Whatever And Ever Amen - Ben Folds Five

without a shadow of a doubt, and without any fear of exaggeration I can say that this album is one of my all time favourite albums and as much as any other record, could constitute a soundtrack for my life. I think that Ben Folds five are one of the most under rated groups in history! They have split up so we do not have any new work by them, despite Ben trying a solo career, I fear that the magic has gone. His solo work is good, but this album has a level to it that the solo tracks seem to lack. There are some truly classic tracks on this album. My favourite is a toss up between 'Evapourated' and 'One angry dwarf...' It is hard to pick a ...  Read the complete review

Whatever and Ever Amen by Ben Folds Five (1997) Ben Folds: Piano Robert Sledge: Bass Darren Jessee: Drums If the 1990s produced a better power-pop record than this one I'd love to hear it. One - One Angry Dwarf And 200 Solemn Faces The first track takes the template of the first record - with fuzzy bass and greedy piano arpeggios where other bands would employ guitars - and raises the bar to truly giddying heights. It's got a great beat and a surfeit of melody and at times the tempo dazzles but what impresses most is the focused intensity that's brought to such a distinctive sound. Folds crams more hooks into one ...  Read the complete review

While I wait in anticipation for the powers that be at dooyoo to add the new Ben Folds solo album to the list so I can bore you with my review, I thought I'd reminisce about the time when his band, Ben Folds Five, were making some of the most exciting music of recent years. After their stunning self-titled debut, Ben Folds, Darren Jessee and Robert Sledge (Ben Folds Five! And there were only three of them! Get it? Oh, ok.) followed up with 'Whatever And Ever Amen', an album which continued in the raw vein of the first record, again with most tracks being piano-led masterpieces. The beauty of Ben Folds Five was the unconventional set-up - ...  Read the complete review

Sadly no longer with us, Ben Folds Five released three albums between 1995 and 2000 when they inexplicably split. Mixing fuzzed up bass guitar and bright piano BF5 do have a pretty unique sound. This album, their second, was released in 1997 and is my opinion their best. While it does only just beat the first eponymous release, it urinates from a great height on their final and somewhat disappointing album, The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner. * One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces * How could a song with a name like that be anything other than fantastic? Bashed to hell pianos and walking fuzz bass back the story of ‘nerd ...  Read the complete review

Ben Folds Five, the recently split trio from North Carolina consist[s/ed] of: Ben Folds - Piano & Vocals Robert Sledge - Bass Darren Jesse - Drums The combination of piano, bass and drums is a strange combination for a successful band, however, as many people say, "rock started on the piano". Fold's vocals on this album are excellent, the piano beautiful, the bass powerful and innovative, the drums sharp. This is possibly Ben Folds Five's most successful album, due to the high popularity of the single "Brick" which topped the US charts. There are several other classic Ben Folds Five tracks on this album ...  Read the complete review