Top Ten Ben Folds Five Songs

Ben Folds Five were my first favourite band. Back in 1998 I bought Whatever and Ever Amen, after hearing Brick a few times and then hearing the entire album at a friend's party. After one listen I was hooked. I played it over and over again, finding new favourite songs with every listen. Then I discovered not long after that my friend Bec also had discovered the band and had a taped copy of their CD. She bought their first self titled album and Naked Baby Photos which contains other material like b-sides and live tracks. Of course in 1999 when The Unauthorised Biography of Reinhold Messner was released, I went and bought it on its release date. Ben Folds Five are really the band I can credit with moving my tastes towards the Triple J end of the radio dial and away from safe, predictable and easily consumable commercial pop. I thought today I would celebrate an almost-ten year anniversary of their album's release and list my favourite ten BF5 tracks.

1. Army, from The Unauthorised Biography of Reinhold Messner
The song, if there's going to be one song, that made me a Triple J convert. Well, I had to listen to Triple J in order to tape it because it was on their hit list... so I ended up staying. But it's a great song in itself. The horn section is energetic and the opening section is great, the way it builds up from just a voice and piano to the full band sound. I love the fact that I've been able to sing along to this twice live now, to both halves of the horn section.

2. Battle of Who Could Care Less, from Whatever and Ever Amen
A lively little song with great lyrics and a catchy tune. 'I've got this great idea, why don't we pitch it to the Franklin fucking Mint? Fine pewter portraits of general apathy and major boredom singing 'whatever and ever amen'.'

3. Underground, from Ben Folds Five
A classic song featuring the vocal and musical abilities of the entire band. Funny and fun to sing along to (and again I got to do this in 2005 at the Forum show).

4. Emaline, from Naked Baby Photos
Used to be my favourite BF5 song but I think I've overplayed it too much now. It's still great though, one of the few tracks to feature Ben Folds on acoustic guitar at the start of the song. Rumour has it that's why it was left off their first album.

5. Jackson Cannery, from Ben Folds Five
Another energetic little track. This is where it gets more and more difficult to rank the songs. Assume the remaining five are equal favourites!

6. Fair, from Whatever and Ever Amen
I just can't pick Brick for this list (which I'm sure many people would have in their top ten) although it would be a close 11 or 12 maybe. I've heard it far too many times. I remember liking this song a lot on first listen though.

7. Air from Godzilla soundtrack
A great song. If you play all their songs alphabetically this one comes out first. A nice angsty song with a great crescendo.

8. Where's Summer B?, from Ben Folds Five
A slow, steady song that suits the mood of the lyrics, about walking through your old home town and noticing the changes.

9. Your Redneck Past, from The Unauthorised Biography of Reinhold Messner
Very funny lyrics and well constructed... this entire album was a bit of a departure for the band from their usual piano-pop straightforwardness. They picked up a horn section and a sound like a DJ record scratch.

10. Best Imitation of Myself, from Ben Folds Five
'The problem-with-you speech you gave me was fine, I liked the theories about my little stage. And I swore I was listening but I started drifting around the part about me acting my age'.