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Songs for Silverman--recorded expeditiously over a six week stint in Nashville with the emphasis solidly on capturing the veracity of the performance--is only the second solo album from waggish power-pop pianist Ben Folds since the disbandment of his famed former "nerd rock" trio Ben Folds Five. This time it's serious. Although prior comparisons to such a luminary as Randy Newman can never be considered disparaging, Folds' penchant for hanging out with wacky musical pals (William Shatner, Weird Al Yankovic) and for generally sounding rather facetious has seen him tarred with the same smarty-pants brush otherwise bandie
Songs for Silverman--recorded expeditiously over a six week stint in Nashville with the emphasis solidly on capturing the veracity of the performance--is only the second solo album from waggish power-pop pianist Ben Folds since the disbandment of his famed former "nerd rock" trio Ben Folds Five. This time it's serious. Although prior comparisons to such a luminary as Randy Newman can never be considered disparaging, Folds' penchant for hanging out with wacky musical pals (William Shatner, Weird Al Yankovic) and for generally sounding rather facetious has seen him tarred with the same smarty-pants brush otherwise bandied around in the direction of pranksters like Barenaked Ladies. Finally, though, Fold's sounds less like a man who knows all the answers and more like someone who knows how to ask all the right questions. Displacement, estrangement, disorientation; Songs for Silverman picks up on the loneliness and brevity of life (one song mourns the loss of his friend, the late Elliott Smith) and lightens the burden with the kind of very fine pop music espoused by Squeeze and Fountains of Wayne. To wit, the superbly tragic-comic "You to Thank" casts Folds as the protagonist in a hopelessly premature teen marriage while "Bastard" castigates the willingness of youth to squander their blithe adolescence in the fast-track pursuit of adulthood. Even when Folds' fondly addresses his baby daughter on the Joe Jackson-flavoured "Gracie" ("Life flies by in seconds, you're not a baby Gracie, you're my friend") it's with a sense that nothing any good lasts long enough. Unlike this record, of course, which is to be savoured more with every play. --Kevin Maidment
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Release date: 25 April 2005
EAN: 5099751701224
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