When this cat's on tour, the mice will play

Continuing the Ben Adams post, today's focus is the album sampler Ben released. It included five songs, included the previously-posted single "Sorry." The sampler was sent out for promo purposes, but the songs on it have never actually been released to the public. The sampler, more than the songs on Ben's MySpace, seems to show that Ben was heading in a really interesting, fun direction with his music--if I ran a radio station, some of the songs on it would definitely get heavy airplay from me.

Destination Rendezvous--we're going to start out with my least favorite of the songs on the sampler, just to get it out of the way, but if you don't like this track, don't skip the rest of today's songs. For a while, this was going to be the album's lead single. I'm really glad they went for "Sorry" instead--"Sorry" is more fun, despite its dark theme. "Destination Rendezvous" has a less agressive beat and, though horns can be a nice effect in some songs, here they just seem sort of squishy. The contrast between the little bells or xylophone or whatever at the beginning and end and the rest of the song is sort of nice, though.

Get Off My Girl--here we go! Much more fun and faster, with rapidfire singing/talking from Ben (and more clever/odd/funny lyrics, depending on your point of view). It even features that stuttering effect I love. There's a version of this song with Har Mar Superstar (who worked on the song with Ben) in it out there somewhere (you can watch a less-than-spectacular live performance of the Har Mar-featuring version here), but this one is rap-less. Full credit to Enthusiastic But Mediocre for this song.

I Don't Wanna Stay--I think this was supposed to be the second single, since Ben has a music video for it posted on his MySpace or viewable here (it looks pretty low-budget, but it adds nicely to the song). "I Don't Wanna Stay" is a ballad, but it's propelled along by a nice backing beat that keeps it from dragging and even gives it a little bounce at points. Ben's working the upper range of his vocals here to nice effect, and the periodic computerized (synthesized?) vocals are a nice touch. The middle 8 is really great, too--you can feel the drama in it. The lyrics are pretty priceless, too--take, for example, "I don't wanna stay where I'm not wanted/Don't wanna be where I don't fit in/I'm not gonna die if you don't love me/It's just I wouldn't call it livin'"--that probably reads as pretty sappy, and it might be (is there anything intrinsically wrong with sappiness, though?), but, though it's a beautiful, sweet ballad, "I Don't Wanna Stay" retains the freshness the rest of the album sampler has.

Don't Tread On My Toes--back to the dancier side of Ben's music. Sometimes it feels like Ben is stretching with the lyrics (rhyming "clumsy clumsy" and "yumsy yumsy"?), but in general, it's another amazing song. The backing vocals are a really nice touch (repetitive, yes, but what matters is the beat they provide, not the words being said, and changing up the lyrics would draw excessive attention to them).

To buy Ben Adam's single "Sorry" (which has none of these songs, but should have done much better than it did), go here (physical) or here (digital). If the album is ever released, it'll be a definite must-buy. There's been more news on the Ben front than normal lately (of course, when "normal" is nothing, that's not difficult to do)--he's got a ringtone available for download over at his MySpace, rumors that he's considering going on I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here! have cropped up (it's mentioned on the Popjustice forums and on his MySpace's wall--maybe there was a friends-only message he posted about it?), and what presumably was/is going to be the cover of his album It's Brutal Out There can be seen when listening to "Do You Wrong" on his MySpace--but whether that's because everything the record company was considering using is just being released because they know otherwise it'll never see the light of day otherwise or because there's finally some movement and progress in getting something to happen, I don't know (I hope for the latter, but fear it's the former).

One final Ben note: even though he's released absolutely nothing for a year and a half, he also has one of the best-run fan sites I know--the fact that it's still going, let alone that it's so high-quality, is amazing, so I have to link to it. There's a plethora of videos, pictures (including the one I used earlier in the post), news, and, most importantly, frequent updates. If there is ever any news about new music from him, that site will have it.

Next up: I thought I had something planned for tomorrow, but I can't remember what it was...maybe Jim Verraros or a MySpace check-in.

(Music links gladly and apologetically removed at request; please support the amazing Ben Adams by buying his single, "Sorry," which you can purchase physically here or digitally here.)