Barenaked Ladies – All in Good Time [MusicBOX]
Giving new music a thorough beat down via critique! – BeatBOX
New Album – Barenaked Ladies “All in Good Time”
6/21/10 – There are two things in particular that I spend a lot of time on, one is technology and the other is music. I love music and when both are combined I get a lot of stuff done! I couldn’t wait for this album from BNL for many reasons. Here are three:
- This is the first album since the kid’s album “SnackTime” was released.
- This is the first album since band member Steven Page was released.
- This is the first album that I purchased since iTunes 9.2 was released. (ok… J/K)
This album is very good and I cannot really bash it, it is of course another one of my favorite bands. My wife and I have always found BNL to be good, clean, upbeat music which makes you feel great when it is playing in the background. Fourteen bold and adventurous new tracks find Ed Robertson (guitar/vocals), Jim Creeggan (bass/vocals), Kevin Hearn (keyboard/guitar/vocals) and Tyler 
Stewart (drums/vocals) exploring a very creative and fertile phase of their careers. The only thing that could make this album even better is Steven Page. I am not saying that the album isn’t great without him…in fact it is surprisingly. However, the change up in vocals between Steven and Ed was always refreshing. Even though some of the song vocals were done by Jim, Kevin, and Tyler, I really miss the high melodic sound of Steven Page’s voice. Kevin tries to hit that higher register and just doesn’t give it the sound that it once had w/ Steven. Ed now sings lead on 9 out of the 14 tracks on the album.
On the flip side, Ed Robertson did a great job writing the songs on this album and got away from his co-dependency on Steven relying on his own creative genius. You can really understand how good he can be by listening to the songs “You Run Away” and Four Seconds”, which are deserving of many accolades in this listeners opinion. These guys are crazy talented and the album is a good representation of that talent and how the loss of one member hasn’t slowed them down at all. Ed’s voice is timeless and truly is what is keeping the group together.
BNL has had many bizarre and humorous songs on their past albums such as, “If I had a Million Dollars” and “Another Postcard (with chimpanzees)” and “Four Seconds” on the album is definitely in the ballpark. My only complaint is that the song is too short. Although overall I really liked this album and will keep on listening for some time, I hope that the group can just find it in their heart to bring back Steven and reconcile.
Following the split of the band with Steven, he now has an album out of his own that I have heard snippets of and it has a theatrical sound to it. Tisk, tisk Mr. Page, make the appropriate apologies and just come running back to the group and beg forgiveness; and by all means stay away from the drugs. Think of it this way, if they allow you to come back, now you have some tracks in which you can take a stage break.
has a bit of the Nashville twang, rather than the “high-lonesome” sound of traditional bluegrass tenors. Matt Menefee’s fiery banjo-picking, Ross Holmes outrageous fiddle, and Andy Moritz expert bass help to try and give this album gain legs, but only enough to stand on and not start running. Having been an extreme fan of the first two albums and somewhat less of the EP release, the third album “Letters in the Deep” does not do the group justice, and I will tell you why.
