Ben Lee Albums (7)
'The Rebirth of Venus'
Release Date 2/10/2009
Tracks 13
Label New West
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What The Critics Say
There's no doubt that Ben Lee means well, intending this collection of sunny pop and singsong folk to bridge the chasm between genders and cultures across the world, as he truly does wonder "What's So Bad (About Feeling Good)?," the leadoff song that sets the tone for The Rebirth of Venus. Lee wonders what's wrong about a boy playing with a Barbie doll and sees nothing wrong with claiming "I'm a Woman Too," a piece of hippie-dippy pop that seeks to inherit the throne of cluelessly sexist agitprop pop from John Lennon's "Woman Is the Nigger of the World," one of six songs Lee covers in an essentially acoustic bonus EP for Rebirth. Because Lee wears his open heart on his sleeve, it's hard to dislike the guy: his head's in the right place and he does have a way with an ingratiating hook. Even if Lee's puppy-dog earnestness winds up being off-putting in the long run on The Rebirth of Venus, his songs of solidarity are basically sweet in nature. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Ben Lee settled into a bit of a groove on his 2005 album, Awake Is the New Sleep -- or, rather, he matured, mellowing into a tuneful, tongue-in-cheek singer/songwriter, an Evan Dando who was warm, fuzzy, friendly, and lacking a considerable history of substance abuse. Of course, our Ben has never been dangerous -- he's always been a precocious kid, and if his mild impishness has faded over the years, along with his onetime fondness for clattering punk, his boyish sense of humor still remains on Ripe, his 2007 follow-up to Awake. Sometimes that humor is a bit too much -- despite its naggingly catchy hook, "What Would Jay-Z Do?" feels like a joke passed along in a high-school library -- but even if he occasionally overplays his hand, it sure is hard to dislike Lee. This is a guy who laments "Sex Without Love" (to a pounding new wave disco beat, no less!), sings about "American Television" without a trace of condescension, and updates the lilting '50s doo wop beat on "Birds and Bees," a charming duet with Mandy Moore. Lee has a warm cheerfulness that's thoroughly ingratiating, and he has the tunes to match. While none of these songs stands up and calls attention to itself -- neither does Lee, for that matter -- the songs are solidly constructed, are charming upon the first listen, and grow stronger on repeated plays, which are earned through the album's hazy, sweet nature. Truth be told, Ripe isn't all that different than Awake Is the New Sleep, but it's no worse: it's equally entertaining and endearing, a modest pleasure that's a pleasure all the same. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
'Awake Is the New Sleep'
Release Date 2/22/2005
Tracks 14
Label New West
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What The Critics Say
Like most musicians who make a splash in their teens, Ben Lee has had a hard time finding his footing in his twenties. First, his American record label, Grand Royal, closed after the release of his 1999 album Breathing Tornados, and then, during the first half of the 2000s, shifting pop trends -- plus a general unspoken consensus that he was no longer a pop wunderkind now that he was in his twenties -- pushed him out of the limelight. He managed to get an album out in his native Australia in 2002, a move that didn't get nearly as much attention in the U.S. as his 2003 breakup with celebrity girlfriend Claire Daines. So, approaching the halfway point of his twenties and the 2000s, Lee was adrift, but he managed to regroup, at least artistically, with his 2005 album Awake Is the New Sleep. Reteaming with renowned indie rock producer Brad Wood, who helmed his 1997 LP Something to Remember Me By, Lee returns to the gently melodic, tentatively introspective indie pop that marked his best work of the '90s, but there is a difference here. Where that record, along with much of his previous work, was marked by a shy innocence, Lee is older now. He's been through the wringer and has had his heart broken, and it's given his music a greater emotional resonance. That alone would have made Awake Is the New Sleep noteworthy, but what makes it stand alongside Something to Remember Me By as his strongest album is that he's written a strong, melodic set of songs and Wood has given them a colorful but unadorned production that gives each tune its own character. It's not a great change -- he's still a gentle, low-key pop singer/songwriter in the vein of Evan Dando -- but the subtle changes in tone and perspective make Awake Is the New Sleep a nice, low-key comeback and an album that proves that Lee is beginning to reach his musical maturation. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
When Grand Royal folded after the release of Ben Lee's third album, he was thrown into artistic limbo in the U.S., incapable of building on the momentum from his sorta successful third album, Breathing Tornados. Despite a few low-key tours in 2001 -- when he debuted most of the material from what would become his fourth album -- he dropped off the radar, relegated to the status of "Claire Danes' boyfriend" and little else. But when Hey You, Yes You, his fourth record, finally did appear at the tail end of 2002 as an Australian import, it showed that Lee didn't stop growing even though he couldn't release any records. Hey You, Yes You takes the sonic experimentation that Lee sketched out on the polished, shiny Breathing Tornados and expands it into trippier, more beat-heavy territory, due largely to producer Dan the Automator. The two are a perfect match, since Dan the Automator creates an adventurous sonic landscape for Lee's pleasant but typical songs, making the record sound for all the world like a much more tuneful version of the Gorillaz record. If Lee hadn't started down this path with Tornados, Hey You, Yes You might've sounded forced, but instead it sounds perfectly natural; Lee wants to write simple, basic, guitar-oriented pop songs, but he wants enough musical bric-a-brac around to make things colorful and interesting. Like his previous efforts, Hey You, Yes You is delightfully unpretentious and incessantly catchy, whether it's on typical Lee power poppers like "Running With Scissors" or gorgeous power ballads (the Jason Schwartzman co-penned "Chills"), or when he's playing with his newfound grooviness, such as on the spacy "Dirty Mind" or the intense "Something Borrowed, Something Blue." ~ Jason Damas, All Music Guide
'Breathing Tornados'
Release Date 3/1/1999
Tracks 12
Label Grand Royal
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What The Critics Say
Apparently Ben Lee's been getting a good deal of the proper encouragement and studio connections needed to get away with such an "It's okay to be inoffensive" record. Because Breathing Tornados is inoffensive, and it is okay. Many listeners will bristle at 12 songs that essentially intend to instruct you how to live a wise and healthy life, sung by a guy scarcely older than your teenage brother with that hip nasal inflection going around among young solo acoustic acts these days. Although often compared to Beck, P.J. Olsson and Ben Folds, Lee is not a great innovator, although "Nothing Much Happens" is something of a sparkly centerpiece among relatively unremarkable two-chord singalongs like "Cigarettes Will Kill You" and the catchy "Birthday Song." An awful lot of precovered angsty territory is sloshed over again in "Burn to Shine" and "Ship My Body Home," reminding us that youth is the question and the answer, the problem and the solution ... to that elusive something that gets referred to on this record a lot, yet never actually named. As on the sleepy anthem "Tornados," Lee is attempting to figure it out, and hopefully he'll reign disappointed enough in his quest to keep searching, thus keep making records. ~ Becky Byrkit, All Music Guide
'Something to Remember Me By'
Release Date 5/20/1997
Tracks 14
Label Grand Royal
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What The Critics Say
17-year-old Australian Ben Lee has been recording and touring since the tender age of thirteen. Following his previous effort, Grandpa Would, these fourteen cuts show a more mature, acoustic-based artist with plenty of room left to grow. From the great "Ketchum" to the innocently catchy a cappella "A Month Today," Ben Lee truly does give us Something to Remember Me By. ~ James Chrispell, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Australian wunderkind of the '90s Ben Lee was only in his early teens when he recorded this debut LP, but his songwriting skills were already evidence of an ability beyond his years. Stripped to the barest of essentials, and often resorting simply to Lee and his guitar, the 18 tracks on the record are full of pure gooey pop and trademark simple but engaging lyrics. With help from both Liz Phair and Rebecca Gates, as well as a high-profile release from Grand Royal, Lee's first effort was backed by plenty of folks who believed in his skills, and it's doubtful that any were disappointed with the result. With simple approaches and plenty of songs about girls, the singer's tales of childish infatuation and normal fears are certainly believable, and the inclusion of more silly upbeat numbers like "Ductile" and "My Guitar" paints a portrait of Lee as a normal teen with a surprising penchant for writing great songs. This record reeks of the innocence that disappeared from his later albums, and for that alone it is wildly endearing. Grandpa Would is a distant sound compared to Noise Addict, Lee's other group from the time this was recorded, but its far from daunting "boy and his guitar" aspect is easy to fall in love with, and it gives some good justification for his decision to continue on with a solo career. ~ Peter J. D'Angelo, All Music Guide
