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Track Listings
| 1. A Working Day |
| 2. Picture Window |
| 3. Levi Johnston's Blues |
| 4. Doc Pomus |
| 5. Your Dogs |
| 6. Practical Amanda |
| 7. Claire's Ninth |
| 8. Password |
| 9. From Above |
| 10. Saskia Hamilton |
| 11. Belinda |
Product Description
Review
In his 2002 book 31 Songs, a semi-autobiography testified through the prism his record collection, Nick Hornby remarked that he writes books because he can’t write songs. Lonely Avenue tests this characteristic self-deprecation, Hornby providing lyrics for music by Ben Folds (a Folds tune, Smoke, was among Hornby’s 31).
Hornby is running at a high bar – since emerging in the mid-90s, Folds has been a consistently enthralling songwriter. Consciously or not, it’s perhaps for this reason that Hornby – no stranger, as a novelist, to narrating from third-person viewpoints – writes uncannily like Folds. Had Hornby’s participation not been advertised, it’s unlikely anyone would have suspected the hand of a collaborator. The scenarios are Folds’ familiar palette of wry character sketches and sharply observed domestic dramas, and the vernacular is deliberately American English.
Lonely Avenue is not an unalloyed triumph. Obvious talking point Levi Johnston’s Blues, a semi-Springstonian lament from the perspective of the father of Sarah Palin’s grandchild, bristling against the shotgun in the back of his wedding tux – The River reset in Wasilla – rings hollow, and Folds somewhat overdoes the bombast. The Hold Steady-ish Your Dogs, all wo-ah choruses and fidgety electric keys, also overcooks itself.
The more restrained moments, however, are gorgeous. Belinda is a sumptuous ballad with a beautifully observed lyric, about a one-hit-wonder artist who cruelly ditched the woman he wrote his one hit about, but is stuck singing sentiments to which he no longer subscribes. The joyously rueful shuffle From Above is clearly intended as a companion to Tom Waits’ immortal ships-that-passed lament Martha, sympathising with the equally thwarted people with whom Waits’ protagonists actually spent their lives.
This is an affecting and intelligent record: neither Folds nor Hornby should be shy about suggesting a sequel.
--Andrew MuellerFind more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Finally there's an album again that you wouldn't want to miss one sound or syllable of! Each Song is a poem telling its own story. True to the title theme, some of those stories are sad (Claire's Ninth, Doc Pomus), some are even heartbreaking (Picture Window - boy, still gulping hard at this one!) Some are funny-clever (Saskia Hamilton), some are trenchant-clever (Your dogs, Password) - but all of them are true. And authentic. And moving. Folds provides an appropriately intelligent, subtle and very enticing soundtrack to Hornby's likewise words. (Not to mention he created a Seventies wonder hit, Belinda, that never actually was but instantly sticks anyway.) Don't miss this! Buy it - and listen to it over and over. Every word and every note. You'll want to.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Some have called him, unflatteringly, a sweary Billy Joel. On his last album, Way To Normal, I wondered if he was aiming himself at the target of being a sweary Randy Newman. On the evidence of this collaboration with Nick Hornby however, Ben Folds looks like being tagged as a cuss-heavy Elton John. With Hornby as Bernie Taupin, of course.
Is that a bad thing?
No. While I've never really got along with Nick Hornby's somewhat self-congratulatory writing (and as someone who works in a record shop, take it from me - it's nothing like High Fidelity), on this album Hornby's four-minute tales of pain, loss, guilt and crushed wonder are exceptional and you have to wonder why he hasn't ventured into this arena before. From Above is perfect wistful pop, and the lyrical hooks stick in your head - "maybe that's how books get written, maybe that's why songs get sung" indeed. Belinda is the 70s hit that never was, as much suited to Manilow as to Elton; even the brash and sweary (natch) Levi Johnston's Blues sounds more like a glitter-stomp in places.
And, perhaps freed from having to bang on about his own relationships (as many suspect he was doing on Way To Normal), Folds himself relaxes and thinks more about the music. This album sits perfectly alongside Reinhold Messner and Songs For Silverman in tone and theme and is highly recommended.
Still not something you can play with the kids around though, unless you really do want them running about singing the virtues of being a redneck...
Is that a bad thing?
No. While I've never really got along with Nick Hornby's somewhat self-congratulatory writing (and as someone who works in a record shop, take it from me - it's nothing like High Fidelity), on this album Hornby's four-minute tales of pain, loss, guilt and crushed wonder are exceptional and you have to wonder why he hasn't ventured into this arena before. From Above is perfect wistful pop, and the lyrical hooks stick in your head - "maybe that's how books get written, maybe that's why songs get sung" indeed. Belinda is the 70s hit that never was, as much suited to Manilow as to Elton; even the brash and sweary (natch) Levi Johnston's Blues sounds more like a glitter-stomp in places.
And, perhaps freed from having to bang on about his own relationships (as many suspect he was doing on Way To Normal), Folds himself relaxes and thinks more about the music. This album sits perfectly alongside Reinhold Messner and Songs For Silverman in tone and theme and is highly recommended.
Still not something you can play with the kids around though, unless you really do want them running about singing the virtues of being a redneck...
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
A high concept Album Lonely Avenue - Words by Nick Hornby, Music by Ben Folds where can it go wrong?
Ben Folds is a long favourite of mine; he combines a lack of reverence for being placed in a single musical genre with a willingness to take chances (like William Shatner's Has Been which Ben Produced) and all that appeals to my wide taste for music. Lonely Avenue has a good mix of energy and musical styles- matched with Nick's lyrics - that have made it a great album for me.
Having read through the notes and listened to it quite a few times now I like to imagine that Nick deliberately wrote things to make Ben's life hard - at least thats how I explain the lyrics "No hard consonants in my girl Saskia, Every single syllable sounds like Shakespeare." In comparison to the rest of my iTunes library I think Nick has written a less depressing Luke Haines style songs - the songs are on topics that interest him and encourage the listener to get onto google to find out more about the people.
The cover notes are excellent with each song getting a paragraph of explanation from Nick explaining the Origin. I would dearly like to hear a follow up to this album, but I fear Mr Folds will move on challenging himself and us further.
Ben Folds is a long favourite of mine; he combines a lack of reverence for being placed in a single musical genre with a willingness to take chances (like William Shatner's Has Been which Ben Produced) and all that appeals to my wide taste for music. Lonely Avenue has a good mix of energy and musical styles- matched with Nick's lyrics - that have made it a great album for me.
Having read through the notes and listened to it quite a few times now I like to imagine that Nick deliberately wrote things to make Ben's life hard - at least thats how I explain the lyrics "No hard consonants in my girl Saskia, Every single syllable sounds like Shakespeare." In comparison to the rest of my iTunes library I think Nick has written a less depressing Luke Haines style songs - the songs are on topics that interest him and encourage the listener to get onto google to find out more about the people.
The cover notes are excellent with each song getting a paragraph of explanation from Nick explaining the Origin. I would dearly like to hear a follow up to this album, but I fear Mr Folds will move on challenging himself and us further.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Not to Ben's usual standards
I'm a fan of Ben Folds and have most of his other albums. This one I'm afraid is not one of his best. The lirics don't fit as comfortably with the music as on other albums. Read more
Published 6 months ago by astockwelluk
More billiance from Mr Folds
Got this 2 weeks ago and haven't stopped playing it since. Chances are it sold 5,000 copies, yet there is so much musical and lyrical ability here that it deserves to sell 100... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Breadman
Meh....
Why would a fine lyricist like Folds engage a novelist to write his lyrics for him? That is the question I asked when I heard about this collaboration and it is still the question... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Joshua J Dog
Nowhere Near The Sum Of Its Parts
Lonely Avenue, the musical collaboration between English author Nick Hornby and ex-Ben Folds Five vocalist Ben Folds, starts awkwardly with 'A Working Day', an awful mis-hit of a... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Camilo Cienfuegos
Take A Trip Down Lonely Avenue
Whilst calling Ben's last album, Way To Normal, a "letdown" would probably be a little harsh, there most certainly were a few songs that weren't up to the standard of his best work... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Double McNulty
Just great
I am a Ben fan so am bias. This is a great album - strong lyrics and fantastic tunes. Exceeded expectations.
Published 17 months ago by Moolahmoo
Lonely Avenue review
I think Lonely Avenue is Ben's best offering since Rockin' the Suburbs. It by no means eclipses ... Read more
Published 17 months ago by The_Man_The_Myth
Light-hearted but good.
A light-hearted piece of fun and doesn't take itself too seriously, but unlikely to fly off the shelves I would think.
Published 18 months ago by Peter Crowe
superb - captures the right stuff for that time
brilliant; things move on but think that this will demonstrate how good it is over time by being constantly referred back to
Published 18 months ago by Mr. Charles P. Ross
Excellent
I'm a huge Folds fan and an equally enthusiastic Nick Hornby reader. This collaboration works and works well.
Great Album.
Great Album.
Published 19 months ago by Jon
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