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Fear Of Pop

Volume I  Hear it Now

RS: 3of 5 Stars

1998

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Ben Folds is one of the most gifted practitioners of melodic power pop since Todd Rundgren, and, like Rundgren (for better or worse), he's unafraid to take a way-ward turn. On the eclectic aural collage that is Volume 1 Folds and collaborator Caleb Southern play the studio like the proverbial kids in a candy shop. It's a wacky, antipop bite at the hand that feeds, worth a spin for its slaloming grooves and desiccated wit. Folds enlists the golden-throated William Shatner for a histrionic cameo on "In Love" and musically animates some sort of screwy getaway scene in "Rubber Sled." "I Paid My Money" is an invigorating Talking Heads-style funk recitative, while the glimmering mass harmonies on a couple of tracks prove that Folds can't entirely keep his pop aura under wraps. This tangent may well find a cult following for its juxtaposition of rhythmic chaos, ambient sound and ironic context, but it's not for everyone. Caveat emptor.



PARKE PUTERBAUGH

(Posted: Jan 21, 1999)

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