Volume 1

Vinyl LP pressing. 1998's Volume I is the lone album from Fear of Pop featuring Ben Folds (Ben Folds Five) and Caleb Southern (Ben Folds Five's long-time producer), both of whom are from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Folds and Southern set out to destruct and rebuild, cajole and swindle, refine and regenerate that simple form of music simply called "pop." No sub-genres or image filled classifications - just a concerted effort to return us to yesteryear's yearnings of delightful, hummable pop songs. Darting between warped, melancholic, dreamy pop and subtle jocularity, Volume I is an in-joke everyone knows the directions to, easy to digest self-indulgence for all who are even mildly daring. The Ben Folds melodies, post-slacker musings and odes to song styles past are all present. Enhancing the show are the raucous ("I Paid My Money"), the underground ("Kops"), the mesmerizing ("Avery M. Powers Memorial Beltway") and the delectable ("In Love"). The William Shatner-featuring "In Love" may be the gem of all gems - a grooving, half-sane, half-baked rant of relationship gone crooked.