Barenaked on the Rocks

Late last month, Barenaked Ladies released their latest album -- not a collection of new songs, but instead a new live album. BNL Rocks Red Rocks is notable to fans of the band for a few reasons I'll get into, but it's of particular significance to me: I attended this very concert in 2015. (In fact, it's the one I alluded to in my review of their then-new album, Silverball.) During the years they were on their own independent label (around 10 years ago), the band regularly sold their concerts on USB, on site after each show. This is their first live album since they ended that practice.

It's also their first live album since singer Steven Page left the band in 2009, which sets this release apart from previous concert albums. This is the first commercially available recording to reflect how the band now performs some of their earlier hits. In some cases, the new takes on old songs are definitely lacking without Page -- sometimes short on strength ("The Old Apartment") or heart ("Brian Wilson"). But in other cases, the band has tweaked the arrangements in ways that help refresh the music -- adding extended intros ("One Week") or new harmonies ("If I Had $1,000,000").

Much of the material here has never before been available on a Barenaked Ladies live album. In some cases, of course, this is because the songs come from newer, post-Page albums -- the punchy opener "Get Back Up," the uplifting "Odds Are," or the constructed-for-crowd-call-and-response "Gonna Walk." But this is also the first live album appearance of the "Big Bang Theory Theme" (which they've been playing at every show since the series premiered).

There are also a couple of non-BNL songs in the mix. Men at Work's Colin Hay was on this tour with the band, and leads them in "Who Can It Be Now?" (joined by Blaise Garza, the young saxophone player touring with Violent Femmes). Closing the album is a short snippet from Led Zeppelin's "Rock and Roll," led in almost Jack Black-esque fashion by the band's drummer Tyler Stewart (freed to roam the stage by an instrument swap in the encore).

Also noteworthy -- this album has some of the better sound quality I've come across on a concert album. It's easy to pick out any given instrument in the mix (the bass stands out in particular as it jumps around the scale during the pauses of "Odds Are"), and each voice in the more complex harmonies is distinct (especially in the aforementioned "If I Had $1,000,000" and the new "Duct Tape Heart").

If you're a fan of Barenaked Ladies, this album is definitely worth picking up -- the completists will want it in any case, and those who haven't followed them much over the last decade can pick up most of their better songs in that time. I'd call it a solid B+.