Top 40 '90s albums, #35: Ben Folds Five — Ben Folds Five

I’m really regretting putting Ben Folds Five’s self-titled debut, Ben Folds Five, so low on my list. The 35th best album of the 1990s? I don’t know about that. But as I look up my list, there are two things I’m thinking about. First, you’ll probably expect another Ben Folds Five album to appear higher on the list. You’d be right about that. We’ll get there. Second, I think listening to this album was a stark contrast from the first five albums on my list. It has an infectious energy to it, and it’s there straight from the opening track, “Jackson Cannery.”

When I listen to this album, that energy courses through every track. Even songs that take the tone down a bit from the opener are still packed to the brim with an anxious energy. The album’s second track, “Philosophy,” has Ben Folds practically smashing the keys with a “Rhapsody in Blue” quote — it’s a great moment and I love it, but does it really work? There’s a joy here, but there’s also a nervousness, an anxiety lingering under the surface. It’s not until we get to the album’s closer, “Boxing,” that the pace slows at all. (It’s very 1990s-coded, that slow-song-to-end-the-album trope. I wonder if that’s still a thing. I guess I haven’t really thought about it.)

This is a debut album, and it’s an excellent debut album, but it’s one that’s two years away from being followed up by something incredible — something that is more at ease with itself. Ben Folds in his later solo efforts has a better understanding of his songwriting chops, but give it two years, and I think we’ll see something more nuanced and focused — and somehow, that energy’s still there.

Anyway, great album. It’s not deeply flawed or anything, but when I listen to it, I kind of just want to listen to Whatever and Ever Amen instead. So, spot 35 it is.