You Wanna See What’s in My Head

On his last album Songs for Silverman, Ben Folds sang “wiz man never fit you like the wiz kid did” which seemed to forecast his tradition from bratty pop to more adult contemporary music highlighted by Landed, a sweeping song that was void of any wit or sarcasm Ben had been known for. Fast forward three and a half years and Ben seems to back to his old tricks on Way to Normal. Even on songs Cologne which starts off sounding introspective like Brick but then Ben starts singing about astronauts wearing diapers and traveling cross country to kill a boyfriends lover.

So the old Ben Folds is back for better or good depending how you look at it. Also following on former themes on The (Expletive Deleted) Went Nuts which answers the age old question, this time posed by someone sounding like Stephen Hawkins if his voice modulator was programed by a Hispanic, why do relationships go bad. The song just seems like piling on the girl from A Song For the Dumped, but still has plenty of bite to it.

The best song on the set starts off the album, Hiroshima (B B B Benny Hits His Head), which as the title suggests does owe a bit from the Elton John as they both have that driving march feel to it. The song is heightened thanks to a live audience that help Folds sing the chorus near the end and just reinforces the notion that if you have yet to see Ben Folds live that you at the very least need to check out his live album.

Elsewhere on the album, Folds recruits fellow quicky piano pop singer Regina Spektor for You Don’t Know Me, yet another ode to a failed relationship that is their fault. Despite the overran theme, the female voice over the otherwise mellow sounding song making the song a freshness the album needed. Maybe this spark more change for Folds’ next album.

Song to Download - Hiroshima (B B B Benny Hits His Head)

Way to Normal gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.