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Fear of Pop Volume One 550 Music Listening to Ben Folds's latest project, Fear of Pop, is kind of like watching your kid brother break it down on the dance floor for the first time - dressed in his funniest clothes, trying to look cool, shaking like he missed his last Ritalin shot. You kind of feel bad for him, but you can't keep from laughing. Could anyone really take an album of dance and electronica experiments from the piano man of the 90s seriously? Probably not, but at least Folds is in on the joke. There probably aren't a whole lot of musicians eager to work with William Shatner, but the cover sticker of "Volume One" proclaims it proudly - "An album of instrumental and spoken word music by Ben Folds, including ‘In Love' featuring William Shatner." Ben and Billy even performed together on the Conan O'Brien show. Guess that makes Folds the new Spock. Folds's most memorable forays into danceable stand-up comedy come on "Kops," "I Paid my Money," and "Rubber Sled." "Kops" could have been the theme for Starchky and Hutch" or "Charlie's Angels," had Folds written it about two decades before. It's sprinkled with bad cop dialogue and 16th note, disco high-hat cheesiness. The free-form ranting on "Rubber Sled" takes its cues from Was (Not Was)'s "Dad, I'm in Jail." For as enjoyably goofy as most of the album is, there are some fairly catchy grooves. It's almost a crime that Barry White isn't throwing down his stud bull over "Slow Jam '98." And when "Root to This" finally kicks in after the first minute, it's kind of infectious. I was terrified by what I was listening to, but I didn't turn it off. In retrospect, it seems like Folds has been hinting at his secret funky passions ever since the Five started doing "For Those of Ya'll Who Wear Fannie Packs" at their soundchecks. But like that six-minute-plus opus, much of Fear of Pop "Volume One" may wear on the listener's patience after a while. It's an amusing experiment, but Ben Folds Five is definitely better than Ben Folds One. -Nick |
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