A spectacular Stunt (Stunt - Barenaked Ladies)

Member Name: Wezzo

Product:	Stunt - Barenaked Ladies
Date:	22/05/08 (170 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Consistently great music

Disadvantages: Couple of average tracks

"Stunt" is the fourth studio album from Canadian alternative rockers Barenaked Ladies. It is also probably the only Barenaked Ladies album that managed to sell in considerable numbers on this side of the pond, as it coincided with the Ladies' brief hint of commercial success here in the UK: early 1999, when novelty pop-rap "One Week" hit the UK top 5 and for a few fleeting moments, it looked like BNL would hit the big time.

Prolonged mainstream success was alas not to be, but this particular album did sell reasonably well, reaching the UK Album Chart top 20. It deserved the success, too - it combined the band's trademark literate and witty pop with their most accessible musical material to date, and it genuinely works well. "Stunt" is definitely among Barenaked Ladies' crowning achievements.

The album kicks off with the aforementioned "One Week". Tending towards the novelty end of the pop spectrum a little too often for me, I'm not a huge fan, but it's easy to see why the song had so much commercial appeal - the funky, catchy chorus; the hip-hop verses that reference everything from "The X-Files" to Snickers bars; the multitude of sound effects hidden at the back of the mix. It's fun to sing along with too, which counts for something - and who doesn't love lines like "Chickety-China, the Chinese chicken, you have a drumstick and your brain stops ticking" and "like Harrison Ford I'm getting frantic, like Sting I'm tantric, like Snickers guaranteed to satisfy".

"It's All Been Done", track two, was the second single from the album, and is probably my favourite track here. Wryly stealing cliched hooks from the likes of The Beatles and including hackneyed light-hearted backing "ooh-ooh-oohs" as they sing "It's all been done before", it's an absurdly catchy rocker that manages the rare feat of appealing to listeners of both Radio 1 and Radio 2. Lyrically the pop culture references and sudden turns-of-phrase abound ("Will I see you on The Price Is Right? Will I cry, will I smile, as you run down the aisle?"), musically it's impossible to dislike. One of the best singles of the past decade.

"Light Up My Room" tones things down a little. A slow, electric-guitar and electric-piano driven ballad, it features heartfelt lyrics in the age-old vein of proving one's love, though naturally given a unique Barenaked Ladies twist. It's a bit of a "lighters in the air" type song. It's a comedown after the fast-paced one-two of "One Week" and "It's All Been Done", but it's rewarding if you pay attention.

Track four is "I'll Be That Girl", which starts acoustically before heading into denser, catchier territory to become an all-out catchy rocker by the chorus. Taking a leaf out of They Might Be Giants' book of contrasting sunny, upbeat melody with dark, depressing lyrics ("If I had a gun, there'd be no tomorrow"), it's a great listen whether you choose to pay attention the words - a tale of inadequacy and yearning - or not.

"Leave" takes us down a more folky route, an amusingly formal take on telling a girlfriend to depart ("I've informed you to leave") with some cool country-tinged guitars and a nice "doo-doo-doo" bridge. It's not especially memorable but it's very enjoyable as the record's playing.

"Alcohol", track six, is an album highlight. It's relentless, dense, catchy and rocking, with a funky synthesiser and sharp riff-laden electric guitar playing. An ode to the "party-time necessity" that is alcohol, the singer's "permanent accessory", it's jam-packed with amusing lyrics - "forget the cafe latte, screw the raspberry iced tea; a Malibu and coke for you, a G&T for me" - and the cheery, symphonic melody and hooks can't help but make you smile (although occasional lines such as "while I cannot love myself / I'll use something else" hint at a a darker undercurrent.) Even tee-totallers will enjoy it!

Back to the ballads we go for "Call and Answer", an emotional track laden with harmonies and call-and-response vocals (heh). The song tells of "getting to the point where we have almost made amends" in a relationship - the moment when you finally accept that, "if you call, I will answer". It's a sweet piece, and once again sees the Ladies tackle the subject of love in an unusual way - sure, plenty is made of falling in and out of love, but how about the times when you're going to "prove that you've come back to rebuild"? An original, powerful take on a hackneyed subject.

The mid-tempo "In The Car" follows, a folk-rock blend, with a largely acoustic backing - and plenty of hand-claps - but melodic, symphonic vocals. The song tells of adolescent fumbling in a far more genuine, less dramatic way than Meat Loaf's similarly-themed "Paradise By The Dashboard Light" - the lyrics are simultaneously exploratory ("we groped for excuses not to be alone anymore") and explicit ("it was mostly mutual masturbation, though we spoke of penetration" - a line I never planned to hear on a pop/rock album, if I'm honest!). Memorable and singable - though given the subject matter, probably not one to sing out loud too often..

"Never Is Enough" returns us to the full-on pop-rock of "It's All Been Done" and "Alcohol". Set to a jaunty beat and laden with some nice organ parts, it's an amusing trawl through scenarios for which "never is enough" for the Barenaked Ladies - such as "spending a summer planting trees", "working in retail" and "blowing a thousand Deutschemarks to get a drunk in a pub with some Australians". "You get your PhD, how happy you will be when you get a job at Wendy's and are honoured with Employee Of The Month?", they sarcastically sing. A fun, catchy tune that's rather prone to sticking in your mind.

And the fun doesn't let up with "Who Needs Sleep?", the album's least sincere song since opener "One Week". A humourous tale of insomnia, it's an upbeat tune with a hip-hop style bridge and chorus, and hook-laden folky verses. Lyrically, the wit is present and correct ("Lids down, I count sheep, I count heartbeats / The only thing that counts is that I won't sleep") and musically, it's immediately appealing and pleasant on the ears.

"Told You So" turns the album's direction back towards the acoustic/country side of the BNL spectrum, with a mix generally focused on acoustic guitars and the Arco bass & cello. The lyrically circular bridge - "I never told you I told you so, but I told you so" - is typically Barenaked Ladies, but the verses verge on the surprisingly heartfelt ("I never mentioned how I prayed for you / now I've paid for you / I never said that I would wait for you / it's too late for you / have to let it go").

"Some Fantastic (Ivory and Ivory)" (the parenthesis a play on McCartney & Wonder's "Ebony and Ivory", I believe) is a bit more rocking. It starts out sparse but builds to a funky, melodic chorus. It recalls "Never Is Enough"'s stream-of-consciousness lists - this time, we're talking about things the Ladies yearn to do but never will - but things are more emotionally grounded here, as the vocalist notes he wants nothing as much as his "want to be with you". Nevertheless, comedy still plays a key role - "One day I will work with animals / All the tests I'm gonna do / All my stuff's completely natural / And when we're done we'll boil 'em down for glue / that we can use to re-adhere / your lips to mine if you were here" rates among BNL's more contrived, confusing thought streams, and works thanks to that very 'problem'. Fun, sweet and catchy, it's everything a BNL song should be.

Album closer "When You Dream" meets only one of those three criteria, however, leaving it among the album's weakest tracks. It's certainly sweet - Steve Page and Ed Robertson explore the avenues a child's mind must wander in dreamtime - but it's a little too slow for its own good at times, and lacks anything to hold the listener's attention. Lyrically it's intriguing though, as we explore both emotional ("When you dream, what do you dream about?") and comedic ("Do you hear Del Shannon's "Runaway" playing on transistor radio waves?")

Nevertheless, it doesn't really drag down what is, overall, a remarkably solid album. Deserving of its success, "Stunt" rates among Barenaked Ladies' best albums, and rest assured there's plenty here that ventures far beyong novelty hit "One Week", both lyrically and musically. Highly recommended, a good starting point for BNL newbies.

The CD can be found for mere pennies on Amazon marketplace at the moment, or you could of course download the album (though that would probably work out more expensive..). The CD comes with a pretty standard lyric booklet. There's also a "special edition" of the CD that has a couple of bonus tracks, which can be found for a few pounds at Amazon marketplace too.

Content-wise, "In the Car" has some explicit sex references, although apparently not enough to earn the album an "explicit lyrics" sticker. There's no swearing.

Summary: Highly recommended