Track Listing

1. Eddie Walker
2. Jackson Cannery
3. Emaline
4. Alice Childress
5. Dick Holdress
6. Tom And Mary
7. For Those Of Y'al Who Wear Fanny Packs
8. Bad Idea
9. Underground
10. Ultimate Scarifice
11. Satan Is My Master
12. Julianne
13. Song For The Dumped
14. Philosophy
15. Twin Falls
16. Boxing

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #65880 in Music
• Released on: 1998-01-12
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
The title Naked Baby Photos suggests that Ben Folds Five feel a certain self-conscious unease about this collection of out-takes, demos, live appearances and sound-check foolishness, and they're right to: the quality of the material could be charitably described as uneven. The early recordings featured are interesting--Ben Folds Five were trying to locate a niche for a grand piano-led power trio, which was not a path anyone had taken before, so it's nice to hear the ambition coalescing into reality on "Eddie Walker" and "Jackson Cannery". Elsewhere, unfortunately, there's too much of the grating undergraduate wackiness that has intermittently blighted Ben Folds Five's career--the live tracks "Satan Is My Master" and "The Ultimate Sacrifice" were doubtless hilarious when they were played back on the tour bus, but at this remove it's like hearing stories about a party you weren't at. There is a terrifically spirited live version of Whatever and Ever Amen's "Song For the Dumped", however. --Andrew Mueller

CD Description
This offering from the confusingly-named trio contains a handful of new songs, live versions of several songs from the group's last two albums and odds and ends like demo and 45 versions of other tunes. Whether you're already a fan or not,NAKED BABY PHOTOS provides a fine representation of the band's sound. Focused on singer-songwriter Folds's punchy, melodic pop, the trio's sound updates the tradition of '70s artists like Todd Rundgren with a punkier, more aggressive '90s style. As usual, the arrangements are dominated by Folds's hard-hitting piano work and Robert Sledge's muscular fuzz-bass riffs. Humor abounds here, especially on the rap parody "For Those Of Y'all Who Wear Fanny Packs", but the band's realstrength lies in Folds's skilled pop songcraft.

Customer Reviews

Buy the other three albums first
This is a good album and is worth buying to complete your BFF collection, but the other albums are much better. This is not really a good representation of what the band are like live (I've been to one of their concerts and it was much better than this) but it does contain some really funky piano pieces like 'Dick Holster'. The live version of 'Song For The Dumped' is not nearly as good as the version on "Whatever..." and most of the live songs from the first album are very similar to the studio recordings.

So go out and buy the other three albums because they are amazing, and if you have any money left over buy "Naked Baby Photos" - its worth buying for 'Emaline', 'Dick Holster' and 'Twin Falls'.

Damn good album
A great mix of the lads tour stuff bringing out a bit of the metal side in Ben. The peak of the album is the live performances of Julianne and Song for the Dumped. Nice one bff

A Wondeful Curiosity
Not many bands could get away with releasing a cd's worth of rare tracks and live specials after only a hanful of regular albums, but Ben Folds Five carry it off with style. This CD charts their history as much as anything but shows that even when the guys are messing about in the studio or on the road there is a thread of genuis running throughout. In an age of packaged pop and hits by numbers, such vigorous and refreshing originality has to be applauded