Lonely Avenue

Before I start talking about the actual music, I feel the need to address my Folds boredom. I can remember going to Meijer at 11:59 p.m. on a Monday night, the night before all that 9/11 business, to pick up Folds’ solo debut, the great Rockin’ the Suburbs. I did the same thing four years later for his Songs For Silverman album, buying the dualdisc edition and playing the DVD features over and over again. So yes, I was, at one time, a major fan of the man and his music. But what’s come since 2005 (or after 2001, really), to varying degrees, just hasn’t done much for me. It has seemed, to me at least, that the great piano popsman of our time has/had run out of ideas, his songs all seeming like retreads, no matter how hard to tried to avoid that very thing. But, again, I found myself excited at the prospect of this Hornby collaboration, wondering if Folds would either A) want to prove his great value to one of his era’s great music critics; or B) not take the project too seriously due to lack of artistic ownership. Anyhow, I put it the sucker in, put on some headphones and pressed “play.”

"A Working Day" starts things off with Folds singing about the strange pain of being a career artist, something he and Hornby share. "Some guy on the 'net things I suck / And he should know / He's got his own blog" Folds sings before firing off a series of expletives, proving that Hornby wrote these songs with Folds in mind. Driven by Folds' standard piano backbone and a computer game bleeps, the poppy and quick track takes no time to kick things off - the best Folds song in a good while. "I'm a loser and a poser / Yeah really, it's a cover / I mean it and I quit  / Everything I write is s%#& / It's a working day / Hey, hey / It's a working day," he sings, summing up the feelings of an artist with goals and/or deadlines.

Track two, "Picture Window," sees Folds and Hornby attempting to revisit the magic of Folds' signature song, "Brick." A piano ballad backed by Paul Buckmaster's ace string arrangement, the song doesn't quite hit the "Brick" or "Wandering" level big ballad brilliance, but comes close. As Folds sings "You know what hope is? / Hope is a bastard / Hope is a liar, a cheat and a tease / Hope comes near you, kicks its backside / Got no place for days like these" we're reminded that this is the kind of song Folds does better than anyone since Elton John's heyday. It's a killer song that keeps Lonely Avenue rolling along nicely.

Novelty track "Levi Johnston's Blues" is exactly what you think it'd be: a smart-alecky, swear-filled joker cut about the father of Sarah Palin's grandchild. It's a fun listen at first, full of clever lines and a hook that a whole lot of people will sing along to at live shows. But, really, it's a novelty song, and not a great one at that. "Doc Pompus," inspired by Lonely Avenue, writer Alex Halberstadt's famous Doc Pomus biography (and, of course, the title of this record), sounds like a cleaned-up version of a classic Ben Folds Five-era single, but with better lyrics. The hook, once again, is strong and memorable, so much so that the record takes it's name from Hornby's lyric. 

"Practical Amanda" is a love ballad about Hornby's wife. It's perfectly written, featuring the lyric "I've got no time for dates and plans / I'm too busy dreaming / You've got the attention span / Practical Amanda / Saved one life and made two others." That said, the song, bursting with strings and falling in the same ballpark as "Picture Window," will likely mean little to anyone outside the Hornby family. Unlike "Wandering," it's just not good enough to warrant too much listener love.

"Claire's Ninth," maybe on purpose, sounds almost exactly like about 10 other Folds songs. But damn, the familiarity of "Claire" is almost a relief after hearing the three-song tandem that follows. First is "Password," a pretentious failure of a composition that I'm sure Folds and Hornby think is a solid tribute to any number of pop music composers. To me, it sounds boring and obvious. Even Hornby's lyrics fail here. After that we have "From Above" and "Sasika Hamilton," two songs I'll keep from commenting on, so as to keep from being overly negative about this otherwise cool collaboration. They're skippers, for sure.

The album closes on a very high note with "Belinda," the song for which Folds wrote the above-mentioned e-mail to Hornby. As far as lyrics go, it's the gem of a well-written collection, telling the story of a musician who will never be allowed to let go of a former lover that he wrote some hit songs about. The e-mail, which sees Folds attempting to explain the complex song arrangement to Hornby, gives great insight to Folds' more-labored-than-you'd-think creative process. Likewise, the two sentences Hornby writes about the song in the liner notes are solid, showing his unique understanding of musicians. The song feels like a postscript note that could easily be included at the end of Hornby's own Juliet, Naked novel. Folds' arrangement and performance of the song are solid, but not great. I wouldn't be surprised if someone comes along and makes a better recorded version of Hornby's words.

Not a bad record. There are ugly spots and, yes, Folds still comes off as a played-out artist very often. But given the solid lyrical content, the reputation and history of Hornby, and the few classic moments Folds does provide, Lonely Avenue is a solid buy. It won't likely put Folds back on the radar, but it should, if people hear songs like "A Working Day" and "Belinda," slow his demise.   5.5/10

Written by G. William Locke