Fear of Pop: Volume I - Ben Folds Five > Reviews > Someone kill the piano

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Groundbreaking
Lyrics	Sublime
Quality and consistency of tracks	A couple of weak links
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Good
Value for Money

Advantages:	Some great original music
Disadvantages:	A few overinduglent moments

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Bright and cheerful piano pop this ain’t

I’m not sure Ciao have put this in the right category, as it’s not by Ben Folds Five, just Ben Folds. But I guess BF5 fans wouldn’t find the album if it wasn’t there. However, don’t be expecting standard Ben Folds Five tunes on this album, this is fairly strange stuff. For a start it has guitars on it, a big nono as far as Ben Folds Five were concerned. However, the height of the albums strangeness is when William Shatner turns up on one the tracks… No really, he does!

Fear if Pop is very much a solo effort by Ben Folds Five main man, Ben Folds. With only a few exceptions he wrote all songs, played all the instruments and did all the vocals. He even co produced it with BF5 producer, Caleb Southern. Busy guy! Fear of Pop is supposed to be an ongoing project but despite Ben Folds Five splitting in 2000 there’s been no sign of Volume II.

* Fear Of Pop *

A roomy drum beat and a whole bunch of strange noises start off the track, shortly joined by a fuzzed up slide guitar solo. Any hopes of this album being more BF5 should have been kicked out of your head already. Normally Ben Fold’s voice is very recognisable but as he screams “Fear of pop!” on this track his voice changes dramatically, not for the better in my opinion. It’s still a good track though, strange sort of progish rock thing going on.

* Kops *

Rapidly growing an afro and running back to the seventies, this is an instrumental all about a car chase. Complete with gun shots, shouting cops and screaming tyres! The music is typical seventies, flutes and wah wah clavi’s everywhere. This song is more entertaining than good, I quite often skip it as it does tend to go on a bit.

* Slow Jam ’98 *

One of the highlights of the album. Slow drum machines, echoy pianos and soaring vocal harmonies (Which is the most BF5 moment on the album) all weave around together. There’s also a rather great bass solo with rather melancholy vocal harmonies and an equally great cello (I think it is anyway) solo. Slow and dreamy late night music, although the car crash samples make it a bit unnerving. One of the tracks to check out.

* Blink *

Cicadas, distant church towers, a constant note on the synth, random blasts of Ben screaming “pop” and drums that pound their way up to a huge climax in just under a minute and half and then it all fades out, just an intro to the next track – but still very good.

* In Love *

Starring William “Captain Kirk” Shatner as “the Unrequited Lover” (That is actually what he’s credited as). Will mumbles bitter love poems over a clever drum machine beat with violins and pianos. The lyrics are pure genius “At puberty I was sworn to secrecy by the international brotherhood of lying fickle males, I can’t tell you anything and I can’t commit! You’re right, I can’t commit – to you!”, meanwhile in the background Ben Folds croons “Call me in the morning, tell me pretty stories”. Easily the best song on the album, you simply have to hear this!

* Interlude *

A strange waltzing moment, complete with someone counting the beats should you be to used to the standard 4/4 count of most pop songs! Whack in a couple of operaish vocal parts and you have twenty seconds of strangeness.

* Avery M. Powers Memorial Beltway *

No idea where the title comes from, if someone could enlighten me with a comment I’d be grateful. Anyway, the song. Strange shouts, “bah bah” vocal harmonies create another standout track on the album. Plenty of strange noises add extra layers to the hard picked bass line and strange bubble gum drum beat. Top stuff!

* I Paid My Money *

Falling slightly into the same trap as Kops, and indeed having quite a seventies vibe to it. It lifts itself up above Kops though by being more than an instrumental. About getting value for money (Really!). Sounds dumb but it works pretty well. There’s some scatting and the vocals get chopped around. There’s plenty of mad moments, including someone shouting “Funky bass” followed by a funky little bass riff. It’s verging on insane but is also entertaining and pretty good musically, although it does err on the side of putting entertainment over being musically good.

* Rubber Sled *

This has a fairly interesting intro. Someone wanders into a shop looking for something fast to “get away” after a argument with the shop keeper (Who at one point calls the customer a “turd dropper”!) ends up getting a free Rubber Sled (No, I don’t know either) to get away on. There are a few good musical moments but it mainly tends to be random samples. Skip it!

* Root To This *

Fuzzed up bass and sci-fi noises complete with some random shouting. Not a great track, just not much to it – one good riff repeated a lot with some random shouting.

* Still In Love *

The return of William Shatner for some even more obscure mutterings “Could have been”, “Might have been”, “Sorry about that!”. Strange picked violins, lilting normal strings and an acoustic guitar. It’s a very strange ending to the album and the songs a bit to odd for it’s own good, but it’s only short so it never really grates on you.

So that was 41 and a bit minutes of strangeness from somewhere you really wouldn’t expect it. Liking Ben Folds Five is in no way a guarantee of liking this album. One for fans of strange music only really, although everyone should hear “In Love” at least once in his or her life!