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ALBUM COVER -- Sony/Epic
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Folds matures on solo effort
By Rob Margetta
Flat Hat Editor
Ben Folds Five was a paragon of dork rock. Their eponymous first album garnered critical attention and their second album, "Whatever and Ever, Amen," produced "Brick," probably their best-known single. The band became recognized for its dynamic stage presence, minimalist piano, drum and bass sound and cynical brand of humor, which could appeal both to mall-hopping 16-year-olds and those with more sophisticated tastes.
The group's third major release, "The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner," was a sudden departure from their old style. It was a concept album that incorporated the group's sound with sweeping string pieces and lyrics about loss, pain and the fear of letting life slip away.
In October of 2000, the band broke up, and its former members, singer and pianist Ben Folds, bassist Robert Sledge and drummer Darren Jesse, are all pursuing new projects. Folds' first solo album since the band broke up, "Rockin' the Suburbs," is a superb effort. It's sincere from its opening track to its closing, and shows that Folds has grown as a lyricist, a musician and an arranger since the group formed in 1994.
Ben Folds Five may have broken up, but you wouldn't know it from listening to "Rockin' the Suburbs." Folds doesn't go off in any new directions. Rather, he goes further with the ideas he started with the band.
In fact, some of his new songs sound like revisions of previous work. The intro to "The Ascent of Stan," sounds more than a little like "Mess," a song from "Reinhold Messner," "Catching Cathy" is reminiscent of "Selfless, Cold and Composed" from "Whatever."
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COURTESY PHOTO -- Sony/Epic
Ben Folds' newfound maturinty shows on his first solo release after the breakup of Ben Folds Five.
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Folds played most of the instruments used on the album, and songs such as "Zak and Sara" show that he can produce the same heavy bass riffs as Sledge and the strong, though not flashy, beats as Jesse. He also has some new tricks, however. He now uses subtle electronic background music and multi-layered instrument arrangements to accompany his piano. Most notably, some songs utilize scruffy riffs from a lead guitar -- a sound almost entirely absent from Folds' previous work.
If you've heard the title track, disregard it. It's witty and funny, but totally misrepresentative of the rest of the album, both lyrically and musically. The song "Rockin' the Suburbs" would have sat comfortably on "Whatever" or "Ben Folds Five." The rest of the album, however, is more complex and mature, the lyrics insightful. It's closer to "Reinhold Messner" than anything else.
The first song, "Annie Waits," is probably the catchiest. Folds combines his classic sound, a pounding piano hook combined with his nasal tenor, with a neat little electronic drum part and a string section. While some of the album's mellower tracks are more layered, "Annie Waits" shows what happens to the old, raucous Ben Folds Five sound. It, like Folds, has matured.
On previous works, Folds always had the air of the class clown. Now, however, he's moved to more somber subjects, aging, regret and breaking up. He even manages to pull off what many Ben Folds Five fans might have thought was impossible: a genuine love song.
This ballad, called "The Luckiest," is dedicated to his wife, Frally Hines. It illustrates clearly that, no matter the endeavor, Folds is a damn fine lyricist. When he's trying to be funny or spiteful, he writes "Song for the Dumped." When he's confessing love for someone, he comes up with lyrics such as: "Now I know all the wrong turns/ and stumbles and falls brought me here/ and where was I before the day/ that I first saw your lovely face/ now I see it every day/ and I know that I am ... the luckiest."
Probably the biggest difference between the "new" Ben Folds and the "old" Ben Folds is that the new one isn't as easy to listen to at first. The music's not as simple and the lyrics aren't as poppy. But once you've heard "Rockin' the Suburbs" a few times, it's really, really worth it. A lot of effort obviously went into this album, and it pays off.
Rockin' the Suberbs - ****
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