Daily Staff Writer

Whatever And Ever Amen

Ben Folds Five

This nifty trio decided to name themselves Ben Folds Five solely on the fact that it sounded better than Ben Folds Three. Obviously, Folds and his crew are willing to overstep boundaries for a better sound and this couldn’t be more evident than on the bands latest release Whatever And Ever Amen.

Recorded in Folds’ parents’ living room, the disc takes professionality and dumps it down the toilet. Amen is basically a rock opera in its rawest form.

Twisting the sounds of Queen (“Missing The War”) and Squeeze (“Kate”) and spicing it off with a 90’s modern-rock-edge (“Song For The Dumped”) again proves to be a powerful combination. Following up the band’s highly successful major label debut, Amen works around using guitars with catchy, fast-moving, piano-based material.

The disc’s first single “The Battle of Who Could Care Less,” explores the notion that the more you care about someone, the less that someone is going to care about you. The song has air play stamped across its forehead with lyrics that beg to be sung along to.

“Fair” adds a glimpse of melancholy to the line-up with its self-destructive romantic theme, while “Brick” goes all the way as a true Billy Joel-like piano ballad.

Whatever And Ever Amen tops Fold’s past record and again puts the band among the elite in creative music. A definite thumbs up (to all five of them).

4 stars

— Corey Moss

Brighten The Corners

Pavement

It’s amazing that a group with as little musical talent as Pavement can be considered an influential alternative band. After all, the band doesn’t have the creative vision of Sonic Youth or the powerful crunch of Jane’s Addiction.

Pavement has never attempted to cross into the mainstream and the closest the band has ever been to being remotely popular occurred several years ago with the release of its critically acclaimed Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain.

Yet, there has always been something entertaining about Pavement. It’s the combination of its dysfunctional sound and obscure lyrics that border on retarded that make the band’s music so much fun.

Brighten The Corners is no exception to this proven formula. Songs such as “Type Slowly,” “Embassy Row” and “Passat Dream” move along at a slow, lounge pace. Complete with lyrics that might be taken from beatniks and tripping scholars, these songs boost the level of ridiculous antics a notch.

“Blue Hawaiian” has a jazzy feel, featuring flowing vocals over a howling guitar and brief interspersed surf beats. “Date With Ikea” is fairly close to all-out rock-and-roll with its distorted guitar and vocals.

At least you can’t fault Pavement for its lack of innovation. “Stereo” and “Transport Is Arranged” easily fit into this category. The former is a slow plodding track mixed with heavy riffs. The latter has a surreal feel complete with echoes and reverberations.

Brighten The Corners isn’t nearly the best CD on the market but at least Pavement tries to make unique music and doesn’t stoop to copying the crap that’s already out there.

3 Stars

— Ben Jones

The Best Of Kris Kross Remixed Kris Kross

Remember these kids? “Daddy Mac is gonna make you … Jump! Jump!” Now you do.

Well they’re back with the ever-so-popular “we’re in desperate need of beer money, maybe we should see how much more we can milk out of our only decent song ever recorded” routine and surprise … it fails.

Granted “Jump” was the complete happy-rap anthem of the early 90s, sparking the careers of bands such as Another Bad Creation and Young Black Teenagers, but not only has it not been long enough for a comeback to ferment, but the “new” version is complete garbage.

It has none of the catchy “flava” the original had and is nearly impossible to dance to.

The rest of the disc isn’t much better. “Warm It Up (Dupri’s Mix)” is a pretty decent version, but is the only thing worthwhile here from the band’s debut (and let’s be honest, none of us have heard the duo’s other two records).

“Alright” mixes a little reggae into the more mature sound of Kris and Kross, while “Da Bomd,” a pathetic Dr. Dre rip-off, is far from what the title implies

For die-hard Kris Kross fans (if such a thing exists) I suggest picking this one up at the used store — I’m sure they will have plenty of copies.

1/2 star

— Corey Moss

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All ratings are based on a scale of zero to five stars, with five being columns about sex and zero being columns about toolboxes.