Ben Folds Five – Whatever And Ever Amen (Epic)
As difficult second albums go this one sounds like it was a stroll round the park. Jam-packed full of zippy tunes and clever words, the trio’s new long player is consistently entertaining.

Influences range, as before, from Randy Newman to XTC, though their own identity is coming more to the fore with each release. The songs, with a couple of exceptions, are fairly downbeat, and tell tales of broken hearts and doomed relationships.

A fine album, though it must be said that personally I despise chatter between songs. It’s not clever and on this occasion, it’s certainly not funny.
LB (1997)

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