Album review: BARENAKED LADIES – Fake Nudes

UMC [Release date 17.11.17]

Barenaked Ladies, a band you have to be careful when Googling particularly with this latest album title… Barenaked Ladies have deservedly won many awards in their native Canada – 8 Juno awards to date – for their harmony filled pop songs, with forays into indie and folk.

So on album number fifteen what musical treats have the Barenaked Ladies got for us? Well we have the breezy, insanely infectious pop of ‘Lookin’ Up’ (co-written with Sam Hollander who has penned songs with many artists including Train and Weezer), one listen to this and you will be humming it for days after. A pop at Trump maybe on ‘Invisible Fence’, a song that highlights the band’s pinpoint vocal harmonies, sung to a mellow, folk backdrop.

‘Dusty Rooms’ is a wry look at band’s on the road, all the ‘rock ‘n’ roll bands in their dirty, dusty rooms’, coping with downtime between shows. Then a little bit of indie rock on ‘We Took The Night’, with its effective, yet simple guitar riff.

Midway through the album ‘Navigate’ and ‘Flying Dreams’ add in lots of effects/programming, taking a sharp musical turn from the previous songs. The singing/harmonies on ‘Flying Dreams’ is sensational, shades of Simon & Garfunkel, yes it really is that good. A song you can immerse into and drift away… ‘The Township Of King’ is gentle piece of folk that rounds that rounds the album of nicely.

Barenaked Ladies are simply one of the best bands out there mixing pop melodies with rock, folk, dance and on this latest album they reinforce the fact they are one of the best acts to come out of Canada. Jump in to an album full of pop rock delights… ****1/2

Review by Jason Ritchie

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions, streamed via Facebook.
In 2023 he signed a recording deal with Sony in Canada and released a new single on 15 September.

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Power Plays w/c 28 October 2024

THE RASMUS Rest In Pieces (Better Noise Music)
THE PLAGUE What Else Can I Do (FiXT)
STAR CIRCUS Turn The Tide (indie)
DEFENCES Breathe It In (Long Branch Records)

Featured Albums w/c 28 October 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Singer Songwriter)