Description
Amazon.com\n\nLike the best guitar heroes, Ben Folds, pianist and leader of a guitarless trio called the Ben Folds Five, commands and fuels his small, tightly wound ensemble with an authoritative, nearly virtuosic style. Folds, based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, borrows from everywhere but lends new inspiration and insight to the instrument\'s possibilities--he\'s the Jimi Hendrix of the baby grand. His frenetic keypounding eclipses old-time styles from honky-tonk to Jerry Lee Lewis rag, and he outplinks megastars such as Elton John and Billy Joel while sifting them both through the mondo hammerings of classic pop-loving alternative keyboard bashers like Todd Rundgren and Squeeze\'s Jools Holland. To complement Folds-the-pianist\'s clean and bright ivory tinkerings, Folds-the-singer\'s clear and dynamic tenor swirls through Folds-the-songwriter\'s very capably crafted, sugary pop gems. \"Philosophy\" starts with a rolling Joel-like intro, slips into a Rundgrenish verse and chorus--complete with the perfect Beatlesque harmonies of bassist Robert Sledge and drummer Darren Jessee--and then breaks out in an overdriven piano quote from Gershwin in the climactic solo. \"Underground\" Sgt. Peppers us with faux theatrics and then plunges into a soul-gospel groove about the joys of the alternative rock scene. \"Uncle Walter\" is a character sketch Ray Davies wishes he wrote but couldn\'t; \"Boxing\" is an imagined confab between Muhammad Ali and Howard Cosell that Tom Waits wishes he wrote but wouldn\'t. The rest of Ben Folds Five\'s debut achievement just does what any other timeless summer record should: it makes you feel sunny enough inside to last all through the year. --Roni Sarig\n\nProduct description\n\nBen Folds Five: Ben Folds (vocals, piano); Robert Sledge (bass); Darren Jessee (drums). Additional personnel: Ted Ehrhard (violin, viola); Chris Eubanks (cello). Recorded at Wave Castle, North Carolina in February 1995. All songs written by Ben Folds except \"Where\'s Summer B.?\" (Ben Folds/Darren Jessee), \"Alice Childress\" and \"The Last Polka\" (Ben Folds/Anna Goodman). In the mid-1990s, while legions of angst-ridden, guitar-brandishing alternative-rock groups were riding the post-Nirvana wave of success, North Carolina\'s Ben Folds Five quietly released its self-titled debut, which featured very little angst and no guitars. Cheeky even in name (the ensemble is actually a trio), the band presents a highly melodic fully formed sound, with Ben Folds\'s emotive vocals, witty lyrics, and energetic piano playing coasting gleefully over the rhythms of bassist Robert Sledge and drummer Darren Jessee. While Joe Jackson, Randy Newman, Elton John, and other like-minded performers are immediately clear as influences, Folds establishes his own identity with a quirky indie-rock aesthetic, whether he\'s offering up odes to production lines (the buoyant \"Jackson Cannery\"), anti-love songs (the gleeful \"Julianne\"), or eccentric character sketches (the lively \"Uncle Walter\"). BEN FOLDS FIVE\'s crowning moment, however, is the infectious, falsetto-laden \"Underground,\" which skewers the college-rock scene with smarts and killer songcraft. For fans of Folds--and melodic, piano-driven pop in general--this record is essential.