Barenaked Ladies - Barenaked Ladies Are Me

(Update: OK, maybe I was too hard on this CD. Been listening to it again, 'Wind it Up' sounds better and better the more you listen to it. It has that edge, especially after reading the lyrics and watching the video. Wind it Up will end up as one of this year's best songs. -rob)


Also known as BLAM, 'Barenaked Ladies Are Me' is BNL's latest release. Now I had extremely high expectations with this one, as I do with all new Barenaked Ladies albums. These guys write some of the most creative, kickass songs I've ever heard. And I could always relate past significant events and emotions with some Barenaked Ladies or CAKE song. I was expecting to be blown away with this one, like all their past albums.

Alas, it didn't happen. I went through it once, thought it sounded nice, but nothing really remarkable, then stashed it away. Waited a few weeks, then listened to it again thinking I might have some new insight to the songs that didn't occur to me before (as was the case with their album 'Maroon'). Still no change, it was just an unremarkable album, nothing special.

I'm not discounting the fact that a year or two from now, I'll pick it up again and "get it". But I don't expect that to happen. Here's why, this CD seems to lack a certain edginess, that punch, that intensity that was present in their previous work. I'm guessing the band has matured to the point where things are good, everyone is content, life is comfortable, and it reflects in their music. There's still a bit of that quirky lyrics and hidden meanings, but much less than before.

Another possible reason for easy-going nature of this album is that the band is now producing their own work. So they have full creative control over the music process. This can be good or bad depending on how it goes. It's good because we get to hear the original unblemished songs that the band intended us to listen to. But it can also be a disadvantage because you lack that creative input from the record label that has a feel of what sells and what doesn't. I'm not usually a fan of the record industry, as evidenced by all the flat, prefabricated music being played today on the radio. But there is probably some positive effect with having some constructive feedback from the label on what works and what doesn't. With BLAM, the band has all grown up and is learning to be on its own without adult supervision.

Due to this, I'm confident that the Ladies will learn from their mistakes and create a more meaningful, intense batch of songs the next time around. This was just a rare off-day.

We also learned here that Steven Page and Ed Robertson, the two frontmen are still the best songwriters and singers. The CD features a couple of other songs written and sometimes sung by Jim Creeggan (bass guy) and Kevin Hearn (keyboards, multi-instrument guy). Not that their songs were bad, I guess they were ok, just not my type. And maybe an acquired folk taste is necessary to appreciate them.

Two songs are passably good here: 'Bank Job', a song about a botched bank robbery, and my personal favorite 'Wind It Up', a country-type song with its catchy "wind it up" chorus. The rest aren't particularly memorable. Don't get me wrong, it's still better than most of the music out there, but I expect more from one of my all-time favorite bands, Barenaked Ladies.

Rating: 2/5 * *
A little uninspired, lacks emotion.