★★★★★
Ben Folds' The Best Imitation of Myself: A Retrospective exemplifies how a great "greatest hits" should be packaged, and also demonstrates some unintended consequences that an artist might face when his or her work is tied in a tight package. Split across three discs, Folds divides his work between songs he feels represent him best, previously unreleased live records and rarities...
- www.punknews.org
2012-01-19
★★★★★
Fans may quibble over the choice of tracks for the best of element of this compilation, but it barely matters when complimented by two discs of live tracks and rarities. The main talking point is the inclusion of three solid new Ben Folds Five recordings - the first in over a decade, one of which is a rare songwriting credit for bassist Robert Sludge - but the compilation offers more fascinating curios and greater rewards elsewhere...
- www.recordcollectormag.com
2011-11-07
★★★★★
Ben Folds has said this collection was an honest attempt to make sense of his career, from Ben Folds Five up to his most recent collaborations with Nick Hornby, Neil Gaiman, and Amanda Palmer. Not so much, he said, a greatest hits collection - there haven't been many of those, anyway. For longtime fans, the three-disc version of Best Imitation of Myself may be a revelation, showing where Folds came from and where he is now...
- www.americansongwriter.com
2011-11-03
★★★★★
When Ben Folds emerged from the alt-rock scene of the mid-'90s, he stood out from the pack by writing some of the prettiest piano-pop melodies since the heydays of Joe Jackson and Billy Joel, and by penning lyrics that were sometimes ridiculously acerbic. Those two facts weren't coincidental...
- www.avclub.com
2011-10-27
★★★★★
While Best Imitation of Myself may be a contractual obligation, no one could accuse Ben Folds of phoning this one in. A three-disc retrospective, this collection features a disc of some of his most popular tracks with a live collection and a set of b-sides and rarities, all from an artist who many people still think of as that guy that sang "Brick...
- exclaim.ca
2011-10-17
★★★★★
For a music geek growing up during the 1990s, Ben Folds Five could not have come along at a better time. By the time they released their self-titled debut in the fall of '95, the fires of alternative nation had been snuffed out by the suicide of Kurt Cobain and the subsequent proliferation of marginally talented impostors like Bush. That fall, typically diverting bands like Green Day and Red Hot Chili Peppers put out miserable albums and Billy Corgan taught us that ego truly knows no bounds...
- www.popmatters.com
2011-10-17
★★★★★
When putting together a retrospective, how can you hide that a musician went from inspired to mediocre? Well, you could confuse us - shake up the chronology. And you could distract us - split it into three separate discs: hits, live, and rarities. Then, maybe, no-one would notice. But it's a useless scheme if everyone knows it anyway - and Ben Folds' descent into schmaltz seems to be old news...
- drownedinsound.com
2011-10-11
★★★★★
This retrospective set from could equally have been titled 63 Songs for the Dumped. For the majority of his time, Folds' songwriter's eye is focussed on plate-smashing and loneliness and other torrid traits of relationships gone awry. But his three ex-wives and countless girlfriends' loss is the listener's gain, because over two decades the North Carolina musician has served up power-pop that crackles with energy, with lyrics which have come to mean much to fans who've lived their own lives to...
- www.bbc.co.uk
2013-04-23
★★★★★
Summary: "Maybe that's why books get written, maybe that's why songs get sung..." 3 of 4 thought this review was well written There was one thing that was exceptionally clear when the last few seconds of Way to Normal, the 2008 effort from Ben Folds, rang out - this guy is in serious need of some new lyrics...
- www.sputnikmusic.com
2011-02-21
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