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This is the first album where his artistry seems fully realized, both in terms of subject matter and performance. Witty, balanced and highly charged.
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Folds proves that, sometimes, the gamble you take on saying too much can pay off.
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There is nary a weak link to be found. More than anything, Way to Normal is simply Folds’s way of showing us that, at 42, he’s still doing this piano-power-pop thing better than anyone else around.
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While this may not be his finest solo moment (that honour still belongs to his debut, "Rockin' The Suburbs"), if you want some intelligent, moving and addictive pop songs, you can't go far wrong with Mr Folds.
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Alternative PressIt's a handy metaphor for the record, and Folds in general: Obsessed with love but with a careful eye for the absurd, humanizing details. [Nov 2008, p.160]
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While Folds has antic down to an art, Way to Normal sometimes wilts a bit under the weight of that jittery, borderline venomous energy, spilling into an angry place that may be honest but can be discomfiting.
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FilterThe record contains many great spontaneous details and nearly as many backing vocal tricks as an Eminem disc. For these among other reasons, even when Way To Normal is annoying, Folds sounds very ispired. [Fall 2008, p.92]
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Those displeased by the sensitive singer-songwriter pose Ben Folds slipped into with his first two solo discs are likely to find some joy in Way to Normal, a return to the snark-filled piano-bashing and redolent melodies of his yesteryear.
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Folds is clearly having fun, but is he laughing with us or at us? Sometimes it's hard to tell. But it's even harder not to smile.
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Q MagazineHis humour counteracts the widely held assumption that Americans don't do irony. Folds does little else, and he never sounds less than terribly pleased with himself. [Oct 2008, p.142]
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Although he seems to have rediscovered his panache, the music supporting his narratives is still lacking the originality of his best work.
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Folds is incapable of mediocrity, but Way to Normal comes way too close.
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Way to Normal may win a few fans back who balked at the newfound sincerity that peppered his last two or three records, but a little more nuance and a lot less displaced teen angst would have made it palatable for everybody.
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As a release for anyone else, this would be a well received and respected release. But for Ben Folds, whose first two solo outings were both phenomenal, he simply hasn’t lived up to expectations.
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UncutFolds' third solo album is filled with songs about breakups, laced with some low-key experimentalism and, of course, a lot of keyboard pounding. [Nov 2008, p.94]
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MojoFolds' leaps from satire to farce to domestic drama are part brilliant, part alarming, yet he still seems to wear wit and the manic energy of his voice as a carapace to conceal his soul. [Dec 2008, p.102]
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Here, only a few moments stand out amidst the knee-jerk bitterness.
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Folds has a gift for melody--nearly every song comes with a memorable hook--but his imagination as an arranger remains limited.
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Under The RadarMuch of this album is a wash. [Fall 2008, p.75]
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Even Folds’s knack for a well-placed f-bomb has devolved into a lazy device masquerading as irreverence. His attitude may remain young at heart, but his irony’s over the hill.
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He issues his grievances with a smart-ass certainty, rarely showing empathy or compassion for his characters or admitting that maybe it's his perspective that's skewed.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 16 out of 21
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Mixed: 4 out of 21
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Negative: 1 out of 21
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Jun 29, 2013