pop-culture for the people

Scribbled hurriedly by Aperturius   2/17/03

A little over a year ago, back when Avril Lavigne was no more than another piece of Canadian bacon waiting to be scraped off the griddle (so I missed breakfast, ok?  Humor me), I reviewed the new album by Ben Folds, Rockin’ the Suburbs.  It was Ben’s first foray into his humble solo career, and I was quite taken by it.  Sure, gone were the dips into the metal sound that were supplied by his back-up boys, Darren Jesse and Robert Sledge, and consequently some of the mindless adolescent fun was lost.  But Suburbs was still great to listen to, as Ben continued to tell the stories of boring friends and enemies in that pop piano catchiness he does so damn well.  But then came the time to tour for the album.  What to do?  Should he bring in a couple of new members as backup, sort of a Ben Folds Five Minus Two Plus Two New?  Seeing as how that would make the title of the band much too long for any marquee, Ben decided to forge ahead alone.  His new live album, aptly titled Ben Folds Live, tells the story of one determined man and his beloved baby grand, on the big thrill ride that is America.

I have seen Ben Folds Five, the entire group before its breakup, live on stage twice in my lifetime.  I would say that other than Pearl Jam, they put on the best show I’ve ever seen.  They had the three key essentials for a great show: good sound and musicianship, good audience participation, and extremely high energy.  That piano is truly Ben’s bitch, and he treats it as such.  Robert Sledge’s fuzz bass kept the groove, and Darren Jesse spent a lot of the show playing his drums while standing up.  Not to mention that almost every song required a hefty amount of harmonizing and background singing for all the members of the group, giving a nice, rich full-bodied lather of musical freshness.  What on earth would Ben sound like minus all that assistance?  Can he seriously fill a stadium with sound all by himself for two hours, and keep it interesting?  Despite a valiant effort, not completely.  The presence of the other instruments is sorely missed in some of Ben’s more powerful songs.  It’s to be expected though.  Can you imagine a song like One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces without that speedy drum work or that wandering bass line?  Ben has reworked the songs for a solo performance so that his piano hits most of the important bass notes at the right time, but it’s just not the same.  Other songs too, like Narcolepsy and Best Imitation of Myself, end up feeling thin despite Ben’s furious ivory tickling.

This is not to say that Ben is not an unbelievable piano player or songwriter.  He’s still one of my favorites for good reasons.  And there are moments in the live album that shine like a freshly waxed elephant tusk.  Most of them involve some of Ben’s mellower songs, which sound much more powerful and meaningful when played solo.  Emaline, the album’s closer, is fantastic, and so are new songs like Silver Street and One Down, which cleverly tells the story of Ben’s escape from his old recording contract.  Brick, the song that brought BF5 the closest it’s ever come to pop stardom, is of course on the album too.  Why, Ben even teams up on stage with John McCrea of Cake to sing Fred Jones Part 2 in one of the big highlights of the album.  If you happen to like Cake, that is. 

The best parts of the CD come when Ben invites the audience to participate in the magic of musicmaking.  Usually I hate it when a musician allows the crowd to sing his lines for him.  Hey buddy, I didn’t pay $18.99 to hear Joe Tonedeaf of CantSing, U.S.A. to scream the chorus to Evenflow, did I?  No I most certainly did not!  But at a Ben Folds show, it’s different.  The audience actually becomes Jesse and Sledge for a brief minute, and sometimes they even become the complete horn section!  Take the song Army, which came oh so close to bringing BF5 back in the big radio spotlight.  Ben splits the crowd into two parts, and in the middle of the song, the audience comes alive as both the trumpet and the saxophone sections, singing simultaneously.  It sounds wonderful, and I only wish I had been there to be a part of it.  This impromptu backup band also takes part in Not the Same and can be heard in a couple other places as well.  Ben should have capitalized on this more during some of the faster songs like Philosophy, where those extra voices really help the texture of the sound.  And he easily could have done it.  At this point, Ben is strictly a cult icon, a leader of a few thousand loyal serfs who love his music and know it through and through.  Every one of them would have been happy to lend their voices to one of his tunes.   

Ben Folds Live is currently being sold with a limited edition DVD, with videos of some of his live performances.  One of note includes Ben’s rendition of Tiny Dancer by Elton John.  Ben dons large, round, sparkling eyeglasses and becomes Elton for five minutes.  I have the strange suspicion now that Elton John really is Ben Folds in disguise.  Of course, the fact that Ben is married to a woman and that she has given birth to twins kind of blows that theory out of the water.  The other great moment from the DVD is the reworked version of Song For the Dumped, or as many like to call it, the “give me my money back, you bitch” song.  Slow, ominous, and melodic, it’s a brilliant version of one of the hardest BF5 songs ever written.  It also includes the three words that Ben wanted to sing for the album version, but was told they were too inappropriate.  You’ll have to watch the video yourself to find out what those words were.  Nyah-nyah! 

In short, if you love Ben Folds’ music, especially his slower songs, don’t hesitate to purchase this album.  However, it’s not going to create many new converts, unless they are really taken in by good piano music.  But given that there are two new studio albums planned to be released by Ben this year, plus the new William Shatner album produced by Ben (I can’t friggin’ wait!!), there will be plenty of opportunities for Ben to become the mainstream man once again.  And if not, hey, he’s still got my back!

Rating: Three and a half out of Five Monkeys

What our Staff Thinks:
William Shatner: “I’m………………drunk!”

The Crocodile Hunter: “Blimey!  Ben Folds lives in Australia now!  Maybe his music can soothe the savage beast that’s puncturing my kidney right now!”