Ben vs. Elliott

One of the useless pursuits of this blog is to rate, list and compare relevant artists of my day. Two artists that strike my fancy are Elliott Smith and Ben Folds. One is a clever, bubbly, observational genius; the other was a clever, depressed, observational genius. They’re really very much like John Lennon and Paul McCartney, even insofar as the pessimist is dead, and the optimist lives on. But, like Lennon and McCartney, comparison is pointless because, how does one determine who is better? Both are/were clearly geniuses, both wrote stellar songs, and both impacted the music of so many. Wait, am I talking about Lennon and McCartney, or Smith and Folds? Even though this accomplishes nothing more than to satiate my need to compare, here is a table comparison of Ben vs. Elliott.

Points (out of 5)	Ben Folds	Elliott Smith
Clever lyrics	☺☺☺☺☺	☻☻☻☻
Musicianship	☺☺☺☺☺	☻☻☻☻
Melodies	☺☺☺☺	☻☻☻☻☻
Arrangements	☺☺☺	☻☻☻☻
Subtlety	☺☺	☻☻☻☻
Dynamics	☺☺☺	☻☻☻
Performance	☺☺☺☺	☻☻
Diversity	☺☺	☻☻☻☻
Who is alive-er	☺☺☺☺☺	☻
	33	31

I love them both, but Ben Folds comes out on top. Unless Elliott comes back from the dead, in which case Ben is going to have to work hard to get where he needs to be. It’s hard, but I believe he can do it if it works at it.