The Album Review Club - Week #194 (page 1303) - Ants From Up There - Black Country, New Road

Songs for Silverman by Ben Folds is the musical equivalent of any sitcom created by Bill Lawrence such as Scrubs and Ted Lasso. It passes the time and it is pleasant enough with just enough of an off kilter sensibility to cause a smile or to tickle the ear BUT it doesn't really have a lot of emotional weight. Lyrically it's pretty straight forward and the piano and bass works pretty well together but it feels very safe despite the profanity and songs about relationships breaking up.

There are a couple of nice lines here and there particular on the opening track but also on Gracie - "you got your momma's taste but you got my mouth". It all feels very competent and well put together like a Bill Lawrence sitcom but it also feels artificial - Ted Lasso is a good sitcom but it's not particularly realistic so when the emotion hits it feels very manipulated. I'm ok with that in the moment but it doesn't stick around and it eventually wears off when you go back to it.

Highlights of the album are the two closers - Time and Prison Food but they also highlight why I'm not loving this. Time has a vibe that reminds me of a particular Black Country New Road if they were determined to be as inoffensive as possible and the lyrics aren't as clever as I think Ben Folds thinks they are (time takes time - ok big whoop) but muscially it does things I like that remind me of something I like a bunch more. Not sure that's a ringing endorsement. Prison Food is doing something pretty similar to Time just a little bit faster but with a little bit of slide guitar and the bass runs into something like you might hear English Teacher do - again I'm just reminded of songs I like better. I'd prefer it if it got way more chaotic in the bridge (where it get's a little bit early Radiohead).

Some of my criticisms may just be a function of it's self. For a long time I was just not into piano led songs until I rediscovered Radiohead a couple of years ago but they use piano in a very different way. Pyramid Song for example is very piano heavy. I think because Ben Folds is writing these on piano and it's a solo album the result for me is that they piano is often overplayed and it all sounds tonally the same. Perhaps if these songs were written to be a little more guitar forward OR the piano was at times darker and more doomy I might prefer it.

So in summary a fine album that feels very professional but too restrained for my tastes. Absolutely nothing wrong with it and I'm feeling kind of constrained again by my Gary Clarke Jr score of 7 - again I probably prefer this album but it doesn't cause me to stop and consider in the way that JPEG RAW did so I can't score it the same. This results in another 6 from me. I may check out what he's doing in a band setting and listen to the Ben Folds Five but then again I may not - nothing is compelling me either way.
 
mrbelfry said:
Songs for Silverman by Ben Folds is the musical equivalent of any sitcom created by Bill Lawrence such as Scrubs and Ted Lasso. It passes the time and it is pleasant enough with just enough of an off kilter sensibility to cause a smile or to tickle the ear BUT it doesn't really have a lot of emotional weight. Lyrically it's pretty straight forward and the piano and bass works pretty well together but it feels very safe despite the profanity and songs about relationships breaking up.

There are a couple of nice lines here and there particular on the opening track but also on Gracie - "you got your momma's taste but you got my mouth". It all feels very competent and well put together like a Bill Lawrence sitcom but it also feels artificial - Ted Lasso is a good sitcom but it's not particularly realistic so when the emotion hits it feels very manipulated. I'm ok with that in the moment but it doesn't stick around and it eventually wears off when you go back to it.

Highlights of the album are the two closers - Time and Prison Food but they also highlight why I'm not loving this. Time has a vibe that reminds me of a particular Black Country New Road if they were determined to be as inoffensive as possible and the lyrics aren't as clever as I think Ben Folds thinks they are (time takes time - ok big whoop) but muscially it does things I like that remind me of something I like a bunch more. Not sure that's a ringing endorsement. Prison Food is doing something pretty similar to Time just a little bit faster but with a little bit of slide guitar and the bass runs into something like you might hear English Teacher do - again I'm just reminded of songs I like better. I'd prefer it if it got way more chaotic in the bridge (where it get's a little bit early Radiohead).

Some of my criticisms may just be a function of it's self. For a long time I was just not into piano led songs until I rediscovered Radiohead a couple of years ago but they use piano in a very different way. Pyramid Song for example is very piano heavy. I think because Ben Folds is writing these on piano and it's a solo album the result for me is that they piano is often overplayed and it all sounds tonally the same. Perhaps if these songs were written to be a little more guitar forward OR the piano was at times darker and more doomy I might prefer it.

So in summary a fine album that feels very professional but too restrained for my tastes. Absolutely nothing wrong with it and I'm feeling kind of constrained again by my Gary Clarke Jr score of 7 - again I probably prefer this album but it doesn't cause me to stop and consider in the way that JPEG RAW did so I can't score it the same. This results in another 6 from me. I may check out what he's doing in a band setting and listen to the Ben Folds Five but then again I may not - nothing is compelling me either way.
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I fully agree and this is pretty much what I felt on first spin.
Good review.
 
C90 said:
Great stuff. Did you go on the TEE listening to Kraftwerk, meet Iggy Pop and David Boowee. I once alighted at the wrong station on the Berlin U-bahn at night and was full-on Low/Heroes/Christiane F feelings. Gropiusstadt - went back in the daylight and it was completely different.

Are you going to see Shack?
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Yeah re Shack got tickets for Union Chapel in London - great venue
Then Edwyn on his tour in Southampton.

I remember visiting where they both lived in Berlin walked past it initially. I have a copy of Christiane F film in German and went Dusseldorf imagining some sort of Kraftwerk tribute but nothing really.
 
mrbelfry said:
Songs for Silverman by Ben Folds is the musical equivalent of any sitcom created by Bill Lawrence such as Scrubs and Ted Lasso. It passes the time and it is pleasant enough with just enough of an off kilter sensibility to cause a smile or to tickle the ear BUT it doesn't really have a lot of emotional weight. Lyrically it's pretty straight forward and the piano and bass works pretty well together but it feels very safe despite the profanity and songs about relationships breaking up.

There are a couple of nice lines here and there particular on the opening track but also on Gracie - "you got your momma's taste but you got my mouth". It all feels very competent and well put together like a Bill Lawrence sitcom but it also feels artificial - Ted Lasso is a good sitcom but it's not particularly realistic so when the emotion hits it feels very manipulated. I'm ok with that in the moment but it doesn't stick around and it eventually wears off when you go back to it.

Highlights of the album are the two closers - Time and Prison Food but they also highlight why I'm not loving this. Time has a vibe that reminds me of a particular Black Country New Road if they were determined to be as inoffensive as possible and the lyrics aren't as clever as I think Ben Folds thinks they are (time takes time - ok big whoop) but muscially it does things I like that remind me of something I like a bunch more. Not sure that's a ringing endorsement. Prison Food is doing something pretty similar to Time just a little bit faster but with a little bit of slide guitar and the bass runs into something like you might hear English Teacher do - again I'm just reminded of songs I like better. I'd prefer it if it got way more chaotic in the bridge (where it get's a little bit early Radiohead).

Some of my criticisms may just be a function of it's self. For a long time I was just not into piano led songs until I rediscovered Radiohead a couple of years ago but they use piano in a very different way. Pyramid Song for example is very piano heavy. I think because Ben Folds is writing these on piano and it's a solo album the result for me is that they piano is often overplayed and it all sounds tonally the same. Perhaps if these songs were written to be a little more guitar forward OR the piano was at times darker and more doomy I might prefer it.

So in summary a fine album that feels very professional but too restrained for my tastes. Absolutely nothing wrong with it and I'm feeling kind of constrained again by my Gary Clarke Jr score of 7 - again I probably prefer this album but it doesn't cause me to stop and consider in the way that JPEG RAW did so I can't score it the same. This results in another 6 from me. I may check out what he's doing in a band setting and listen to the Ben Folds Five but then again I may not - nothing is compelling me either way.
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You’ve sort of summed this up for me (so far) in many more words than I could likely muster.

Still time for it to make an impression though
 
mrbelfry said:
Songs for Silverman by Ben Folds is the musical equivalent of any sitcom created by Bill Lawrence such as Scrubs and Ted Lasso. It passes the time and it is pleasant enough with just enough of an off kilter sensibility to cause a smile or to tickle the ear BUT it doesn't really have a lot of emotional weight.
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Think you might be lacking a wee link with your emotions. Both shows have excellent emotional and poignant segments. Very much a less is more and subtlety over force touch, but that's what makes it work. Really good writing, and yes while there is an abundance of cheese, the substance is there too. And while you are at it, watch his Shrinking series too, it is just as good.

Not listened to this album yet, but if there is any truth to that metaphor, I'll start getting my expectations raised.
 
Mrs IO..."This is alot better than that crap you were listening to the other week" (Sleep Token)
It even prompted her to start doing some research into Ben Folds which has to be a first for anything that I have forced her to listen to in the past. So she has to have had a little interest.
My first thought was that old Ben must have been influenced by hearing the "Cheers" theme tune when he was young, as I couldn't help but hear that in a few of the tracks.
Some interesting stuff on first listen and how could you not think "Gracie" was so sweet. Although if you were one of his other children you would be asking which song is about me.
 
LGWIO said:
Mrs IO..."This is alot better than that crap you were listening to the other week" (Sleep Token)
It even prompted her to start doing some research into Ben Folds which has to be a first for anything that I have forced her to listen to in the past. So she has to have had a little interest.
My first thought was that old Ben must have been influenced by hearing the "Cheers" theme tune when he was young, as I couldn't help but hear that in a few of the tracks.
Some interesting stuff on first listen and how could you not think "Gracie" was so sweet. Although if you were one of his other children you would be asking which song is about me.
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He wrote another one about his other daughter on a different record.
 
By and large, blokes playing piano only really works for me when it's quite animated and/or blues or jazz orientated. I'm not a big fan of the likes of Elton John or Billy Joel etc though I can obviously see their talent. So this starts from a potential position of weakness but so far I'm enjoying it.

There are times when it would benefit from the presence of an entertainingly hammy thespian showing belated signs of self-awareness but apart from that it's ok.
 
Coatigan said:
Think you might be lacking a wee link with your emotions. Both shows have excellent emotional and poignant segments. Very much a less is more and subtlety over force touch, but that's what makes it work. Really good writing, and yes while there is an abundance of cheese, the substance is there too. And while you are at it, watch his Shrinking series too, it is just as good.

Not listened to this album yet, but if there is any truth to that metaphor, I'll start getting my expectations raised.
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I cried a couple of times watching Ted Lasso season 1 BUT only the first time. I also loved Scrubs but I don't remember the emotional beats I just remember the "this sausage is huge" jokes. I also enjoy Shrinking and had a little tear when Harrison Ford gave his speech at Thanksgiving this last season. I actually cry a lot at movies and TV shows - my wife and kids constantly make fun of me for it.

The Bill Lawrence stuff though does have a very specific formula and a certain veneer that I would need to spend more time thinking about to articulate more clearly. They are very self aware I guess and though they flirt around with a little darkness all the bad stuff happens off camera - this is my quick 2 minute attempt to understand what I mean. The emotional moments are contained and restrained and I'm trying to avoid the word smug because I used it last week.

That Ben Folds would do speeches at Google and Lawrence shows now appear on Apple TV makes sense - there is a corporate cool quirky thing going on and Folds is the safe bad guy you can tell all your mates you smoked weed with whilst you're hiking with your carefully curated diverse group of friends. Someone will have a moment of self realisation that makes their lives instantly better and everyone hugs and everyone is nice but then we hint that you're still damaged so you spit at your reflection in the mirror then Dr Cox arrives to call out your BS and the guy that was in The Fugitive (not Harrison Ford the other guy) is also at Thanksgiving now for some reason and we all give each other rocks that have huge significance but we have to make fun of them so we can keep emotions within the carefully delineated moments and then as I'm typing I realise that I want to be Dr Cox so bad that I'm now sabotaging my own life and picking up a bad drinking habit that a father figure in my life will need to help me confront at the end of my arc and I'm still alone but determined to be a better person by learning the Poison dance and talking to teenagers on benches but it's ok and I'm not a peado because they are bringing me sweets not the other way round. And then Time by Ben Folds plays and you know what time does actually take time so be kind to yourself and enjoy the smooth creamy latte from Starbucks - you deserve it queen. You may be mid but at least you're classy.

I hate how much I didn't hate it is perhaps the most Ben Foldsian response I could have to this toe tapper
 
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threespires said:
By and large, blokes playing piano only really works for me when it's quite animated and/or blues or jazz orientated. I'm not a big fan of the likes of Elton John or Billy Joel etc though I can obviously see their talent. So this starts from a potential position of weakness but so far I'm enjoying it.
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I'll take Elton or Billy vocally over Ben, but that's pretty obvious too given the quirky and witty delivery that is being aimed for in this case.

I'm sensing the sameness, and for some reason I don't feel it as much on the other artists' albums. Still early.
 
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mrbelfry said:
I cried a couple of times watching Ted Lasso season 1 BUT only the first time. I also loved Scrubs but I don't remember the emotional beats I just remember the "this sausage is huge" jokes. I also enjoy Shrinking and had a little tear when Harrison Ford gave his speech at Thanksgiving this last season. I actually cry a lot at movies and TV shows - my wife and kids constantly make fun of me for it.

The Bill Lawrence stuff though does have a very specific formula and a certain veneer that I would need to spend more time thinking about to articulate more clearly. They are very self aware I guess and though they flirt around with a little darkness all the bad stuff happens off camera - this is my quick 2 minute attempt to understand what I mean. The emotional moments are contained and restrained and I'm trying to avoid the word smug because I used it last week.

That Ben Folds would do speeches at Google and Lawrence shows now appear on Apple TV makes sense - there is a corporate cool quirky thing going on and Folds is the safe bad guy you can tell all your mates you smoked weed with whilst you're hiking with your carefully curated diverse group of friends. Someone will have a moment of self realisation that makes their lives instantly better and everyone hugs and everyone is nice but then we hint that you're still damaged so you spit at your reflection in the mirror then Dr Cox arrives to call out your BS and the guy that was in The Fugitive (not Harrison Ford the other guy) is also at Thanksgiving now for some reason and we all give each other rocks that have huge significance but we have to make fun of them so we can keep emotions within the carefully delineated moments and then as I'm typing I realise that I want to be Dr Cox so bad that I'm now sabotaging my own life and picking up a bad drinking habit that a father figure in my life will need to help me confront at the end of my arc and I'm still alone but determined to be a better person by learning the Poison dance and talking to teenagers on benches but it's ok and I'm not a peado because they are bringing me sweets not the other way round. And then Time by Ben Folds plays and you know what time does actually take time so be kind to yourself and enjoy the smooth creamy latte from Starbucks - you deserve it queen. You may be mid but at least you're classy.

I hate how much I didn't hate it is perhaps the most Ben Foldsian response I could have to this toe tapper
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Later.on I'm going to cut and paste this into chat gpt and ask it to translate this into cultural terms that an FOC will understand. I shall report back on it's effectiveness.
 
I'm more familiar with his name and album covers than I am with his actual songs ( I often peruse record shops etc).
On a listening stage I like what I hear ( anyone who writes a song about Elliott Smith as he does with Late I'll always appreciate). Appears to be an album that I'd listen to again, elements of Squeeze, possibly Joe Jackson both musically and lyrically.
I never believe any music is worth a very low score so I'd give it a 7 personally
.
 
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