Barenaked Ladies recorded and mixed 29 songs over the last year. Thirteen were chosen to be on the main album, Barenaked Ladies Are Me, which was released on September 12. Fourteen others will be available through various special editions of that album when downloaded, as well as its own CD, Barenaked Ladies Are Men, which will be available early next year.
There were two bonus songs available if you pre-ordered, which I sadly did incorrectly and didn’t get. They are “What a Letdown” and “Why Say Anything Nice.” I already reviewed the first disc of this deluxe edition. What follows is a look at the second disc.
Keyboardist Kevin Hearn opens up the second half of the deluxe edition with "Serendipity." The bassline of this mid-tempo indie song is almost a fifties-style walk. It also really shows off his vocal range. Though it probably wouldn't make my top ten list of BNL songs, it's not bad.
“Something You’ll Never Find,” sung by Steven Page, can be summed up in two words — fricken’ marathon. This song goes nearly non-stop lyrically and is high energy musically, especially for poor Tyler on the drums. My favorite lyrics from this track are, "Over in Indiana/ Wearing their red bandanas/ Indians eat bananas/ Thinking they're full of Vitamin C." It makes me giggle. The song also flows very well from verse to chorus and back again.
Next up it's Ed’s turn to sing on “One and Only.” The fact they have three different confident singers in three songs goes to show Barenaked Ladies has a vocal diversity similar to the Beach Boys. Unlike most bands with one singer, and one, maybe two songwriters, Barenaked Ladies have four members who participate in songwriting and take their turns at the microphone.
“Angry People” is the happiest song ever written, not lyrically, but instrumentally. You also get a choir-like background vocal over the chorus just making it seem all the more upbeat. The lyrics describe angry people and how they can make those around them miserable. The song fits right into the BNL trademark of a hypocrisy-fueled musical combination fans love.
“Down To Earth” starts off with a heavily distorted 1-2-3 guitar intro — you know the type — it lets you know this song is going to rock. Then to make it even better, Ed Robertson's lyrics are the kind you can over-analyze, trying to decipher a hundred different metaphorical meanings — none of which are probably what he was thinking while writing the song.
Article comments
1 - Connie Phillips
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2 - Steph
The lyric “Look at them now, they're rubbing my cow there, And feeding it beer” is a reference to Kobe beef from Japan. The cows get regular massages and are fed beer to make them tender... Kinda weird, but I thought you might be interested. Great review by the way!