Set on surmounting the novelty band stigma, the Ladies toned down their customary quirkiness a bit on their next two albums -- Maroon (2000) and Everything to Everyone (2003). However, Reprise sought to capitalize on more rapid-rhyming singles, releasing "Pinch Me" and "Another Postcard" as lead singles for the albums. "Pinch Me" reached #15 on the Hot 100 and Maroon went platinum, but the downright inane "Another Postcard" received little airplay, and Everything to Everyone sold poorly. Disappointed with Reprise's promotional support (or lack thereof), the band left their long-time label in 2004 to form Desperation Records.
The common critical assessment of the band's new album, Barenaked Ladies Are Me, is that it's BNL's first "mature" album. Although such an assessment shows some critics' relative ignorance of Barenaked Ladies' entire work, as well as an apparent forgetfulness of their own work (many writers hailed Maroon and Everything to Everyone as the band's "mature" albums), it's fair to say a serious tone pervades the album. On songs like the acoustic-driven first single, "Easy," and the buoyant, sing-along-inducing "Bull in a China Shop," long-time songwriting partners Steven Page and Ed Roberston explore the familiar BNL themes of self-doubt and relationship complexities.
Article Author: Jason Middlekauff
Jason Middlekauff makes a living teaching high school English. When he's not extoling the artistry and power of literary classics or attempting to mold young minds, he enjoys reading (go figure), writing (ditto), listening to music, performing his own music, and traveling. …
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Article comments
1 - Connie Phillips
Jason,
Welcome to Blogcritics. This is a really nice review. I have to agree about "Maybe Your Right" being an incredible song, not only the instrumentation like you mentioned but the vocal layering toward the end is a sound to be heard.
I really like "Sound of Your Voice" as well. It's the one song I'm still singing long after the album's over.
2 - Jason Middlekauff
Thanks, Connie. You're right about "Sound of Your Voice"--very catchy song. Even though Kevin wrote it, the band made the right choice in having Steve sing lead. His voice dovetails perfectly with the melody.
3 - Connie Phillips
Definately, Jason. In my opinion, the song has hit written all over it.
4 - Connie Phillips
This article has been placed at the Advance.net websites, a site affiliated with about 12 newspapers.
One such site is here.
5 - Jason Middlekauff
Cool.
6 - Vern Halen
As wonderful as this band is, I have never gotten past their original schtick, And I'm afeared I've come to their party too late to get past it. One observation I will make though, is that a few years back, I was amazed at how poor the live musical guests were on that particular season of Saturday Night Live. There were only two acts that year that I would have qualified as "good" live acts, however you wish to define "good": one was perennial road warriors AC/DC, and the other was BNL, who'vw obviously honed their skills for real and not simply enhanced themselves with studio gimmickry. So, even though I'll likely never be a fan, I wish them well.