Ben Folds Five - Whatever and Ever Amen (CD)

Only Half Awesome

By Jonathan  Dec 3, 2004

Pros: great first five songs to begin CD

Cons: gets boring after the fifth track

This was the first CD of BFF's I bought (no, I didn't buy it for "Brick" like most people). I opened it up, popped it in, pressed play, and was instantly blown away by just the opening 5 seconds. "One Angry Dwarf and 200 Sole...mn Faces" is just one of the downright coolest songs ever and an absolute bang to begin the CD. "Fair" is good but it gets kind of boring towards the end. I'm always surprised "Brick" was such a hit -- it's good but it's not crazy good. "Song for the Dumped" is one of my favorite songs -- it is so awesome!! All the solos in the middle are so amazingly cool and there's such emotion in it, I'm sure it would be an absolute blast to play live on stage. I love singing along to it (as well as to "One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces"). "Selfless, Cold, and Composed" is a real mellow, somber song, but I like it a lot. As for the rest of the CD, it's just average, nothing really stands out. The hidden track, I must say, is pretty sweet. Anyway, I recommend this CD, but only if you can handle the extreme awesomeness of Ben Folds's piano. Read more Less