The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner

The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner
Studio album by Ben Folds Five
Released	April 27 1999
Recorded	November 1998 – January 1999
Genre	Alternative rock
Length	40:29
Label	550 Music
Producer	Caleb Southern
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link Robert Christgau (B) link Pitchfork (3.3/10) link Rolling Stone link
Ben Folds Five chronology
Naked Baby Photos (1998) The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner (1999)

The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner is the third and last studio album by Ben Folds Five, released in 1999 (see 1999 in music). The title of the album is said to refer to a name that the band's drummer Darren Jessee used on fake IDs as a teenager. The band was unaware of the existence of a real Reinhold Messner, a famous mountain climber, until work on the album had already progressed. Messner later contacted Ben Folds Five to let them know that he was highly pleased with the album. He is thanked in the record's liner notes for his understanding and cooperation. At least two songs, "Break Up at Food Court" and "Carrying Cathy", were recorded during these sessions, but were neither released nor played live by the band. Folds would later re-record "Carrying Cathy" for his debut solo release, Rockin' The Suburbs.

Track listing

All songs written by Ben Folds except as indicated.

1. "Narcolepsy" – 5:24
2. "Don't Change Your Plans" – 5:11
3. "Mess" – 4:03
4. "Magic" (Darren Jessee) – 4:02
5. "Hospital Song" – 2:05
6. "Army" – 3:25
7. "Your Redneck Past" – 3:43
8. "Your Most Valuable Possession" (Ben Folds/Darren Jessee/Robert Sledge/Dean Folds/Caleb Southern) – 1:55
9. "Regrets" – 4:07
10. "Jane" – 2:42
11. "Lullabye" (Ben Folds/Anna Goodman) – 3:53
12. "(Theme From) Dr. Pyser" (Australian bonus track)
    "Birds" (Japanese bonus track)

Personnel

Ben Folds Five

• Ben Folds - vocals, piano and other keyboards
• Robert Sledge - bass, background vocals
• Darren Jessee - drums, background vocals

Additional personnel

• Antoine Silverman - violin
• Mark Feldman - violin
• Lorenza Ponce - violin
• Jane Scarpantoni - cello
• Ken Mosher - alto saxophone, baritone saxophone
• Tom Maxwell - tenor saxophone
• Paul Shapiro - tenor saxophone
• Frank London - trumpet
• John Mark Painter - flugelhorn, valve trombone
• Dean Folds - answering machine message on "Your Most Valuable Possession"

Production

• Producer: Caleb Southern
• Mixing: Andy Wallace

Charts

Album - Billboard (North America)

Singles - Billboard (North America)

Miscellanea

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

• The song Most Valuable Possession is an actual message left on Folds' answering machine by his father, Dean Folds.
• Folds talks about how the final version for Don't Change Your Plans came about. "...I’d never heard the song that way ever once. And then when we came into the studio one day he had chopped the beginning of the song, which had been this long instrumental thing. Just cut it away and then all of a sudden it was this pop song. And then it was like ‘Oh okay. I see what you’re talking about.’ Cause I didn’t hear it like that at all. I just heard it as this little masterpiece thing.”