As a solo artist Ben Folds has struggled to match the gold plated heights of his band since their split in 2000. Live, he’s still electric (anyone leaving one of his gigs without a huge grin frankly needs to be checked for a pulse), but his recorded output has been a little patchy. 

His first solo effort, 2001’s Rockin the Suburbs, saw ideas thrown around just to see what would stick, with the result that the album seemed uneven. Last years’ Songs for Silverman was musically reined in and much improved from his debut, but somehow didn’t quite reach the glorious heights of the Five.   

Supersunnyspeedgraphic is a collection of songs culled from internet only EPs Folds has released over the last few years, including (eek!) four covers. Like much of his solo output, it’s a little patchy. A cover of The Cure’s ‘In Between Days’ gets things off to a flying start and is probably one of the best songs here, as upbeat and catchy as the original. Sadly, the same can’t be said for the cover of The Divine Comedy’s ‘Songs of Love’. It’s fine as it goes and is relatively faithful, but the knowing subtlety of the original is lost somehow, probably during the daft solo. The less said about the cover of the Darkness’ ‘Get Your Hands Off My Woman’ (apart from the obvious, why?) the better. 

The most smirk inducing cover is of Dr Dre’s ‘Bitches Ain’t Shit’. Rap is not something that you’d expect Folds to have a go at, but it’s here and has already sold 75,000 download copies. The amount of swearing will see Mary Whitehouse campaigners dropping like flies, but believe it or not it’s actually not bad, in a ‘will probably listen to it once’ sort of way. The hard edged original is replaced with a more subtle, almost melancholic atmosphere, although this is spoiled slightly by the fact that you smirk with every second word, particularly the ones that your mum used give you a clip around the ear for saying when you were younger.

As well as the hit and miss covers there are quite a few other songs here that fit into the ‘listen once’ category. ‘Rent a Cop’ is a well observed (and genuinely funny) song about a security guard trying to pick up girls in a mall, while ‘All U Can Eat’ is similarly well observed and about America’s problem with obesity, but they feel almost novelty, particularly the former. It’s not all bad though – ‘Learn to Live With What You Are’ is a reflective and string assisted, while ‘Bruised’ is an absolute gem.  Led by an acoustic guitar and Folds ever present piano, its quiet sadness – ‘Love just leaves you bruised’ – is pulled off effortlessly.

All in all, Supersunny has the feel of a compilation and one where the quality control isn’t quite there.  Still, as usual, there are enough moments for you to forget that and grin; that’s what Folds does best. 

(3/5)