BEN FOLDS FIVE
The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner 
(Sony)

With each succeeding album, the Ben Folds Five continue down that inevitable path to wider

acceptance. With a unique (for the 90s anyway) format that ‘borrows’ heavily from Bacharach,

Wilson, Rundgren, Newman, John and Joel, the Five appear to be able to mix their obvious retro

leanings with a hip radio-friendly factor in a manner not seen since Tom Petty. The big time

beckons…B