BARENAKED LADIES
''SILVERBALL''
JUNE 2 2015
44:42
1 Get Back Up (Ed Robertson, Kevin Griffin) 03:00
2 Here Before 03:53
3 Matter Of Time 03:32
4 Duct Tape Heart (Ed Robertson, Kevin Griffin) 03:01
5 Say What You Want 03:32
6 Passcode (Kevin Hearn) 02:32
7 Hold My Hand 03:57
8 Narrow Streets (Jim Creegan) 02:51
9 Toe To Toe 03:13
10 Piece Of Cake 03:21
11 Globetrot 03:24
12 Silverball 04:33
13 Tired Of Fighting With You (Kevin Hearn) 03:44
Tracks By Ed Robertson, Except As Indicated
REVIEW/AMG
by Matt Collar
Six years and three albums into Barenaked Ladies' post-Steven Page world, the Canadian stalwarts continue to craft thoughtful, melodic pop/rock. Of course, it's somewhat unfair to even reference Page (who left the band in 2009), but despite the high quality of much of the band's subsequent material, one often misses the juxtaposition of lead singer/songwriter Ed Robertson's sweet-voiced sincerity with Page's broad, resonant yawp. That said, with a title inspired by Robertson's avowed love of pinball, a fanatical hobby he picked after his 2008 plane crash, Barenaked Ladies' 2015 effort, Silverball, certainly feels like a solid return to form. In many ways, Silverball is fairly similar to the two previous BNL albums (2010's All in Good Time and 2013's Grinning Streak), featuring intimate, reflective, melodic songs, tinged with both a wry humor and bittersweet maturity. Of course, some of this maturity stems from keyboardist Kevin Hearn's leukemia, a disease he successfully battled in the late '90s, and which returned during the recording of Silverball. It's a dramatic tension that imbues the album’s closing ballad "Tired of Fighting with You," with a doubly poignant energy. But despite these themes, Silverball is anything but labored and sad. Cuts like the ebullient "Passcode" and sparkling "Piece of Cake" are uplifting and melodic, bringing to mind the '70s AM pop of bands like ELO and the Beach Boys. Similarly, the laid-back "Hold My Hand" and the harmony-laden "Say What You Want" are classic, heartfelt BNL songs that stick in your ears long after they've ended. Whether it's the loss of a bandmate, or the return of a disease, Robertson and BNL often utilize the back-and-forth imagery of pinball to illuminate their deeper lyrical messages. Additionally, on the leadoff "Get Back Up," Robertson turns to boxing in his characteristic tongue-in-cheek way to explore the notion of resilience in the face of defeat. He sings, "Not the second coming of Muhammad Ali, but can I get a 'whoop!' for the boxing imagery?" Ultimately, after a justified period of rethinking the band's approach to pop, Barenaked Ladies have once again found their musical footing with Silverball, and they deserve every "whoop!" they can get.
BIOGRAPHY/AMG
by Andrew Leahey
By combining humor with an eclectic mix of folk and pop/rock, the Barenaked Ladies enjoyed considerable popularity in their native Canada before rising to international status with 1998's "One Week." Vocalists Ed Robertson and Steve Page launched the band in the late '80s as an acoustic act, traveling to different college campuses and playing warm-up gigs for comedy troupes. These early shows played an important role in the group's foundation, as Robertson and Page began injecting their performances with humorous exchanges to hold their audiences' attention between songs. The trick worked, and the band's mixture of comedy and musicianship was cemented.
Following the duo's tour of the college circuit, the Barenaked Ladies expanded into a tight musical group with the addition of bass man Jim Creeggan, his brother Andy on keyboards, and drummer Tyler Stewart. Several cassette tapes were released and helped increase the band's local popularity, but 1991's Yellow Tape was a different animal, selling so rapidly that it soon became the first independently released tape to reach platinum status in Canada. The hype was compounded by the fact that Toronto's mayor, June Rowlands, considered the band's name to be sexist and demeaning to women, and therefore forbade the Barenaked Ladies from playing a 1991 New Year's Eve concert near City Hall. The story found its way onto the front page of The Toronto Star, and sales for Yellow Tape promptly soared. Meanwhile, record labels had begun approaching the band with attractive offers, and BNL soon signed with Sire/Reprise and issued their full-length debut, Gordon, in 1992. Featuring "Be My Yoko Ono," "If I Had a $1,000,000," and "Brian Wilson," the album moved over one million units and initiated BNL's reign as Canadian pop kings.
At the height of grunge's popularity, producer Ben Mink came on board to helm 1994's Maybe You Should Drive, a mellow folk-pop album. Songs like "Alternative Girlfriend" and "Jane" became college radio favorites, but changes loomed on the horizon. Before the bandmates could collect themselves for a third album, Andy Creeggan left the lineup in order to finish college abroad, and Look People guitarist/keyboardist Kevin Hearn hopped on board for BNL's joint tour with Billy Bragg. Hearn joined the group as a permanent member in time for 1996's obscuro-pop album Born on a Pirate Ship, and the band charted new celebrity territory by appearing on an episode of Beverly Hills 90210 to perform their Top 40 hit "The Old Apartment." Success in the U.S. came fast, and BNL began selling out their summer shows. Selections from the tour were captured on the band's first live album, Rock Spectacle, an uninhibited effort (complete with improvised rapping and stage banter) that introduced a new audience to one of BNL's strongest assets -- their live shows. Rock Spectacle became BNL's first record to be certified gold in the U.S., and it paved the way for their biggest album to date.
Stunt, the group's fourth studio effort, was issued in July 1998 and transformed the Barenaked Ladies into stars in both the U.S. and U.K. Buoyed by the chart-topping single "One Week," the album debuted at number three on the Billboard charts and went on to sell over four million copies. BNL upgraded to stadium performances for their subsequent North American tour, leaving behind the theaters and clubs that housed their previous shows. In the meantime, Hearn took a half-year hiatus to recuperate from leukemia, having been diagnosed with the disease earlier that spring. Geggy Tah's Greg Kurstin and multi-instrumentalist Chris Brown filled in for Hearn on the Stunt tour. After a bone marrow transplant in October, Hearn was free of all cancerous cells, and BNL were reunited at their commercial peak. Maroon followed two years later and reached platinum status on the success of "Pinch Me"; it also netted the band two Juno Awards for Best Pop Album and Best Group, as well as a nomination for a Grammy. A greatest-hits collection, Disc One: All Their Greatest Hits (1991-2001), was issued in fall 2001 to celebrate the band's first decade.
Two years later, BNL released Everything to Everyone and effectively fulfilled their contract with Reprise Records. The album sold relatively poorly, and Reprise neglected to offer an extended deal, thus returning the band to independent status for the first time since 1992. BNL responded by creating their own label, Desperation Records, which they used to release their next four albums. A holiday record, Barenaked for the Holidays, arrived in 2004, while the companion albums Barenaked Ladies Are Me and Barenaked Ladies Are Men were issued in 2006 and 2007, respectively. A children's album entitled Snacktime! followed in 2008, but the tour that followed its release was marred by Steve Page's arrest for cocaine possession. The band canceled several shows in response, and while the charges were later reduced to misdemeanors, Page nevertheless announced his decision to leave the group in early 2009.
Thus reduced to a slimmed-down quartet, the band formed a new label, Raisin' Records, and returned in 2010 with All in Good Time, an album that featured lead vocals by Robertson, Hearn, and bassist Jim Creeggan. The greatest-hits compilation Hits from Yesterday & the Day Before was released in 2011, followed in 2012 by Stop Us If You've Heard This One Before!, which collected ten unissued tracks (demos, outtakes, live cuts, and studio B-sides) along with a pair of previously released rarities, all of which were recorded between 1992 and 2003. The following year, BNL returned with its second studio album since Page's departure, the polished and mature effort Grinning Streak. In 2015, inspired by Robertson's love of pinball machines, the Barenaked Ladies delivered the full-length effort Silverball, which also found them reuniting with Grinning Streak producer Gavin Brown. Included on the album was the single "Say What You Want."
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''SILVERBALL''
JUNE 2 2015
44:42
1 Get Back Up (Ed Robertson, Kevin Griffin) 03:00
2 Here Before 03:53
3 Matter Of Time 03:32
4 Duct Tape Heart (Ed Robertson, Kevin Griffin) 03:01
5 Say What You Want 03:32
6 Passcode (Kevin Hearn) 02:32
7 Hold My Hand 03:57
8 Narrow Streets (Jim Creegan) 02:51
9 Toe To Toe 03:13
10 Piece Of Cake 03:21
11 Globetrot 03:24
12 Silverball 04:33
13 Tired Of Fighting With You (Kevin Hearn) 03:44
Tracks By Ed Robertson, Except As Indicated
REVIEW/AMG
by Matt Collar
Six years and three albums into Barenaked Ladies' post-Steven Page world, the Canadian stalwarts continue to craft thoughtful, melodic pop/rock. Of course, it's somewhat unfair to even reference Page (who left the band in 2009), but despite the high quality of much of the band's subsequent material, one often misses the juxtaposition of lead singer/songwriter Ed Robertson's sweet-voiced sincerity with Page's broad, resonant yawp. That said, with a title inspired by Robertson's avowed love of pinball, a fanatical hobby he picked after his 2008 plane crash, Barenaked Ladies' 2015 effort, Silverball, certainly feels like a solid return to form. In many ways, Silverball is fairly similar to the two previous BNL albums (2010's All in Good Time and 2013's Grinning Streak), featuring intimate, reflective, melodic songs, tinged with both a wry humor and bittersweet maturity. Of course, some of this maturity stems from keyboardist Kevin Hearn's leukemia, a disease he successfully battled in the late '90s, and which returned during the recording of Silverball. It's a dramatic tension that imbues the album’s closing ballad "Tired of Fighting with You," with a doubly poignant energy. But despite these themes, Silverball is anything but labored and sad. Cuts like the ebullient "Passcode" and sparkling "Piece of Cake" are uplifting and melodic, bringing to mind the '70s AM pop of bands like ELO and the Beach Boys. Similarly, the laid-back "Hold My Hand" and the harmony-laden "Say What You Want" are classic, heartfelt BNL songs that stick in your ears long after they've ended. Whether it's the loss of a bandmate, or the return of a disease, Robertson and BNL often utilize the back-and-forth imagery of pinball to illuminate their deeper lyrical messages. Additionally, on the leadoff "Get Back Up," Robertson turns to boxing in his characteristic tongue-in-cheek way to explore the notion of resilience in the face of defeat. He sings, "Not the second coming of Muhammad Ali, but can I get a 'whoop!' for the boxing imagery?" Ultimately, after a justified period of rethinking the band's approach to pop, Barenaked Ladies have once again found their musical footing with Silverball, and they deserve every "whoop!" they can get.
BIOGRAPHY/AMG
by Andrew Leahey
By combining humor with an eclectic mix of folk and pop/rock, the Barenaked Ladies enjoyed considerable popularity in their native Canada before rising to international status with 1998's "One Week." Vocalists Ed Robertson and Steve Page launched the band in the late '80s as an acoustic act, traveling to different college campuses and playing warm-up gigs for comedy troupes. These early shows played an important role in the group's foundation, as Robertson and Page began injecting their performances with humorous exchanges to hold their audiences' attention between songs. The trick worked, and the band's mixture of comedy and musicianship was cemented.
Following the duo's tour of the college circuit, the Barenaked Ladies expanded into a tight musical group with the addition of bass man Jim Creeggan, his brother Andy on keyboards, and drummer Tyler Stewart. Several cassette tapes were released and helped increase the band's local popularity, but 1991's Yellow Tape was a different animal, selling so rapidly that it soon became the first independently released tape to reach platinum status in Canada. The hype was compounded by the fact that Toronto's mayor, June Rowlands, considered the band's name to be sexist and demeaning to women, and therefore forbade the Barenaked Ladies from playing a 1991 New Year's Eve concert near City Hall. The story found its way onto the front page of The Toronto Star, and sales for Yellow Tape promptly soared. Meanwhile, record labels had begun approaching the band with attractive offers, and BNL soon signed with Sire/Reprise and issued their full-length debut, Gordon, in 1992. Featuring "Be My Yoko Ono," "If I Had a $1,000,000," and "Brian Wilson," the album moved over one million units and initiated BNL's reign as Canadian pop kings.
At the height of grunge's popularity, producer Ben Mink came on board to helm 1994's Maybe You Should Drive, a mellow folk-pop album. Songs like "Alternative Girlfriend" and "Jane" became college radio favorites, but changes loomed on the horizon. Before the bandmates could collect themselves for a third album, Andy Creeggan left the lineup in order to finish college abroad, and Look People guitarist/keyboardist Kevin Hearn hopped on board for BNL's joint tour with Billy Bragg. Hearn joined the group as a permanent member in time for 1996's obscuro-pop album Born on a Pirate Ship, and the band charted new celebrity territory by appearing on an episode of Beverly Hills 90210 to perform their Top 40 hit "The Old Apartment." Success in the U.S. came fast, and BNL began selling out their summer shows. Selections from the tour were captured on the band's first live album, Rock Spectacle, an uninhibited effort (complete with improvised rapping and stage banter) that introduced a new audience to one of BNL's strongest assets -- their live shows. Rock Spectacle became BNL's first record to be certified gold in the U.S., and it paved the way for their biggest album to date.
Stunt, the group's fourth studio effort, was issued in July 1998 and transformed the Barenaked Ladies into stars in both the U.S. and U.K. Buoyed by the chart-topping single "One Week," the album debuted at number three on the Billboard charts and went on to sell over four million copies. BNL upgraded to stadium performances for their subsequent North American tour, leaving behind the theaters and clubs that housed their previous shows. In the meantime, Hearn took a half-year hiatus to recuperate from leukemia, having been diagnosed with the disease earlier that spring. Geggy Tah's Greg Kurstin and multi-instrumentalist Chris Brown filled in for Hearn on the Stunt tour. After a bone marrow transplant in October, Hearn was free of all cancerous cells, and BNL were reunited at their commercial peak. Maroon followed two years later and reached platinum status on the success of "Pinch Me"; it also netted the band two Juno Awards for Best Pop Album and Best Group, as well as a nomination for a Grammy. A greatest-hits collection, Disc One: All Their Greatest Hits (1991-2001), was issued in fall 2001 to celebrate the band's first decade.
Two years later, BNL released Everything to Everyone and effectively fulfilled their contract with Reprise Records. The album sold relatively poorly, and Reprise neglected to offer an extended deal, thus returning the band to independent status for the first time since 1992. BNL responded by creating their own label, Desperation Records, which they used to release their next four albums. A holiday record, Barenaked for the Holidays, arrived in 2004, while the companion albums Barenaked Ladies Are Me and Barenaked Ladies Are Men were issued in 2006 and 2007, respectively. A children's album entitled Snacktime! followed in 2008, but the tour that followed its release was marred by Steve Page's arrest for cocaine possession. The band canceled several shows in response, and while the charges were later reduced to misdemeanors, Page nevertheless announced his decision to leave the group in early 2009.
Thus reduced to a slimmed-down quartet, the band formed a new label, Raisin' Records, and returned in 2010 with All in Good Time, an album that featured lead vocals by Robertson, Hearn, and bassist Jim Creeggan. The greatest-hits compilation Hits from Yesterday & the Day Before was released in 2011, followed in 2012 by Stop Us If You've Heard This One Before!, which collected ten unissued tracks (demos, outtakes, live cuts, and studio B-sides) along with a pair of previously released rarities, all of which were recorded between 1992 and 2003. The following year, BNL returned with its second studio album since Page's departure, the polished and mature effort Grinning Streak. In 2015, inspired by Robertson's love of pinball machines, the Barenaked Ladies delivered the full-length effort Silverball, which also found them reuniting with Grinning Streak producer Gavin Brown. Included on the album was the single "Say What You Want."
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