Whatever And Ever Amen, Ben Folds Five
If “Kate” and the other slices of perfection on the follow-up Whatever and Ever Amen are any indication, Folds, now 30, hasn’t exactly mellowed. An “Ob-La-Di”-style circus march, “Kate” rhapsodizes over a girl who “plays ‘Wipeout’ on the drums” and is so magical that “you can see daisies in her footsteps.” The chorus – “I wanna be Kate,” shouted with aerobics-class zeal – is followed by a schmaltzy interlude that’s either good Liberace or bad Gershwin. Just when it seems that Folds has fallen headfirst into rococoland, along comes redemption in the form of a Beatlesque “oh-la-la” vocal chorale. By the time it’s over, “Kate” isn’t about a girl, it’s a shrine to all the pop classics ever inspired by a girl.
That’s what makes Folds so interesting: He can serve the history straight or give it a postmodern double-meaning twist, devote himself to pathos-filled Rachmaninoff arpeggios or crank up a sassy “Honky Cat” boogaloo without sounding like he’s reaching. The fast-maturing Folds has written another batch of sweet songs and supports each with disciplined, downright patient arrangements. After a while, it’s easy to hear why Counting Crows’ Adam Duritz, in a rare endorsement, sings about having “Ben Folds on my radio.” This is about as close to bliss as the radio gets.
—Tom Moon, Rolling Stone, Mar 17, 1997
(see my take on it over here)
