Ben Folds

This solo LP from Ben Folds is far and away his most accomplished set -- not so much a benefit of ditching his expert band as it is the result of his maturity and seasoning as a songwriter. The biting title track attracted a bit of airplay, but the tunes that lie just under the LP's surface -- the soaring "Zak and Sara" and the heart-rending ballads "Still Fighting It" and "The Luckiest" among them -- show Folds as more than the clever cad who wanted his black T-shirt back; he's one of the most poignant pop songwriters of his generation.

Can tunes about midlife crises and mortality coexist with aspirations to rock suburbia "just
like Quiet Riot did"? On Rockin' the Suburbs, his solo debut, Ben Folds continues to wear
the crown of pop's most introspective wiseass. The difference this time is one of scale.
Whereas with Ben Folds Five, he sometimes sounded like he was overcompensating for the
lack of a lead guitar in his oddball power trio, he now indulges his taste for florid... More >