Ben Folds Five Prep Debut LP Reissue, Reunion Shows

Three decades after Ben Folds Five helped carve out a rare guitar-free lane in alternative rock, the band is celebrating its landmark debut with an expanded anniversary edition featuring a long-lost version of the album that almost was.

Due Sept. 4 via Capitol/UMe, Ben Folds Five (30th Anniversary) pairs a newly remastered edition of the trio’s 1995 debut with the long-rumored “Shelved First Attempt” — an abandoned version of the album that Folds recently rediscovered on digital audio tape in his personal archives. The collection will be available on 2CD, 2LP 180-gram vinyl and digitally, while a limited run of 1,000 copies signed by Folds, bassist Robert Sledge and drummer Darren Jessee will be sold exclusively through uDiscoverMusic.

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Fans can get an early taste with the release of “Underground (Shelved First Attempt),” one of seven alternate versions from the original sessions. The unearthed recordings also include an early take on “Evaporated,” which was later re-recorded for 1997’s Whatever and Ever Amen, along with three outtakes — “Emaline,” “Dick Holster” and “Eddie Walker” — that never made the band’s self-titled debut.

In newly written liner notes, Folds reflects on hearing the album through fresh ears at age 59. “Overall, it’s good!” he writes. “It’s NOT the kind of record you’d hear produced these days. It’s pretty rough and tumble, mostly in a good way. And it’s emphatically unique.” He credits the album’s distinctive sound to an era before digital perfection, adding that the band’s piano-driven, harmonically adventurous approach was genuinely raw despite its sophistication. “Many indie rockers of the ’90s claimed to be raw and not care,” he writes. “We actually lived that.”

Folds also sheds light on why the original sessions never surfaced. Recorded in Philadelphia with producer Dave “Stiff” Johnson on a modest budget from Caroline Records, the first version of the album ultimately felt too polished for the band’s taste. “This version of the album was shelved and never saw the light of day,” he writes. “We had taken the time we needed and the advice of the very competent producer, but it resulted in an album that didn’t feel like us.” After recently finding a cassette of the recordings, Folds was surprised by what he heard. “It’s not bad, though I recall it being hideous … It’s just not crazy like the album we all know.”

The anniversary celebration won’t stop with the reissue. The original Ben Folds Five lineup will also reunite for its first run of live performances together in more than 13 years, with dates expected to be announced soon.

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