Ben Folds Five released their self-titled debut album back in 1995, introducing the trio's distinctive sarcastic/saccharine, raw/technical Gen X piano-rock sound on compact theatrical epics like "Philosophy" and "Best Imitation Of Myself." But before teaming up with producer Caleb Southern that winter, they'd taken an initial stab at recording with Dave "Stiff" Johnson for sessions that were never released.
Folds, who resigned in protest from his role as the Artistic Advisor to the National Symphony Orchestra last year, recently discovered those abandoned recordings on digital audio tape in his personal archive. Now, they're coming out. Billed as Shelved First Attempt, the remastered project features seven songs that eventually made it onto Ben Folds Five plus "Evaporated," which materialized on their 1997 sophomore set Whatever And Ever Amen, and three outtakes that did not end up on an album, "Emaline," "Dick Holster," and "Eddie Walker."
Shelved First Attempt will appear as the second disc of 2CD and 2LP versions of a new reissue, Ben Folds Five (30th Anniversary), out in September. The remastered official album and Shelved First Attempt will also be available separately in digital formats. Some thoughts on the debut from Folds, excerpted from the liner notes:
Here’s my 59-year-old self’s take on the album we made when I was 28: Overall, it’s good! It’s NOT the kind of record you’d hear produced these days. It’s pretty rough and tumble, mostly in a good way. And it’s emphatically unique. It’s from an era when you could still identify a band by the instrumentalists, before you’d even hear the vocalist. I don’t think that’s been a thing since computers allowed us to get things just right.
This first Ben Folds Five record doesn’t even TRY to do the things most might aspire to, with or without the technology, and that’s one of the first things I hear while listening. Many indie rockers of the 90s claimed to be raw and not care. We actually lived that, though it’s just not obvious because it’s based around piano and complex songs, which was an odd combo.
For better or worse – wow. I’m hearing a record that really just puts it out there, and I’m glad we did all of that. It also probably stunted the potential for the record in terms of commercial appeal. Who knows? But I’m all for it, at least for this first album… The “and all” that, along with the warts, means it’s a real snapshot of a time period. That’s rare, so I give this album a thumbs up, and now I’ll go back to not listening to my own music.
As for Shelved First Attempt, he writes:
The budget from Caroline Records, as I recall, was about $14k, all-in. We spent all of that in a proper three-week session in Philadelphia with a proper producer who had a few hits under his belt, and who gave us a great deal. This version of the album was shelved and never saw the light of day. We had taken the time we needed, and the advice of the very competent producer, but it resulted in an album that didn’t feel like us. I only recently happened to have found a cassette of this shelved album. It’s not bad, though I recall it being hideous… It’s just not crazy like the album we all know.
Today they're sharing the opener from Shelved First Attempt, an unreleased version of the alt-culture sendup "Underground." Hear it below.
TRACKLIST:
LP 1 - BEN FOLDS FIVE (REMASTERED)
SIDE A:
01 "Jackson Cannery"
02 "Philosophy"
03 "Julianne"
04 "Where’s Summer B.?"
05 "Alice Childress"
06 "Underground"
SIDE B:
07 "Sports & Wine"
08 "Uncle Walter"
09 "Best Imitation Of Myself"
10 "Video"
11 "The Last Polka"
12 "Boxing"
LP 2 - SHELVED FIRST ATTEMPT
SIDE C:
01 "Underground"
02 "Julianne"
03 "Uncle Walter"
04 "Alice Childress"
05 "Evaporated"
SIDE D:
06 "Dick Holster"
07 "Philosophy"
08 "Boxing"
09 "Emaline"
10 "The Last Polka"
11 "Eddie Walker"
Ben Folds Five (30th Anniversary) and Shelved First Attempt are out 9/4 on Capitol. Pre-order or pre-save them here.
