Recently, Matt and I were talking about Ben Folds (and his Five). Matt asked me which was my favorite BFF album. At the time I really couldn't answer. I sat there knowing that it is either Whatever and Ever Amen--the album that introduced me to BFF, the one I have the most sentimental attachment to, and the one that I have listened to the most--or The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner--which took me much longer to get into, but once I did I grew to absolutely love and be amazed by. Now, I can say that I know, and it is all thanks to MySpace's relatively new feature caled Front to Back (where they have artists/bands play an album in its entirety from front to back). As far as I know, they have only done one of these shows, and they brilliantly began it by inviting Ben Folds (who then called up Darren and Robert) to play Reinhold from front to back. I just watched it finally today (it happened back in September of last year, I knew about it then, and yet I still somehow forgot to watch it until now), and I can now officially say that Reinhold is my favorite (although after I listen to Whatever again...my mind can often be a fickle thing). Watching them play that album is amazing. I cannot stress enough how important it is for you to make time this weekend to sit down for 53 minutes and 15 seconds to watch this amazing show.
MySpace deserves credit for doing something right finally and getting this band back together for even one show was the right thing to do. Plus, mixing in little interviews in between the songs really added a tremendous amount of feeling to what is going on onstage.
One last note, if you haven't listened to Darren Jessee's new band Hotel Lights, I really recommend them. Here is the video for one of the songs from their new album Firecracker People.
"Blue Always Finds Me"
3 comments:
Here's my take on Ben Folds 5 albums. It's hard to pick a favorite because there isn't an album that I love every song on it. All 3 albums have a bunch of songs that I love a ton, but also some I don't care for as much (The worst being Your Redneck Past). This sounds like I'm bashing BF5, but I still feel like Ben Folds at his worst is better than 80% of bands at their best. Another thing is that a lot of his songs are much better live than they are on an album, like the Reinhold Messner myspace show. The songs I don't like as much are enjoyable and the songs I love are even better.
There is not a single song that I can think of from Whatever and Ever Amen that I do not like. "Your Redneck Past" is definitely my least favorite from The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhhold Messner but even that one is enjoyable once you get past the initial impression of being lyrically stupid/silly (if your complaint for the song is not lyrically based--but instead musically based--then the only thing I can say is that the song goes through a progression and ends up in a different place than when it begins). The lyrics are actually quite deep, despite sounding like an attempt to be funny (which is oddly my main complaint about his solo stuff--so much quality music, but the almost seemingly desperate "need" to be funny/witty takes away from it for me). Good thoughts though, Sir Matthew.
First, off, I really like Hotel Lights and I thank you for showing them to me. I like most of Ben Folds Five stuff, but I still think that Whatever is the best CD. You can catch some wicked piano playing in some of those songs that at first seem cursory. Try to play those bad boys and you will see what I mean. Messner has a couple ballads that are tremendous and fun to play, but Whatever is a masterpiece in every song. Hearing his songs live without a backup band is pretty incredible.
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