Music
Everything to Everyone
By the sea, in our nest,
We could share our kippers
With the odd paying guest
From the weekend trippers,
Have a nice sunny suite
For the guest to rest in—
Now and then, you could do the guest in...
Barenaked Ladies? Hard to tell; get me the checklist.
Polysyllabic
rhymes? check.
A subject drawn from the seamier side of life? check.
The whole thing related with a combination of
humor and bleakness? check.
So, it could be BNL.
But it's not.
That's By the Sea, from Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, by Stephen Sondheim. Pretty rare company, and they don't always achieve that level, but every now and then, at least as far as lyrics go... (Great, now I've confused the rock fans who never heard of Sondheim, and offended the Sondheim fans (and believe me, this website gets puh-lenty of those) by comparing him to a pop group. Well, think of the bandwidth I'll save.)
Okay, proof? Here's this, from Testing 1,2,3
She got a new apartment out on the escarpment
In her glove compartment are my songs.
She hasn't even heard them since she found out what the words meant
She decided she preferred them all wrong.
A bouncy lament for those who put some effort into their lyrics, only to have them misremembered by the audience. I feel your pain, Ed. Lyrically the strongest song on the album, unless it's just my personal soft spot for clever wordplay leading me astray. Nah...
In fact the clever wordplay even extends to the music, with Kevin's mewling slide guitar on Take it Outside echoing the pussy-cat declarations of the song's narrator. (Was that actually on purpose? Who knows, but at least one person I know started meowing along with it as soon as she heard the tune.)
In contrast, there's Celebrity, the album opener. Roughly
the same subject as Testing 1,2,3, only handled with a sledgehammer. Yeah guys, I know it's tough being
a celebrity, having to put up with riches and fame; here's the world's smallest standup bass playing just for you.
On the other hand, the music is so good that I still like the song.
And that's the big strength of E2E. It's the most melodically satisfying album they've made. Celebrity, Next Time, For You, Upside Down, Aluminum, and Take it Outside all have hooks you could land a thousand pound bluefin with. I have a sneaking suspicion this is due to the added input from Kevin Hearn, but whatever the reason the album seems to keep rising to the top of my iTunes list.
Plus, on Celebrity we learn for the first time that Steven Page has a chest voice! And on the other end, Ed Robertson sings higher than usual on a couple songs. Perhaps producer Ron Aniello was pushing them to stretch their normal boundaries a bit. I approve.
The only song I leave unclicked is Shopping, which is supposed to be an ironic ode to Rudy Giuliani and his exhortations to end terrorism by getting out there and shopping again. Unfortunately the irony is over there, in a box, leaving the song little more than a pointless disco vocodo-masturbation. And if you know me you know how much I hate pointless disco vocodo-masturbation.
The Slow Introspective Song (think Tonight is the Night I Fell Asleep at the Wheel or When You Dream) is War On Drugs, a heartfelt number about suicide, and it's their best S.I.S. ever (unless you count When I Fall, which is really a little too fast to make the category). During the Peepshow tour, it was dedicated to Elliot Smith, who killed himself just as the tour was starting. That may have warped my perception of the song somewhat, as it made the live performance all the more powerful. The more I listen to this song, the better I like it.
I figured out many years ago that the secret to a great band is all in the drums and bass. And as always BNL shines in this department. Tyler Stewart can pound the tubs with the best of them, and their backup drummer Doug Flutie is no slouch either. Then there's Jim (my hero, sigh). If you've been listening to BNL and haven't been paying attention to the bass, you've been missing half the fun. Let's listen again to that clip from Testing, 1,2,3, but turn up the bass: Or this little riff from the Oaks 'n' Maples political song Second Best: And there's plenty more where that came from. Hard to get it across once it's mixed into the song, but when you find yourself moving your body to the music, thank your local rhythm section. Thanks, Jim and Tyler!
I give it the nod. They're so much more than just that Chimpanzee band. (Though if that's the song they release as a single they got no business complaining about being thought of that way.) If you can see BNL in concert, hock your imaginary guitar and get tickets. But until you get that chance, Everything to Everyone is a fine choice for an introductory album. After a month of listening, I still rank it right up there with Gordon as one of their best.
I'd like to thank Jenna for a couple of the key insights in this review. Thanks!