Ben Folds – Way to Normal Released 29th September This album couldn’t be
much further removed from its predecessor! ‘Songs
for Silverman’ received mixed reviews and was deemed by some to be very “mellow”
and almost too much so. I personally thought it was a work of genius however,
listening to this Ben seems to have taken the reviews onboard. ‘Way To Normal’ definitely sounds much
like some of the old Ben Folds Five
work but with a more mature Ben writing the lyrics. It is quite obvious at
live performances that Ben has found himself a band (Sam & Jared) that are
really in tune with him and this has indeed shone through with the direction he
has taken with this new album. Now if you’ve never listened to Ben Folds before firstly shame on you,
secondly, he’s an original piano rock artist and lyrical. Generally he plays
standing unless it’s a softer song. So track by track? ‘Hiroshima’ is mixed with fans singing, how else could you hear it? Without the
crowd it’d just be wrong. I also like the way that in the album art it says the
crowd are “audiences on tour” which gives anyone who’s seen him a little
feeling of “you never know...” ‘Dr Yang’
has some amazing piano work on it. I didn’t like it to start with but it has
really grown on me. Ben even seems to change his voice part way through which
adds an interesting dimension! ‘The Frown Song’ will
almost certainly make you smile, especially if you’ve worked in a job that
involves hands on customer service. Also for those sad fans like me “Indian
burial grounds” foundations akin to the ones in the ‘Over The Hedge - Rockin’ The Suburbs’ appear here! ‘You Don’t Know Me’ is a pretty impressive duet with Regina Spektor
and is something completely different to anything we’ve ever heard from Mr Folds.
‘Cologne’
is quite an emotional song, as Ben does with many of his songs he tells a story
and there are some beautiful strings brought in with this album version and an
intro so important it gets it’s own space on the album! ‘Errant Dog’, to me definitely echoes the Five, but the lyrics could be taken two
ways, ambiguity is a nice characteristic when it comes to Folds. Is it simply
about a dog or about a couple? ‘Free Coffee’: I have a
bone to pick with this song and it’s the only track I have a real issue with, as
there is a static clicking and interference that comes with it (which is not my
CD player on each system however it does seem different!) and I just don’t like
it; I feel it overshadows the song. It’s such a shame as it’s so original as
Ben puts tins into his piano to alter the sound, instruments build up
throughout this track but I prefer older versions of and live it is awesome! ‘Bitch Went Nuts’ has a hilarious introduction and from then on very strong piano, the
song is about a bitter ex boyfriend, can’t you tell by the song title? ‘Brainwascht’, this is Ben at what Ben does best, the harmonies in the background
just show how far he’s come with Jared and Sam. ‘Effington’ the harmonies at the beginning crack me up, oh and the football team
line was created by Ben in the shower! Definitely one to make those who swear
too much among us smile and has even prevoked a pretty positive response from
the mayor of Effingham! The album ends on ‘Kylie from Connecticut’, it’s so
beautiful. One of those songs Ben plays sitting and the hairs on the back of
your neck raise and the strings on this album version just make it all the more
breathtaking. But we have been Far From
Normal. Prior to this album release Ben leaked a fake version online for all
those fans that scower the Internet for titbits, some of the tracks were some
of these songs in their infancy and other’s were fake songs completely with
real album track names as a guise. It caused quite a ruckus amongst the fans
but the clue was in one of the songs, “bullshit from the internet” could he be
anymore obvious? But if anything it wet appetites for the real thing. I’ll confess I’m a bit of
a fan, but that just made this review harder to write. This new album is well
worth a listen. It encompasses so much, from upbeat Ben and his humour to
throwing in a bit of strings and is a good place to start with Ben, or if your
already a fan despite your opinion on Silverman I don’t think you will be
disappointed. Review by Hannah Ross
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