Ben FoldsBen Folds - Lonely Avenue

At least 5 really great songs that are playable and singable. Definitely recommend if you’re a fan of Ben Folds. I bought it just to learn Picture Window and Practical Amanda, but honestly love playing Belinda, From Above and the one about Claire. I was hoping to be able to play Doc Pomus because it’s such a fascinating subject - go out and buy AKA Doc Pomus documentary right now - but I could not handle the alternating left and right hands at that speed, lol.

I almost didn't buy this because of the negative reviews here, but I really didn't find anything deficient about these arrangements at all. I'm a big fan of the album and I didn't notice any riffs or solos that were missing. I didn't notice the right hand merely echoing the melody unless it was in a place where it deliberately is that way on the album. Saskia Hamilton is a sparse arrangement, but I can't imagine how else it would be done. Lonely Avenue overall, compared to his older work, is certainly an album that is less adaptable to solo piano. I'm glad they made the book anyway, they did a great job and it was still a blast to play through.

While I enjoy my other Ben Folds piano books, this one was very disappointing in its arrangements. The arrangements sound strange and hollow, and much simpler than the actual piano on the album. Some songs are downright unrecognizeable at times. There are some times when you only play the right hand, or hold a chord for an entire measure. Not sure why the deviation from previous books (which are wonderful arrangements), maybe someone at Alfred just got lazy. I would recommend buying Songs for Silverman or Rockin the Suburbs if you want to play something that actually sounds like Ben or his albums.

Previous albums by Ben Folds (and the Five) have been accompanied by fantastic scores transcribed pretty much exactly as played on the album. This particular songbook, though, contains simpler arrangements of the songs, often with the right-hand simply echoing the vocal melody. It's enough to get you on the right track if you have a decent ear and are persistent enough to work out the details on your own. And it's still better than most P/V/G arrangements for other artists. The arrangement of Saskia Hamilton in particular - one of the tougher tunes to figure out by ear - is quite bad though.

Just like any other Ben Folds sheet music, Lonely Avenue is fantastic. Some page turns are a little inconvienent, but overall, it's my favorite album to play!

Disclaimer: I've yet to listen to the album. That being said, my wife purchased the book for me and, in comparing it to the other three Ben Folds books I own, I see no watering down of the piano parts. They appear as equally challenging and authentic. Ben Folds books are among the very best for intermediate and above pianists. This one is no exception.