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Simultaneously challenging and accessible, The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner is a song cycle about death and dying, people, relationships, optimism, innocence–you name it. On his first two albums, Ben Folds was quick to toss off bombs of blame (most notably on the vitriolic “Song for the Dumped”), but here he aims most of his criticism at the mirror. On the wondrously snarky “Redneck Past” he sings, “My ex-wives all despise me / try to put it all behind me / but my redneck past is nipping at my heels.” Apparently he doesn’t have a chip on his piano any more. The production is lush and ornate, with strings and horns embellishing Folds’s usual quota of to-die-for hooks (which he seems to dash off as effortlessly as postcards from the beach). An obvious point of reference is Pet Sounds, but Ben Folds Five widen their scope to also include hints of Steely Dan, Pink Floyd, and even Queen, whose influence is front and center on the bombastic opener “Narcolepsy,” a virtual homage to “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Other highlights include “Army,” a hilariously detailed indie-rock answer to Billy Joel’s “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant.” –David Menconi
Mojo
A significant development…underneath, it’s still the BFF in all their ragged, all-boys-together glory, it’s just that bit better.
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This is easily the finest album that Ben Folds Five ever made. Like many records considered “a Classic,” there are few songs that stand alone as being extremely powerful, though as a whole it is a masterpiece. Not that this trio has ever been known for making happy music, but this record is downright somber at times. The tracks are interlaced with one another, with single phrases of one song, being the main subject of the next. Going from track to track there is a coherence seldom found in popular music.
While an amazing range of emotions are expressed throughout the album, regret is a central theme. Regretting choices that were made and regretting the choices that passed him by, the character that Ben creates is amazingly introspective. There is little of the sometimes childish finger-pointing that went on over the previous works of Ben Folds Five.
The second track, “Don’t Change Your Plans,” is an amazing self contradiction in that the song’s main character is in love with a woman whom he credits with saving him, but he is unwilling to “move to L.A.” to be with her. He says he must be “why my heart says I outta be, it often makes no sense in fact, I never understand these things I feel. . . I love you, goodbye.”
“Mess” is probably the best song on the record. He goes over all the things that he did to ruin a past relationship and commits himself to do things differently in his new relationship. This is probably one of the most lyrically strong songs on the record. “There are rooms in this house, that I don’t open any more . . . dusty books and pictures on the floor. . .”
“Magic” is striking in its arrangement that smacks slightly of Simon and Garfunkel. “Army” is funny, not in a laughter sense, but in a facetious way. “Your Redneck Past” is born straight from a phrase in “Army” about his “redneck past nipping at [his] heels.” “Your Most Valuable Possession” is a spoken word song that is recorded as if were on his answering machine. It is absolutely wonderful, and the music behind the words is rather cool.
The last three songs pull the album to a close that gives the album a very complete feel. “Regrets” culminates a life that was full of missed opportunity as laziness. So many things left undone. “Jane” is a good song that talks to a girl who is in a position to make better choices than had been discussed over the rest of the album. “Lullaby” is a great end to the record. It is a bit campy, and not wonderful, but it makes for a great closing.
Reinhold Messner is peppered with rather impressive orchestral accompaniment that is not pretentious or over produced like much of today’s pop music. This album stands as the best effort in the Ben Folds catalog and stands firm as a record that could be placed along side of records like Pink Floyds “Dark Side of the Moon” and “the Wall” as albums best listened to as a whole.
epc
July 4th, 2009