CDs

I have a question about the Cds of a certain band known as Barenaked Ladies... *cough*

Can anyone tell me about them? I tried Googleing them... but didn't get much info. Not of the type I wanted anyway ;)

So, in short, which Cds should I get of them? What would you say is the best one(s)? How many do they have anyway?

If my recollection is correct, BNL has 7 full length albums (not including the Shoebox EP) and a greatest hits package (which I tend not to count with the actual albums).

Their greatest hits cd is a good overview of the band's material but I have to say that their first album Gordon still remains my favourite BNL cd. (oh, and their site is www.bnlmusic.com)

In this case, I think that Gordon is actually better than the greatest hits (Disc One...) even for nothing more than the tie-in for the Greatest Hits album title.

In the exact counter to my stance on another forum, I'd also suggest Rock Spectacle, a live collection from the first three albums.� I usually stand against live albums, but this one (like Fruvous' Live Noise) stands as a better indication of their sound than the studio recordings.� Besides, you can probably find it used pretty easily (eBay, if nothing else... but I can't remember the last time I didn't see it in a pawn shop.)

I'd definitly say Gordon, or even better, Maybe You Should Drive.

As much as I've tried, I can't get into their newer stuff, but those two albums really are great. I think that Gordon probably is the best if you were just looking at the songs by themselves, but Maybe You Should Drive is a better album overall.

MYSD is my favorite CD by them.

i'm one of the 'stunt' generation (and proud of it, dammit!) and to this day it remains my second favourite album in the whole world (my first�is�bargainville, heh). the first three BNL albums are great too... maybe you should drive and born on a pirate ship have lots of fantastic songs on, both are totally worth buying. i do like gordon but�it's very obviously early 90s and i think it's an acquired taste really. if you like bargainville then�you'll probably like gordon too. i hated maroon though. the first 5 tracks are ok and it just all goes downhill from there. haven't heard the live album or the new one yet. [/ramble]

Thanks everybody :) I was planning on getting Gordon actually, but I was wondering if there was another album that I oughta get that was maybe better ;)

Anyway... I found that song about Chimpanzees... and I kinda liked it ;) What album is that on, and is it worth it? heh. thank s

That's the newest album, Everything to Everyone.� The new single is "Testing 1,2,3."� "Another Postcard (Chimps)" was the first radio single from the album.� Beyond those titles, I can't tell you much about the album.

Ah, thanks.

I think I will get Gordon. After that, we'll see ;)

I, too, am of the "Stunt" generation, more or less. I heard about them RIGHT before they released Stunt and started listening to Brian Wilson and Old Apartment, etc. due to a few friends on the school newspaper with me who were fans.

However, even though I am part of said Stunt generation (my first album, was indeed Stunt) I still agree that Gordon is their absolute all time best album. Granted, MYSD hasn't gotten as much play as others because it was one of my more recently acquired albums (right before Everything to Everyone), so I can't fairly judge it. But Gordon is definitely my favourite album and what I consider their best. It also has a bunch of classics on it, so that's a good start as well.

Meanwhile, does anyone agree with me where the last three "real" albums (not including the greatest hits) have sounded AWFULLY similar? Like... I know there's such a thing as a style, and with Stunt I was like, "This is cool." and with Maroon I was like, "Oh, this is still cool." but with EtE, I'm like, "Um.... dude, guys this is the same stuff."

I still love 'em. They're still a great band live... but for serious? Very similar.

(My favourite BNL song ever is still "Call and Answer." Always will be.)

</rant>

"Meanwhile, does anyone agree with me where the last three "real" albums (not including the greatest hits) have sounded AWFULLY similar?"

*must...resist...*
*fails*

I agree. The last three albums do sound awful :-D

Actually, I wouldn't quite go that far. I do like a good bit of the songs on Stunt, and I Maroon wasn't so much bad as it was boring to me. I haven't heard enough of the newest one to judge it fully, although I wasn't overly impressed with what I heard.

I think that similarity is a lot of my problem with the newer stuff. Not even so much that it all sounds the same, but that it all feels the same. They don't sound like they're pushing themselves creativly as much on the newer stuff. *shrug*

I can't say I care for the new cd at all. I played it several times in the store and quite frankly - it's utterly forgetable. You're right about them not pushing themselves creatively. The new cd just sounds like they're coasting - it's 'good'...but it's also bland both musically and lyrically. IMO anyway.

Have you heard the "acoustic" bonus DVD tracks that came in the special edition of E2E? Much nicer versions than on the album I think.

-gordon- didn't come on here and post that GORDON is the best album, to get since...well...he likes the title ;)

i actually only -have- gordon, but have been wanting 'maroon' as well. just never got it.

i am behind in other musica, though, and BNL isn't near the top of my foodchain as stuff i HAFTA, HAFTA have, i guess. *shrug*

Whatwhatwhat? Do we have no love for Born on a Pirate Ship? Geeeez, people!

eeew, no. it has like... 4 good songs on it. and a whole bunch of really really unmemorable ones.

I'm actually spending a bit of time of the paper I'm cowriting with my doctor on that particular album.� I mean, it's full of the chocolatey goodness I need.

While I think that MYSD is their best album... my favorite is Pirate Ship.

And as far as I'm concerned... it's also the LAST album. ;)

Love that one too.

First I loved the enhanced CD part of it.

then my favorite songs are

Stomach Vs. Heart
Straw Hat and Old Dirty Hank
I Know
I Live With It Every Day
Old Apartment
Call Me Calmly
Same Thing
Shoe Box

I remember seeing them twice that year for the BoaPS tour. Once free and once for $15-20 (Arena show).

Nothing like hearing most of the album live. :)

thanks to a suggestion from carey, I'm using a line from "This Is Where It Ends" as the title for the paper

pirate ship was my first bnl cd. still love it.

Ok... i just have to ask... how can you list all those songs... and not...

Just� A Toy

Easily my favorite song off that album. ; )

What the title says. I'm gonna go out and buy Gordon, and then I suppose... well, Pirate Ship seems popular with some people ;) I dunno, I suppose I'll have to decide for myslf.

-Janos

Gordon and Rock Spectacle are the first two to get.

They are the best representations of BNL's music.

(IMO, of course.)

rock spectacle disappointed me. why do a live bnl album where all the songs sound pretty much like the studio versions, and where the only bit of banter you include is placed *after* the song that references it? i think they should have taken more of a live noise approach and really shown people how much fun bnl could be live. as it is, i think barenaked in america is a much better representation.

but then again, i've never actually seen bnl live, so my opinion shouldn't count for much. :)

thank you for reminding me.� I must go watch my barelaked nadies dvd now.

Oh, see, I don't think of it as a live album.... just as a greatest hits compilation.
:)

but wait, isn't that what "Disc One: All Their Greatest Hits" was supposed to be?

but hey, at least it's better than "Severe Tire Damage," which is, by far, the Worst. Live album. EVER.

See, that's another one that you can't think of as a "live album".... I really enjoy it.

I could see being disappointed, though, if you listened to it expecting a good live album.

well, it (STD) was billed as being a live album. but it's a lot like the C album in that the fans kept begging for it, and I really get the impression that they didn't want to make it. so they did a half-assed job and said "Here. Now shut up."

*nods*

Yeah, but still, I really like some of the versions of songs on there..... Istanbul for one.

Particle Man sounds really good on there too.
And Meet James Ensor
And it has the good version of First Kiss
Yes, they could have made it better, but I don't think it's bad as a live album at all really. Some of the songs do sound studio-esque, but not nearly as much as Rock Specticle.

It's a mostly-live album, I suppose.� I get the idea that some people criticize Severe (I don't like abbreviating it with its intitials, for obvious reasons {g}) because it wasn't done the way everybody else does THEIR live albums, which seems kind of silly.��On the�other hand,�I can't deny that it seems to have been prepared rather poorly, the best evidence being that they didn't even bother to record the Planet of the Apes tracks themselves, instead using low-quality fan recordings.� I think most of the songs on there are pretty good, although that version of "Ana Ng" is weak, and "XTC Vs. Adam Ant" isn't a particularly good song anyway.� Probably the worst TMBG album release, but I don't know about the worst live album.

As for BNL, Gordon is the only one of their albums I have, but it's good, so I guess I'll recommend that.

Wasn't it, like, their 3rd or 4th album, though? Just seems a bit early for greatest hits...

To twist this just a little bit,�to say that Gordon and Maybe You Should Drive were their best albums effectively means that they've been on a downhill slide for almost ten years.�

I would agree with that with absolutely no problem. (although, I've already stated my fondness for BoaPS, so...)

I wouldn't quite go that far, but close.
As full albums, I do think they've been sliding a bit since then. However, so far as songs go, they were still growing up through Stunt. I thought that a lot of Pirate Ship was a bit experimental (some of it worked, some not so much) and that Stunt was an attempt to combine some of that with some of their eairler stuff, once again with some good and some bad. I really think they could have followed that with a very strong, much more mature, album that combined the best of all the previous albums. Instead they made Maroon, which just felt like an weaker extention of Stunt, as has what I've heard of the new one.

I don't think the band's a lost cause, but I don't think they're really moving ahead, and being boring is worse than being bad (at least from my perspective).

I want to see a BNL concert without a pitch equalizer on the board. So they really have to try at their singing again.

Ohhhhh, yeah. That's the stuff.

Pardon my blah blah blah, but (as a musician myself, if you want to call me that, and the daughter of a real one) I think that musicians rely far too much on toys. I mean, what's with artists starting out with full studios? If you can't make something decent with a four-track analog recorder, man.... or something. feh. But that's just me being pretentious.

Or it could just be the fever again. Goddamned fever. GO AWAY.

Going to bed now.