Rating
5.0

Leave it to Ben Folds to do something original with the concept of a “greatest hits album.” With Ben Folds Presents: University a Cappella!, the piano rocker acts as producer, allowing a select group of a cappella groups from multiple universities around the country to let out their angry suburban white boy.

So how does Folds sound without piano? With the expertise of the musicians in practice, the songs take on different dimensions. “You Don’t Know Me” gets a shot full of angst. The multitude of voices on “Fred Jones Part 2” transforms the song into an eerie and haunting ballad. Folds himself even provides a few of his own a cappella covers, and they, like the other songs on the album, come off with that perfect mix of familiarity and originality.

At first I thought University a Cappella! was strange, and I wasn’t convinced I liked it. The album has since become the current soundtrack of my life. Where most musicians would slap the old tracks on a CD with as much effort as I use to put together an iTunes playlist, Folds has provided a unique and impressive reimagining of his expansive body of work.