Let’s get something straight: I don’t love Barenaked Ladies but this is an album I fully support. In that context, I present to you the following.
Barenaked Ladies got a lot of press over the past year and a bit, and most of it was not positive. Long seen as a pretty wholesome and friendly band—much like that goofy uncle of yours—Barenaked Ladies were dealt a nearly crippling blow when their co-frontman Steven Page was busted for drug possession, and hard drugs at that. It was a bombshell that sent the band into a complete tailspin. Pun intended, because shortly after the drug bust, it was the other frontman, Ed Robertson, who was making headlines. This time it was after he survived crashing his plane in Northern Ontario.
But it would be how the band carried on, I think, that should be the real newsworthy piece: Barenaked Ladies, sans Steven Page, kept going.
All in Good Time, the band’s first release without Page is being widely hailed as their most mature, most insightful record to date. And it’s no wonder, they’ve obviously had a lot to think about. First of all, they had to decide what to do in the wake of Page’s drug scandal. As a band, the remaining members decided to keep going, to keep making music because it was the right thing to do. But they also felt betrayed, and it shows. Songs like “You Run Away,” the band’s first single, is a loud and clear call to Page but they’re handling themselves well, and that’s why I like All in Good Time.
Because I support doing the right thing.
I mean think about it, on the heels of the release of their childrens album, one of their band members is busted for possession of hard drugs. That’s a definite betrayal and the remaining band members, Ed included, were obviously distraught and feeling pretty betrayed. I get the sense that Page was going his own way at this point. But he left, departed the group on what sounds like good terms and never turned back, but it hurt. In an interview for CBC Radio Ed mentioned that there’s a rift there, they don’t talk, and Page has even gone so far as to say that songs off the new album “low blows” but when a marriage like that goes sour, what else do you write a record about?
Ed and the rest of the ladies carried on, they’ve made a concerted effort to redeem their image, an image they worked hard to craft and maintain for a very long time, and I applaud that.
All in Good Time isn’t the kind of crowd-pleasing album as Barenaked Ladies’ Stunt was. It isn’t full of peppy and upbeat songs. It’s certainly more serious, more introspective but it’s good. Sure, one misses the beautiful vocal harmonics and play between Page and Robertson—it was akin to the kind of wonderment that Simon and Garfunkel created—but it gives the other band members a chance to perform and there are some very decent tracks that they’ve contributed, too.
It’s got good reviews all around and even though I don’t think All in Good Time will knock your socks off, there’s something honourable and right about what this band is doing. They’re working through a hard time and they’re doing it right. This album is confident, it’s strong, and if that’s any sign of the future of Barenaked Ladies then as we turn this next chapter, it’s bound to be a good one.
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