Ben Folds is marking the 30th anniversary of the landmark debut by Ben Folds Five with a newly remastered edition that also unlocks the band’s long shelved original recording sessions for the first time.
by Paul Cashmere
Ben Folds will revisit the album that launched Ben Folds Five with the release of Ben Folds Five (30th Anniversary) on September 4. The expanded edition pairs a newly remastered version of the trio’s 1995 debut with the band’s previously unreleased first attempt at recording the album, a collection of alternate performances and outtakes that remained unheard for more than three decades before being rediscovered in Folds’ personal archive.
The anniversary package commemorates one of the defining alternative rock debuts of the 1990s. Although the original album arrived on August 8, 1995, the new edition celebrates its enduring influence by presenting both the familiar record and an alternate version that reveals how dramatically the project evolved before release. The first preview from the archive, “Underground (Shelved First Attempt),” is available now, offering fans an early version of one of the band’s signature songs.
The expanded collection will be released through Capitol/UMe as a two CD and two LP set, alongside digital editions of both the remastered album and the complete Shelved First Attempt recordings.
In the new liner notes, Folds reflects on hearing the album through the perspective of a musician now in his late fifties.
“Here’s my 59-year-old self’s take on the album we made when I was 28: Overall, it’s good!” he writes. “It’s pretty rough and tumble, mostly in a good way. And it’s emphatically unique.”
He also argues that the album captured a period before studio technology increasingly standardised recordings.
“It’s from an era when you could still identify a band by the instrumentalists, before you’d even hear the vocalist,” Folds says. “I don’t think that’s been a thing since computers allowed us to get things just right.”
The newly released Shelved First Attempt offers an alternate history of the album. Produced by Dave “Stiff” Johnson during a three week recording session in Philadelphia, the project featured early versions of seven songs that later appeared on the debut, an early recording of “Evaporated,” which would eventually appear on 1997’s Whatever And Ever Amen, and three songs that never made the final album, “Emaline,” “Dick Holster,” and “Eddie Walker.”
Folds explains that although the sessions were professionally produced, the results failed to capture the band’s personality.
“The budget from Caroline Records, as I recall, was about $14k, all in,” he writes. “This version of the album was shelved and never saw the light of day.”
He says rediscovering the recordings changed his opinion of them.
“It’s not bad, though I recall it being hideous. It’s just not crazy like the album we all know.”
The official debut that audiences eventually heard was recorded in just four days with producer Caleb Southern. That urgency became part of the record’s identity. Released during a period dominated by grunge, Britpop, hip hop and the emerging pop punk movement, Ben Folds Five stood apart through its unconventional piano, bass and drums line-up, proving that alternative rock did not require guitars to make an impact.
Songs including “Jackson Cannery,” “Philosophy,” “Underground,” “Alice Childress” and “Uncle Walter” helped establish the trio’s distinctive blend of melodic piano pop, sharp lyricism and energetic live performance. The album laid the foundation for the commercial breakthrough of Whatever And Ever Amen two years later, which delivered international attention through songs such as “Brick.”
The anniversary release also arrives as the original trio prepares to reunite on stage. Ben Folds, bassist Robert Sledge and drummer Darren Jessee will perform together for the first time in more than 13 years, with details of the reunion concerts expected to be announced shortly.
For longtime followers, the archive recordings provide a rare opportunity to hear how one of alternative rock’s most individual debut albums developed before its final release. Rather than simply revisiting a classic recording with a fresh remaster, the collection documents the creative decisions that shaped the record and offers an unusually complete picture of a band discovering its identity at the very beginning of its career.
Tracklisting
LP 1, Ben Folds Five (Remastered)
Side A
Jackson Cannery
Philosophy
Julianne
Where’s Summer B.?
Alice Childress
Underground
Side B
Sports & Wine
Uncle Walter
Best Imitation Of Myself
Video
The Last Polka
Boxing
LP 2, Ben Folds Five (Shelved First Attempt)
Side C
Underground
Julianne
Uncle Walter
Alice Childress
Evaporated
Side D
Dick Holster
Philosophy
Boxing
Emaline
The Last Polka
Eddie Walker
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