I remember seeing the "Battle of Who Could Care Less" video on 120 Minutes. After viewing the video a few times and really enjoying the song over and over again, I decided to pick up their album, Whatever and Ever Amen. From then on and well after their break-up, I've been a big fan of their music and Ben's solo material. Whenever people ask me, "Who are your favorite bands?," Ben Folds Five is one of the names I bring up along with face to face, Wilco and so on and so forth. I think the reason why I still like their music is that their songs are full of melodic hooks, smart lyrics, great harmonies and lots of other things I can't put into words. I've often listened to their records in my car and they feel like a great soundtrack to a lonely drive. Not to sound melodramatic, but I remember driving around Kingwood on prom night looking for a pair of guitar strings with my dubbed cassette copy of Whatever and Ever Amen on. I had no interest in going to prom and I was doing what I wanted to do. However, I feel like the path of thinking for myself is who I am, but it's really lonesome. Maybe I'm just tired of living with the degree of misery I've inflicted upon myself is why I started thinking about this yesterday when I picked up the remastered version of Whatever and Ever Amen (with some great bonus tracks). I still love the twelve songs on the original record, but I don't really feel like slipping into an old shoe at the moment. The bonus tracks (especially "Video Killed the Radio Star," "She Don't Use Jelly" and "Mitchell Lane") make me put the CD in the car stereo often. Maybe when I hear Ben's next solo record, Songs for Silverman, at the end of next month I'll have some new piano-based rock to chew on.
Originally posted: Tuesday, August 29th, 2006 Despite managing to release five proper albums, Catherine Wheel was one of those bands that always seemed to slip past the mainstream rock crowd. Yes, they got some nice airplay in their day, but people seem to have forgotten about them. You may hear “Black Metallic” or “Waydown” on a “classic alternative” show on Sirius or XM or maybe even on terrestrial radio, but that’s about it. For me, they were one of most consistent rock bands of the ’90s, meandering through shoegazer, hard rock, space rock and pop rock, all while eluding mainstream pigeonholing. Led by the smooth, warm pipes of vocalist/guitarist Rob Dickinson (cousin of Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson), Catherine Wheel featured Brian Futter on lead guitar, Dave Hawes on bass and Neil Sims on drums. They weren’t a pretty-boy guitar band, but they weren’t a scuzzy bunch of ragamuffins either. Though the band hailed from England, Catherine Wheel found itself more welcome on American air
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