Sony
2002
Ben Folds Live (Explicit)
About This Album
The Ben Folds and a Piano tour of 2002 offered fans just that: the man and his instrument. Culled from those performances, Ben Folds Live documents Folds, his piano, and most importantly, his songs. Most of Ben Folds Live's tracks were first recorded by Ben Folds Five, with live versions of four songs from Folds' solo debut, Rockin' the Suburbs, also included. The classic trappings of live albums are still present. While the new versions of the familiar tunes are at times interesting and the new arrangements often reveal musical (and more often lyrical) nuances that may have gone unnoticed in the more ornately produced studio albums, there are also some gaping holes. Folds has always had a golden touch with harmonies and was blessed with a phenomenal rhythm section to breathe life into his material with Ben Folds Five. However, when the drums don't kick in during the first few bars of "Army," the song falls flat. Luckily, Folds enlists the audiences' help to sing "Army"'s horn parts and "Not the Same"'s background vocals with great results. Ben Folds Live runs into trouble at the other end of the spectrum as well, with some tracks that are so similar to the original versions that they're rendered redundant.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11 and 12)

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