Ben Folds Presents Collegiate A Cappella: A Review with no Accompaniment
In this time of introspection (on the eve of my election), I now say to my reflection, “God, please spare me more rejection.” – Ben Folds
My Review: Ben Folds Presents Collegiate Acappella
If you love Ben Folds OR you love Collegiate A Cappella (yes, I realize they are not the same), you are guaranteed to at least think this album is fair. If you are among the luckiest of us who enjoy both the alluring lullaby of collegiate a Capella and the sweet smoke of Ben Folds’ voice – you will thoroughly enjoy this album.
I will say a few of these tracks are a mess. I would have fired a few of the soloists (and whoever decided that “Evaporated” needed to be drug out further to a cool 5 and a half minutes. And honestly, I wish someone would have pulled back the beat boxer on “Fair.” But all in all, no regrets.
But those qualms evaporated when I heard other tracks. Many of the arrangements landed like pure magic. Like free coffee on a Monday morning… or sports and wine.
This album was recommended to me a few times before I finally gave in. So if you’re still fighting it – check out the YouTube videos. Better late than never.
While some of the selections are better than others, I really enjoyed this album overall.
My favorite is far and away the Ohio State (note: The Leading Tones are from Ohio UNIVERSITY, not Ohio State. Thanks Carl [see comment below]!) Leading Tones performing Brick. I can’t find their website, but I did find this awesome YouTube video of their contribution. To the soloist – you’re my hero, I confess.
For all the pretty people, here are some of my other favorite tracks on the albums:
- Still Fighting It – Washington University in St. Louis Mosaic Whispers
- The Luckiest – Washington University in St. Louis Amateurs
- Army – The University of Rochester Midnight Ramblers
- You Don’t Know Me – The University of Georgia’s With Someone Else’s Money (no website that I can find!)
- Oh yeah – and the ones that feature Ben Folds singing with the groups backing him. Fab.
I’m still a little sad that they left out all three of my favorite Ben Folds songs this time – Underground, Kate, and Fired.
Shameless Plug
And while you’re all filled with collegiate a capella goodness, check out Texas A&M University A Cappella groups: HardChord Dynamix (who will be losing Lisa after next year) and Apotheosis. They’ll be rocking a suburb near you soon!
Sham on.
3 Responses to “Ben Folds Presents Collegiate A Cappella: A Review with no Accompaniment”
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The Leading Tones on the new Ben Folds album are actually from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio not Ohio State
Ohhh thanks! Do you know if they have a website?
I updated the post. I still can't find a website. Their MySpace page http://www.myspace.com/leadingtones cites http://www.ouleadingtones.com/ which is a broken link.
I just can't imagine any of these groups being released on a Ben Fold album without at least throwing up a page on the school's domain. But I digress.