Barenaked Ladies - Everything To Everyone
Published November 04, 2003
There are a couple of kinda odd (and completely unrelated) reasons why I'm reviewing this CD. One is that, after several listens, I've found some music here that I really like. The kind that makes me drive too fast. But there's also some stuff that I just can't stand. This is an unusual thing for me. I usually either a) totally come on board or b) throw up my hands and yell "PULL!" (more on that later).
The other reason? I read a Barenaked Ladies concert review and learned that they covered Public Enemy's "Fight The Power".
So...the love/hate thing. It's true. There aren't a whole lot of albums that I can go either way on. Because I tend to focus on the 'resonant' (read: musical 'gut' says "yea!") aspects of music, a new record can come along and win me over almost immediately. On the other hand, there are times when a song will come on and I'll want that thing out of my ears!...now!! Very seldom though, does a 'bad' song show up in the middle of a 'resonant' album.
Such is not the case with Everything To Everyone. The opener, "Celebrity", is a fun pop tune that employs its Beach Boy and Beatle-isms to full effect. "Maybe Katie" is great power pop that uses a wiggly Cars-like synth on its hooky chorus.
But then we have "Another Postcard" (in that BNL style I just can't deal with) and my index finger heads straight for the "next" button. The good news is that there's only one more tune that gets that treatment from me: "Shopping". Despite the cool appearance of Blue Man Group on "PVC percussion", the song is just too "la la la" for me.
Now, if I ignore the 'outtakes' (one is, of course, a huge radio hit) the rest of the album is right in my pop music wheelhouse. Full of some fun tunes spun up in quite a few different styles. "Next Time" is a lilting and catchy epic. "For You" has quite the folk/country flair, with great harmonies (gees, I wish I could sing like that) and cool instrumentation (is that a glockenspiel in there?) "Testing 1,2,3" is another fun one that mixes in a little XTC karma. On "Upside Down" you're surprised first with a full string section in the introduction...which then morphs into a pop song-cum-tango! (Hint: turn this up loud.) Honestly, there's not a bad song in the bunch.
And now it's back to that "Fight The Power" thing. I've had a lot of 'concert conversion' experiences. And while I haven't seen these guys live, I've heard from several sources that they do put on quite a show. So here's a meta-concert conversion experience. I don't know what they do to "Fight The Power" live, but there's just something appealing and subversive about a Canadian pop band covering Public Enemy.
So, in summary, I guess I love it...and I hate it.
(First posted on Mark Is Cranky)
Mark Saleski is a writer and music obsessive based out of the Monadnock region of New Hampshire. On his best day, he hopes to channel the ghosts of Lester Bangs and Jack Kerouac. He spends the hours of 9:32PM to 1:37AM carving out music reviews and essays for Jazz.com, Blogcritics.org and other publications.
- Barenaked Ladies - Everything To Everyone
- Published: November 04, 2003
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- Section: Music
- Writer: Mark Saleski
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Comments on this articleComments
I think both the title and the mixed content are a kind of self-mockery for the group, Mark. And, they are right. BNL is one of the few groups I know my young rap-influenced friends, rock enthusiasts, indie fans, blues heads and even two pals who are composers of classical music like. I think they are celebrating the irony.
In regard to songs you don't like at first, don't you find that if you listen to them along with the rest, instead of interrupting the album, they grow on you? Not to the point of loving them, but to the extent you can tolerate them at least.
MD, it's really a rare thing for me to skip a song on a recording....but there's just something about those particular tunes that really gets on my nerves.]
they remind me of all They Might Be Giants songs (none of which i can stand).
Nice review. You're actually tempting me to give these guys a listen, but... Nah. I can't stand these guys. They were the writers of one of the worst lyric I have ever heard in a song. I think it went something like... "I don't make movies, but if I did, I'd have a samurai." Like, yeah...
For an MP3 of the (very rarely played) Fight The Power, try http://kingjeff.bnluk.net/boston.html.
Their verson of "Fight the Power" (that I got on some label sampler at least ten years ago) was the only song I liked by then for a long time. Now I like them pretty well. Even people who don't like them say they are great live.
And they blog.
I really like the Ladies. Then again, I like TMBG too. And Moxy Fruvous too.
Every tune on Super Session by Michael Bloomfield, Al Kooper and Stephen Stills sends me to another planet, except Man's Temptation, which I absolutely cannot stomach and skip past every time. So I understand completely what Mark is saying in the post and in comment 3.
Tal, you know what psychologists do to cure people who fear heights or are afraid to fly, right? Maybe if you listen to the songs you don't like and work up to hearing that one 1000 times. . . .-:)
Good grief, MD, I'd rather be thrown out of an airplane. ;-)
WHAT? Another Postcard is hilarious! The point here in humor. So the song isn't a style you like, but just listen to the lyrics, it is meant to be funny.
There's funny, and there's stupid. "Another Postcard" is stupid, plain and simple. Regardless of style, the lyrics are bad and dumb. It sounds like a desperate attempt to come up with another "One Week." I couldn't stand that song either, but it was catchy and at least it wasn't as just-plain-bad as "Another Postcard."
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I actually quite like the album. Aside from "Another Postcard," I think it's easily their strongest album, and even don't mind "Shopping" (I don't love it, either, however, and would have rather seen it as a b-side,) which I've found is being received by most people the same way you did. But "Another Postcard" - God, did we really need another Chumbawumba-inspired song from them? Did the world need another Chumbawumba-inspired song, period? It puts a dent in what I see as a very strong, mature album. Will it survive the test of time for me? No telling yet - but I think it'll survive at least longer than their others have.