Benjamin Scott Folds, better known to the world as Benjamin Scott Folds, has had quite a prolific musical career since the late-’80s, and still rocks shows packed with your ex-wives and her awful friends to this day. Speaking of ex-wives, we theorize that the real Ben Folds Five does NOT include bassist Robert Sledge or drummer Darren Jessee, but rather is a literal numbered band featuring BF and his four ex-wives, a true collection of songs for the dumped. Let’s get back on track: Often compared to piano-based performance/songwriting influences/legends Billy Joel, Elton John, Randy Newman, and Cannibal Corpse, the man nicknamed Ben Folds, has released A LOT of music and we don’t trust your opinion on such unless you’ve heard every one of ‘em. We ranked eight LPs below and co-releases with others, B-side/rarities, side projects, and compilations don’t count.
8. Ben Folds Five “The Sound of the Life of the Mind” (2012)
Before we get into the most recent and likely final effort from Ben Folds Five that came out just over a decade ago, which proves the adage that time does in fact fly, the eight full-length studio albums that we are waxing poetic about here are a sort of MySpace Top 8 for nerdy theater kids, and our verbiage on this entry, BF5’s fourth full-length “The Sound of the Life of the Mind” starts now with a short note: sometimes reunion albums should finish before they start. While “The Sound of the Life of the Mind” is Ben Folds Five’s first top ten album on the Billboard 100, and opens with a top twenty BF5 song in “Erase Me,” this LP should have been a reunion EP, and if the band released such, their legacy wouldn’t have had a meh asterisk.
Play it again: “Erase Me”
Skip it: About ⅓ of it
7. Ben Folds “What Matters Most” (2023)
Like the aforementioned “The Sound of the Life of the Mind,” Ben Folds’ most recent full-length solo studio album “What Matters Most” consists of just ten tracks, but unlike the final Ben Fold’s Five release, it has a tad more replay value. Produced by extreme AF multi-instrumentalist Joe Pisapia, formerly of contemporary peer band Guster, “What Matters Most,” uh, matters, and deserves your time and attention. Still, one BF and BF5 had to be listed last, and so this one and its number eight ranking predecessor, land in the not so golden stinker spots, but remember this, a dud from Folds is a gem to most others. We’ll get into it more later, but the best solo and band efforts from Benjamin are “no skip” releases, and that is HARD to do for anyone not named GG Allin.
Play it again: “Winslow Gardens”
Skip it: ¼ of it
6. Ben Folds “Way to Normal” (2008)
Likely best known for its Regina “Orange Is The New Black” Spektor collaboration, the gorgeous and catchy, “You Don’t Know Me,” “Way to Normal,” Ben Folds’ third full-length studio album without the Five or other acts like author, yMusic, symphony, Nick Hornby, fellow Ben, like Kweller, Lee, or Franklin, and superstar A&R, Marcia Clark, is a fun listen front to back for both fans of Folds and people not in the know like you and all of your grubby friends. Also, “Way to Normal” has Folds’ best song title with “Free Coffee,” and we are totally serious about said assessment unless we aren’t; “Fred Jones Part 2” remains a not-so-close second. Fun fact: The word “Normal” in this album’s title does NOT mean “usual,” “standard,” or “ordinary,” but it IS about “Illinois.”
Play it again: “You Don’t Know Me” (featuring Regina Spektor)
Skip it: “The Frown Song”
5. Ben Folds “Songs for Silverman” (2005)
While many were first exposed to this LP via the uncontroversial in every sense of the word Bill Maher’s documentary or “documentary” “Religulous” and its smart and well done placement of our “play it again” song below, “Jesusland,” which came out three years after “Songs for Silverman” hit stores, ardent Folds fans sang this album’s praises before said “Politically Incorrect” endorsement and justifiably so. Also, it says A LOT that one of the better records from this century is ranked FIFTH of eight here, but that’s how the North Carolina cookie crumbled for this studio release, which is the best solo album in Folds’ catalog not named “Rockin’ the Suburbs.” In closing, “Songs for Silverman” contains backing vocals from the man, the myth, and the legacy known as “Weird Al” Yankovic on track ten, “Time”… Ain’t nobody got time for that? Nah, we do!
Play it again: “Jesusland”
Skip it: “Give Judy My Notice”
4. Ben Folds Five “Self-Titled” (1995)
Now we’re at the second half of this sterling piece, which is 75% BF5, 25% BF, and 0% incorrect subjectively OR objectively, and we aren’t taking any questions on the matter: Ben Folds Five’s self-titled debut album stood out and rocked the mid-’90s harder than most three-pieces could, and did so in a unique manner sans grungy guitars with fantastic piano playing, epically fuzzy and intricate bass work, and a solid drummer who kept the quirky songs in line, but that’s just our philosophy. Released via Passenger Records, a boutique subsidiary of Virgin Records/EMI with a strong partnership from Caroline Distribution, “Ben Folds Five,” from, err, Ben Folds Five, inspired an epic bidding war which was ultimately won by Sony on Epic/550. Too much biz for you? Here’s the short version: The band’s next LP, “Whatever and Ever Amen,” was doomed to succeed from the start!
Play it again: “Underground”
Skip it: “Sports & Wine”
3. Ben Folds Five “Whatever and Ever Amen (1997)
“Brick,” Ben Folds Five’s biggest hit single from this bronze medal entry effort, “Whatever and Ever Amen,” their sophomore full-length studio album, is likely what most pedestrians in this thing that we call life know of as BF5’s only song, and certainly one of the bigger ones referencing an abortion… AND fun(ny) fact: Jonathan Davis of Slipknot talked smack about Ben Folds Five shortly after this album came out, saying that they “sucked” and compared the music to what he would hear on “Cheers.” Funner fact that gets better every single time we think about it: Ben Folds got the band back with a vengeance via the title track to, “Rockin’ the Suburbs,” his debut solo album’s music video, and we will let you watch it for yourselves so you can see his visual clever dig retort involving “Freak On a Leash.”
Play it again: “Song for the Dumped”
Skip it: “Cigarette”
2. Ben Folds Five “The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner” (1999)
It is extremely difficult to find a bad Ben Folds Five or Ben Folds solo song, at least to your Great Aunt Enid, so it made sense that his highest-ranked band album, the underrated and sad silver medal-winning “The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner” is a “no skip” effort, as well as the next to be mentioned debut solo studio LP. The homophobic entity known as Chic-fil-A’s reference in this record’s biggest single, the minor hit they call “Army,” is difficult to sing out loud with a, wait for it, STRAIGHT face in 2024, but otherwise a catchy and solid effort. “The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner” was also quite an orchestral departure from the quirky pop-rock sounds that many knew ‘em for, and that didn’t earn the band too many favors. Still, it’s the band’s most superior work and you know we’re right, unless you don’t.
Play it again: “Narcolepsy” – “Lullaby”
Skip it: “Sleeping Well” – “Loud Music That Doesn’t Help A Little One Sleep; no no no”
1. Ben Folds “Rockin’ the Suburbs” (2001)
Let’s start this suburban homesick blues entry with an interesting, interesting footnote for your dumb noggins: The subject of this piece, Ben Folds, played the majority of instruments which included piano, keyboards, guitars, bass, drums, and Hurdy Gurdy on this LP, “Rockin’ the Suburbs,” which proved both that he was hip to the kids with the apostrophe in “Rockin’,” and that he was a creative force that way too many slept on in their used Temper-Pedic beds. Ben Folds kickstarted the 21st century with a flawless bang/banger in the form of these twelve tracks, and you will feel like the luckiest, in fact, not the same ever again, if you previously overlooked said record and listened to “Rockin’ the Suburbs” right about now, the funk soul brother. If you were cool in 2001, you should revisit it now, as its replay value grows each and every time.
Play it again: “Annie Waits” – “The Luckiest”
Skip it: “Annie Is Mad Impatient” – “Unlucky Charlie Brown Who Gets Tortured By That Sociopathic Bully, Lucy van Pelt”