'Male, Middle Class and White'
Bits o' Ben:
Selected Works
Ben Folds Five - 1995
Folds’ debut with his Five (they were
actually a trio) is his most youthful and
energetic work and establishes the
group’s fundaments: piano, bass and
drums - no guitars allowed. What it
lacks in orchestration it makes up for in
attitude.
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Whatever and Ever Amen - 1997
★★★★★
The album that made the group a
household name is Folds’ best overall
record. Irreverent takes on contempo
rary relationships made Folds
Generation X’s darling. And “Angry
Dwarf” and “Song for the Dumped”
solidified Folds’ penchant for, using
curse words like a fine spice.
Fear of Pop
Fear of Pop, Vol. 7 - 1998
★★☆☆☆
Largely spoken word pieces over
avant-garde beats and synthesizers, it’s
Folds’ most noncommerical album. At
best, it makes for great Muzak for the
techno-lite set, but Folds’ collaboration
with a hammy William Shatner in, “In
Love” is almost worth the price alone.
The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold
Messner- 1999
★★★☆☆
Folds experiments with the Ben Folds
Five sound, to various degrees of suc
cess, by adding dramatic, symphonic
flourishes and ’7os Bacharach-style
band numbers. Adding to the sound
was a good idea, but not if the hooks are
sacrificed. Not a bad album, just not a
satisfying one.
Rockin ’ the Suburbs - 2001
The return of Ben Folds, piano-pop
songsmith extraordinaire. He’s truly
solo here - he plays every instrument
on the album. Now a few guitars and
keyboards turn up, and the songs are
generally slower than before. The tide
track (and current single) is radio-tai
lored rock, poking fun at today’s rap
rock bands. “Not the Same,” “Losing
Lisa” and “Gone” rank among Folds’
very best songs.
By Brian Millikin
By Sarah Klcharski
Assistant Arts & Entertainment Editor
Ben Folds fans, rejoice and hold onto your hats.
Six years after bursting on to the music scene
with the melancholy ballad “Brick,” Ben Folds is
back in the rotation with anew album, new band
and new hit, “Rockin’ The Suburbs.”
The first recording since the breakup of Ben
Folds Five, Rockin’ The Suburbs was released Sept.
11 to an eagerly waiting audience. Folds said that
like earlier works, the album does not follow any
clear evolutionary pattern. It simply mirrors the
personality of its creator.
“I think every one of the albums I’ve made has
been a good reflection of where I am at the moment,”
he said in a recent interview with The Daily Tar Heel.
Now after almost a decade of musical and per
sonal changes, a solo Folds is in the midst of a
month-and-a-haif-long promotional tour. On Sept.
7 and 8 he returned to Cat’s Cradle, where he
played his first gigs, to kick it off.
Having nurtured his talents in the womb of
Chapel Hill, thus being bom unto the ranks of “Late
Show” performers, Folds is the quintessential
homegrown boy who made it big. Bom in Winston-
Salem, Folds began studying music at an early age.
After only two years of formal piano lessons, he
went on to study music in school, including per
cussion and orchestra, but focused mostly on
improving his keyboard and composition skills.
Folds moved to Chapel Hill and formed the trio
known as Ben Folds Five in the mid-19905. Hailed
as a departure from typically cluttered, trite rock,
the trio developed a loyal local following. Two years
after their self-titled debut album, Ben Folds Five
signed on to Epic/550 Records and released
Whatever and Ever Amen with the single “Brick.”
A song about a teenage cduple who chose to
have an abortion, “Brick” garnered much media
attention and speculation as to whether the song
was a glimpse into Folds’ autobiographical history.
“Almost everything I’ve ever written was (auto
biographical) to some extent,” Folds said.
And “Brick" was no exception.
Speaking of his girlfriend at the time, Folds said,
“I was 16 years old and we were in high school and
we made the decision to have an abortion.”
Hence, the song was a result of Folds’ desire to
dedicate a song to that girlfriend, memorialize the
event and cope with his own emotions.
See BEN FOLDS, Page 7
Folds Returns Home, Opens Tour With 2-Day Show
On the first of two shows,
the wry lyricist showcased
his new band mates during
a brief but high-energy set.
By Brian Millikin
Staff Writer
A sold-out crowd filtered into Cat’s
Cradle. Some wore Ben Folds Five T
shirts, others clutched posters. All have
the same question in their heads: Will
it be our Ben who makes his solo debut
tonight? Has his music changed? Has
he grown up?
A baby grand piano was pulled into
the center of
the stage,
putting most
doubts to bed.
When Folds
entered, he
walked quickly
across the
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Ben Folds
Cats Cradle
Friday, Sept 7
★★★■£☆
stage, flashed the crowd the “love
you” sign and said simply, “Thank
you.”
He went straight to the piano keys
and launched into “Not the Same,” an
emotive, up-tempo ballad from his new
album. He sang with his crystalline,
plaintive voice and pounded at the
piano keys adepdy. The crowd roars:
their Ben is back.
Folds and his new band -a drum
mer, a bassist, and a guitarist/key
boardist - swept through three more
new songs before pausing. The verdict
was that Folds hadn’t changed all that
much: the songs were upbeat and
funny, stories about a goofy couple and
troubled people, all with great
melodies. The biggest change was the
addition of a guitar into the mix -a
Ben Folds Five no-no.
As if acknowledging the audience’s
possible apprehension toward the new
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DTH/ARIEL SHUMAKER
Ripping into "Rockin' the Suburbs" at his Sept. 7 show at Cat's Cradle, Ben Folds came back to the Cradle to launch his tour in support of the
singer-songwriter-pianist's new album of the same name. A former Chapel Hill resident, Folds is one of the town's musician who made good.
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Despite rumors of heading the "guitar rock" route, Folds and his
trademark Baldwin piano were tne central focus during his sets.
musicians, Folds frequendy turned the
spodight to his band. On several occa
sions he’d step back from his piano
and nod along to his new guitarist’s
solos. Even the bass player and the
Thursday, September 20, 2001
drummer were given energetic fills to
sink their teeth into. It all felt very new,
but very familiar.
See CONCERT, Page 7
Casting Stones From... "The Glass House" tries to
scare, but this see-through "psychological thriller'
unfortunately leaves little to mystery.
A
page 5
Folds Tones Down Usual Stage Antics
To Focus on New Material at Show
By Jason Arthurs
Staff Writer
“It’s good to be back at here in
Chapel Hill,” “Man it’s been too long
since I’ve been back here,” and “There’s
no place like Cat’s Cradle” - all things
Ben Folds did not say at Saturday night’s
concert that marked part two of Folds’
anticipated return from down under.
But the crowd - made up mostly of
polo-shirt-and-tube-top-wearing UNC
grads (after having had to sit through the
karaoke torture of
opening act
Citizen “I can’t
give my album
away” Cope) -
weren’t the most
welcoming crowd,
either.
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Ben Folds
Cat's Cradle
Saturday, Sept 8
No doubt those fans expecting a Ben
Folds Five show got exactly one third of
what they were hoping for. Fans excited
about the new Folds material were treat
ed to an energetic performance of pop
gems whose main departure from Folds’
old material is the addition of an electric
guitar to the mix.
Folds decided not to dip too far into
his bag of stage antics - smashing his
piano stool on the keyboard and singing
heavy metal songs on top of his baby
grand - instead opting to let his new
music speak for itself.
“Everybody knows it sucks to grow
up/everybody knows it’s weird to be
back here,” he sang, clearly conveying
his awkwardness.
While many of the faster songs he
played with his new band merely
invoked longing for the good old days of
Ben Folds Five, the new slower ballads
that focused on Folds’ patented harmo-
... page 6
ny-driven melodies charmed the crowd
with ease.
It was the rest of Folds’ band - for the
most part look-and-sound-alikes of his
former bandmates - that never quite
caught on with me.
Folds didn’t even seem very comfort
able with the new crew at first, but as the
show went on the jet-lagged Folds start
ed enjoying himself more.
As the show came to a conclusion, I
was curious as to whether Folds would
indulge the crowd’s requests for classics
or try to protect the sanctity of his old
band and refuse.
He came back onto stage for an
encore, only now he was bandless.
Without an introduction, he sang “I
feel like a quote out of context,” sending
the crowd into a frenzy. In addition to
“Best Imitation of Myself,” Folds hon
ored a request for “The Last Polka” and
even sang the song’s drum solo. The
guilt of the pleasure I got from this
encore was offset by the fact that Folds
hadn’t enlisted his new bands’ help on
these hits.
But he wasn’t done yet. The band
came up and played two more classics
with him. But as soon as Folds stroked
his hand across the back wiring of his
piano for the opening notes of the spine
tingling “Smoke,” I temporarily forgot
Ben was sans Five. To make sure the
crowd left happy, Folds closed with
“Song For the Dumped.”
Yes, Ben, it’s weird to have you back
here. But in a good way.
And luckily for Saturday night’s
crowd, you do, in fact, do a great imita
tion of yourself.
The Arts & Entertainment Editor can
be reached at artsdesk@unc.edu.