Open Web Player
I bought this months ago. I put in into my car CD player near the end of a long business trip. I was too wiped out from driving 300 miles to pay close attention, but it made an imprint on my mind. Then, a couple of months later, I played it again. Now I can't stop listening to it! I'm learning all the songs, playing them on my keyboard, singing them in the shower. I'm driving my wife crazy, although she's too nice to admit it. It's like I'm a teenager in love with a band. I'm going to be 60 in a year: yes, 60.
This is as good as any Ben Folds Five or Ben Folds solo work. It's more grown up: the lyrics reflect more than just two decades of life experience. Sledge's bass has become more incisive than it used to be, and Jessee's drums are awesome. Folds can do just about anything with the piano. He keeps making fun of himself ("I only wanted to be Stevie Wonder.." from Draw a Crowd) as well as others ("It was long hair -- and this time it was no hair" from Michael Praytor, Five Years Later) in his lyrics. The title track, an awesome anthem about a young woman avoiding teenage banality by nerding out in the school library, is amazing. Its lyrics were apparently written by Ben's friend writer Nick Hornby. Taken together, the songs don't rock out a lot, but neither did they all in the past (Brick, Boxing, Alice Childress, etc. etc.) The point is that everything fits together so well -- the lyrics, the composition, the instruments, the harmonies (harmonies!!) -- and that each song is like reading a short story, with characters you can relate to and a plot line you can follow. Who else does this???
I wish I had known about the tour in 2012. I would have gone nutz!
What do customers buy after viewing this item?
Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1
