I've liked Ben Folds since the mid-90's and I've liked Nick Hornby since the movie High Fidelity introduced me to his writing. I was looking forward to this collaboration and I wasn't disappointed. This could be Folds's best album as a solo artist. The songs are very popish and the lyrics are successful for the most part. I hope it leads to further collaboration. The edition I bought has a small book which includes 4 short stories by Hornby.
Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #36 (Oct 16, 2010)
Tracks: I've only listened to the CD a few times, but my favorite songs musically as of this writing are A Working Day, Doc Pomus, Claire's Ninth, From Above, and Saskia Hamilton (this song has a great video by Charlie McDonnell). A Working Day, which describes the frustration of being an artist, has the great line (appropriate here): "some guy on the net thinks I suck and he should know; he's got his own blog." I think Hornby does a great job writing humorous and ironic lyrics, the only exception is Picture Window, which is weak. Be forewarned: there's a lot of profanity.
Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I remember buying this CD from Amazon 4 or 5 weeks ago.
You, sir, possess an excellent memory.
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