17. Barenaked Ladies – Gordon (1992)
1. Hello City
2. Enid
3. Grade 9
4. Brian Wilson
5. Be My Yoko Ono
6. Wrap Your Arms Around Me
7. What a Good Boy
8. The King of Bedside Manor
9. Box Set
10. I Love You
11. New Kid (On the Block)
12. Blame It on Me
13. The Flag
14. If I Had $1000000
15. Crazy
Who is/are Barenaked Ladies?
According to Wikipedia, “Barenaked Ladies (often abbreviated BNL or occasionally BnL) is a Canadian rock band.”
Why did you buy this album?
This is one of my wife’s albums. According to her, she bought this after listening to the bonus disc of their album ‘Stunt‘ and hearing the live version of the song ‘Grade 9‘. The original version of that song is on this album, so…
What’s it like?
This is fun. It’s unpredictable, funny, energetic, inventive, and pretty unique. There’s something for everyone on there, so if you dislike the quirky, near-silly nature of one song, don’t worry, as the next will be a slowly building ballad, and vice versa.
After listening to it now, do you (still) like this album?
I do. BNL are one of the few bands that my wife and I agree on, and have seen live more than any other band to date. I’m so familiar with a lot of these songs that it amazes me that this was their first album.
As far as debuts goes, it’s pretty audacious, and a good benchmark for their later albums. Plus, it has ‘Brian Wilson‘ on, one of my favourite songs from any artist.
Any stand-out tracks?
Loads. Each listen through provides a different highlight. ‘Grade 9‘, with its Rush quotes, is great fun. ‘Brian Wilson‘ is almost perfect. ‘What A Good Boy‘ and ‘Blame It On Me‘ are great, and ‘If I Had $1000000‘ is brilliant.
Rating out of 10?
9/10.
Repeat until blessed... 