A few weeks back, I mentioned an alarming observation about purchasing the latest Barenaked Ladies album, Snacktime, but I never got around to actually reviewing it, as my friend Sangediver did.Actually, my sister also told me her short review of the album too, which bears mentioning here. She said she thought it was an album of mostly bad songs that she thought they tried to get away with being bad by calling it a kids' album. Ouch.
I actually rather liked the album, though. Well, mostly. I agree with Sangediver that there are songs here that capture a level of "fun" that really hasn't been present since the album Gordon. And that's great. I also like this album a whole lot more than their two latest paired efforts, the "BLAM" albums (Barenaked Ladies Are Me and Barenaked Ladies Are Men).
But there are also large chunks of the album I skip when I listen to it. This collection of songs really made me realize something I was only beginning to suspect on the last few albums: while I like Kevin Hearn's instrumental contributions to the band, I don't think much of him as a singer or songwriter. And Snacktime is loaded with his material. Sorry, Kevin.
Another bad point against the album is that the band generally seems to believe that songs for children must be short. There are over 20 tracks on the album, and too many of them come to an abrupt end just as you're starting to get into their groove ("The Ninjas" and "Raisins," among others).
But ultimately, I come back around to what I mentioned earlier -- there's a lot of genuinely fun material on this album. "7 8 9," "I Don't Like," and especially "Crazy A B C s" are more entertaining than probably anything BNL has released since the album Stunt. And "Bad Day" is, though you might not expect it, their most sincere and moving song since "Call and Answer" (not coincidentally, again off the album Stunt).
In my book, an album that has me constantly listening to half of it and skipping over the other half rates about a B, and that's how I'd rank Snacktime. If you're a BNL fan who somehow hasn't picked it up yet, I'd recommend it.
3 comments:
I have been buying tracks from this album in the most complicated, convoluted way possible.
Amazon has them in their MP3 music store. Amazon also accepts "Pepsi Points" for MP3 purchases, 5 points per. So I've previewed all the tracks, decided which ones I want, and as we drink Diet Pepsi, I've been putting in the codes and buying the tracks I've earmarked as we get back up to a balance of 5+ points.
It's been interesting buying them that way. B likes the songs I've picked out, but I wonder if she'd also enjoy the songs I decided not to get. I guess we might see when I run out of tracks I wanted. :)
An actual kid listening to a kids' album? What a concept!
I think Ralph's World makes great children's music that is just as good for adults. Of course, now he has sold out to Disney, and I have not listened to any of his new stuff.
...and this is the same guy who used to play almost or completely naked and sing naughty lyrics.
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