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Ben Folds - Super Sunny Speed Graphic, The LP

Rating

RIYL

Schroeder
Elton John
The Darkness
Eazy-E

Label

Epic

Tracklist

1. In Between Days
2. All U Can Eat
3. Songs Of Love
4. There's Always Someone Cooler Than You
5. Learn To Live With What You Are
6. Bitches Ain't Shit
7. Adelaide Folds
8. Rent A Cop Folds
9. Get Your Hands Off My Woman
10. Bruised
11. Dog
12. Still

For the past half decade, Ben Folds has been on his own, with no Sledge-hammer or dude of Darren-doo by his side to tell him he's fucking up. The end result of his breakup with the other two members of Ben Folds Five has been the very solid, but shaky, Rockin' the Suburbs and the retread-heavy Songs for Silverman. Where once was nothing but promise for exponential growth and unheralded fame and acclaim is now… unheralded fame and acclaim. For five years, Folds was not worthy of the praise heaped upon him.

In searching for where Ben Folds went wrong since his band combusted, the path too often leads to Folds forcing it. Known for his dry wit and sense of pop and piano history, Folds had begun to rely much too heavily on these aspects, writing songs rich with wit, but short on content and, above all, emotion, which was the one aspect that sold all of his music. His piano-playing also took several steps backward, causing an overall hurt on the end product. This is not to mention his recycling of vocal patterns to a somewhat nauseating degree.

With the release of Supersunnyspeedgraphic, the sweet-crooning redneck-in-hiding has finally returned to form, for the most part. Featuring a collection of songs from his Internet-only EPs and some random tracks he had lying around the studio, Folds does everything he used to do so well in a way not seen since "The Luckiest." From his laughter-inducing take on the classic "Bitches Ain't Shit" and the self-penned "Rent-a-Cop" to his ode to Charles Schultz, Charlie Brown, and Snoopy in "My Dog," Folds is back in a big way. The clever charm that once made him such a darling to all pop fans has returned and none of the over-wrought witticism is to be found anywhere.

The man once heralded as a musical genius has finally had his resurrection. This collection of odds and ends is the best thing he has done since his classic Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner, an album he may never top. At the very least, he's penned some of his greatest ballads in his downtime and true fans can only hope he keeps up the good work, because another Songs for Silverman may cause his bandwagon to completely stall.

--Ben Rice

Author

sir mix-a-lot

Last updated: 09/29/2009 08:54PM

Comments

HammeroftheGods

11/08/2006

04:54PM

Location
Norman OK

I totally disagree with a lot of the statements in this review. Songs for Silverman is probably his strongest records as far as songwriting goes.

sir mix-a-lot

11/08/2006

06:24PM

Location
Sacramento, CA

honestly, songs for silverman still has yet to sit right with me as far as a ben folds release goes. it's a little easier to listen to now than it was when it first came out, but i honestly don't see how it can be held up to his work with the five. i also don't think rockin the suburbs is on par, either. regardless, i own every album the guy has put out and he's pretty much cemented as one of my top 20 artists of all time. on top of that, i've been listening to his music longer than any other artist i enjoy.

I'm not here to make things better; only to observe and pass judgement.

Originally stated by Scott Miller
It's like talking into a mirror!

Kamran

11/09/2006

04:28PM

Location
The Great North Woods

bitches ain't shit is one of the best covers ever.

Darla Farmer
RIYL:
the Beatles
Tom Waits
Murder By Death
A Whisper in the Noise
the Blood Brothers

JohnnyL

11/10/2006

06:25PM

Age: 30

Location
Columbus, Ohio

Ben Folds is in my opinion, one of, if not the best musician of our generation.

Recommending: Anberlin, Interpol, Chamberlain, House of Heroes

joshuamark

11/12/2006

11:36AM

ben folds is one of the only artists that i think will still be around in ten years. i think the reviewer is missing the point of ben's solo stuff. i don't think ben wants to be like the five. to me it seems like he's been trying to distance himself a little from that style. if you noticed on rocking the suburbs he threw about every instrument he could on that album. he was trying to get away from the simple format of the five (piano, bass, drums). he eventually went back to that but his songwriting by himself is just different than it was with the two others members of the five. i think it's unfair to compair the five with his solo stuff because they should both be allowed to stand on their own and seperate parts of his career. in my opinion both parts of his career shine. i would also like to point out that he had missteps with the five too. don't act like everything the five did was great and his solo stuff just "isn't right". maybe you should just give it more of a chance to stand on its own.

sir mix-a-lot

11/12/2006

11:42AM

Location
Sacramento, CA

joshuamark

ben folds is one of the only artists that i think will still be around in ten years. i think the reviewer is missing the point of ben's solo stuff. i don't think ben wants to be like the five. to me it seems like he's been trying to distance himself a little from that style. if you noticed on rocking the suburbs he threw about every instrument he could on that album. he was trying to get away from the simple format of the five (piano, bass, drums). he eventually went back to that but his songwriting by himself is just different than it was with the two others members of the five. i think it's unfair to compair the five with his solo stuff because they should both be allowed to stand on their own and seperate parts of his career. in my opinion both parts of his career shine. i would also like to point out that he had missteps with the five too. don't act like everything the five did was great and his solo stuff just "isn't right". maybe you should just give it more of a chance to stand on its own.

trust me, i'm well aware of this. but it's hard to distance the two when he still performs five songs live. if you think i'm too stupid to realize that, as far as instrumentation goes, he has really branched out, it's nice of you to give me zero credit on that. i don't know how i possibly could have missed that. i was completely unaware that he used many more instruments now. thanks for showing me the light.

anyway, songs for silverman has grown on me the last few weeks, but it's still his weakest album. as you said, he will be one of the only people in today's music scene who has had a lengthy career, yet still probably hasn't even reached his half life. i'll still buy everything he's done because i've been listening to him for as long as i've been paying attention to music.

I'm not here to make things better; only to observe and pass judgement.

Originally stated by Scott Miller
It's like talking into a mirror!

HEARTandSYNAPSE

11/13/2006

04:14PM

Location
Manchester, England

I really like his solo stuff, but he notched up a lot more truely standout tracks with BF5, can't argue with that.
Having said that, Not The Same, Zak And Sara, The Luckiest and Fred Jones pt.2 are right up there in my favourites of his entire catalogue.

and yes, Bitches Ain't Shit is probably the best cover version ever.
and he is incredible live.

sovietnoodle

06/17/2007

10:18PM

Location
Colorado

Kamran

bitches ain't shit is one of the best covers ever.

YES IT IS!!! everyone go listen to it if u havent already: myspace.com/benfolds