The Barenaked Ladies’ “Maroon” (2000) – The Weekend Review

Monday, December 7th, 2009

** This is the first in a five part series of music reviews, counting down from the #5 to the #1 albums of the decade, 2000-2009.  On January 2nd, 2010, the #1 album will be revealed, along with the complete Weekend Review picks for the Top Thirty Albums of the Decade. **

By Chris Moore:

RATING: 5/5 stars

Maroon is one of those rare albums that truly has it all.

There are catchy singles, mid-tempo numbers, and ballads.  The subject matter is at times serious, at others sentimental, but always with tongues planted (with various degrees of firmness) in cheek.  Indeed, the songwriting duo of Ed Robertson and Steven Page is at their best — and arguably their most collaborative and exclusive — on this record.

There is a reason Page/Robertson should be remembered as one of rock’s all-time great pairings, and this album is the best support for that argument.

In most circles, it seems as though 1998’s Stunt, with the #1 hit single “One Week,” has been cemented as the essential disc from the Barenaked Ladies’ catalog, and yet that album has always seemed quirky and unique at the expense of true substance.

Maroon is the document of a band at the pinnacle of their success, having refined their work through various members, styles, and phases.

And it is truly one of the best albums of the decade.

The Barenaked Ladies' "Maroon" (2000)

From the first strums of “Too Little Too Late,” Maroon establishes its sonic landscape with crunchy, catchy electric guitar parts supported by crisp rhythm guitars and typically impressive work from both Jim Creegan on bass and Tyler Stewart on drums.  Whereas multi-instrumentalist Kevin Hearn had helped to redefine BnL’s sound on Stunt, the balance of power shifted somewhere between 1998 and 2000 to find Hearn truly taking a place as a Barenaked Lady, a member of the band rather than a catalyst for change.

And the contributions he makes to the band — his electric solos (take one listen to the end of “Pinch Me”) as well as more unique instrumental parts — make it difficult to return to earlier albums and not distinctly feel his absence.

And in front of it all, Steven Page and Ed Robertson share singing duties on an album that is noteworthy for its vocals alone.  On “Pinch Me,” Robertson and Page manage to recreate the magic of “One Week” in a more fully developed track.  It is easy to view this as an attempt to recapture the runaway success of the aforementioned #1 single (perhaps even more so with the Everything to Everyone lead single “Another Postcard”), but a closer listen will yield a respect for “Pinch Me” as a song that stands on its own.

The first five tracks are an adrenaline rush of catchy, upbeat songs.  Try not to gasp for air attempting to sing all the words.

And this is the type of album that compels one to learn the words, just to feel what it is like to be on the “in,” and to sing the words along with Page and Robertson.

Tracks six and seven take a different direction, slowing down the tempo and becoming very serious.  Still, they manage to be songs that simultaneously demand one’s attention and are entertaining at every turn.

The subsequent songs, “Humor of the Situation” and “Baby Seat,” pick up the pace and inject new life into the album before coming in for a final landing via three increasingly sobering tracks, all to be topped off by the bonus track: the touching, hauntingly beautiful Hearn-penned “Hidden Sun.”

By the time the hidden track has faded out, the listener’s first response must be to crank the volume up on “Too Little Too Late.”  There is a certain psychology attached to the sequencing of this album, which guides one into the depths of the human psyche, passing fears and concerns and regrets and startling revelations before returning to the top to begin the journey all over again.

Any album that can provide this type of experience, incorporate wordplay at all the right moments to suggest — if not prove — the band’s levity amongst all this serious subject matter, and do so all in the form of infectiously catchy and moving songs demands to be respected and recognized in the annals of rock history.

Short of that, it deserves a place on this writer’s top thirty best albums of the decade list.

Slot number five, to be exact.

Released only nine months into the decade, Maroon set the bar quite high for all other new rock music albums to come.

Returning for a listen today only confirms that the bar is still quite high and securely in place.

The Laptop Sessions: “Shoe Box” (Barenaked Ladies Acoustic Rock Cover Song)

Tuesday, March 10th, 2009

By Jim Fusco:

Tonight, another event in my ongoing tribute entitled, “Steven Page, we hardly knew ye.”  Steven Page leaving Barenaked Ladies has been traumatic for me, musically.  It’s like if John left the Beatles and the band went on without him.  They’d still be a great band with three songwriters, singers, and musicians, but you would always wonder if they’ll ever get back together, etc…

At first, I likened Steven Page leaving Barenaked Ladies after 20 years to Brian Wilson taking a self-inflicted leave from the Beach Boys starting in late 1967.  But, I then realized that Page leaving BNL is much worse in a way, but better in another.

You see, when Brian Wilson stopped making music with the Beach Boys on a regular basis (and being the producer), the other Boys (Carl, Dennis, Mike, Al, and Bruce) hadn’t really been accomplished songwriters yet.  I mean, it took them until 1968 to really put together an album and it definitely sounds like a first effort in many ways.  We were all just lucky to discover five brilliant songwriters behind Brian Wilson.  In many ways, for me, Brian recessing in the Beach Boys contributes to my love of the band because, well, they really became a band after that.  You had five songwriting members that played instruments and sang and went out and played concerts- that incarnation of the Beach Boys is almost unsurpassed, for me.

With Steven Page, he leaves the band with three accomplished songwriters (especially Ed Robertson, with a #1 single in “One Week” under his belt) and some fine singers, to boot.  So, BNL has a bit of a head-start.  In fact, there shouldn’t be too much of a hiccup, other than Page’s recent flurry of depressing songs and over-the-top oparetta vocals.

The thing that makes Page’s absence worse is that, at least for the forseeable future, it’s permanent.  With the Beach Boys, Brian was always still around in some form.  He always contributed at least one song to every album, even if they had to dig it up and force him to complete it.  Fans would always hope for the next Brian Wilson gem and it was comforting to know he was there, readying himself for a possible comeback that never really came.  Of course, I say this like I was there- I wasn’t even alive until after Brian’s amazingly talented brother Dennis died- I’m just speaking from what I’ve read in the past.

So, after that whole explanation, I’m really trying to say that I’m having a hard time getting over the restructuring of my second-all-time favorite band.  Tonight’s video is a little tribute to Steven Page.

“Shoe Box” (which I always thought was “Shoebox”) was a single and had its own EP (with includes a decent song in “Trust Me’) and served as a bridge between the style of the first three albums and the albums to follow (starting with “Stunt”).  The song was also on “Born On A Pirate Ship” in a much more subdued tone, much to that version’s detriment.  The rockin’ single version is my choice, and that’s what I did my video after.  How can you tell them apart?  Well, the album verison just starts off with the instruments and vocals at the same time.  The single goes through the chord progression before Steven Page starts in.

Listen to the words closely on this one- a very interesting message to it.  Also, you may have to look up the words, as it took Chris and I about five years to realize that he’s not saying, “And Rumplestiltskin side my shoe box!” and is in fact saying, “When talk turns to single malts and Stilton and my shoe box!”  Who would’ve thought?

Okay- a long post tonight to make up for last week.  Tomorrow night, I have a BIG announcement about my new album and that just means more work for me.  So, you’ll have to stay tuned until another all-new Original Wednesday comes your way!  Have a great night and I’ll catch you all tomorrow!

The Laptop Sessions: “Green Christmas” (Acoustic Christmas Cover Song)

Sunday, December 21st, 2008

By Chris Moore:

Well, tonight’s going to be a brief one, and I apologize.  But I made up for it by calling in the big guns — aka one Jim Fusco for additional guitar stylings and harmony vocals — to make this video one my favorites that I’ve done.  It’s certainly the best Christmas video that I’ve recorded.  We had a lot of fun playing it, and I think that comes through on the recording.

I hope you enjoy it!

Oh, yeah, I should probably mention what song it is.  This is “Green Christmas,” one of the holiday originals on the Barenaked Ladies’ Barenaked For the Holidays album.  Second only to “Elf’s Lament” and maybe “Christmastime (Oh Yeah),” this is one of my favorite original tracks on the album.  There’s just the right mix of humor and seriousness on this record, and I think this one leans more toward the serious side.  I especially like the middle part — “Green, cause of everything I miss.  All this missletoe, no kiss…”

Simply put, this was a lot of fun to record.

And it’s certainly not like we haven’t played it before.  It’s been a while, but this song is officially part of our MoU Christmas Chord Book, Part II.  That’s right, we needed multiple chord books to contain the number of songs we learned for our Christmas shows.

The reason this post is so brief is that I remembered and recorded my video much later than I would have liked, and then, Jim and I watched the SNL “Best of Christmas Past” DVD while wrapping our gifts for Christmas.  It felt good to accomplish that while simultaneously watching some great skits — the Matt Foley “motivational speaker” Santa, Alec Baldwin’s “Shvety balls,” Eddie Murphy’s “Mr. Robinson’s neighborhood, and boy does the list go on… — and laughing (a lot!) together.

And, now, it will feel good to sleep…

See you next session!

The Laptop Sessions: “Break Your Heart” (Barenaked Ladies Acoustic Rock Cover Song)

Monday, September 22nd, 2008

By Chris Moore:

Hello and welcome to what is a momentous occasion for me…  my 100th Laptop Session!  That’s — count ‘em — one hundred acoustic rock cover songs, recorded after almost nine months of posting every third day.  Thus far, Jim is the only one of us to reach the 100 mark and Jeff can’t be too far behind me, so this is definitely an exciting time for us here at the music blog.

I wanted to make today’s session a great one, so I decided to go barenaked.  Barenaked Ladies, that is!  As I explained in my previous post, I love the Steven Page-sung track from Born on a Pirate Ship called “Break Your Heart.”  It’s quite the emotional tune and is certainly characterized (and highlighted!) by a classic Steven Page lead vocal.  I almost felt silly even attempting this song, considering that it is not exactly in my range, but I wanted to set the bar high for my next hundred videos.  By this time next year, I would love to have 100 more songs recorded, and have many of them be more ambitious, more perfected, and overall more exciting than even the first hundred.

I mean, don’t get me wrong; it’s been a crazy ride thus far.  But still, I’m excited to improve and increase the popularity of the blog.  It would be nice to know that people were actually reading these blog posts; it would certainly make me want to write longer, more interesting and informative entries.

Before I leave you to the video, I need to share one last tidbit from my day.  I hadn’t downloaded all the free music at Fusco-Moore.com/Store, so I took a little trip on over and “purchased” all that free material.  If you’re a Laptop Sessions fan in the least, then this is a must-have — we have eight volumes worth of acoustic rock covers, not to mention live shows.

Well, that’s it for me tonight — Aside from the fact that I’m nodding off as we speak and wondering when Jim will notice that I’ve completely slumped over on my laptop, I’m going to let my video speak for itself.  Stay tuned for another cover from Jeff tomorrow and another from Jim the following day.  And, guess what?  I’ll be back on the third day for yet another acoustic cover song on the best cover music blog in the universe!

See you next session!