Whatever and Ever Amen - Ben Folds Five

Unlike Mika Hakkinen, I'm back after my brief sabbatical with frequent episodes of brain fade and my rejuvenated self is largely due to a morning spent watching DVDs consisting of such stimulating material as Button Moon, Rainbow and DangerMouse. When I was done with the studenty obsession that is past classics of children's TV, I got to thinking about 60s soul and RnB (proper traditional RnB!) bands, and who I'd put in a dream backing band for a ...
...or Jim Morrison: that is of course assuming that the Barr-Kays were unavailable.

Hmmm, this could be tricky, my initial thoughts were of Mitch Mitchell on the drums, Steve Marriott on keyboard and Hammond (before he got too messed up on LSD), with Jimmy Page on lead guitar and maybe diving into the 70s to grab Andy Summers for rhythm as he has huge hands and could cope with anything that I threw at him …… The bassist position is still ... more

Unlike Mika Hakkinen, I'm back after my brief sabbatical with frequent episodes of brain fade and my rejuvenated self is largely due to a morning spent watching DVDs consisting of such stimulating material as Button Moon, Rainbow and DangerMouse. When I was done with the studenty obsession that is past classics of children's TV, I got to thinking about 60s soul and RnB (proper traditional RnB!) bands, and who I'd put in a dream backing band for a legendary singer/song writer of the time, such as Otis Redding or Jim Morrison: that is of course assuming that the Barr-Kays were unavailable.

Hmmm, this could be tricky, my initial thoughts were of Mitch Mitchell on the drums, Steve Marriott on keyboard and Hammond (before he got too messed up on LSD), with Jimmy Page on lead guitar and maybe diving into the 70s to grab Andy Summers for rhythm as he has huge hands and could cope with anything that I threw at him …… The bassist position is still uncertain as everyone tends to forget the poor buggers but I spose we could be charitable and give it to Jack Bruce from Cream. Now me thinks these guys would really rock and may even be able to lend a hand with salvaging such forgotten woeful offerings as Missing You by Chris de Burgh or maybe even Because We Want to, but hey hey these people are only human and have enough trouble keeping their eyes on their own careers without redeeming the reputations of others so let's abandon that one.

But we're past the 60s and Ben Folds Five are from the 90s, a supposed standard modern indie band according to many but I'm not too sure about that one. There's not a meaningless rhyming dictionary in site (love from above that he finds in his mind - Oasis style), nor is there a drummer who hasn't quite found out how to close his high hats yet, oh, but along with Ian Brown, Morrissey and Jarvis Cocker amongst others, BF5 managed to become a great indie? Band with a front man whose sense of delivery and tonality could only be rivalled by the few mentioned above, even if he couldn't sing brilliantly well (come on you've got to admit it, they were great even if they all couldn't sing …. Well they couldn't).

Indeed, for a band who were at first seen buy many as something of a novelty act around the bars of the East Coast of the good ole USA, there was talent in abundance to be found, chiefly in the trio's name sake, Ben Folds, a frustrated singer/song writer yet an extremely adept pianist, who you might suggest being from the Gerry Lee Lewis mould; and when you put him with drummer Darren Jess and bassist Robert Sledge, who lent his hand equally well to the double bass or the 4 stringed axe, you can see that you have something more than 3 guys who'd go around The Midlands, dressed in paisley suits singing the Spitting Image Chicken Song.

This album is groovy baby! And though I might give a few too many things 5 stars, it has to be said that it is a delightful LP with my five stars basically saying you should own this, rather than it is a timeless classic…Let's spin some wheels of steel:

-- 1 angry dwarf and 100 solemn faces --

You might be fooled into thinking you'd bought the Best Cockney Rock Album ever Vol 2 (a la Bill Bailey), what with the jaunty piano and at times um-pah bass, but here you've got a blustery opener that's full of energy and one might say, va va voom … The almost pre-war feeling piano that then turns to jazz chords during the verses along with the slightly distorted bass rasp along as Folds proudly reveres that he is now "Big and important" and if you really wanna see him to "Check the papers and the TV / look whose telling who what to do". If anyone's tried to write such a bitterly triumphant song when they were about 15, with deluded images of fame and grandeur, this is how it should have worked out, but Folds being 15 or so years the wiser than me does it with his usual injection of poignant wit and observation.
This is upbeat and excitable with a piano mid-section that must have had Ben's fingers working faster and harder than a Spanish audio typist's.

-- Fair --

Now this is more sedate to be honest, but it does slightly un-nerve you with a baseline that Smokie might have wielded in the 70s … hence the looks of worried disapproval from my dad, but once it gets going Fair is teasing and playful. In a similar vain to Battle of Who Could Care Less, this is a tale of lower middle class break-ups, complete with bone china and MPVs: "When he lunged onto the hood, she stopped to tell him she went wrong / he was thrown head over heels into the traffic coming on / but then all is fair, all is fair in love." You then have the chorus where everyone can join in with the "ba' bah ba'" harmonies, very Phil Spector 60s girl band I have to say but whilst the sing along sections are bouncy and one would guess satirical, the verses are more meaningful and summery feeling … Hay fever weather listening this one for sure.

-- Brick --

In other reviews of this LP that I've read this has often been described as "The most powerful/emotional song I've ever heard" and it'd be fair to say that Brick is perhaps the most serious and thought provoking song of the lot. It tells an apparently autobiographical tale of a young couple whose relationship is crumbling under the strain of trying to masque a secret abortion from their parents: "They called her name at 7:30 ./ I pace around the parking lot / so I walk down to buy her flowers / and sell some gifts that I got / can't you see, it's not me you're dying for / and she's feeling more alone than she ever has before". As you'd expect, there is no place for Brian Wilson influenced 4 part harmonies in this song, instead Folds managed to give his piano a duller and more oppressed tone (either that or he's used an old one) and you'd imagine it to be Robert Sledge adding the mournful cello bass tones to the delicately weighted piano backing. This song is definitely superb and surprisingly empathising considering it was written by a bloke and sits in stark contrast alongside the other 2 famous singles, Underground and Battle of Who Could Care Less that were released by BF5.

-- Song for the dumped --

You're never allowed to linger on the more serious and slow paced songs on this album and this is well illustrated as you're launched into this rousing rant of defiance … Song For The Dumped is surprisingly cheerful and even though he has just been dumped, Ben Folds is singing this with a huge grin on his face, you can just tell: "So you wanted to have a break / slow it down some and have some space / f*ck you too! / give me my money back, give me my money back you bitch." There's no subtle approach here with writing mildly suggestive lyrics directed towards an ex lover, this is just blatant and it's great. I'd really have loved to have seen these guys live as they did notoriously good gigs but alas I discovered them too late as they split in 2000, but if you like the sound of this song then check out Ben Folds's collaboration with Fear of Pop, where him and William Shapner take on a more measured, but no less pleasing approach to having messed up your love life with In Love.

-- Selfless, cold and composed --

At the moment this is probably edging out Brick as my favourite song on the album and although it is slow and melodic, it's not quite balladic. This is more a Billy Joel with attitude approach to song writing and with now 4 songs out of the first 5 being about shitty love lives you'd be forgiven for thinking a number of things: 1. is Ben Folds married? Or just insightful, 2. is this album depressing and self indulgent and 3. yes I do tend to like this kind of music don’t I? But in fact the album isn't depressing at all, there's too many uplifting songs on it for it to be earmarked as dull, and in this case, it's hard to work out whose fault the break-up is: "You've done me no favour to call and be nice / telling me I can take anything I like / you don't owe me to be so polite / you've done no wrong, you've done no wrong, get out of my sight." With strings and more layered drums this has a thicker texture than you'd expect but by now if you've got the album you should have noticed that the acoustics seem more "Real" and not digitally imposed and there's a reason for that, this being that the album was recorded live in Ben Folds's living room - he apparently saved up enough money from the sales of the first album to be able to afford all the equipment he needed for a home recording studio: and this gives the track, along with the album, a far more dynamic and non-clinical quality.

-- Kate --

Back up to tempo again with Folds painting the impression of an American college boy in desperate need of a quick masturbatory fix. The stop start intro would have you think that Folds messed it up but I'm not sure if it's meant to be like that or if there's a message in there somewhere. Now this really does shout Beach Boys at you, or at least maybe what they'd sound like if they were still together and had ditched the surfing subject matter: schoolboy idol, illegal substances and outdoor frolicking; "Every day she wears the same thing / I think she smokes pot / she's everything I want, she's everything I'm not / … / she never gets wet, she smiles and it's a rainbow"… you get the picture right? This really is a song to cheer you up and again has cleverly put together lyrics, not so much in the vivid imagery and using big words sense but in the Victoria Wood line of things where observations are quite mundane whilst at the same time being acutely witty. Decent song this.

-- Smoke --

Slightly predictably, we have a slower song after all that energy, and Smoke is a faintly quirky waltzy track with a harmonica included as well as Folds doing something that sounds extremely odd to his piano: I'm guessing that he's taken down the front and is strumming the strings by hand but I'm sure it'd have been difficult to get chords out in that way. The lyrics are a bit more normal in this track, sentimental and pensive without being groundbreakingly attention grabbing. This probably starts the only weak zone of the album but then there are few artists that can keep the standards exceedingly high throughout.

-- Cigarette --

Probably the weakest track on the album, but then it is only 1:37 long so it never really has chance to get going: "He couldn't sleep at night for fear that she / in a stupor from all the drugs that didn't ease the pain / would set the house ablaze with a cigarette…" I wouldn't want to guess what this is getting at but I'll throw in my suggestion that it's more than likely about terminal illness from the point of view of the carer? Anyway, the piano melody is touching enough and you can hear the noises of the night through the guys' living room window so that was a nice touch I thought.

-- Steven's last night in town --

This one instantly reminds me of that track in Star Wars Episode 4 where Luke Sky Walker goes into that bar and meets Han Solo for the first time - you know the one don't you? The high paced but slightly sinister swing type thing? Well if you slow it down some, add a piano and vocals and don't think Star Wars then you're not far from this one. The boys have hired in some brass for the added bonus of bear faced cheek and once again Folds's uniqure blend of wit and social statement shines through: "He's charmed everyone here except Tamara Easter / who later revealed to him her inner most secrets / on a sofa with stories about Linda McCartney / lost points with the ladies for saying he couldn't love a woman with cellulite." If it wasn't for the lyrics and the BF5 stamp you might walk in and think you were listening to something from the 50s, perhaps by the Andrews Sisters with a hint of violin and more aggressive drums, but with the convincingly "Swing" solos and drumming, oh and the clarinet as well, this is a fine look at a Mr. Arrogance's nocturnal romp through suburbia.

-- Battle of who could care less --

Ok this is getting lengthy so I'll try and be brief. Telling the tale of a couple who just can't seem to get on yet tolerate each other and get on with it anyway, this is slower but steady, with some wicked harmonising and piano work "Do you never rest? / fight the battle of who could care less / honour not happiness / well that's all right I guess." Not quite bounce round the room pace but still filled with the gay abandon that most of the songs on this CD possess, this single was well received and helped to make BF5 more of a famous name in their sometimes samey guitar genre.

-- Missing the war --

There have been those that have said that Ben Folds Five draw quite a few influences from Elvis Costello and whilst this might not be true for most of the songs there are definitely elements of Elvis in this one. The vocal/piano duo that begins the track does seem to fit the bill quite well if you're thinking like these people but it's too American sounding and with a few too many experimental chords to truly convince you. Again, work out what you reckon this song is about cos it's not totally obvious: "Now nothing's adding up / and nothing's making sense / she's sleeping like a baby / she doesn't even know he wasn't meant for this" and "He drove home again / pissed and beaten / it's really no big deal, it happens all the time / it's no big deal." The track is actually quite dark in places which is unusual for these lads, but I do like it a lot and the more you hear it the more you'd be tempted to think it's about Married couple not getting along, not understanding each other and feeling isolated bit …

-- Evaporated --

The last track now and it does the job quite well I spose of finishing this thoroughly pleasing album. Like Smoke, it is slightly ineffective but inoffensive, with the same nostalgic feel and swinging tempo. It basically shows you that the band can be brash and up front as well as being quiet and sentimental within the space of an LP and there's enough of a mix of the 2 styles to convince you that they're doing something right.

I'd say then, that maybe I've changed my mind a bit and am only going to give it 4 stars hehe, as although it is a good listen it isn't flawless by any means. I got hold of it for a fiver so this does make it all that much sweeter to listen to when I saw it for around £11 in MVC. There are few bands about like Ben Folds Five who can be ironic, witty and perceptive whilst being great musicians, maybe Pulp, Mansun and Faith No More should be investigated …

Craig - July 2002
 

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