Rockin' the Suburbs

I'm a Ben Folds fan. Not the hardcore, "I'll follow you everywhere and I have all of your recordings" type fan, but I don't think I've ever heard anything he's done that I didn't like. If that doesn't sound like a glowing review, then allow me to elaborate a little.

I first heard Ben Folds with his trio The Ben Folds Five (still trying to figure that one out), and I loved his punk approach to banging the piano with pounding drums and fuzzed out bass as an anchor; I loved his melodies and his insanely clever hooks. His sense of humor got to me right away with breakup songs that included lines like "Give me back my black t-shirt" and "give me my money back"... I also loved how he could switch off the bitterness and pave the way for tears with songs that moved melodically and harmonically into territory usually reserved for broadway soliloquy or million dollar ballads.

Rockin' the Suburbs is a solo album of his that displays the best of those strengths and plays to his diverstiy. 12 songs filled with characters outrageous to painfully mundane, from a girl who believes she can time-travel to a man needlessly let go from his job of 25 years, this collection of tunes can make me contemplate awful truths and laugh at them at the same time. Each character has a story, and each story is worthy of an emotional investment: The suburban punk who gets a record deal despite a bad attitude and lack of talent, the faithful girl screwed over again, the acid-popping Jesus freak whose Jesus-themed amusement park goes horribly awry... Odd and utterly likeable, this collection is one of my recent faves.

Disclaimer: Anybody listening to this because they heard a version of "Rockin' the Suburbs" on the tail end of the kids' movie "Over the Hedge," BEWARE: The actual version is laced with F-bombs and is most definitely NOT fit for most children's ears. This album begs a mature listener and is NOT for kids.