Way to Normal
| Way to Normal | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by Ben Folds | ||||
| Released |
 17 September 2008 27 September 2008 29 September 2008  30 September 2008 |
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| Recorded | Ben Folds' Recording Studio, Nashville, TN |
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| Genre | Alternative rock | |||
| Label | Epic | |||
| Producer | Dennis Herring | |||
| Ben Folds chronology | ||||
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| Alternative cover | ||||
Cover for the fake leak version of the album
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| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Aggregate scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | (62/100) |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AbsolutePunk | 56% |
| Allmusic |   |
| The Austin Chronicle | |
| The A.V. Club | C+ |
| Drowned in Sound | (8/10) |
| Entertainment Weekly | B+ |
| musicOMH | |
| Paste | 8.9/10 |
| The Phoenix |  |
| Pitchfork Media | 2.7/10 |
| PopMatters |   |
| Rolling Stone | |
| Spin | (6/10) |
| Uncut | |
Way to Normal is the third studio album by Ben Folds. It was released on 30 September 2008 in the United States and on 29 September 2008 in the United Kingdom. The album is Folds' highest-charting album ever in the US, reaching #11 on the Billboard 200 in its first week of release.
A music video for "You Don't Know Me" was directed by Eric Wareheim, featuring Eric himself and his comedy partner Tim Heidecker.
In 2009, Folds re-released the album in less compressed audio quality as Stems and Seeds, adding various bonus tracks and providing "stems" for fans to create their own remixes.
All tracks written by Ben Folds.
The album is named after Normal, Illinois as referenced in the track "Effington". "Effington" refers to Effingham, Illinois.
The song "Hiroshima" is about a time when Folds fell off the stage during a concert in Hiroshima. The subtitle "B B B Benny Hit His Head" is also a reference to the Elton John song Bennie and the Jets. John says "B B B Bennie" during the main chorus, which Hiroshima's subtitle mimics. Both songs share a fake audience in the background, as well as having a similar melody with different timing.
The metallic percussive effect on "Free Coffee" was achieved by placing Altoids tins on top of the piano strings and feeding the audio output through a distortion pedal; Folds demonstrated this in live performances of the song. (See prepared piano)
"Dr. Yang" was used in the trailer for the 2011 film, Mars Needs Moms.
"Before Cologne" was used for the introduction of the iPhone 4S, and was later used in a commercial for the Honda Accord in 2015.
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Wikipedia