Search - Ben Kweller :: Ben Kweller

BEST KWELLER ALBUM YET!

B. Rogers | 09/20/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have been a Kweller fan since seeing him with Incubus a few years ago. A review of his latest album follows:

Ben Kweller's self-titled third album certainly earns its name, with Kweller playing all the instruments this time around. It also marks his first album without esteemed producer Ethan Johns, who had produced both of his previous efforts; working instead with British producer Gil Norton (best known for his work with Gomez and Foo Fighters). The change has Kweller trading in the raw rugged folk sounds of previous albums for a more refined sound, but somehow Kweller sounds more at home in his shiny new digs; crafting an album full of pop oriented rock n roll gems.

The entire album recalls the big glorious rock sounds of the 80s, when giants like Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty ruled the airwaves. The same feel good melodic folk rock that made them so refreshing run rampant on Kweller's third effort. Kweller has no interest in aping the classics, despite the distinct taste of Petty that permeates through the breezy "Sundress". The melancholy song finds Kweller expressing his willingness to keep up with his lover's changing desires with the sweet "I do, anything you want me to" hook; further explaining, "And from the inside-out you've changed girl / You know you have, don't make a good thing bad".

The overwhelming sweet innocence in Kweller's songwriting combined with his brilliantly catchy melodies turns each song into a bouquet of wildflowers. Right from the start of the jangling acoustic folk rocker "Run", Kweller's wide-eyed exuberance pulls you in as he looks at his life on the road, and explaining that it would all be better with his wife by his side. Most directly about his relationship with his wife is the gorgeously memorable "Thirteen". With only a piano and some verses, Kweller tenderly recounts the highs and lows over the years with his childhood sweetheart; leaving a mark without the benefit of a hook. Kweller's rich picturesque lyrics on the song leave listeners wanting more when he abruptly finishes with, "It was in the back of a taxi / When you told me you loved me, and I wasn't alone".

The piano chugging rock n roll number, "Penny On A Train Track" is an uplifting and cathartic listen, where Kweller runs into an old high-school friend who makes him realize that he is a 'grown-up' now. The simultaneous nervousness and excitement of the moment plays out beautifully. Capturing both the elation of falling in love and the freewheeling fun of 80s power pop, "Magic" is perhaps the most instantly catchy tune on the album. The punchy, "She's magic", hook, describing his lover's incredible charms over him, works wonders against the nostalgic backdrop. Following the soft piano ballad "Until I Die", the rollicking "This Is War" closes the set as the loudest. Sounding like a mash-up of The Raconteurs and The Beatles, "War" is a lively and powerful taught 2:30 rocker.

Ben Kweller is easily the most consistent and rewarding album from the budding rock superstar. Gone are the annoying inconsistent moments on his younger efforts, leaving a tight rock album with enough melody and pop sensibility to make his third album a career defining treasure. Completely devoid of any missteps or minor stumbles, at the young age of twenty-five, Kweller sounds like he has found his groove. Ben Kweller is a breezy, poppy, and ultimately refreshing listen not to miss."

BUY THIS ALBUM!

J. Greenberg | Hunt Valley, MD | 04/04/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I've never been prompted to write a review before, on Amazon or anywhere else, but I've been listening to this album for the past month, and I want to encourage everyone to try it out! Ben Kweller is a musical genius - he wrote and performed every instrument on the album. The songs absolutely rock, with amazing chorus lines - a unique combination of 60's influenced psychedelia but with a completely (post)modern twist. There isn't a bad song on the album."

A modern pop classic

Kyle A. | NC | 10/24/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Ben Kweller has always hinted at being a great musician, always showed signs that he would make an impact on music, or at least one or two great albums. When you know how to play 3 instruments and start writing songs before you turn 10 years old, good things are bound to happen. However, for whatever reason, things just had yet to come all the way together for this wunderkind.



In the 90's, his band Radish drew comparisons to Nirvana when they were making music, and Kweller was a teenager through Radish's entire existence. But they were written off by the music press as Nirvana ripoffs and never achieved any sort of real success. After two albums that didn't amount to much, Ben Kweller, not unlike Elton John with Bluesology, decided his talents were too immense for this band, and, no doubt with a heavy heart for the music industry after crashing down to earth, embarked on a solo career. Around the late 90's or early 2000's, he released the album "Freak Out, It's Ben Kweller". The mass audience did not obey the album's command. However, the album did reach the ears of one notable man, and that was all Mr. Kweller needed. Evan Dando of the Lemonheads got his hands on the album, enjoyed it so much that he invited Ben to tour with him, and Ben followed this up with a record deal with ATO records.



In March of 2002, Kweller released the album "Sha Sha", and since then it's been all uphill for the fiery-haired child prodigy. The power-pop stylings of his music on this album garnered him the attention of many indie music aficionados, and his first studio release gained him something of a cult following. When he released "On My Way" in 2004, it was one of the more highly anticipated albums of the year among music aficionados; the phenom's potential had finally been realized. And his latest album smacked of maturity. The progress he had made from "Sha Sha" to "On My Way" had been quite notable; the kid was growing up in a hurry, and his lyrics, not to mention you and I, were the beneficiaries. However, while "On My Way" garnered some acclaim, he had yet to make the album you would expect from a 15-year songwriting veteran. The pieces just had not come together yet to push Kweller over the top.



That is, of course, until the release of this album. Kweller's rapid maturing pattern most certainly continues here. And he makes it clear that this is his most personal album to date, by naming the album after his own name. And you can tell by the lyrics that he has finally found a way to express his innermost feelings, self-doubts, fears, and experiences. He is a tenderheart, a romantic, a delicate flower, and even at times a tortured genius, and his lyrics scream this throughout this album. And the vehicle for which he delivers these lyrics is simply phenomenal, only heightened by the fact that he plays every single note on every single instrument on this album. This album's music is not too weird, not too traditional, not too indie, and not too pop, it's just right; he finds a perfect medium between making good music and making radio-friendly singles that should become huge hits if it is to believed that the American public has any idea of what good music is (which, sadly, as most of us know, is an outdated notion; the days of Beatlemania are long, long gone). Kweller should not be lumped in with his contemporaries, or the Bens, because he is a pop genius all his own(not to mention more consistent and flat-out a better all-around musician than those contemporaries), and this is an ultra-melodic pop masterwork, and without a doubt, his magnum opus to date.



Kweller wastes no time in getting right to the point, making his intentions clear from the start, with "Run", which incorporates the glockenspiel in a way strangely similar to Bruce Springsteen's "Born To Run". This song is one of the strongest on the album, and delivers Kweller's first of several impossible-to-get-out-of-your-head hooks, and pleas for a certain soulmate to run with him through life.



Kweller than slows it down a bit with the strangely twangy "Nothing Happening", which wouldn't sound too out of place on a great country album. On this song, Kweller vents about his frustrations with the current state of society, and the insignificance of everything we do. But then Kweller goes right back to his romantic songwriting tendencies on the next song, "Sundress", the leadoff (and hopefully for the sake of music, hit) single from this album. Delivering the second unforgettable hook of the album already, Kweller longs for the lost days of a young relationship that has apparently seen the two lovers noticing their differences, in which Kweller croons in his ever-so-smooth voice "I wanna start going on a morning walk/What about the days when we used to talk?/I don't need a smile from a mannequin".



Then, changing pace again, comes the urgent "I Gotta Move" where Kweller writes about a burning itch that he needs to scratch, and his yearning for constant change.



Then comes what may be the centerpiece of the album, and certainly is Kweller's most personal song to date, the piano ballad, "Thirteen". Plain and simple, it is a treat for anyone who lay their ears upon it. There is technically no hook or chorus to the song, but the melody throughout the song is simply irresistable, and the harmonica solo in the middle of the song is very emotionally charged, and the lyrics are delivered with the innoncence of the lovers the song describes, and the schoolyard romance of two young lovers who do everything together and seem to truly be in love, culminating in the song's final line, "It was in the back of a taxi/That you told me you loved me/And that I wasn't alone".



Then comes another standout track of the album, "Penny On The Train Track", with yet another irresistable hook, while Kweller even manages to make you chuckle a bit, or at least smile with the line "I'm a-just a penny on the train tracks, waitin' for my judgement day/Come on, baby girl, let me see those legs, before I get flattened away", yet he still writes some solid lyrics, expressing doubts about his future and his past.



After this comes a pretty straight-up rocker in "I Don't Know Why", where Kweller expresses confusion about why so many bad things have come his way, especially in the hook, where he sings, "The world is feeling, like it's passing me by/I'm fixing to lose it, and I don't know why".



Then come two more romantically charged songs, one sprinkled with nifty power-pop riffing ("Magic"), and the other with calming acoustic guitars ("Red Eye"), the latter of which he asks the object of his affection, "How long will it take/Before I can have your heart to break?"



On the second to last track of the album comes another true standout, the piano-driven "Until I Die" where Kweller apologizes to his lover for his antisocial and sometimes cynic behavior ("I'm so sorry I'm so paranoid"), but begs his lover to stay with him through it, in another seemingly very personal song. Kweller closes the album out with something of a changeup, with an energetic power-pop riff, and a hook reminiscent of Weezer, in a straight up power pop-rocker.

All of these pieces, in all their wonderful melodic glory, come together, at least in my opinion, to form what should be considered a true modern pop classic and the album many have all been waiting for from this former teenage phenom."