| The title Naked Baby Photos suggests that Ben Folds Five feel a certain self-conscious unease about this collection of out-takes, demos, live appearances and sound-check foolishness, and they're right to: the quality of the material could be charitably described as uneven. The early recordings featured are interesting--Ben Folds Five were trying to locate a niche for a grand piano-led power trio, which was not a path anyone had taken before, so it's nice to hear the ambition coalescing into reality on "Eddie Walker" and "Jackson Cannery". Elsewhere, unfortunately, there's too much of the grating undergraduate wackiness that has intermittently blighted Ben Folds Five's career--the live tracks "Satan Is My Master" and "The Ultimate Sacrifice" were doubtless hilarious when they were played back on the tour bus, but at this remove it's like hearing stories about a party you weren't at. There is a terrifically spirited live version of Whatever and Ever Amen's "Song For the Dumped", however. --Andrew Mueller |
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