This time around, I'm not posting lyrics, but recommending EVERYTHING by a particular artist.Ben Folds is the Billy Joel of this generation. That's heavy praise considering Billy Joel was the superlative showman, songwriter, and all around musician. As a song writer he has a wry, pessimistic view at times, and at times is even vulgar. But it's not vulgarity for the sake of vulgarity (he blasts that concept in his song Rocking The Suburbs). He has a good reputation as a showman, which I unfortunately can't attest to, I haven't been able to attend a show yet. And as a piano player, well, the guy has chops. He can PLAY. His covers are also exquisitely done, covers of bands from Steely Dan to Dr. Dre. Name me ONE OTHER musician who would attempt covers from either of those, let alone BOTH. Incredible.
As a producer he's also at the top of the heap. Within the last year, William Shatner (that's right, Captain Kirk) released an album. It was, believe it or not, quite good. It was produced by Ben Folds. If he can make Shatner sound good...
Here's an album recommendation: Whatever & Ever Amen. Grab it on Amazon, or search it up on Half.com. You won't be disappointed.
4 comments:
Sham on!
I started reading your blog because of the NPR reference but now I've bookmarked you because of Ben Folds.
He is awesome!
"You have made me smile again, in fact I might be sore from it, it's been a while"
Oh, and I have seen him in concert and he is PERFECT! Never made one mistake, and sounds just like the recordings.
His playing is amazing.
Sure - rub it in. I regret not seeing him, he even performed in a club in our city a few years ago. It would have been an incredible show, more so because of the small venue. But for some reason I couldn't make it.
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