BNL are Men

[kpphoto]

Shame on me. I bought this cd pretty soon after it came out and only listened to it a few times. I've been a fan a long time and really enjoy the older stuff. This cd didn't grab my attention the way the others did. I just re-located the disc and loaded it into my itunes library. Wow, there are some great songs on here.

There is no doubt in my mind that this collection of songs "more odd" or more creative than any other album.

What are your thoughts on this one? I know I'm a few years late. :D

"Another Spin" Great Kev song

[tvfan721]

I think it's BNL's worst album honestly, along with Barenaked Ladies Are Me. Out of the entire 29 songs, there's a only a few that I really like. Most of the songs are really boring. My least favorite songs from BNL's catalogue are from those records.

[McGerkey]

Probably my least favorite BNL album.

For one, it's overly long. Fuck hour-long albums (probably the #1 reason why I don't listen to more rap).

A couple of the Ed songs are kind of samey, a couple of the Steve songs are kind of mediocre.

It does have a bunch of great songs though. And hey, it's essentially a bunch of b-sides, so that's still pretty good.

[EdsGal]

I love Fun and Games, which is such a clever song. Definately my favorite off of Barenaked Ladies are Men.:D

[barenakedfi]

For me, it was one of those albums that took me a while to get to know and like.... but I do really love it now, especially One & Only and Down to Earth.

AIGT has been similar, initially I played snippets of each and thought it was OK.... but I've had it on loop in the car to & from work since it came out (homework for the gigs in September), and I'm really getting into it now.

The last album I loved from the moment I first played it was E2E..... the albums since have grown on me

[McGerkey]

I think Fun & Games might be my least favorite BNL song ever haha.

The verse melody is pretty much identical to the one in Quality, the subject matter is way overdone and boring, and the lyrics are way too literal to make anything clever out of it.

I cringed hardcore when I first heard it. "NOT ANOTHER ONE OF THESE SONGS."

[Liam]

I do like BLAMen, but I still even now kinda think that BLAM and BLAMen could have been condensed into one REALLY GOOD album instead of 2 kinda-good albums. There seems to be a lot of filler.

[Super Dave]

"Another Spin" Great Kev song

I agree, it is one of my favorite songs of the two albums.

Dave

[Belyha]

I have to confess- I almost (literally) missed the whole thing. :eek::o After all, there is only one letter difference between BLAM and BLAMen. To be fair, this was a period when I was very very ill- and so I just really got it w/AIGT- which has been an interesting and bittersweet thing for me to be experiencing these two together.

I could use a little help from one of you anally retentive superfans out there, does anyone have a comprehensive list of the bonus material songs (not on the regular albums) that I need to get up to speed on?-not just specific to BLAM/en- but it would be nice if someone has a good list of the "rarieties"

[Suebee42]

mysd.org only goes up to 2002 (pity... I'd hoped someone would have stepped in to help them keep it updated by now... such a great resource), but they do have the one-offs listed under discography. ;D

http://www.mysd.org/

[tvfan721]

The last album I loved from the moment I first played it was E2E..... the albums since have grown on me

I'm actually starting to appreciate E2E alot more lately. That was an album that was also criticized alot when it came out. It seems Maroon is the last album that was loved by everyone from the moment it was released. E2E though has alot of good stuff, I just wish it wasn't so long. If they got rid of "Another Postcard", and replaced "Have you seen my love" with "Yes, Yes, Yes", it would have been much better.

[kpphoto]

I always liked E2E and Maroon alot. Maroon is actually one of my favorites. It's up there with BOAPS for me. Maroon came out as I was graduating high school and starting a new job. Also I bought my first brand new car and remember listening to Maroon alot as I drove around. That cd will always be special to me. To me, and I'm sure I will get no arguments here, BNL is just a solid band and has produced alot of consistently great music since day one. BLAMen just really doesn't seem to fit as a whole. As I listen more, there are 4-5 songs that I listen to over and over. Something about the collection just doesn't match the style from the other albums.

[Super Dave]

We shouldn't be too harsh here. If not for those albums we would have never known when Ed was live from the studio freakin' out. ;)

Dave

[tvfan721]

I always liked E2E and Maroon alot. Maroon is actually one of my favorites. It's up there with BOAPS for me. Maroon came out as I was graduating high school and starting a new job. Also I bought my first brand new car and remember listening to Maroon alot as I drove around. That cd will always be special to me. To me, and I'm sure I will get no arguments here, BNL is just a solid band and has produced alot of consistently great music since day one. BLAMen just really doesn't seem to fit as a whole. As I listen more, there are 4-5 songs that I listen to over and over. Something about the collection just doesn't match the style from the other albums.


You have to remember that BLAM was done differently from any of their other albums. BLAM is just one big compromise. Jim and Kevin wanted to have their own songs included on albums from now on but obviously Steve and Ed still want their fair share, so you end up with this ridiclously huge 29 song collection. More is not always better.

And I'm sorry, Kevin and Jim are brilliant musicians but as songwriters and singers, they are very inferior to Ed and Steve and there songs were easily the worst songs on BLAM. That's just my opinion and I know many other BNL fans have similar opinions. It's the same thing with AIGT. I know you gotta keep everyone in the band happy in order to keep going but having Kevin and Jim singing and making their own songs has been a huge change and it's been a bad change in terms of entertainment.

[Suebee42]

Kevin wrote Sound of Your Voice, btw, which I think is one of their best. I enjoyed most of his songs on BLAM and BLAMen, particularly Vanishing and Another Spin.

While I do often associate their songs on the albums more with the side projects (Thin Buckle, Brothers Creeggan) than BNL, they are part of the band, and part of the creative process. I still respect them highly as songwriters. Kevin may not have the strongest voice, but I don't know anyone else that can get my brain going, creating mental imagery based on his lyrics and soundscapes.

[Shardith]

And I'm sorry, Kevin and Jim are brilliant musicians but as songwriters and singers, they are very inferior to Ed and Steve and there songs were easily the worst songs on BLAM. That's just my opinion and I know many other BNL fans have similar opinions. It's the same thing with AIGT. I know you gotta keep everyone in the band happy in order to keep going but having Kevin and Jim singing and making their own songs has been a huge change and it's been a bad change in terms of entertainment.

Huh, never got that impression with BLAM. I also love Kevin and Jim's songs on AIGT as much as Ed's songs. This isn't "Ed and his Backup Band", this is a band with four talented musicians and three talented songwriters. It's obvious they love performing together and I think they sound better than ever. Yep, Jim and Kevin have different voices, but different isn't inferior in my book.

So many comments from people on FB especially are giving the new lineup glowing reviews, so I have to wonder if you've caught a live show yet. People aren't sure what to expect from the show, but it seems the majority are leaving happy and entertained and enthusiastic about BNL again.

That's just my opinion, yours may (and will) vary.... :D

[tvfan721]

Oh, AIGT is a million times better than BLAM. I've said that before too. Jim and Kevin's songs are definitely better on AIGT. There improving and that's a good thing.

[kpphoto]

I know this thread has kinda gotten onto a side discussion about Jim and Kevin. As you say, everyone has an opinion, I'm going to be very gentle with mine. I love the band. I love all the members. I think there is an enormous amount of talent there. I'm a photographer and back when I started I learned quickly that people being honest with me helped me grow as an artist. It's not always compliments, and that's for the best. People have to be honest about your ability or you never learn anything and the business doesn't work. I love Kevin, and he writes some great songs, but (in my honest opinion) he shouldn't be singing more than one song on an album. I can't imagine the band without him, but honestly I was sad to see that he had lead vocal on 4 songs on the new album. I love "northern lights" but skip all the others. My intention is not to offend anyone, please understand I'm just offering my opinion. He is a huge part of the band, but I personally could do without his leads. Jim has an amazing voice and I've never been upset to see he had a lead vocal through the years. He's got one song that I really don't like, but I don't mind hearing him sing. I would be happy with an album of all Ed leads. I know it won't happen and that's fine, I love the band nomatter what they do. I do have a feeling that I will continue to skip Kev songs, like I always have.

[Belyha]

I think that the point about constructive criticism is valid- but that the Kevin and Jim material keeps getting stronger. I was really struck by their increased stage presence live as well, especially Jim. It is all about learning, growing, moving forward...:)

[ProudMommy77]

I think that the point about constructive criticism is valid- but that the Kevin and Jim material keeps getting stronger. I was really struck by their increased stage presence live as well, especially Jim. It is all about learning, growing, moving forward...:)

I love the stage presence, as well. I had always hoped Jim and Kevin would take more time on the stage for their songs, and I am so happy about that on this tour. It definitely is about learning, growing and moving forward!

[Appleblossom28]

One of my favorite Ed songs is on BNL are Me. One and Only I think is underated. The melody is beautiful.

[ProudMommy77]

There are several decent songs on it. I find I have to be in a mood to really appreciate it, though. I definitely like it, but I wouldn't say it's their worst. It might be the one I listen to least often, but when I do, I actually like the songs.

[Neil]

I like most of the music on the BLAM albums but I thought the way they released them was a confusing mess.

Are Me came out on its own, and also came out with a bonus disc that included most, but not all, of the songs on Are Men. I bought the single album version, not realizing there was a whole second album to come, and then ended up buying the double album version when I discovered my mistake. (I wasn't tracking the band that closely at the time, so I hadn't read all about it on their website.) Not being aware that it only represented half of what they'd recorded, my initial impression of the album was that it wasn't a strong enough collection of songs, an impression I shouldn't have had. Once I had the second disc, I realized, "oh here are the rest of the good songs."

Then Are Men came out the following year, with a title and cover that were almost identical to Are Me -- so casual listeners may not have even realized they had a second album out -- and four extra songs on it, which purchasers of the double album version of Are Me now didn't have. You could get them on iTunes and whatnot, but I would have rather had them in physical form.

You basically had to be a hardcore fan to know what they were doing -- there was very little marketing/promotion otherwise. Very messy. I think they should have either a) released the full set of songs as a 2-disc package or b) released the strongest songs as the main disc and the rest of it in some other way.

[Neil]

BLAM is just one big compromise. Jim and Kevin wanted to have their own songs included on albums from now on
Well, to be fair, there is only one song by Jim out of 29 on the BLAM albums.

[pecurls]

I must be in the minority here but I like both BLAM cds. There are some very good songs on them. (Adrift, Bank Job, Wind Me Up, What A Let Down, Half A Heart, and on...) Kevin's songs have grown on me and I can't wait to hear Jim sing live in August.

[Amicustoall]

I love both BLAM and BLAMen and listen to them regularly.