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Whatever and Ever Amen

Whatever and Ever Amen
WhateverAndEverAmenRemastereed.jpg
Studio album by Ben Folds Five
Released March 18, 1997
Recorded September–October 1996, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Genre Alternative rock
Length 49:20
Label 550, Caroline Rec, Epic
Producer Ben Folds, Caleb Southern
Ben Folds Five chronology
Ben Folds Five
(1995)
Whatever and Ever Amen
(1997)
Naked Baby Photos
(1998)
Singles from Whatever and Ever Amen
  1. "Battle of Who Could Care Less"
    Released: 1997
  2. "Kate"
    Released: 1997
  3. "One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces"
    Released: 1997
  4. "Brick"
    Released: January 1, 1998
  5. "Song for the Dumped"
    Released: 1998
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic 4/5 stars
Chicago Tribune 3/4 stars
Encyclopedia of Popular Music 5/5 stars
Entertainment Weekly A
Los Angeles Times 3/4 stars
NME 6/10
Pitchfork Media 7.6/10
Q 4/5 stars
Rolling Stone 3.5/5 stars
Spin 9/10

Whatever and Ever Amen is the second album by Ben Folds Five, released in 1997. A remaster was made available on March 22, 2005. All of the extra tracks had been previously released (as b-sides, soundtrack contributions, etc.) except for a cover of the Buggles song "Video Killed the Radio Star", which is a staple of Ben Folds Five's live show.

The entire album was recorded in a two-bedroom house Ben Folds rented in Chapel Hill. Due to this fact, the album has several lo-fi occurrences. A phone ring can be heard at approximately 2:56 in "Steven's Last Night in Town"; Ben Folds has said the ring was a friend calling from Minnesota, but it came at such a perfect timing, the band decided to leave it in the song. Robert can be heard laughing slightly after it rings as well. Crickets can also be heard in the background of "Cigarette."

While recording the album, Folds told the Sheffield Electronic Press in November 1996 that the album would likely either be titled Cigarette or The Little Girl With Teeth.

The title Whatever and Ever Amen comes from a line in the song "Battle of Who Could Care Less." Helped by a comedic video directed by Norwood Cheek, "Battle of Who Could Care Less" helped the band break through in the UK in early 1997.

The album's original cover featured individual photos of Folds, Sledge, and Jessee, along with a hand-drawn Ben Folds Five logo, and a hand-drawn "Whatever and Ever Amen." The 2005 remastered version shuffled these photos around, and added a fourth photo of all three bandmates sitting together.

Near the end of the Nerdist podcast #132, Ben Folds mentioned that the lyrics for "Cigarette" were taken from a newspaper article about a man who sought a divorce from his wife after finding out she had a brain tumour, on the basis that she was not the same person he had married. The "sequel" track, "Fred Jones Part Two", is on Folds' first solo album, Rockin' the Suburbs.

The track "Steven's Last Night in Town" was written about Ben Folds' friend Stephen Short, a Grammy-Award-winning record producer and manager.


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