Description

Live albums are rarely worth owning--they're usually contractually obliged stocking fillers bunged out by acts who have spent the previous year too drunk to write anything new, but nonetheless want to finish paying for the yacht before Christmas. However, Ben Folds Live is a stellar exception to this rule. It is arguable that Folds is at his best on stage with only a grand piano for company. He is as compelling a showman as he is a songwriter, blessed with an unforced charm that complements, rather than distracts from, the anger and melancholy that informs most of his songs: the self-laceratingmore… "Army" loses nothing here by having a hall of people bellowing the saxophone and trumpet parts as Folds conducts them. The material selected here spans Folds's work with the three-piece Ben Folds Five as well as 2001's excellent solo debut. The readings of "Fred Jones", "The Luckiest" and "Brick" included here are possessed of an immediacy and intimacy that transcends the recorded versions, and there are a couple of worthwhile curiosities, including a minor chord rearrangement of "Song for the Dumped" and a faithful, and surprisingly affecting, version of Elton John's "Tiny Dancer". Folds is a live performer of something approaching genius and this is an impeccable document of him at work. --Andrew Mueller

Tracks

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Info:

Category:

Music > Albums

Case Type:

CD

Release Type:

Retail

Comments:

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Cover Info:

Title:

Ben Folds - Live (2002) Retail CD

Part:

Front

Dimensions:

2003 x 2003 px

Size:

315 KB

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229 (0 today)

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Report a Problem Wrong Cover Duplicate Image Bad Quality Wrong Info

25/01/09 by musicworld

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