Barenaked Reissue4 Out Of 5 Stars
Ten years after their first "Greatest Hits" CD, Barenaked Ladies release another one. The difference is minimal; the 14 songs here replicate nice of the original's track list, which contained 19 songs. Only four songs are new to the line-up, and only one, the TV Theme to "Big Bang Theory" is previously unreleased. That leaves an awful lot of material to quibble over, and the fact that "Maybe You Should Drive" is totally ignored as an album and their earliest hit, "Be My Yoko Ono" is left off are serious miscalculations. The packaging is also barenaked. No liner notes, album listings, significant art, nada. Just a folding paper-sleeve with a torn-up collage of album artwork, track listing and writer/publisher credits. Pretty skimpy.
That said, BNL have always been masterful popcrafters. Their melodic chops, tight harmonies and whimsical sense of humor always made them stand out, even if "One Week" became such an annoying presence on the radio that you wanted to slap 'em. Both Steven Page or Ed Robertson could have carried any band as singular songwriters, together they turned out clever song after clever song without falling into the trap of self-parody. The pop conventions would reference other genres (the backwards guitar in "Pinch Me," the pseudo rap of "One Week") while maintaining the band's identity. There are few bands in the past couple of decades to blend their influences so ingeniously, at their best, frankly, BNL rivaled 10cc or XTC. Maybe a bit less whimsical than XTC or as arty as 10cc, Barenaked Ladies managed to create a run of singles that most pop bands would sell their passports for. "Hits From Yesterday & The Day Before" pretty much shortchanges the group, but BNL still is a worthy listen.
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