"Rockin’ The Suburbs,” is the first solo album released by Ben Folds since the October 2000 breakup of his wildly successful band “the Ben Folds Five”.  The album (released September 11) shows that he can still write and play irresistibly catchy tunes.  Folds also manages to maintain his lyrical blend of humor and down to earth storytelling that fans of “The Ben Folds Five” have grown to love.

            The album opens with “annie waits,” an excellent choice for a first impression.  What starts out as mere piano, handclaps, and analog drumbeat (probably sampled off of an old organ), explodes into a song with as much drive and melodic content as any song he’s ever written.

            The album continues its momentum and roars into “zak and sara”.   On this song, Folds’ unique piano style and lyrical imagery is showcased.  One of the catchiest on the album, “zak and sara” includes a chorus that will stay in your head for hours at a time.

            Just as the final drums of “zak and sara” fade out, the lead vocals and opening piano chords to “still fighting it” begin. Virtually perfect from beginning to end, “still fighting it,” showcases an amazing song construction.  With lyrics like “Good mornin’ sun, I am a bird, wearin’ a brown polyester shirt.” and “Everybody knows it hurts to grow up, but everybody does…” this absolutely gorgeous song is truly one of his best ever. 

            It’s a hard act to follow, but “gone” doesn’t quite pull it off.  It’s a great song, but after only a couple of listens, it becomes rather predictable.  It does, however, sport some fantastic “Beach Boys” style back-up vocals supplied by Folds himself.

            The title track (number 10) “rockin’ the suburbs” starts out unexpectedly with distorted guitar.  Lyrically hilarious, this song is a smart alleck’s anthem. Filled to the brim with sarcasm and littered with profanity, “rockin’ the suburbs” is the clear-cut choice for a radio single (profanity edited out, of course).

            One other track slightly pales in comparison with the rest of the album.  Track number eight, called “carrying cathy”.  If you were never a fan of “the Ben Folds Five,” than you may love this song.  There are some really superb lyrics near the end, but the chord structure and parts of the melody are almost exact copies of  “Selfless, Cold, and Composed” off of the bands second album “Whatever and Ever Amen”.

            Other highlights of the album include “fired”, the selflessly sweet “ the luckiest”, and my personal favorite, “not the same”.  All of these songs exhibit some fantastic songwriting and musicianship. 

            Ben Folds plays all the instruments himself on this album (John Mark Painter does some arranging) and he brings a certain amount of style to everything he plays. Ben started out as a drummer, and it shows.  He may not quite have the intensity of Darren Jessee (“the Ben Folds Five” drummer) but he shows that he can play exactly what’s needed to play.  His drumming is very good on “annie waits”, “still fighting it”, “gone”, “rockin’ the suburbs”, and especially on “not the same”, where he definitely fits the style of each song and never overplays.  His bass work on the entire album is just as good, and he is a pretty mean guitarist as well..

            “Rockin’ the suburbs” shows that Ben Folds is still growing as a musician and as a human being.  This album was definitely worth the wait, and I recommend it highly.