Whatever And Ever Amen

97年発表のセカンド・アルバム。彼らお得意の弾けたポップ・チューンからバラードまで、全曲素晴らしい内容！ポップス好きは絶対聴いておきたい名盤です！

Village Voice - Ranked #27 in the Village Voice's 1997 Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll. Q - Included in Q Magazine's "50 Best Albums of 1997." Spin - 9 (out of 10) - "...WHATEVER AND EVER AMEN, signals a welcome return to rock as physical comedy. Like his sad-clown elders--Elton, Randy Newman--Folds knows that intense sincerity and oafish glitz are hardly incompatible. In fact, that's something we used to call entertainment..." Rolling Stone - 3.5 Stars (out of 5) - "...Folds has written another batch of sweet songs and supports each with disciplined, downright patient arrangements....This is about as close to bliss as the radio gets." Entertainment Weekly - "...Guitarless, cool, and compositionally overqualified, BFF have everything you'd want out of a rock band right now except a wah-wah pedal." - Rating: A Q - 4 stars out of 5 - "...Music for those who'll spend the rest of their lives 'off games', the bone-dry humor and sunny melodies still compensate for a multitude of sins." Village Voice (2/24/98) - Ranked #27 in the Village Voice's 1997 Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll. Q (1/98, p.112) - Included in Q Magazine's "50 Best Albums of 1997." Rolling Stone (4/17/97, pp.78-80) - 3.5 Stars (out of 5) - "...Folds has written another batch of sweet songs and supports each with disciplined, downright patient arrangements....This is about as close to bliss as the radio gets." Spin (5/97, p.110) - 9 (out of 10) - "...WHATEVER AND EVER AMEN, signals a welcome return to rock as physical comedy. Like his sad-clown elders--Elton, Randy Newman--Folds knows that intense sincerity and oafish glitz are hardly incompatible. In fact, that's something we used to call entertainment..." Q (10/00, p.141) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...Music for those who'll spend the rest of their lives 'off games', the bone-dry humor and sunny melodies still compensate for a multitude of sins." Entertainment Weekly (3/28/97, p.68) - "...Guitarless, cool, and compositionally overqualified, BFF have everything you'd want out of a rock band right now except a wah-wah pedal." - Rating: A

Boldly hacking his way through the muck-infested swamplands of post-Nirvana alternative rock, Ben Folds comes to save the day with an album of pure pop delights that provide a welcome alternative to "alternative". Despite the name, the Ben Folds Five is a trio consisting of Folds on piano and vocals, a bassist and a drummer. There are echoes of everything from vintage Todd Rundgren and Joe Jackson to Hoboken-based popsters like the dB's and Freedy Johnston in the band's frothy compositions. And there are no guitars.
Bassist Robert Sledge is on a one-man mission to bring back the fuzz-bass, utilising the '60s bass technique to fill out the sound of the trio, and sometimes sounding more like a guitarist or keyboardist. Folds is an accomplished pianist, and has no qualms about giving the instrument the rock and roll spotlight that it's often denied. Ignore the knee-jerk Elton John comparisons. Folds may be equally influenced by show tunes and the Beatles, but WHATEVER rocks more convincingly than a gaggle of guitar-worshipping grunge puppies.|