Two way Monologues

Ben Kweller: On My Way

This review comes a bit out of left field. I hadn't been anticipating reviewing the album, but when I was staring at my cds todays I decided to do it. I'm not going to lie this album was a disappointment to me. I enjoy it, and my fondness for it has improved greatly with repeat listens. But even with the improvement it didn't live up to my expectations. Man I loved Ben Kweller's debut "Sha Sha". He came up on me out of nowhere, shortly after I found out about Jack Johnson and I played the shit out of those two cds. I was so hyped I checked at my record store four or five times the week before to pick this album up. And then I did.... and it was blah. If you haven't heard Ben Kweller, his sound is mostly basic guitiars and instruments with sickingly catchy chorus's and heavily relies on his singing voice. Which is really impressive, it reminds me a lot of Ben Folds, and as well as Ben Lee. And that is a definite compliment. Although I would say that in general Ben Kweller rocks a bit harder than both of those artists. If you heard the first album, a key difference is how much more polished this sounds. It likely had more funding, and they used it. But it takes away from the spontaniety of the songs which was a big part of why I loved the first album.

"La-la-la-la" with some playful pianos opens up "Hospital Bed" which is one of the nicest and pleasant songs on the Ben Kweller album. This song obviouslys draws comparison to Ben Folds, and for obvious reasons. The combination of pianos, the rythm of the background instruments, and the pacing and delivery of the vocals all brings to mind Ben Folds Five songs. But at the same time to me they also remind me of Elliot Smith. Maybe its the blatant displaying of emotion (wearing your heart on your sleeve) that the Ben Kweller songs have that usually Ben Folds hides in the message of his songs. This song changes pace quite a lot, winding down and then cranking the rock right back up. The pianos on this track are my favorite part. They
just pound on them during the chorus.

"Down" is one of the hardest if not the hardest song on this album. And it is on tracks like this one that I can't really see the Ben Folds comparison. Whereas Ben Folds has more range in composition and the depth of his songs, Kweller has more range in genre hopping. Kweller's voice lends itself to more of a rock song. It actually reminds me on this track of another band I was thinking of reviewing today the Joel Plaskett Emergency. The garage rock-esque guitar while being simplistic definitely lends itself to this song. And when Ben Kweller starts screaming out his chorus, and I seriously mean yelling as loud he possibly can. He still manages to keep a good tune. And for a split second I'm hearing Modest Mouse. And I am wishing he did this more often. But its a great song, and I hope it comes out as a single.

Lead singles really piss me off when first listen through the album one song screams "LEAD SINGLE!!!". First off I always take offence win an artist or a label tricks me into buying a CD that sounds distinctly different than the rest of the album, but it is even worse when the lead single ends up being one of the worst songs on the album anyhow because of how hard the artist and the label tried to make it sound mainstream and catchy. "The Rules" on this Ben Kweller album is a culprit of the latter. The humurous part is that it didn't work and Ben Kweller didn't get much airplay at all with this song. "The Rules" has Ben Kweller completely abandoning his trademark charm and just doing what amounts to a softer garage rock song. The guitar has been overdone, and doesn't really stick out. And Ben Kweller's voice which usually stands out, doesn't on this song as you just find yourself thinking of other bands who he sounds like. Critics tell you this is a more mature sound and maybe it is. But to me its just a worse sound. Why abandon a sound that is unique to you? So many artists now-a-days struggle to find a unique sound, but Ben Kweller has one but on this song and at times on this album you feel like he is being encouraged to abandon it.

"Ann Disaster" is another garage rock sounding song. Inevitably first listen these garage rock songs stand out, and they are the ones that get stuck in your head. But that isn't to say they are the best. It is just a tried and proven formula that non complicated songs like this will be easier to get caught in your head. But upon repeated listen you start to hear how empty they actually are. I swear you can almost feel Ben Kweller not being totally comitted to these songs. Which by the way is my theory. I completely blame the media and his label for the step backwards Ben takes on this album. Without these two songs the album would have been a strong sophomore effort, but with them I can't in good faith score it above an 8.

It seems that whenever an artist has that boyish charm that Ben Kweller has, and many before him have had that everybody harps on them becoming more mature. But why is it necessary? Could you imagine how fucking lame it would have been if the Ramones started releasing mature records. That whole phenomenon that surrounded and still surrounds them would never have existed. So what if he has quirky lyrics? And likes to sing sha-sha-sha-doo, and shit like that. Fuck my best album of the year right now Brian Wilson uses jibberish throughout the entire album and its one of the most complicated albums I've heard in my entire life. On this album though Ben tries to go the more mature route, and caves to what his label and a lot of reviews of his first album had to say. But on the flipside of that, most of the people who really liked his first album (and there was a lot of good reviews) liked it for the quirkiness of the sound. The guy was a child protege who burnt out, and luckily was able to resurface. Perhaps the fact he was in a band that was hailed as potentially the next Nirvana throughout his teen years has something to do with the fact he doesn't want to be so quick to grow up now. I really hope that Ben Kweller is able to realize that the reason this album wasn't so well accepted is because he stopped making his music, and started making the music other people want him to make. If he can do that, I think he'll be just fine. All in all a decent album, but still a disappointment to me if only because I judged him by such a high standard coming off the debut album.

Songs that you should download: "Hospital Bed", "My Apartment", "On My Way", "Down", "Hear me OUt"

If you like this you should check out: Ben Folds, Elliot Smith, Joel Plaskett Emergency

7.6

Ya its not a horrible score, and before anyone goes complaining. its not that this album sucks, its that I would have scored the debut close to a 9. thats why i sound so disappointed.

posted by Daysthatareover @ 3:44 PM