Sha Sha

I purchased his more recent album, On My Way, prior to purchasing this one. I was immediately a HUGE fan. I listen to that album twice a day every day. I LOVE it. This guy is very talented.Now, about Sha Sha. This is a pretty darned good album. It has good songs, well played and it has a down to earth modestly produced sound that I love. Sha Sha also features a lot more crunchy guitars and piano than the lovably lo-fi On My Way. For better and worse...On the down-side, Ben appears to still be searching for his sound. He goes from sounding like he is channeling Weezer (honestly, the second song, Wasted and Ready, is indistinguishable from Weezer) to sounding like the Old 97s (Family Tree), and then Ben Folds (In Other Words.) All great influences in my opinion. But his own sound, which is clearly evident on On My Way, is far more interesting.My recommendation: buy it. It is a very good album from a very talented guy and it won't disappoint. Then buy On My Way.

Love him, amazing music!

Simply put, Ben Kweller's music is fun, easy to relate to, and easy to sing along to. If you are sick of today's overproduced flash-in-the-pan, making CD's just because they're pretty singers, then you should try Kweller's quirky, indie-rock, sometimes a little pop, sometimes a little country sound. After picking up my first Ben Kweller CD just on a whim at a music store, I went out and found all the rest and have been a fan ever since.

I don't know why it would be a bad thing to be a lot like Ben Folds, but this CD is only occasionally reminiscent of him. I found it more like a poppier Weezer-like music. Really cool, and different. I don't think Kweller is overwhelmingly like one artist over another, but you can definitely see his influences. But that's a good thing, especially when his influences are so good.

I love Ben Kweller for his sweet, catchy love songs, and this album definitely delivers those throughout. Buy this and have trouble taking it out of your record player - it's that catchy!

GREAT

If only every twenty-year-olds' solo debut sounded this good. Listening to Sha Sha it's hard to believe that Kweller is still only a ripe and impressionable youth. He's learned well from his influences though (Carole King, Beatles, Beach Boys) with Sha Sha very likely to receive little, if any, critical detention. Who would've thought this rambunctious kid I saw a couple years back opening for Juliana Hatfield, and playing a version of Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby" (retitled "BK Baby"), would release such a mature and developed disc. It's easy to see why the former Blake Baby, Evan Dando, the Eels, Dashboard Confessional, and Dave Matthews have all invited Kweller to open shows for them. The second time I saw this kid, he played an upscale Olsson's in-store sans mic and other amplification wandering around the attendees, many of us similarly aged, as if he were one of us there to see his own show creating a sense of slacker community. A Gemini and self-professed Freaks and Geeks fan, his music captures exquisitely the difficult years between post-adolescence and pre-adulthood. The moderate success Kweller and his previous alterna-band, Radish, received during his early teens thrust him into this era a little earlier than most however.The lead-off and title track, "How It Should Be (Sha Sha)" perfectly captures this awkward period in all of our lives with seemingly nonsensical lyrics giving way to a psychedelic interlude that would make Strawberry Alarm Clock proud. "Wasted & Ready," the first single, is about the Gregg Araki film, The Doom Generation, and should fit in well on any modern rock station. "Commerce TX" is equally motivated declaring "It's the slacker life style that we do so well / Bills are due on Monday and I'm oblivious, can't you tell?" He also shows why he could be the successor to Elliott Smith & Ben Folds on "Family Tree," "Walk On Me," and "Falling." (Folds is a current collaborating partner with Kweller and Ben Lee on a side project appropriately titled, The Bens.) Later, Kweller sings with such honesty and sincerity that you can't help but believe he's spent many nights awake wondering why "the butterflies are passive/aggressive" on the ballad "In Other Words." He strips down to just his guitar meditating on the difficulties of keeping up with his girlfriend while on tour in "Lizzy." Kweller should continue to be received well and given the room to grow and flourish with his label ATO's supportive artist-friendly stance making these difficult years less of a burden and more of a joy.

Ben Kweller est lancé dans la lignée d'un Beck: pop bricolo lo-fi qui se veut inventive. En vérité, plus malin, le gars Kweller se situe à la croisée de trois chemins: la pop de Beck mais sans génie mais par contre avec une grosse louche Beatles pour les morceaux les plus réussis, le grunge encore chaud pour les guitares abrasives sur certains titres mais également les brisures de rythmes (succession lent/rapide) et l'americana d'un Wilco ou plutôt des Jayhawks dans le fond. C'est d'ailleurs là qu'il devrait insister. Car, effectivement, voilà un premier album prometteur, jamais foncièrement génial ni original mais très correct. Trop malin, peut-être, car Ben Kweller n'a jamais su, depuis, faire un album aussi bon, mais aussi et surtout creuser son sillon en trouvant un style propre. On sentait pourtant le gars bourré de qualité (relire le début...) mais il a finalement fait pschitt, peut-être par manque de réelle épaisseur. Reste un disque pop de qualité, mais sans réelle profondeur ni portée.

Ben Kweller's debut solo lp is a masterpiece. Polishing grainy folk guitar with tinkling piano and a smooth voice, it's a far cry from his former punk-rock splendor in the band Radish. This album is like virgin sex: Sometimes awkward, but very pleasurable. Loved for the effort.

なんかね、これ聞いてるとふわぁんとしちゃうんです、気持ちが。カテゴライズするならロックなんでしょうけど、とんがってなくて、柔らかくて、体の力が抜けます。天気のいい日曜日の午後、アイスティー飲みながら日向ぼっこしつつ、これ聞いてたら、何だか特別な事があったわけでもないのに幸せな気持ちになれました。勿論、ロックに必要なエレメントはちゃんと入ってますよ。でも、気持ちがいい、その一言に尽きます、はい。

「Weezer＋Ben Folds」に加えて「ヘナチョコ＋おセンチ風味」なベン・クウェラー。　weezerよろしく、ハードなギターにポップなメロディが基本。しかし一本調子ではなく、鍵盤を積極的に採り入れていたりと、バラエティ溢れていて飽きが来ない名盤。

ロックでありながらポップなメロディーでリズミカルにきまっていてとってもカッコイイです♪特に1曲目の『ＳＨＡ　ＳＨＡ』は歌詞がよくて『地位や名声なんかいらない、普通に病気もせず家族や友人と笑っていられるだけでいいだな。普通でいられるってもしかしてすっごい幸せなのかも』と思える曲です。ちょっと大袈裟かもしれませんが生きる幸せみたいなもを感じることの出来る貴重な1枚だと思います！！