hell of a pounding,as he works up and down the scale at times in a frenzy and other occasions quite slow and deliberate.The album is a beautiful mix of quick and slow tempo tracks.It is very hard to pick out a dud track.There are so many good ones that I'm sure if you gave this c.d. to many different listeners the choice of best track would be quite varied and well spread out amongst the tracks.

One of Folds strong points is his gift to create characters that are unglamorous,down to earth and very believeable.This album is no exception.The album title is particularly apt-for in calling it "Rockin' The Suburbs"-so many of his songs relate tales of modern suburban life.We ain't talking simple romantic overtures either.He touches on subjects like a man leaving his job after 25 years(Fred Jones Part 2)and after setting a scene of real loneliness in the first verse,the guy wonders what exactly he's contributed to his job after all these years.I mean who else would broach such a subject.Then there's the tale of a seemingly estranged father/son relationship on the track "Still Fighting It".There are some moments of understated comic magic as per usual when he denotes in the lyrics sheet that when he says the 'roast beef combo is only $9:95'-that he is in fact referring to Australian dollars.There are stories of young love in Zak and Sara.Each track is like it's own little story-and at least with Folds you get the impression that you understand his lyrics.Self-indulgence doesn't seem to be in his vocabulary.

People list Todd Rundgren as a close musical influence-maybe this is true.Some of his more grandiose arrangements sound a bit like Harry Connick Jnr-without all the big-band cheesiness.In the end I feel that Folds has his own very distinctive sound that isn't too influenced by anyone in particular.Buy this c.d.-you WON'T be disappointed!

Sure, there are some elements missing, such as Robert's Fuzz bass and Darrens tumbling drums. But, none-the-less, Ben, in his entirety creates an album worthy of superstar recognition. As most would say, this is album is better than it will ever get credit. Unfortunately, today, you cannot create a good album unless it's plastered all over TRL. The firmiliar, elaborate, and amazing piano is still there--but there is something new... A guitar. To BFF Purists, this is nothing but a sac-religious act. But to Ben, it works great. This IS one of the greatest pop albums ever. I will stand by that firmly.

Like Randy Newman's last album, Folds here seems to break a pattern of undermining his serious impulses with the need to make jokes. But as with Newman, that perception of Folds fails to account for a string of unabashedly sincere--and frequently brilliant--songs. (Unlike Newman, Folds so far has avoided distilling his admirable senstivity to the runny syrup of movie soundtracks.) Twice-divorced and a new father, Folds here gives us his least jokey album yet--and it turns out to be the right decision. But as natural a lyric writer as Folds is (his keen observational skills and sharply critical reactions never dull when trained on himself), it's the melodies that endear Folds. He seems incapable of writing a hook-free song, and most of the songs on Suburbs include two or three. What's more, except for two guitar parts and some backing vocals, this is all-Folds--and it turns out he's a terrific drummer and inventive bass player. As musically involving as it is emotionally compelling, Folds' first true solo disc earns him a place among pop's finest, least fashionable--and most timeless--talents.