Barenaked Ladies
Everything to Everyone

(Reprise)

Barenaked Ladies has been struggling to escape the novelty act tag since it was propelled into the public purview following the surprising success of its 1992 debut Gordon. With its sometimes silly antics and comedic songs, the group hasn’t helped its cause by frequently utilizing this ploy as a means for marketing itself to the lowest common denominator of college and high school students. For those who care to look, there’s always been something a little deeper to the group’s music, or at least some of it. Even its first big hit Brian Wilson, which initially appears irreverent, is actually a rather clever and loving tribute to the genius behind the Beach Boys.

Eleven years and six studio albums later, the Barenaked Ladies is trying, however desperately, to grow up, yet it just can’t manage to shed completely its quirky tendencies. Not unlike its previous efforts, Barenaked Ladies’ latest outing Everything to Everyone chugs through its 14 songs with all the ebullient effervescence of bubblegum pop. Its melodies are incessantly infectious, and each track is delivered with the type of happy-go-lucky giddiness that allows the songs to serve as the perfect party soundtrack. Save for the solemn War on Drugs, these are exactly the type of tunes to which anyone can dance after a couple of beers and a few therapeutic hits on the bong. It’s joyful and fun, and it happens to be Barenaked Ladies’ biggest strength.

Listen a little closer, however, and one is apt to find that Everything to Everyone is somewhat of a concept album about the excesses of western civilization. Well, not entirely. Despite the product’s packaging and several topical tunes — Celebrity’s critique of pop culture worship; Shopping’s solution to the post-terrorism economic blues; Testing 1,2,3’s examination of the formulaic, nostalgia-oriented music market; Another Postcard’s sly look at freedom; and War on Drugs’ meditation on the medicated path to mental health — most of the songs are simple odes to life and love that divert attention away from any sort of singular thematic approach. Even so, Barenaked Ladies has managed to extend the more serious aspects of its songwriting, taking its lyrics even further than it did on Maroon. The problem is that the band seems hellbent on trying to live up to its album’s title, and while that may provide the cohesiveness that pulls the whole collection together, the contradiction of being smart, thoughtful, eccentric, and fun doesn’t always mesh quite right, leaving Everything to Everyone to stand as merely a small, but enjoyable step in the right direction.