Ben Folds – Songs For Silverland (2005)

Well I'm sure some of you have heard Ben Folds before, and hell you've probably even heard this album. Well that's great, and I'm there with you, he's a great artist, so I'm posting this album for those of you who are thinking "Ben who?".

This remains to this day my favorite of all Folds' releases, and it turned out to be the first record of his I listened to. It was actually my brother who bought this CD back in '05, and at the time I liked it but thought of it as an Elton John rip-off. And while there is significant musical similarities, Folds is very much his own artist. Besides being compared to Elton John is not one of the worst things that can happen!

"Songs For Silverman" is a return to form of sorts, coming on the tail of the relentlessly overproduced "Rockin' The Suburbs", and 3 EP's which were almost total misses. Musically, Silverman is his best effort since Messner, reverting back to the Ben Folds Five trio format with new bassist Jared Reynolds and drummer Lindsay Jamieson --- who also happen to sound a whole lot like Darren Jesse and Robert Sledge. While the new three-part harmonies aren’t quite as rich as the Five’s, at least they exist, and the new band's instrumentation is notably smoother and more fluid.

I know many people are reluctant to accept the new form of Ben Folds without it being followed by the Five. And while the Ben Folds Five were exceptional, and yes they did release some amazing records, one has to accept an artist for following their muse. At the time of this album he'd started to mature, what with the wife and kid, etc. and that shows in the songs content. "Gracie" for example is a heartfelt ode to his daughter.. Nothing wrong with that at all, but I know you can't always please everyone, and I'm sure the BF Five snobs spat on this album for a long while.
So if you've never heard Ben Folds' work I'd recommend checking this out immediately. I don't think you can find a better entry point into his music than this album, and from here your free to look backward into his catalog, as there is a lot of fantastic work there too.

The best part of this entire download is the "vinyl only" exclusive cut, Track 12 "Bitches Ain't Shit". That's right, Ben Folds of all people covering a classic track off of Dr. Dre's "The Chronic". It's more humorous than anything, but what's most amazing is that he actually does a great job performing the song.
It's just amazing to hear Ben sing lyrics like:

"Bitches ain't shit but hoes and tricks, Lick on deez nutz and suck the dick, Get's the fuck out after you're done, And I hops in my ride to make a quick run..."

01. Bastard (5:23)
02. You To Thank (3:36)
03. Jesusland (4:31)
04. Landed (4:29)
05. Gracie (2:40)
06. Trusted (4:09)
07. Give Judy My Notice (3:37)
08. Late (3:58)
09. Sentimental Guy (3:04)
10. Time (4:30)
11. Prison Food (4:15)
12. Bitches Ain't Shit (3:55) *vinyl exclusive track.

 

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