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:

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 …