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| Track list: 1. Julianne - Ben Folds Five 2. Video - Ben Folds Five 3. Song for the Dumped 4. Missing the War - Ben Folds Five 5. Mess - Ben Folds Five 6. Magic - Ben Folds Five 7. Selfless, Cold and Composed 8. Zak and Sara 9. Girl 10. Just Pretend - The Bens 11. Fred Jones, Part 2 12. Careless Whisper (Feat. Rufus Wainwright) 13. All U Can Eat 14. Long Tall Texan 15. Army - Ben Folds Five 16. Battle of Who Could Care Less - Ben Folds Five 17. Kylie from Connecticut 18. Effington 19. Picture Window 20. Sentimental Guy 21. Not the Same Running time: 79 minutes Released: 2011 |
Disc 2 of the Ben Folds retrospective, again featuring solo performances, Ben Folds Five, and a couple of others - The Bens (his collaboration with two other musicians named Ben; I never got into) and a duet with Rufus Wainwright, a definite high point on this disc.
However we start with a rendition of Julianne - one of my least favourite Ben Folds Five numbers when I first heard it, and still so now. This is a disc of live performances, and the song initially benefits from this, but as it gets going it is ultimately still not a very good song. Ben's voice is odd in places on the track too - it feels like a very raw recording, not just live but basic. Thankfully it is also short, and over before I can get too annoyed by it, and Video is a much more pleasant track.
The song does sound different to the album version(s) of it that I have, again a slightly raw and basic edge to the quality, different balance between the parts. The bass is particularly clear which gives the song a strangely rumbling timbre. The album recordings are dominated by the piano (as you might expect) but here those keys are subsumed into the whole rather than tinkling over everything in a domineering fashion. Man, that is an odd sentence, when can a tinkle domineer? In any case, this difference in balance and tone makes it an interesting alternative, and so worth keeping despite duplication of the song.
Not sure I will keep this version of Song for the Dumped though. There is a very tinny edge to the recording, over-driven bass and it also feels like a good performance is ditched in favour of gusto. There are definite differences from other recordings of the song, but it is not a favourite track (I'm sure the younger me loved it for the naughty words and angry sentiment but no more). I am doing this listen now because rain has washed out the cricket for the day - and with it any chance of an England win. Thankfully there was play earlier as I made my way over to Hook Norton to pick up a case of beer, but mostly as an excuse to get out and drive the new car. I would rather be spending this early evening listening to Alistair Cook continue his return to a run of good form, but alas, Folds' songs will have to suffice.
Missing the War is one of my favourite Ben Folds Five tracks (from Whatever and Ever Amen) and this recording does not mess with the formula much. There is some nice harmony, though it also strains at points, and the faithful performance of the album track carries the emotional punch just fine. I do not have much else to add, except that the swell of crowd applause at the end of the track was deserved. Then we dive into Mess and Magic from Reinhold Messner...
They form a sort of heartbreaking couplet, melancholy and loneliness imparted strongly, but beautifully and melodically. Mess loses something of the softness of the piano that I want to say exists on the album version, but the performance is as laden with strings and pain and regret as any. I think the tempo is up in places though, it feels quicker than memory recalls but [retread of old ground]. Magic starts with that perfect piano melody, so good it really shows up the fact that Folds' voice is not the best. This might just be his finest tune, not my favourite, and not his best song, but his best tune. I am incredibly fond of its light yet sombre tone and appreciate the more precise and considered playing that comes with it compared to his more bombastic tunes. The love and friendship that come through, the genuine heartfelt emotion carried in the piece, they completely excuse the use of made up words because it simply doesn't matter what is being said at the end of the day - you get the message from the whole thing anyway.
And just like that we're done with Ben Folds Five for a while, even as the next track is a Five song. Selfless Cold and Composed was always a piano-dominated piece so Folds playing it alone loses very little and, like Magic, it has a wonderful theme to fall back on. Listening to these two songs back to back again now rekindles the wish that I could play like this. I have written before of my lasting affinity for piano music after learning as a teen, and emotionally active melodies trigger the regret of not keeping up with things more than anything else.
Zak and Sara works better than it should, and is a powerful performance, Folds' fingers working overtime drumming out a rhythm as well as the tune, but frankly I don't like the song enough to have two live versions of it on my hard drive. I have barely scratched the surface of this listen yet - not half way in. Despite the paucity of my offerings recently I am half-regretting starting this one because of the length. Stupid, that, since it has nothing to do with what I am listening to, though to be frank Girl is jut shit; to be fair Folds describes it as his "0.6" and suitable for a boy-band. My take is its too crap even for that!
The Bens featured Ben Folds, Ben Kweller (the one I remember) and Ben Lee (the one I always forget). I never knew anything about the other two, and never investigated the output of Ben-to-the-power-3. On the basis of the track here, that was a good decision; its just a dull, repetitive loop of a song with nothing to hold or draw the interest. When it ends, I reckon it is unlikely I will ever listen to them again. Coming on the back of that dullness, a return to a sad and emotional piece is effective. Its funny - I never really appreciated Fred Jones as an album track, but here, and thinking back to my prior experience of this disc, it is a song I really like. I don't know if that is because I can relate, working in an office and would hate to be there or what...
Now we hit the heights. Careless Whisper may be a George Michael number but the song is not to be written off just for that, and here the interplay between Folds and his flamboyant guest is awesome. I have a few Rufus Wainwright albums (though to be honest I kinda wish I'd stopped at two) and like him as a showman. He and Folds have very different voices that play off each other well and whilst the whole performance has more than a touch of camp about it, the song is nailed.
Ugh, my back is starting to ache; I do not have the ideal posture or position for long stints actively addressing the keyboard like this. I think my coffee table has got away from my couch again. I really need to sort out my spare room so I can get a proper desk set up... not that I would use it, it is too convenient having the laptop in the front room with everything else. A couple of comedic numbers drift by before we head back to the Five for a couple more. Long Tall Texan is half a song really - Folds admitting to the crowd mid number he knows no more of the words. Still.
Army; we've been here before. It's a great song and fantastic live. This version is again different from the live version Folds does solo on Ben Folds Live. I don't just mean the fact that they actually have the horns to do the horn parts rather than relying on the audience; the drums and bass really adding to the ensemble sound, taking up slack. I think I prefer the piano-only, audience participation version (as I have been there, done that audience wise) but I like both. This version of Battle of Who Could Care Less is good too - its uptempo washout cheer is oddly welcome right about now and I somehow daze my way through it, remembering to type this line only as it ends.
Five to go, and it is a bit of a denouement from here. Two songs from Way to Normal first, one I rather like followed by one I could take or leave. There is something very sad about Kylie From Connecticut, the narrative of this song is one of a return to an infidelity in later years - speaking to a loneliness. However what really strikes me about this piece is the fact that this rendition goes bananas in the middle of it, an instrumental insert that seems at odds with the sombre general tone. I think it's not as good as the album version (and I didn't like much from that album as we might see when we eventually get there), but I would need to check before hitting delete. Effington is just... blah - it has some nice bits, it has some awful bits and overall it comes to a pretty dull whole.
Picture Window, on the other hand... this song is a true favourite. Penned by Nick Hornby for Lonely Avenue, it knocks me flat with its chorus. It's a song about the mother of a very sick child, sad and trying not to get hopes up. Hope is a bastard. There is something compelling about that, but oddly (and I would imagine deliberately) genuinely hopeful too. Hope may be a bastard, but its a necessary one and part of being human. Folds nails the tone with his tune, though the playing here sounds a little out compared with the album version in one or two places. Still a great song though.
Sentimental Guy introduces a trumpet which I don't recall being part of the album recording, some harmonies which definitely were (with Weird Al Yankovic if memory serves), and then we hit the last number. An audience-participation version of Not the Same, in place of the choir used on Ben Folds Live. There is, with bass and drums definitely present, more to this recording again than the original version on Rocking the Suburbs, and this is subtly different than the Folds, Piano and choir rendition. I rather like it, at least until the end, where it cuts off very abruptly.
Phew. Just one more post until I can move on to other stuff, though at least disc 3 is more unusual material - and so a little less familiar. I say move on to other stuff... we'll see if I can keep any kind of rhythm up through the other "best of"s, not that many thankfully, and then a Big Box of 6 discs by one artist (who also features in the best ofs). So sameness persists for a while, no doubt contributing to my reticence to find the time. I would like to establish some momentum again, this year has been noticeably slower than last, more gaps and longer gaps between posts. There's not even a shred of hope that I will finish B by the time I have been going a year. I would need to do more than 1 a day as there are 90+ still to go... B is clearly a common first letter for album titles.
However we start with a rendition of Julianne - one of my least favourite Ben Folds Five numbers when I first heard it, and still so now. This is a disc of live performances, and the song initially benefits from this, but as it gets going it is ultimately still not a very good song. Ben's voice is odd in places on the track too - it feels like a very raw recording, not just live but basic. Thankfully it is also short, and over before I can get too annoyed by it, and Video is a much more pleasant track.
The song does sound different to the album version(s) of it that I have, again a slightly raw and basic edge to the quality, different balance between the parts. The bass is particularly clear which gives the song a strangely rumbling timbre. The album recordings are dominated by the piano (as you might expect) but here those keys are subsumed into the whole rather than tinkling over everything in a domineering fashion. Man, that is an odd sentence, when can a tinkle domineer? In any case, this difference in balance and tone makes it an interesting alternative, and so worth keeping despite duplication of the song.
Not sure I will keep this version of Song for the Dumped though. There is a very tinny edge to the recording, over-driven bass and it also feels like a good performance is ditched in favour of gusto. There are definite differences from other recordings of the song, but it is not a favourite track (I'm sure the younger me loved it for the naughty words and angry sentiment but no more). I am doing this listen now because rain has washed out the cricket for the day - and with it any chance of an England win. Thankfully there was play earlier as I made my way over to Hook Norton to pick up a case of beer, but mostly as an excuse to get out and drive the new car. I would rather be spending this early evening listening to Alistair Cook continue his return to a run of good form, but alas, Folds' songs will have to suffice.
Missing the War is one of my favourite Ben Folds Five tracks (from Whatever and Ever Amen) and this recording does not mess with the formula much. There is some nice harmony, though it also strains at points, and the faithful performance of the album track carries the emotional punch just fine. I do not have much else to add, except that the swell of crowd applause at the end of the track was deserved. Then we dive into Mess and Magic from Reinhold Messner...
They form a sort of heartbreaking couplet, melancholy and loneliness imparted strongly, but beautifully and melodically. Mess loses something of the softness of the piano that I want to say exists on the album version, but the performance is as laden with strings and pain and regret as any. I think the tempo is up in places though, it feels quicker than memory recalls but [retread of old ground]. Magic starts with that perfect piano melody, so good it really shows up the fact that Folds' voice is not the best. This might just be his finest tune, not my favourite, and not his best song, but his best tune. I am incredibly fond of its light yet sombre tone and appreciate the more precise and considered playing that comes with it compared to his more bombastic tunes. The love and friendship that come through, the genuine heartfelt emotion carried in the piece, they completely excuse the use of made up words because it simply doesn't matter what is being said at the end of the day - you get the message from the whole thing anyway.
And just like that we're done with Ben Folds Five for a while, even as the next track is a Five song. Selfless Cold and Composed was always a piano-dominated piece so Folds playing it alone loses very little and, like Magic, it has a wonderful theme to fall back on. Listening to these two songs back to back again now rekindles the wish that I could play like this. I have written before of my lasting affinity for piano music after learning as a teen, and emotionally active melodies trigger the regret of not keeping up with things more than anything else.
Zak and Sara works better than it should, and is a powerful performance, Folds' fingers working overtime drumming out a rhythm as well as the tune, but frankly I don't like the song enough to have two live versions of it on my hard drive. I have barely scratched the surface of this listen yet - not half way in. Despite the paucity of my offerings recently I am half-regretting starting this one because of the length. Stupid, that, since it has nothing to do with what I am listening to, though to be frank Girl is jut shit; to be fair Folds describes it as his "0.6" and suitable for a boy-band. My take is its too crap even for that!
The Bens featured Ben Folds, Ben Kweller (the one I remember) and Ben Lee (the one I always forget). I never knew anything about the other two, and never investigated the output of Ben-to-the-power-3. On the basis of the track here, that was a good decision; its just a dull, repetitive loop of a song with nothing to hold or draw the interest. When it ends, I reckon it is unlikely I will ever listen to them again. Coming on the back of that dullness, a return to a sad and emotional piece is effective. Its funny - I never really appreciated Fred Jones as an album track, but here, and thinking back to my prior experience of this disc, it is a song I really like. I don't know if that is because I can relate, working in an office and would hate to be there or what...
Now we hit the heights. Careless Whisper may be a George Michael number but the song is not to be written off just for that, and here the interplay between Folds and his flamboyant guest is awesome. I have a few Rufus Wainwright albums (though to be honest I kinda wish I'd stopped at two) and like him as a showman. He and Folds have very different voices that play off each other well and whilst the whole performance has more than a touch of camp about it, the song is nailed.
Ugh, my back is starting to ache; I do not have the ideal posture or position for long stints actively addressing the keyboard like this. I think my coffee table has got away from my couch again. I really need to sort out my spare room so I can get a proper desk set up... not that I would use it, it is too convenient having the laptop in the front room with everything else. A couple of comedic numbers drift by before we head back to the Five for a couple more. Long Tall Texan is half a song really - Folds admitting to the crowd mid number he knows no more of the words. Still.
Army; we've been here before. It's a great song and fantastic live. This version is again different from the live version Folds does solo on Ben Folds Live. I don't just mean the fact that they actually have the horns to do the horn parts rather than relying on the audience; the drums and bass really adding to the ensemble sound, taking up slack. I think I prefer the piano-only, audience participation version (as I have been there, done that audience wise) but I like both. This version of Battle of Who Could Care Less is good too - its uptempo washout cheer is oddly welcome right about now and I somehow daze my way through it, remembering to type this line only as it ends.
Five to go, and it is a bit of a denouement from here. Two songs from Way to Normal first, one I rather like followed by one I could take or leave. There is something very sad about Kylie From Connecticut, the narrative of this song is one of a return to an infidelity in later years - speaking to a loneliness. However what really strikes me about this piece is the fact that this rendition goes bananas in the middle of it, an instrumental insert that seems at odds with the sombre general tone. I think it's not as good as the album version (and I didn't like much from that album as we might see when we eventually get there), but I would need to check before hitting delete. Effington is just... blah - it has some nice bits, it has some awful bits and overall it comes to a pretty dull whole.
Picture Window, on the other hand... this song is a true favourite. Penned by Nick Hornby for Lonely Avenue, it knocks me flat with its chorus. It's a song about the mother of a very sick child, sad and trying not to get hopes up. Hope is a bastard. There is something compelling about that, but oddly (and I would imagine deliberately) genuinely hopeful too. Hope may be a bastard, but its a necessary one and part of being human. Folds nails the tone with his tune, though the playing here sounds a little out compared with the album version in one or two places. Still a great song though.
Sentimental Guy introduces a trumpet which I don't recall being part of the album recording, some harmonies which definitely were (with Weird Al Yankovic if memory serves), and then we hit the last number. An audience-participation version of Not the Same, in place of the choir used on Ben Folds Live. There is, with bass and drums definitely present, more to this recording again than the original version on Rocking the Suburbs, and this is subtly different than the Folds, Piano and choir rendition. I rather like it, at least until the end, where it cuts off very abruptly.
Phew. Just one more post until I can move on to other stuff, though at least disc 3 is more unusual material - and so a little less familiar. I say move on to other stuff... we'll see if I can keep any kind of rhythm up through the other "best of"s, not that many thankfully, and then a Big Box of 6 discs by one artist (who also features in the best ofs). So sameness persists for a while, no doubt contributing to my reticence to find the time. I would like to establish some momentum again, this year has been noticeably slower than last, more gaps and longer gaps between posts. There's not even a shred of hope that I will finish B by the time I have been going a year. I would need to do more than 1 a day as there are 90+ still to go... B is clearly a common first letter for album titles.
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