Barenaked Ladies Are Me
 | This article possibly contains original research. (December 2007) |
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Barenaked Ladies Are Me (usually abbreviated BLAM, and occasionally Are Me or BLAMe) is the tenth full-length album by Barenaked Ladies and their seventh original-material studio album. It is their first major original commercial release since 2003's Everything to Everyone. It was released in September 2006 internationally. The album is the first full-length original-material album from the band since they decided not to re-sign with Reprise, and became independent. The cover art was created by a group of artists called Team Macho. The name has been cited by the band [citation needed] as a double entendre for "Barenaked Ladies Army".
Due to the diversity and wealth of content recorded for the album, the release became more complicated than prior albums. The primary physical release of Barenaked Ladies Are Me is a 13-track CD, with subsequently released second CD, Barenaked Ladies Are Men including the remaining songs from the same sessions. The content of both albums were available together in several forms, and the two can be debatably be seen as two halves of one double album.
Creative process
Reflecting their new independence, the album saw changes in the creative process. The band began 2005 with several songs already written, many of which were performed, recorded, and released on the 2004 summer Au Naturale tour (see below for details). In the spring of 2005, Ed Robertson and Steven Page got together at Page's home and began writing the first songs specifically intended for this album. They met again at Robertson's cottage after the summer and wrote 13-15 more songs. Kevin Hearn was also busy writing songs at his own cabin, where he completed several songs for this album, as well as a large portion of his own album The Miracle Mile. Additionally, Jim Creeggan managed to complete a two-year-old idea into the song "Peterborough and the Kawarthas". The content provided by the latter two members continued the practice started on Everything to Everyone of including writing from band members other than Page and Robertson, and not taking in writing from outside the band.
The band gathered the more than 30 songs (far more than any past album) at a rehearsal hall in Toronto, to learn and arrange the songs. They intended to record as many beds (initial recordings, used to record the final track over) as possible, and ultimately recorded 29 beds in the fall of 2005 (they decided to leave several songs which were previously recorded off in order to potentially use the prior recordings on an upcoming boxed set). The band also noted that there was no "naked track" (a song recorded with all the band members naked, started on Gordon with "King of Bedside Manor") for this album, saying that it had gotten old.
The band set out after the bed-recording session at Steven Page's farmhouse studio, Fresh Baked Woods, for their perennial Barenaked for the Holidays tour. They returned to the studio in February 2006 and recorded their overdubs through April. In May, they began mixing the album at Toronto's Metalworks studios with mixer Bob Clearmountain while still finishing the last overdubs.
Initial exposure of songs
In the summer of 2004, the band continued to build upon the setlist variations they began on the Peepshow tour. The band decided to play one song at every show that they had never played before, or had not played in many years. Among these songs were unreleased B-sides, and newly written songs, including seven that became part of the 29-song BLAM sessions ("Adrift", "Bull In A China Shop", "Beautiful", "I Can, I Will, I Do", "What A Letdown", "Take it Back", and "Half a Heart").
The band took a break from the unheard songs on their 2004 Holidays tour, but on the 22-show 2005 Holidays tour, after emerging from the first studio session, they played a song from the BLAM session at every show. The first five songs listed above from the Au Naturale tour were repeated, while 18 other new songs were played. The only songs unheard (in entirety) after that tour were "One and Only", "Vanishing" (originally titled "Magician"), "Running Out of Ink", "Maybe Not", and "Serendipity". "Running out of Ink" was subsequently performed solo by Steve at a fundraising show in Toronto on May 8, 2006, and later at the All New Revue (see below). "Vanishing" was also played at the All New Revue. The other songs were not publicly played until the release of the album.
The band also took the opportunity in the studio to record three of their songs ("Easy", "Wind It Up", and "What A Letdown") in 'Simlish'[1] (a gibberish language used in the Sim series of video games by Maxis) and were released in the Sims 2 "Family Fun Stuff" expansion pack. These were the first fully released (several clips have/had been played on podcasts) studio tracks from the album; though the mixing was not the final album mixing, and the vocals were replaced.
On May 26 2006, the album release dates were announced, along with the revelation of "Easy" as the leadoff single for late June (the announcement came from the band's German management, and was subsequently confirmed by the band's North American official websites). On June 6, the band announced the album title, along with a remix contest.
On June 19, iTunes released a three-track single for the song "Easy", which also included "Wind It Up", and the version of "Home" from the All New Revue. This was the first release of any complete final tracks from Barenaked Ladies Are Me. The single was also available on eMusic, marking the band's first release on the service.
On August 17, iTunes accidentally released the standard edition of the album plus the four associated bonus tracks on some of their music stores. For just over twelve hours, the album was available to buy in single track form (for all 18 tracks) or as an album before the mistake was corrected. On September 2, the same occurred for the 30-track presale deluxe edition, which was available for two and a half days.
All New Revue
On May 19, 2006, the band performed an intimate acoustic performance at Toronto's 341-seat Glenn Gould Studio in the Canadian Broadcasting Centre. The band initially announced plans to play all 30 new songs at the show (they were still mixing at the time). However, the plan was revised shortly before the show when the band decided that 30 songs would not be feasible, and ultimately decided on a final list of songs for the physical CD album. They played only 16 songs, explaining that approximately 13-15 of those songs would be the songs making up the initial physical release. The show was audio and video recorded, and an audio CD of the 14 songs which ultimately became the primary album was a pre-order bonus, and later available on iTunes. The video has not currently been used. The CBC apparently has their own access to the audio recording of the show, as they played a differently ordered, differently mixed version of the show during a radio interview on Definitely Not the Opera with Steven Page in early September.
Remix contest
On June 6, the band announced a contest for their fans. They plan to release five songs from the album in the form of separate instrument tracks for the purpose of remixing. The first song released was "Easy"; the second, released on July 13, was "Wind It Up"; the third, released on August 16, was "Bank Job"; the fourth, released on September 2, was "Rule the World With Love"; "I Can I Will I Do" rounded off the five songs. On September 27, the band released a sixth song for remixing, "Maybe You're Right".
The main releases, available through the band's download site, and werkshop.com, contain each track from the song's mix. Shortly after each's release, the songs were available to download split into four mp3 tracks on the band's myspace.com page. Each file grouped similar tracks, such as all the vocals, or all the guitars, in order to divide the songs tracks four ways. Wind It Up's myspace split lacked some of the song's elements including the guitar solo and the keyboard tracks.
Fans can submit remixes of each song and the band will ultimately select one of each for inclusion on a special EP, whose proceeds will go to charity. Though discussed in March 2007 on an interview with University Radio York, no plans for this release have been announced.
Release versions
The band was not sure how to release so much material, initially opposing suggestions of a double album citing both cost and a potential overload of too much music. They indicated a likely plan to release a normal-length album, and save other songs for future shorter EP releases. The band, however, ultimately settled on a 14-track physical album, with several non-CD options for fans to buy all 29 songs. A subsequent physical CD entitled Barenaked Ladies Are Men was released February 6, 2007 with different songs, though Starbucks stores in Canada released it exclusively on October 3, 2006. A 5.1 surround sound deluxe edition of all 30 songs was released in the US on December 12, 2006, and alongside Are Men in Canada on February 6, 2007.
Physical discs
- 14-track Barenaked Ladies Are Me (with a bonus 13-track All New Revue CD if the album was preordered)
- 14-track Barenaked Ladies Are Me 2-LP vinyl release
- 17-track Barenaked Ladies Are Men (containing all 16 remaining tracks)
- 15-track Barenaked Ladies Are Men Starbucks exclusive prerelease
- 26-track limited deluxe edition 2-CD digipack containing both albums without the four bonus tracks
- 30-track Barenaked Ladies Are Me Deluxe Edition 5.1 DVD-Audio
Digital versions
Each of the two download editions added an additional two bonus tracks had you preordered. The download editions are available at various online music download stores, including the band's own site. The initial claim was that two bonus tracks would be available only if you bought entire albums and not individually, but different retailers are inconsistent on this issue. The deluxe edition was not to be available as individual tracks, but that decision has apparently been reversed.
- 13-track download +2 bonus tracks if you buy the whole album (see above).
- 25-track deluxe edition +2 bonus tracks if you buy the whole album (see above).
- Barenaked Ladies Are USB - A USB stick sold at shows and at werkshop.com containing (in variable bit rate mp3 format):
- 30 studio tracks
- 4 live tracks from the All New Revue
- "Easy" (studio acoustic version)
- 5 Adlibs
- 2 video tracks (studio home video)
- 2 promo photos ("dog shot" and "diner shot")
- 5 IM Icons
Tracks recorded
Tracks 1-14 are the physical Barenaked Ladies Are Me album; Tracks 1-26 make up the physical deluxe edition. Tracks 27-28 were added to both versions for online download purchases. Tracks 28-29 were added to downloads on iTunes for those who preordered. Tracks 15-30 were released as Barenaked Ladies are Men.
| Track # | Song | Composer(s) | Length | Lead singer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Adrift" | Hearn, Page, Robertson | 3:35 | Ed Robertson | originally recorded for Everything To Everyone, rearranged for a slower/mellower rhythm. |
| 2 | "Bank Job" | Page, Robertson | 4:27 | Ed Robertson | |
| 3 | "Sound of Your Voice" | Hearn | 3:16 | Steven Page | originally sung by composer Hearn, but passed to Page |
| 4 | "Easy" | Page, Robertson | 4:31 | Ed Robertson | |
| 5 | "Home" | Page, Robertson | 3:34 | Steven Page | completed at the spring 2005 writing session |
| 6 | "Bull in a China Shop" | Page, Robertson | 3:24 | Steven Page | supposedly written after Everything To Everyone, but frequently played by Steven solo, and by the band. |
| 7 | "Everything Had Changed" | Creeggan, Page, Robertson | 3:22 | Steven Page | |
| 8 | "The Declaration of Avant-Garde, Odd Renelets and Other Stuff" | Frank Zappa, Dweezil Zappa, Page, Robertson, Hearn | 7:26 | Ed Robertson, Dweezil Zappa, Alex Briley, Kevin Hearn | An epic series of short rondelets around 7 6/3 minutes and 25 seconds, with a long 49-second-long instrumental break. A clip of Paul Simon's American Tune is found at 2:30. |
| 9 | "Peterborough and the Kawarthas" | Creeggan | 2:40 | Jim Creeggan | |
| 10 | "Maybe You're Right" | Page, Robertson | 4:26 | Steven Page (with Ed Robertson) | |
| 11 | "Take It Back" | Page, Robertson | 4:00 | Ed Robertson | |
| 12 | "Vanishing" | Hearn | 3:14 | Kevin Hearn | originally called "Magician" |
| 13 | "Rule the World With Love" | Page, Robertson | 3:52 | Steven Page | completed at the spring 2005 writing session. |
| 14 | "Wind It Up" | Page, Robertson | 4:26 | Ed Robertson | completed at the spring 2005 writing session; guitar solo by Kim Mitchell. |
| 15 | "Serendipity" | Hearn | 4:11 | Kevin Hearn | |
| 16 | "Something You'll Never Find" | Page, Robertson | 4:57 | Steven Page | |
| 17 | "One and Only" | Page, Robertson | 3:47 | Ed Robertson | |
| 18 | "Angry People | Page, Robertson | 4:02 | Steven Page | |
| 19 | "Down to Earth" | Page, Robertson | 3:46 | Ed Robertson | |
| 20 | "Beautiful" | Page, Robertson | 2:35 | Ed Robertson (with Steven Page) | |
| 21 | "Running Out of Ink" | Page, Robertson | 3:58 | Steven Page | |
| 22 | "Half a Heart" | Page, Robertson | 4:27 | Ed Robertson | originally recorded for Maroon |
| 23 | "Maybe Not" | Page, Robertson | 3:00 | Ed Robertson | |
| 24 | "I Can I Will I Do" | Page, Robertson | 3:08 | Steven Page | originally recorded for both Disc One: All Their Greatest Hits (1991–2001) and Everything To Everyone |
| 25 | "Fun and Games" | Page, Robertson | 3:45 | Ed Robertson | |
| 26 | "The New Sad" | Page, Robertson | 2:34 | Steven Page | completed at the post-summer 2005 writing session. |
| 27 | "Quality"+ | Page, Robertson | 4:21 | Ed Robertson | ends with six seconds of faint drumming, rewinded singing, and light tenutos, accompanied by a three-noted bass guitar tune, followed by a high scream. On the BLAM deluxe edition, these seconds are replaced by silence. |
| 28 | "Another Spin"+ | Hearn | 4:05 | Kevin Hearn | |
| 29 | "What a Letdown"‡ | Robertson | 3:49 | Ed Robertson | |
| 30 | "Why Say Anything Nice?"‡ | Page, Robertson, Stewart | 3:42 | Steven Page |
+Bonus for buying entire album (on standard and deluxe editions).
‡Pre-order only bonus (on both standard and deluxe editions - currently iTunes and USB only).
Personnel
- Rob Carli – Sax (Tenor)
- Bob Clearmountain – Mixing
- Jim Creeggan – Assistant
- Paul Forgues – Engineer, Assistant
- Kevin Hearn – Engineer
- Robert Menegoni – Cymbals
- Kim Mitchell – Guitar (Electric), Soloist
- Terry Promane – Trombone
- Susan Rogers – Engineer
- Keith Rudyk – Assistant
- Kevin Turcotte – Trumpet
Response to release
Barenaked Ladies Are Me reached #17 on the US Billboard 200 chart and #7 in their native Canada.
Singles
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"Easy"
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"Wind It Up"
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"Sound of Your Voice"
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