Hear Ben Folds Unreleased 'Philosophy (Shelved First Attempt)'
(BHM) Ben Folds is celebrating three decades in the spotlight by sharing the new unreleased track, "Philosophy (Shelved First Attempt)," taken from the very special anniversary edition of Ben Folds Five, the now-classic debut album from his iconic alt-rock trio.
Ben Folds Five (30th Anniversary) - which, technically speaking, arrives 31 years after its original August 8, 1995 release - sees the groundbreaking original LP newly remastered and joined by the long-awaited, fan-requested un-vaulting of the band's mythical shelved first attempt, only recently rediscovered on digital audio tape by Folds in his own personal archives and specially remastered for this release.
This first try of the album, produced by Dave "Stiff" Johnson, includes early, alternate versions of seven tracks from the album, a performance of the beloved song "Evaporated," which would ultimately be re-recorded for the band's 1997 sophomore album, Whatever And Ever Amen, plus three rare outtakes that didn't make the eponymous debut ("Emaline," "Dick Holster" and "Eddie Walker"). The Shelved First Attempt was heralded last month with the fan-favorite track "Underground (Shelved First Attempt)."
Ben Folds Five (30th Anniversary) will be released September 4 via Capitol/UMe on 2CD and 2LP on 180-gram black vinyl, while the remaster of the original album as well as the Shelved First Attempt will both be available to stream and download. A limited amount of 1,000 copies of the vinyl signed by all three band members will be available exclusively at uDiscoverMusic.com
"Here's my 59-year-old self's take on the album we made when I was 28: Overall, it's good!" writes Ben Folds in the anniversary edition's liner notes. "It's NOT the kind of record you'd hear produced these days. It's pretty rough and tumble, mostly in a good way. And it's emphatically unique. It's from an era when you could still identify a band by the instrumentalists, before you'd even hear the vocalist. I don't think that's been a thing since computers allowed us to get things just right." He continues, "this first Ben Folds Five record doesn't even TRY to do the things most might aspire to, with or without the technology, and that's one of the first things I hear while listening. Many indie rockers of the 90s claimed to be raw and not care. We actually lived that, though it's just not obvious because it's based around piano and complex songs, which was an odd combo," adding "for better or worse - wow. I'm hearing a record that really just puts it out there, and I'm glad we did all of that. It also probably stunted the potential for the record in terms of commercial appeal. Who knows? But I'm all for it, at least for this first album... The "and all" that, along with the warts, means it's a real snapshot of a time period. That's rare, so I give this album a thumbs up, and now I'll go back to not listening to my own music."
About the Shelved First Attempt, Folds writes: "The budget from Caroline Records, as I recall, was about $14k, all-in. We spent all of that in a proper three-week session in Philadelphia with a proper producer who had a few hits under his belt and who gave us a great deal. This version of the album was shelved and never saw the light of day. We had taken the time we needed and the advice of the very competent producer, but it resulted in an album that didn't feel like us. I only recently happened to have found a cassette of this shelved album. It's not bad, though I recall it being hideous... It's just not crazy like the album we all know."
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