Stupidity
is something Ben Folds has mastered.
The
piano playing namesake behind the cult favorite band Ben Folds Five - the
strangely named band with only three members - has dropped his former band
mates and is prepared to be "Rockin' the Suburbs" on his second solo
release (although many may consider this his first solo release because
"Fear of Pop" album really wasn't much musically). But the only
rocking that is done on "Rockin' the Suburbs" is in the title track.
Quick paced and with the help of new sounds for Folds, a DJ and a guitar riff,
the song rocks with the same stupidity that fans of Ben Folds Five have come to
know and love. The opening lyrics of the song are a prime example, "Let me
tell you what it's like / being male, middle class and white". The song "Rockin' the Suburbs"
takes funny shots at modern rock ("I'm gonna cuss on the mic tonight / I
don't know how much I can take / girl give me something I can break") and
at the same manages to actually come across as a half way serious rock track.
Somewhat
unfortunately the rest of the album doesn't follow the same quick paced rock
pattern the title track does though. As an album "Rockin' the
Suburbs" is very similar to the tone and pace of Ben Folds Five's last
album "The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner." Both albums
follow along deceptive lines for the casual radio listener. "The
Unauthorized…"'s one radio release was "Army", a funny fast
paced ditty, but the rest of the album was a slow and filled with dramatic love
songs ("Magic" and "Don't Change Your Plans"), songs about
loss ("Mess") and experimental orchestral textures scattered all over
the record ("Lullabye" and "Narcolepsy").
"Rockin'
the Suburbs" could then be thought of as the stripped down continuation of
where Ben Folds Five left off. There are notable absences of the strangely
fitting bass guitar and drums that made Ben Folds Five's music hard to place
for listeners and appealing in that oddly dressed but cute girl-next-door sort
of way.
Through
out the album Folds plays the piano with a rhythmic "Billy Joel on a lot
of drugs" presence. His quick fingers make all the tracks enjoyable to
listen to and his stupid lyrics thrown into serious songs make the songs
unpredictable. On all Ben Folds Five albums there are always songs filled with
references to friends and titled with people's names and "Rockin' the
Suburb" is no different (see "Zak and Sara", "Carrying
Cathy" and "Losing Lisa").
With
each album in Folds career he seems to grow up a little more. Although it's too
hard for him to refrain from a silly lyrics for more than two songs,
"Still Fighting It" marks a more mature "family man"
attitude for Folds (who recently married, moved to Australia and became a father
in the last year). While the song contains starts silly and has the lines
"the roast beef combo's only nine ninety five" (the CD booklet even
gives the Australian to US dollar exchange rate), the serious side of Folds
comes out with he wonders "Twenty years from now / maybe we'll both sit
down / and have a few beers / and I can tell / you about today / and how I
picked you up / and everything changed." Fold's also includes a lovely
song about his wife, and album collaborator, Frally Hynes called "The
Luckiest."
Even
without the Five in the fold Ben Folds continues on his piano pressing way
quite well. While fans of Ben Folds Five may have been scared of the future of
the band not much is different here except for progression, something that
wasn't shown on the first three Ben Folds Five albums. The piano playing and
silly one liners will always be present but the quick paced tunes are all but
zoned out. Whether this new softer maturity is progress is the question only
fans will be able to answer.
By Nate