I used to love Barenaked Ladies nigh on unconditionally. Then their lineup changed and so did I. Let's try to like the new Barenaked Ladies album!

1. Flip

No. Cmon

"Am I coming off like my hits don't stink?" :( Apparently when Ed dropped that line his cowriter was like "wow, you really are Ed Robertson." He SURE IS

The other thing I heard about this was that Ed withheld this song till the end of the pre-production stage and Kevin was like "why were you hiding this from us?? this is the single"

It sounds like every other BNL single from the past 3 albums. Happy to the point of hapless, sing-out-loud Top 40 CanCon-seeker, got a bunch of dudes going "ohhhh" as a hook, that type of fake hip hop they do. "This is the church, this is the steeple, open the doors and see all my people." What??? Are you just filling space

2. Good Life

Oh god. I heard the first few seconds teased in a video. It sounds like it was written for a car commercial

Okay this is another song that sounds like every other single from the past few records. Little more melodic but not enough to move the needle. "What's my name?" You're Ed Robertson from Barenaked Ladies. You can't do even a sarcastic "what's my name." "You don't want to miss this mother." This is not a mother.

The bridge sounds like the bridge to Flip.

"Had a plateful, so I'm grateful, had the gatefold, States sold platinum, everywhere I'm at, selling arenas to the rafters, laughter, happily ever after, now I'm sat here looking back there"

"One Week was a high peak on the hot streak, wasn't even funny, made money by the ton, we could've packed it up but we had a Big Bang, now after three decades, it's still a good hang"

Gritting teeth emoji startes vibrating so violently that it explodes

3. New Disaster

They dropped this one early, after Flip, and I was like, you know, maybe I have to hear this record, this song is fine.

This song is exactly fine. I've had it on rotation, the chorus is a good jolt of energy. You know I love a timpani on 1. Ed is a good rhythm guitarist even when he's just doing stuff like this. I like to hear that. There's a chromatic walkdown thing in the end chorus that I like, which I think they've been doing a lot lately (seems like a Kevin thing, but I'm thinking of We Took The Night).

The lyrics are like, I hate to say it - a Steven Page co-edit away from being good. It's like they try to avoid any pessimism nowadays to make sure they still get the singles on the radio. When it first dropped I thought I should cover it as an excuse to rewrite like 50% of the words but, no interest. I can just listen to this and turn my brain off and be sated.

Listen, I think the next song is maybe Jim or Kev. I'm excited. I read there are at least (probably no more than) 2 Jim songs, and I THINK i read at least 2 Kev songs too? You guys. I need you

4. Big Back Yard

Oh. Kevin, are YOU writing BNL-brand fake hip hop songs now. Oh. Oh no.

Okay the hook was fucking weird and basically devoid of rhyme or reason so I kinda like that.

Don't know why there's like, the sorta country bendy guitar licks you'd hear on the Garage Band Loops they scored Mythbusters with in 2005.

There was a cool breakdown I guess, Ed did a flatpick thing and Jim had a little further-up-the-neck moment and then a honkytonk piano momment. Fine

"A cue that barbs" sure is Barenaked Ladies in here

It feels like a parody of the past two decades of pop country songs like Somethin Bout A Truck, but, confusingly on the edge of parody and earnestness.

I don't think I will return to that one

5. Live Well

ROOTSY ed country. We're not even done with the first chorus and i'm at 1:02. This song is 4:13 don't do this to me 3 more times.

What can I say. I guess it sounds like, when Ed started getting COUNtry around 2003, 2006. Kev on a big low twangy electric guitar though, I do love when Kevin plays countermelodies on a guitar in post-split BNL songs but, that can't be the only thing.

This song feels like, airport lounge purgatory. There is a solo where nothing especially interesting is happening and it lasted about a bar longer than I thought it would and I felt like maybe I would never get home.

6. Flat Earth

Hi. Why is there a song called flat earth

Got a childhood-taunt na na na na na organ riff.

Sounds like the kinda WHOA AN UNEXPECTED DIMINISHED CHORD

okay. It sounds like the kind of bed they'd put behind a 2003/6 vocal. The lyric is, childish. "Flat earthers and astrology people are dumb" is the message. And yes indeed the band is going "na na na na na" over it but like, no one needs a Smash Mouth Ricky Gervais collab

GOD I image searched "atheist comedian" and the man's face showed up but none of the page titles wnated to tell me his fucking name

7. Here Together

DID I HEAR JIM

yeah this is jim why is he singing in a southern accent

jimmy cmon i need you don't do this to me

this is fine. This is okay. I can do this. The song is pleasant. Not really memorable yet, it's washing right over me.

I read Andy's on this album. He might be sCATTING HE MIGHT BE THE VOICE I HEARD AT THE TOP or he might be playing the piano or the percussion? That's sweet. I guess I'll have to wait for the album credits to drop.

It feels like it was written over a loop or, like 3 or 4 loops.

Okay. Well. I feel bad now. Probably end of Side 1

8. Roll Out

Oh yeah. This is definitely side 2 track 1 because it opens like a Buster Poindexter song.

I feel like all the recent BNL albums have one of these, a like, dark-world single that exists only so they have a song to put over their tour announcement videos, or so they have a third track to play on long live-in-studio filmed things.

A voice just said "backstreet boys."

Okay, at this point I should say I got none of the 50 Year Old Tough Guy Dad artificial Black Keys grit that the Gavin-produced BNL albums have and that is good. Unfortunately this kind of, extremely vapid top-40-seeker is more present than ever.

9. Bylaw

Kinda bossa nova. Kevin on lead! Tyler is playing too busy behind Kevin. Or maybe I'm wrong. Maybe there is too much going ajsdkflasjdf

"There's a bylaw and I can start work at 7. There's a bylaw, it's time to wake up Kevin."

Cute. Cute song about being an old old old man in the suburbs who is plagued by domestic inconveniences. Parallel to Ed's Flat Earth song.

THE BRIDGE WAS IN 5??????????? IT WAS JUST THEM SINGING "SEVEN ELEVEN ELEVEN SEVEN STOP"

This is okay I guess???? It sounds like a b-side from 2006. But if it were a b-side from then it would've been sung by Steve. It's interesting, in a confusing way. I would maybe listen to this one again, if only to try to disassemble it

Now there's horns and vibraphone??? Kevin, what the hell happened??? Holy shit this ending is actually pretty cool, who is SINGING????? This is, hilarious I think????

The power of the end I think probably depends on the meandering beguiling shaggy dog musical path it has to take you down before it gets there, which is a little frustrating because I would like the song to just be the end, maybe repeated twice.

10. God Forbid

Why did this song take 30 seconds to start

I don't think I care about what is happenining in this song "though I do not believe He exists I still say God forbid" ok.

11. Paul Chambers

There's no way this isn't a Jim song

Please please please please give me a upright bass solo

This sounds like when Fountains of Wayne did fake lounge songs on their studio albums for some reason

okay the chorus was a bit surprising in a positive way.

"Now as Paul Chambers playsthe changes on the bass, can we take all we've got and walk through these changes together?"

Okay. I can hang with this. There's some real live strings, sounds like an ensemble even, not just a bunch of Jims! (I do love when Jim plays the strings though, don't get me wrong)

Saxes????? What if Andy's on THIS one? Listen.

This one's pretty good. It feels like they're going for a more grandiose vibe than they get across but I LIKE when Jim songs are intimate little affairs. I accept this failure, gratefully.

Sigh

12. Still going. What is this one called. The National Park

This is Kevin. Pretty nice so far.

Okay, this is a cool vibey one about him visiting a park in, some nation where there are wild rhinos. He's kind of, kinda like David Byrne sometimes, just sort blurting things out naively. It's charming sometimes. There's some strings or winds doing something pretty in the back. This sounds least like a Barenaked Ladies song than anything else so far. I think it DOES sound pretty close to the solo Kev stuff I've heard. Did he just want Jim on it? There are some cool drums but they're not really typical Tyler fare.

That was okay.

13. Man Made Lake

Starts pretty. Keyboards and pad and bass.

Oh, it's sorta, Ed-y. Electronic stomp keeping beat, he is flatpicking.

Sounds like the sequel or, prequel?, to Navigate. I liked Navigate for the most part.

"Somebody's dad decided where it should go. When I was a kid I thought it was the ocean, now I'm taking on water on a man-made lake."

You know, I think I like this. I like it in the way I like old BNL song When I Fall. This is the kind of, introspective Ed song I can tolerate once every 5 albums or so.

If nothing else, there's a vulnerability displayed in this song that none of his others on this album had. He did say the word "shit" though.

Okay, this could've ended two choruses ago. Oh, and then another minute of pretty keys & bass. Fine

Um it sounds like they didn't edit Jim? Or like he didn't know he was rolling. Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

14. Internal Dynamo

Okay, I thought this was the bonus track but I think the bonus track is a fifteenth song I don't have.

Man Made Lake would've been a pleasant ending. It could've ended sweetly.

Unfortunately I have already heard the advance edit of Internal Dynamo, so I think I know what I am in for.

This................. This is like a Was Not Was song. I love those guys. They do some real weird shit, they're super smart and eloquent and they worked with the best musicians in the scene. One foot in avant-garde and poetry, the other in pop tradition. Even on their weird 2000s album, there was some stuff that kinda felt like how this feels.

Sort of modern slow beat & acoustic guitar picking. Sounds like the part before the Imagine Dragons song goes WHASJDFAJKSDF ASDLFO OH!!! ((((((booom)))))) Kevin sings low through a vocoder. It's fine. It might be cool but you get the sense that this isn't all. You know this is the build and the drop is coming.

THE DROP IS SO FUCKING WEIRD. The song HARD PIVOTS GENRES. None of the same reverb or anything, probably not the same instruments. This is like, a fuckin, Kid Rock riff or something now. Someone is riffing over it, vocally. Okay now Ty is on lead vocals. "Someone's in the kitchen with Dynamo." UGH

And then back to the dreamy Imagine Dragons thing. A muted trumpet in the distance for some reason.

Listen, I know Kevin's been getting all spacey lately in his solo stuff. I heard that interview where he talks about working with members of the Arkestra, I looked up that song he just dropped. This is kind of that same vibe but

but they put barenaked ladies in it

This is a B-side. They accidentally put it on the album. This is what I'm choosing to believe.

WHAT NOW?

I didn't expect this to feel good. I did this because I had to. Been feeling anxious all day for myriad reasons and this both alleviated a tiny amount and, probably built it back up in equal measure. Ummmmmmm

I'm gonna, I don't know. Maybe I'll just go to bed? Can I do that?