CORPORATE LINE: Barenaked Ladies celebrate the holiday season with their ninth major release, Barenaked For The Holidays. This release features many holiday favorites, including “Do They Know It’s Christ- mas”(written by Bob Geldof )and “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” performed with Sarah McLachlan, and seven original tracks including BNL’s new holiday single “Elf ’s Lament,” featuring Michael Bublé. Ed Robertson and Steven Page”s distinctive vocals give a fresh sound to traditional holiday classics. Barenaked For The Holidays is sure to be a holiday favorite that is fun,witty and dynamic.
THE ALBUM: The Barenaked Ladies don’t believe in doing the old carols. Instead they pull out some new ditties while mixing in a few standards for good measure.
Mostly Barenaked for the Holidays sounds oddly un-Christmas as BNL plunk on the guitar and perhaps even strum a banjo or tickle the organ ivories. Never does it sound like a Christmas album until they sing about the holiday. It’s interesting just how similar this sounds to the regular Barenaked Ladies albums. “Green Christmas” for instance could have been called “Green (insert word here)” and been safely placed amongst any BNL song on any record. Even closer to the true nature of the Barenaked Ladies is the track “Elf’s Lament.” Certainly it is as hilarious as it is tiresome. “Deck The Stills” is the lamest excuse for a song ever recorded.
The only saving grace on the album is “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/ We Three Kings” featuring Sarah McLachlan. If it weren’t for this gem this would have long ago made its way to the waste bin—the mix however is terrible and sounds like a poor recorded version of a live track or off a vinyl record.
FRANKLY: Barenaked For The Holidays is ultimately boring. There is no spirit of the season in this track. It’s barely different from the usual BNL fare and that doesn’t bode very well—you only need to hear the record in its entirety to understand exactly that sentiment. The instrumental tracks are irritating and completely useless—what were they thinking? Being Barenaked for the holidays would be a lot more fun than this record.
+ Rae Gun
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