SOUNDTRACK: BEN FOLDS-Free Folds Five E.P. (2011).
With the purchase of Ben Folds’ Imitation of Myself, I received a free download of this E.P. It contains five tracks: three demos and two live tracks.
The demos are for “Underground” (1992), “Stevens Last Night in Town” (1994) and “Song for the Dumped” (1994). Demos are a strange thing. For fans of a song it’s interesting to hear an original version, especially if it is radically different.
These demos are not radically different although there are certainly some differences. “Underground”‘s opening spoken bits sound more comical and less sung (it’s clearly just not mixed well). And “Steven” has a strange spoken word section during the instrumental break. It’s also less manic than the official release.
The most drastic change is in “Song for the Dumped” in which the chorus ends not with the humorous “and dooooooon’t forget my black T-shirt” but with the more abrasive (and Ben said harder for him to sing) “you fuuuuucking whore.” So these demos are interesting for knowing that these songs were pretty much always meant to sound a certain way (and that even Ben has limits for how much he’ll curse). But the official releases are better.
The live versions are both from solo shows. “Narcolepsy” (1999) and “Dr Yang (2008). Ben live is always a fun prospect. He puts on a fun show and often stretches the songs out with fun jams. “Narcolepsy” is notable for the incredibly buzzy bass guitar that they’re playing. Neither one of these songs features any jams, but they both have a heavier, more intense feel than the studio versions.
Since the Imitation of Myself included live songs and demos, these make a nice addition to the set. Although they’re certainly not essential.
[READ: March 15, 2012] “ΦΒΚ: Love of wisdom, the guide to life”
My family has traveled to Colonial Williiamsburg for our last few vacations. We don’t spend all of our time there (Busch Gardens is just down the road, after all), but we have really enjoyed the history. So last year I sent them a nominal fee and got some kind of membership coupon. And then about a week ago, we received this magazine. I don’t know why it took so long to get to us and I don’t know how many more we’ll receive. I wasn’t even sure if I was going to read anything in it (I like Colonial Williamsburg, but probably not enough to read a whole magazine about it). But I was delighted by the content of the magazine. And I’ll mention a few of the other articles in the near future.
This one is about the origins of ΦΒΚ, Phi Beta Kappa. It’s something I never even thought about, but once I started reading it, I found it really interesting. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 