“Beautiful” is a "what if" song, questioning the influence beauty has on people. This song has a great vocally-layered chorus that makes you want to sing each part — even though it is impossible to sing all three at once. At only two minutes 35 seconds, it's the shortest song on the album, but one of my favorites.
“Running Out of Ink” is one of Steven Page’s greatest vocal triumphs since “Break Your Heart.” It is also extremely entertaining, lyrically and instrumentally, making it quite possibly the best from the deluxe CD. It also has a bridge, which moves from the uptempo pop melody to something almost like orchestration and then back again. It is something rarely pulled off by other bands, but BNL does it very well. Another great bridge is in “Half a Heart” — actually, it is quite possibly the best part of this song. And it may even be one of BNL’s better bridges ever. This song also has some cool stuff going on in the background musically, especially in how the synthesizer and guitar complement each other.
“Maybe Not” is one of those songs that feels sad but has funny lyrics. It makes the listener feel confused. Which mood is the most appropriate to be in while listening to it? It's about breaking up, which isn't funny at all, but it's so goofy you can't help smiling. Also, I like the hand claps. It's about time for '80s hand claps to return to music. They have been gone far too long and I have been adding them to every song I listen to for ages now.
‘I Can, I Will, I Do” is Steven Page on helium. He is able to sing the entire song at a higher pitch than he typically sings, which makes me jealous. I cannot sustain a higher pitch, let alone stay in tune at that pitch for more than about four bars. I guess that’s why he's the professional.
“Fun and Games” is the heavily political song fans who read the BNL Blog have seen coming. What is truly amazing about it is they deliver their very strong political beliefs in such a way you want to sing along – even if you disagree with them. It also has another example of their great bridges I talked about earlier.
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!