Almost 20 years after the debut of their first album, the Barenaked Ladies (BNL) are still churning out hits. Their newest album, The Barenaked Ladies Are Me (BLAM) paints the band as a grown-up version of their former selves. Make no mistake, you’ll find no “chickety-china” type songs on this album.
The Canadian group has come a long way since their first American chart topper “One Week,” and although they have not lost their sense of humor, they have added a deeper, often political side to their lyrics.
The band has also started to look into alternative methods of distribution, focusing more on digital downloads and pre-loaded “Barenaked on a Stick” USB drives that hold music, movies, pictures and digital liner notes. The 13-track standard album is available on CD in the United States, but BNL has released an additional 14-tracks as a deluxe edition available only in the aforementioned digital formats.
“Bank Job” shows the playful side of BNL, telling the story of a bank robbery gone wrong when the thieves show and find a bank full of nuns. “They were like zebras / they had us confused” Robertson sings in a lightly irritated tone, chastising his partner in crime who botched the job.
BNL’s other lead vocalist, Steven Page, uses his deeper voice to give weight to “Home and The Sound of Your Voice.” Kevin Hearn, the band’s keyboardist, and Jim Creeggan on bass, get to share their voice in their songs “Vanishing” and “Peterborough” and the Kawarthas, respectively.
However, the most noteworthy tracks on BLAM showcase the band’s heavy leftist views. BNL was criticized for incorporating politics in their last album Everything to Everyone, and “Maybe You’re Right” is a great response to that. Page hauntingly laments, “shall I take back everything I’ve ever said / and live my whole life in silence instead?”
Robertson sarcastically remarks on the nation’s airport security in “Take It Back”: “Long lines and warning signs / think of all the lives saved by plastic knives / it’s na’ve but make believe / we will never lose if we remove our shoes.” The last song on the album, Page’s “Rule the World with Love” is no doubt a sarcastic view of the U.S. attitude toward the Iraq war.
However, the harshest political criticism from the band is not present on the primary album. “Fun and Games” sings from the view of the United States administration on the Iraqis, saying “they were shocked and they were awed and they were blown apart.” It continues, addressing the military and claiming, “there’s no need to draft them / you could hear us laugh then / the poor and black all need the room and board / did I say that outloud?”
Their most daring album to date, the Barenaked Ladies still pull off hits like “Wind It Up and Easy,” but also add in a layer of maturity and politics that is surprising and gutsy. The witty lyrics and original content has never died; it has only morphed into something even more powerful and intelligent. “Chickety-china” need not apply.