| | |  | Rock | Home » » » Ben Folds Presents: University a Cappella! | | | | | | | Product Promotions: | | | | | Product Details: | | | Audio CD Release Date:
| April 28, 2009 | | Studio:
| Sony | | Number Of Discs:
| 1 | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 35 reviews |
| | | Track Listing: | | | 1. | Not the Same | | 2. | Jesusland | | 3. | Brick | | 4. | You Don't Know Me | | 5. | Still Fighting It | | 6. | Boxing | | 7. | Selfless, Cold and Composed | | 8. | Magic | | 9. | Landed | | 10. | Time | | 11. | Effington | | 12. | Evaporated | | 13. | Fred Jones, Pt. 2 | | 14. | Army | | 15. | Fair | | 16. | The Luckiest | |
| | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 35 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
43 of 47 found the following review helpful:
 Great album, and a lot of fun!Apr 28, 2009
By Kerry Marsh
I'm the director of the Sacramento State Jazz Singers and the arranger of "Selfless, Cold and Composed" on this album, and I'm very proud to have been involved in its making. Ben is one of my favorite artists, and it's such an honor to have worked with him and his team on this project, the proceeds of which are going towards "Save the Music."
One of the goals/intents of this album was to present some of Ben's previous work in a new context for his listeners, and to give some exposure to some of the hard-working and talented amateur singers who've been putting together a cappella versions of his charts and posting videos to YouTube. Ben was cool enough not to worry about copyright infringement as some artists might, but instead he admired the passion of the groups (mostly college glee club types, student-directed with student arrangements) and chose to encourage other groups to submit their performances for a contest to make it onto this album. Over 200 groups submitted (or already had vids up), and these tracks (besides the two tracks by Ben himself) are the result. Most groups rerecorded their songs the Sac State Jazz Singers, as well as the U of Chicago, ended up using the original tracks from the submission, as Ben felt the quality was high enough to hang with the album.
Sac State's track, "Selfless, Cold and Composed," sounds a bit different from the rest of the project because my arrangement goes a bit further from the original and uses some thick jazz voicings, with some scat singing, as well. The way the album is assembled, though, our track seems to fit in well, and the following track by U of Chicago, "Magic," is incredibly well-written, sung and produced. Other favorites of mine are "Not the Same," "You Don't Know Me," "Fair" and, of course, Ben's two tracks, "Effington" and "Boxing." The album has gotten a lot of media attention, and I hope it helps create new fans of a cappella and of Ben Folds!
14 of 15 found the following review helpful:
This is terrific!Apr 28, 2009
By Mickey
"Mickey"
It's so awesome to hear these songs re-interpreted this way! Not only is there incredible creativity in the arrangements on the album, but there's also the added impact of knowing that these songs were sung, mostly live, without instruments. You can tell that the groups were really thinking about the meanings and the emotional content of the songs -- it comes through quite clearly.
The first person to rate the album based their rating on a technical problem with hearing samples on the amazon.com website, not based on the quality of the album. Don't be fooled by people who haven't heard the album they submit a rating for!
My assessment -- the whole thing is terrific.
8 of 9 found the following review helpful:
WOWApr 28, 2009
By George Richardson
this was absolutely astounding!! I'd never really appreciated accapella, though I am an avid fan of Folds, however, upon listening to this cd I was struck by how, for lack of a better phrase, damn good it was!! I highly recommend this to all even if accapella is not your thing.
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
 Some great tunes, but many exclusions and ho-hum arrangingAug 01, 2009
By Mark Wells
"Hank Scorpio"
I was turned on to this CD for 2 reasons - 1. it was a project by Folds, and 2. it featured his tunes in a new light - vocal groups singing Folds tunes from colleges around the US. After checking out many auditions for this project on Youtube, I honestly expected the music to sound a bit more.... interesting. Most of the arrangements don't really push the envelope for creative arranging, and stick very close to the originals recorded by Folds. Many of the tunes follow the same format: One lone singer doing the melody, with the rest of the group laying down chords and/or some ostinato rhythms underneath the melody.
It was worth the purchase just to hear his tunes in a new way. However, I'd like to hear another disc with more groups included, such as the group Dischords from Michigan State University that did an arrangement of "Missing the War", and the Penn State Pennharmonics doing "Gone", etc...
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
A Ben Folds Must HaveMay 01, 2009
By Chad Wollenberg
"Chad"
At first I thought, wow, I've not paid 12 dollars for an album in years. This album is worth that and then some. Anyone who is a Ben Folds fan must listen to this album. A recommendation is to get past the first song without judgment. Not that the first song is bad, but you may be misled. Every song on this album has a different style. The clear talent of all of the singers is prevalent from the start, and you can not go wrong with the tracks Ben sings on. I went from skeptic to lover in one go around.
See all 35 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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