Ben Folds Five, as you all know were kind of a huge deal in the 90's especially with their most popular album, and my personal favorite, Whatever And Ever Amen. This album had a number of huge hits like "One Angry Dwarf And 200 Solemn Faces," "Brick," "Song For The Dumped," "Kate," and "Battle For Who Could Care Less." All of which I really enjoy. Just last year the band came back together to record and release another album, The Sound Of The Life Of The Mind, containing songs like (one of my personal favorites) "Michael Praytor, Five Years Later." One thing that I really like about the trio out of Chapel Hill is that they really don't ever use a guitar and they still sound amazing. Their music consists of drums, an up right or electric bass, and of course, a piano. Many times they have even described themselves as "punk rock for sissies."
From this to...
...this
One thing that I really love (and really hate) about Whatever And Ever Amen is the pacing of the album. The first song "One Angry Dwarf..." is super up beat and fun to listen to but by the third song, "Brick," the mood has changed drastically, from fun and exciting to really sad and depressing. Yet the next song, "Song For The Dumped," is right back to up beat and almost funny, lifting the mood out of the giant hole that it was hurled into.
So this is kind of amazing and one hot mess, and that's why I absolutely love it. He looks like Jerry Lee Lewis when he slams on the piano like that, pretty cool.
This song is so sad but the man can sing. I really enjoy his crazy octave jumps and ridiculous falsetto.
Why a verse of this song is sung in Japanese I have absolutely no idea...
These guys really are no joke, and with playing they are capable of and the songs they have, who even needs a guitar to make awesome rock music?
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