ArtsMaven's Full Review: Maroon by Barenaked Ladies
I'm an old-timer. I went to college in North Dakota, and the best radio station we had was Canadian. So when the Barenaked LadiesGordon came on the scene in 1992 my friends and I felt all-too-super-cool to be in on the "next big thing." Little did we know that it would take six more years for them to make it big in the states with Stunt. I anxiously awaited the release of Maroon and bought it on its first day of release. I've enjoyed it. I've popped it into the CD player when I need a Barenaked fix. But it hasn't yet pushed Rock Spectacle or Gordon or even Stunt out of heavy rotation.
First, the Good and the Very Good
Most of the tunes on Maroon are the kinds of tunes that the Ladies do best and no one else does at all: up-tempo pop ditties with surprisingly deep or cutting lyrics. The closest any other artist comes to these great songs is Weird Al Yankovic, but everyone knows he's making a joke. The great thing about the Ladies is that they put serious songwriting talent and effort into what come off as cute ditties. Steven Page and Ed Robertson are truly masters at coming up with these kinds of tunes. "Too Little Too Late," "Never Do Anything," "Go Home," and "Pinch Me" all fall neatly into this mold. They get you bouncing, tapping your toes and listening carefully, thinking, "Did he really say that?"
[Example from "Go Home" -- If you think of her as Joan of Arc
She's burning for you, get your car out of park.
If you think of her as Catherine the Great
Then you should be the horse to help her meet her fate."
It's these kinds of intelligent allusions that let you know for sure that these guys are no joke. Ladies lyrics always make me do some sort of double take and I'm consistently impressed with their creativity, ingenuity and uniqueness.
Maroon also includes another staple of the band, the Steven Page torch song. "Conventioneers," though, doesn't pack the power of past efforts like the "Break Your Heart."
All of the above fall into the "Hit" category, and it's some of the Ladies' best work. The 9 great songs (out of 12) are worth the cost of the CD, easily.
And, the Bad...
Unfortunately, there are a few songs that just fall into the categories of mediocre or bad. "Sell, Sell, Sell," for example. I don't get it. The story of an actor, the movie industry, our capitalistic culture...?...with instrumentation that belongs in an Andrew Lloyd Weber knock-off, not a Barenaked Ladies album. It's ill-conceived, and I admit to hitting the fast forward button every time I play the CD. From now on, I'll take my anti-capitalistic commentary from Rage Against the Machine, thank you. "Helicopters" and "Tonight is the Night I Fell Asleep at the Wheel" are also unimpressive, mostly because they are so similar. Both involve some tragedies and the after-effects. Curiously these very-alike songs are placed together at the end of the album. They're too similar to be so close together. I wondered if they should even be on the same album. Because of them, the album ends with a whimper instead of a bang.
Also missing from this album - Ed's great rapping! Face it, that's the hook that got everyone interested when "One Week" was released. I was shocked that they didn't include some of his great stuff on Maroon.
Another Important Note
If you haven't seen the Barenaked Ladies live, run, don't walk to the nearest Ticketmaster and purchase tickets for the show that comes nearest to you. If it's a day's drive, don't worry--it will be worth it! I saw them most recently just two weeks ago on their Maroon tour stop in Denver. They played for almost 3 hours, gave two encores and put more energy, fun and crowd-pleasing antics into their show than I've ever seen from anyone else. They do parodies, they make up songs on the spot and Ed raps his butt off. Go see ‘em!
1998 s quadruple-platinum smash Stunt catapulted Barenaked Ladies from alternative favorite to major pop stardom. The colorful Maroon, produced by Don...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.