Lonely Avenue is an inspired concept – lyrics written by the award winning author and music fanatic Nick Horby (High Fidelity, About a Boy) and scored by musical genius and piano virtuoso Ben Folds. However the result falls a bit short of expectations. It is not a bad album by any means, it’s just not as great as it could be, given the talents at the helm. It is wonderfully steeped in stories and the lives of characters, from “Doc Pomus’’ – about the legendary songwriter who wrote the hit song “Lonely Avenue” for Ray Charles – to “A Working Day’’ about the ups and downs of creativity and productivity. Fittingly the collaboration spans beyond the scope of the record, with Nonesuch printing a Deluxe Edition that also includes four short stories by Hornby and photography by Joel Meyerowitz in a hardbound book. Music, literary and pop culture fans may not entirely be won over by Lonely Avenue but they will surely have fun. – Written by JFelton
SIMILAR | Ben Folds, Ben Folds Five, Guster, Jukebox the Ghost, Ben Kweller, Ben Lee