MattA75's Full Review: Everything to Everyone by Barenaked Ladies
There are people who getBarenaked Ladies, and there are people who don't getBarenaked Ladies. Now that that's been established, let's divide the two up, therefore, I can save you a whole lot of time by simply placing you in one of the two groups.
For those who don't get BNL, they find them annoying, goofy in a bad sense, and think of them as nothing more than a novelty act who write goofy songs about Yoko Ono and Brian Wilson and what they would do if they had a million dollars. If you fall into this category, please stop reading, as most likely, if you haven't scratched BNL's more serious surface yet, you won't start now, and therefore, this album, titled Everything To Everyone, is not for you.
For those who do get BNL, you may keep reading. This disc, the band's sixth, is a smart mix of everything that has made BNL popular with die hard fans for over a decade now: goofy, fun songs that are sure to be sing alongs on the next tour, and more serious and somber pop numbers that show the excellent lyrical wordplay of vocalists Steven Page and Ed Robertson.
It seems only appropriate to start with the first single, Another Postcard. This is the type of song BNL's detractors point to and say "same damn formula as One Week and Pinch Me (the lead singles from each of the last two albums, respectively). OK, I can see where they get that, what with Ed rapping and Steven taking the chorus. But this song about an obsessed fan sending the band postcards with chimps dressed in every imaginable fashion (sample line: "A birthday wishing chimp, a chimp in black like a goth, a goin' fishin chimp, a British chimp in the bath") is smart, both lyrically and musically. It is apparently based on something that really happened to the band, and well, it's so damn catchy and fun. Besides that, it makes my girlfriend's face light up whenever it comes on. And it's definitely one of the best pop songs of this year.
The album starts off with a smart, almost luscious pop song called Celebrity. Driven by a nice piano melody and a simple backbeat, the song is a warning against the pratfalls of fame ("When I'm riding in my limo, I won't look out the window, might make me homesick for humanity...It has always been my one and only dream, all that's left of me is my celebrity"), a subject tackled many times by prior artists, but this song rises above almost all others with tenderness and heart.
Maybe Katie kicks in next, and this song finds the band returning to the power pop of previous hits such as The Old Apartment and Too Little, Too Late (handclaps and all). The band only rocks harder than this on one track on the disc, Second Best, which sports the refrain of "sometimes it's better to be second best."
The band's goofy side returns on Shopping, a song that sounds like Smashmouth collided head on with Duran Duran. That being said, the song is pretty addictive, and while on first look, completely inane lyrically, it's actually a pot shot at Dubya. Besides, it gets bonus points for having Blue Man Group on it as guests.
I think what's most interesting is that the band has played down their goofy side on this record, first single and Shopping aside. Next Time is a song about regrets you hold in your life, and the hope that maybe, just maybe, "you can get it right next time." I really like the way Page sounds on this song, his vocal inflections make the song in many ways.
Perhaps the most interesting song on the record is Testing 1,2,3, a song undoubtedly aimed at the detractors who consider them nothing more than a novelty act, and their own diehard fans who wish they wouldn't be so goofy at times. "If I acted less like me, would I be in the clear," asks Robertson.
Elsewhere, the band plays up their nice boy image (Take It Outside, a dreamy kind of ballad), sing an absolutely gorgeous ballad (Have You Seen My Love?), and write quite possibly one of the most downtrodden songs of the year that also happens to be the absolute centerpiece of the album (War on Drugs).
There are a couple of failures on this disc though. I still haven't gotten into Upside Down just yet, it being a really quirky type of pop song that I don't feel works very well at all. And despite a great hook on the chorus, Unfinished feels exactly that.
As a bonus, the band has included 3 live in studio acoustic cuts on the regular version of this disc. Another Postcard has more of a focus on Ed's voice, while the other two tracks, Maybe Katie and Second Best, are basically just acoustic rehashes of the album cuts.
For those interested, there is a more expensive version out there that comes with a bonus DVD that includes the full album done live in the studio acoustically. I didn't feel the $10 difference in price warranted the consideration though.
In terms of pop albums, Everything to Everyone is a fine accomplishment for a band who continues to just be themselves, rather than trying to literally be everything to everyone. This is a smart pop album, and it has earned a place as one of the 20 or 30 best discs to come out this year. If you "get" BNL, you need to be getting this record.
Barenaked Ladies does not try to be everything to everyone, which is why the clever band named its first studio album since 2000 its previous two albu...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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