Bare Naked Ladies
Stunt
The Band: Steven Page- lead vocals, guitar
Ed Robertson- guitar, back up vocals
Tyler Stewart- drums, back up vocals
Jim Creeggan- bass, back up vocals
Kevin Hearn- Keyboard, back up vocals
Bare Naked Ladies. In theory you already know them. They’re your silly friend, who’s a really nice guy but never gets any action. They’re your crazy old uncle who gets plastered at every family gathering. They’re the guy who sings way too loud in church and fails to notice people staring at him. They’re the friendly cashier that talks to you every time you’re in the grocery store. They’re your loving neighbour who used to play catch with you until one day you accidentally hit him in the nuts with the ball. They’re all these things wrapped into one great Canadian band.
BNL have been one of my favourite bands since early childhood. I can fondly recall sitting the car singing along to songs like “If I Had A Million Dollars”. There’s just something irresistible about them. They have this child like charm. Their songs are all silly and have positive images. That’s probably my favourite aspect of their music. Positive images. A lot of today’s music is littered with bands ranting on and on about how their girlfriend broke up with them, or how they just want to die. And the facts are that the majority of these bands don’t have any real problems. They just write songs like that as a lame attempt to relate to the listeners, or to make themselves seem “deep”. But not BNL. They don’t really take anything to seriously. The just play their music and hope people like it. No dumb gimmicks or fake personalities to get them by. Just music.
Now as I do in all my overall reviews, I’ll dissect the instrumentals one at a time. Starting with the guitar. Which was splendid. Although, there wasn’t anything too fancy, but that didn’t bother me at all. Frankly, fancy solos and things like that wouldn’t have fit in well on this album. A lot of the guitar was just playful old chords, with some marvelous riffs played over them. The riffs were usually either very acoustic-y, chords picked things like that, or they were blues scales. It’s always nice to see some good blues riffs. Now keep in mind when I say “blues riffs” that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re sad. Yes there are a lot of blues riffs, but while they play it they manage to keep their usual very positive, heart warming atmosphere. There were actually a few scattered solos here too. Nothing too fancy of course. Usually just short basic solos, but they were better than nothing.
The bass like the guitar was nothing over the top, but it was still more than adequate. For a lot of the album the bass just seemed to play the roots notes of what the guitar was playing. Although, there’s nothing wrong with that. The bass also had it’s little fills here and there. Creeggan is no flea, but he can still write some good bass lines when necessary. Like in most bands the bass unfortunately wasn’t too involved in most songs. But it did it’s job kept and kept the rhythm. What more could I possibly ask? Well to answer my own question I could ask for it to be more involved, but it was sufficient and that’s good enough.
The drums were like the bass not overly involved. There were a lot of simple beats. Nothing too fancy really. Although, there were some superb fills in between some of the verses and choruses. So, like the bass the drums didn’t do too much but they did their job, and did it well. Besides it’s not like the drums had much to work with. You can’t have crazy drum solos and rapid double kick etc. when the guitar is simply playing chords and mellow riffs. I’ve been paying close attention to Stewart and he’s really very good. If this were a band more like Metallica or Tool I’m sure he could play some outstanding stuff. Unfortunately he’s confined to the bands softer tracks so he has to play simpler stuff.
I’m not really going to spend any time describing the keyboard. At most points in the album you couldn’t even really here it that well. What you could here was quite spectacular, but like I said that’s only when you can here it. There were no real key board solos or anything. Just some nice melodic notes. To be honest I don’t think the BNL really needs keyboard, it’s just sort of like a little something extra, like having your cake and eating it too.
Pros: Vocals
Slightly above average instrumentals
Positive image
Cons: Instrumentals could’ve been a tad more complex
Overall Rating: 4/5
I really hope you’ll all consider looking into this. I’m almost certain you’ll love them, no matter what genre you usually listen to. So, if you’re tired of listening to today’s regular sad depressing music, give these guys a listen. They’re sure to brighten up your day. Seriously, every time I listen to these guys I can’t help but smirk. They just have something that other bands don’t. I can’t really put my finger on it. It definitely has something to do with the positive image. But there’s something else too. I sort of boyish charm about them. So I again I strongly recommend looking into this. Until next time keep your stick on the ice.
