keepers 3
keeper avg .375
How to critique an instrumental album. On an album of songs consisting of a main riff and maybe a clever catch phrase, there isn't much to go on. The main exception is the collaboration with William Shatner "In Love"**** (with whom there is also a short reprise ending the album), a full dose of the captain in the form of a sarcastic kiss-off to a resentful ex, six years before the full album collaboration "Has Been". But most of the other tracks follow the simple formula. "Kops" is funky background music to a high-speed car chase. "I Paid My Money"**** has some of humorous rapping by Folds, and "Root To This"**** is an interpretation the Chemical Brothers with Fold's Australian then-girlfriend's hilarious braying response to it. Besides "In Love", "Avery M. Powers Memorial Beltway" might have the most familiar Ben Folds signature moves, namely jazzy chord progressions and Stevie Wonder harmonies. But these groovy tunes are best appreciated on the own merit rather than for any relationship to Folds' typical work, as his sense of humor is evident throughout.
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