"On My Way" by Ben Kweller

I have been listening to Ben Kweller's new album "On My Way" for about a month now. Here is a little background before I talk about the album. BK had a little known album called "Freak Out, Its Ben Kweller." I am not sure how widely it was distributed because the only way I could hear it was to download it via Kazaa. His first major album was "Sha Sha" which had several of the the same tracks as "Freak Out," but the production and arrangements were much tighter. "Sha Sha" has remained a favorite album of mine, and when he, Ben Folds, and Ben Lee formed "The Bens" it solidified BK as a favorite artist of mine.

So last March I jumped at the chance to go to his concert in Omaha. It was the first stop on his tour with Death Cab for Cutie, and probably the first time he played songs from the not yet released "On My Way" live. As you can see I was expecting alot from the album.

It is a bit unfair to compare "On My Way" this album to Sha Sha. The sometimes naive lyrics and the nonchalant vocal delivery is part of Sha Sha's appeal. Ben was only 20 when he wrote most of it. "On My Way" seems to find BK in a bit of a transition. He can't keep making the ear candy of his youth, but he can't turn his back on the formula that gave him success. BK's solution was to record "On My Way" a bit differently. According to Ben, "The album was recorded in a mid-Sixties fashion. We were all in one room, with no separation between amplifiers and drums. Usually you can mix everything how you want in your headphones. But a lot of times people end up just listening to themselves and making sure they're playing their part perfectly. So we brought it back to pure old school recording." The result is a strong album. I don't think it has the staying power of "Sha, Sha," but it definitely allows him to avoid getting typecast. That is very important because I predict his next album to be a breakthrough for BK. That wouldn't be an option if "On My Way" was too similar to "Sha Sha."

A quick note on the design of the album:
"On my Way" is definitely a step backward in terms of album art. The photos on "Sha Sha" were great. That is what made me pick up the album in the first place. "On My Way" has him dressed up and standing on the cover with some wolf dogs. BK has such a great style. Why would he betray it with the cheesy cover photo?