Keyboardist Kevin Hearn and bassist Jim Creeggan also contribute some songwriting, with Hearn penning the Queen-esque "Sound of Your Voice" (sung by Page) and "Vanishing," and Creeggan providing "Peterborough and the Kawarthas." Hearn's songwriting contributions, including two other tracks on the deluxe edition, are his most prolific with the band, but his soft, colorless vocals are an acquired taste.
Despite many fans welcoming the band's continuing departure from fallacious ditties (no songs about postcards with chimps? Hallelujah!), some prefer early-era BNL (Gordon, to be specific) and will no doubt be disappointed with the scarcity of BNL's customary hyperactivity. Of the thirteen tracks, only a handful could really be considered "peppy." Given that the band had written plenty of up-tempo songs during the recording sessions — songs like "Running Out of Ink," "Down to Earth," and "Maybe Not," all of which are available on the deluxe edition of the album — one has to assume BNL consciously pursued a mellow vibe. The album doesn't really hit toe-tapping territory until the third song, "Sound of Your Voice," and two songs — the opening track "Adrift" and "Vanishing" — are peaceful to the point of being downright somniferous.
The album could use the jolt a song like "Running Out of Ink" would provide, but the bulk of the material is anything but dull. The music is the sound of five guys who clearly enjoy the newfound freedom of making music on their own terms. BNL's greatest strength has always been their songwriting, and the album shows Page, Robertson, and Co. returning to form after the uneven Everything to Everyone. Barenaked Ladies Are Me not only surpasses its predecessor, but also stands among the best work of the band's career.
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.