Ben Folds - Songs For Silverman

RE*AC*TOR

New album from everyone's favourite white guy.
Before I start I must admit that the quality of the copy I have is a little less than satisfactory, but by no means terrible. Radio Quality.

1. Bastard - very typical BF - catchy, goes into heavy guitars towards the end - good opening song.

2. You to Thank - Starts off low tempo, not immediately catchy, good lyrics, tempo kinda speeds up at times, embuing a sense of urgency - Piano solo 2/3 way through. Decent songs, not a classic though - I reckon this is a throwaway song for Ben - for someone else it would be a great song.

3. Jesusland - Starts off with Beach Boys harmony, then quickly breaks into piano with cello in background, starts building layers, adding guitar, drums - then fades off into singing. Light, wispy tune/ lyrics. Back with the beach boys harmonies for the Chorus "jesuslaaaaaaaand" x3. I can listen to this guys voice all day long.

4. Landed - Starts of slow, tempo increase a bit for chorus - which is very catchy. Again I think this is a more heavily "produced" song than earlier BF/BFF - with less emphasis on piano licks. Nice song.

5. Gracie - Starts off a little more lo-fi. In the words of Neil Young "this one starts off kinda slow, and then fizzles out altogether" (Paraphrasing from Four Way Street).

6. Trusted - starting to see a pattern here, again low-key, with an incessant piano chord beat. Picks up about 3/4 way through - but again seems to be by the numbers BF.

7. Give Judy My Notice - starts off really well, slide-guitar (pedal steel) prominent (nice). Piano licks nice. Chorus - just bare piano, before kicking back into Pedal Steel / Drums / Piano. Again, use of harmonies in parts.

8. Late - meh - more by-the-numbers. This would fit on fine on any BFF/BF album ever released without being impressive but not sounding out of place either.

9. Sentimental Guy - Randy Newman piano sounds start it off. To be honest the Randy Newman impression is probably the only thing that makes this song standout from the rest.

10. Time - Doesn't stray to far from teh formula either, but is executed better. This is probably one of the top 3 tracks on the album. Even though it kinda tapers off a bit towards the end.

11. Prison Food - Expecting a big finish? Well, its a little more experimental, hopping in and out of tempos, with some aplomb, but ultimately not to great success. Strangest thing is this sounds like a Frames' song. Really. But not one of the classic Fitzcarraldo / Dance The Devil Frames' songs - a Burn The Maps Frames's song.

My Rating: RE*AC*
Comment: If you've never heard Ben Folds before you can buy this album and be impressed easily. If like me, you are familiar with his body of work, you'll probably be dissapointed that nothing particularily new or exciting comes out of this. Perhaps this is the result of Ben spreading himself a little thin. But I for one, will be happy with him spreading himself if he continues to produce stuff like William Shatner's Has Been.


Rating Guide:
R - RE* - Crap, appauling ****, may release one passable single eg. Deep Blue Something
RE*A - RE*AC* - Not bad, maybe run-of-the-mill or genre music - worth one listen eg. The Thrills.
RE*AC*T - RE*AC*TOR - Excellent, original, permanent music collection resident eg Neil Young, Bob Dylan.

Kevin_rc_ie

Rating Guide:

lol. good stuff.

TheMonster

will be having myself a listen later - hope my copy is better than yours

RE*AC*TOR

TheMonster wrote:

will be having myself a listen later - hope my copy is better than yours

I'd imagine they are the same. For the most part you don't notice the quality. But the bass comes in too heavy at times and overloads the sound. It sounds as if this was recorded from an analog source.

DerekD Goldfish

Im really looking forward to this album I hope it doesnt dissapoint

TheMonster

Hey Derek - is that you from Soulseek?

I came across a guy called Paddy Milner the other day. Very Ben Folds-y. Has anyone else heard of this guy?

DerekD Goldfish

TheMonster wrote:

Hey Derek - is that you from Soulseek?

Of course not soulseek is illigal I would never use it


yes it is me

MrJoeSoap

Saw the video for landed earlier, one of the best I've seen.

Combines so well with the song!

PS - His live cover of Elton John's Tiny Dancer is brilliant.

Rhyme

MrJoeSoap wrote:

PS - His live cover of Elton John's Tiny Dancer is brilliant.

Seconded.

Songs for Silverman is very excellent, i was in need of a fresh Folds fix

ZappaFrank

I bought the album, so nothing wrong with sound there. It's not the best thing he has done but i think it's better then Rockin the Suburds. Btw Theres a new Edition of Amen Whatever, with extra tracks.

Creamy Goodness

ZappaFrank wrote:

I bought the album, so nothing wrong with sound there. It's not the best thing he has done but i think it's better then Rockin the Suburds. Btw Theres a new Edition of Amen Whatever, with extra tracks.

the new version of amen whatever has ben doing video killed the radio star, god he does it so well

Serbian

Says on All Music that the album is a double disc with 24 tracks. I take it that the Irish version is just the first 11?