Customer Reviews

Maybe You Should Drive

5 star:		(47)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Most of the people I know who are into BNL seem to think this is the group's weakest album. I couldn't disagree more. While Gordon was a tough act to follow, Maybe You Should Drive was a fantastic second album, continuing the tradition of shiveringly perfect harmonies, ultra-clever lyrics, and so much fun you almost have to restrain yourself from jumping around the room with glee.

Possibly I'm prejudiced by the fact that I first saw the band in concert during the tour for this album. The sheer joy I got from seeing BNL live has always been linked in my mind with Maybe You Should Drive. "Jane," "Intermittently," "These Apples," "A," "Alternative Girlfriend," "Life, In A Nutshell"... all such strong, funny, bouncy, wild tunes... this album always seems fresh and new to me.

From "A": "A is for Algebra, I learned it in school/A is what Fonzie said cause he was very cool."

From "Jane," a pop culture reference so specific to the time of the recording, it was obscure 6 months later: "No promises as vague as Heaven/No Juliana next to my Evan."

And here is the entirety of "Little Tiny Song," a 62-second nugget of bizarreness from bassist Andrew Creggan: "Hey I'm a cow, I'm curious/Hey watch me now, I'm furious/Hey I'm a cow, I'm full of hate/Hey watch me now, I'm on your plate."

The songs and albums to follow Maybe You Should Drive were (and are) always good and often great, but this was the last BNL album that felt like 100% fun to me. You need to own it.

The only good things to come out of Canada: Hockey, the syllable 'eh', and Barenaked Ladies (no offense to all you wonderful Canadians).

You're all familiar with the band's recent releases, "Stunt" and "Maroon", but their best work was this, their second album. I'd list the good tracks, as is my habit, but just read Amazon's provided set list because they're all good. My favorites (I feel the overwhelming urge to list something) are "Jane" and "Life, In a Nutshell", but I put this CD on and listen straight through, at least to track 10.

As a follow-up to their first release "Gordon" this album demonstrates the honing of their art. The band is tighter, and the songs exemplify the bands uncanny ability to mix sincerity, depth and wit, often moreso than any of their other CDs.

If you're familiar only with the Ladies new albums, then you should definitely check this one out. Its not as hard-edged as "Maroon" and not quite in the same vein as "Stunt", but its HIGH quality music in every respect. This album makes me believe there's hope for pop music yet.

Two of the songs on this album (Everything Old is New Again and The Wrong Man Was Convicted) got me through a particularly difficult breakup with my girlfriend at the time. Needless to say, this album has a special place in my collection. It's a good listen all-around, and if you're in a difficult emotional state like I was, it may strike a chord with you as well. BNL has always been one of my favorite bands, and this album is a prime example of the way that BNL pours their collective heart and soul into their work.

The Barenaked Ladies struck big with "Gordon" in 1992, introducing their trademark humor, cleverness, quirkiness, and excellent musical craftsmanship to become the biggest band in the Great White North. But it took a while for the Ladies to cross the borders of their giant homeland. However, the millions of Canadian fans and the thousands of non-Canadian fans wanted more, and they successfully delivered with "Maybe You Should Drive". Their sophomore album failed to make the dough, but passed with flying colors in quality. Right from the front album cover you know these guys are something else. This is one of the best albums BNL has ever released, and there's a good reason why. They show they're more than capable of writing thought-provoking pop songs, and they musical virtuosity has greatly improved as well. The album opens up with the fantastic "Jane" and the severely overlooked "Intermittently", which wins by a hair compared to the album's most popular tune, "Alternative Girlfriend". "These Apples" is a fine song about miscommunication between men and women, and the banjo solo is hilariously blissful. One wonders how Ed Robertson delivered that with a straight face. "A" is a clever song with a bit of a jazzy Latin feel to it, and "You Will Be Waiting" is also great. "Am I The Only One?" and "The Wrong Man Was Convicted" are very provocative and thoughtful, though "Am I..." is more profound, telling the tale of the aftershock of the death of Ed Robertson's brother. Overall, "Maybe..." opens up the band's more sensitive side, and is an overlooked gem in a field of colorless stones. Do yourself a favor, and check it out.

FINAL SCORE-9.75/10

Compared to other BNL releases, Maybe You Should Drive sounds like it was recorded by a different band. Unlike the musical collages which were the trademarks of Gordon and BOAPS, the majority of the tracks on this release hit a similar groove. I'm not quite sure how to describe it, but think The Grateful Dead circa American Beauty, with a dash of the late-period Beatles thrown in for good measure, and you're probably halfway there. Most of the songs are low-key country-tinged affairs, positively laden with hooks, and for once the lyrics are relatively straightforward paeans to lost love, unrequited love, reflective love, joyful love, and any other kind of love you care to think of.

It's true that this album doesn't grab you with the force of the others, but that's because it's a slow-burn kind of affair, the sort of thing you put on when you're in the mood for a bit of introspective reflection on the vagaries of human relationships. And then, just to prove that you shouldn't take it all too seriously, they hit you with one minute and two seconds of Little Tiny Song, being only the stupidest thing they've ever recorded. How can you possibly dislike guys like this?

So in the final reckoning it edges out Gordon and BOAPS, but is it better than Stunt? Probably not, but I will say this - the other albums are music for our times, but this is music for the ages. Not to be missed.

Coming off the beloved major debut album of 'Gordon,' BNL fans were expecting yet again, another funny album. An album that made little sense except the fact that it's funny! Well, BNL certainly surprised their fans with 'Maybe You Should Drive.' This has got to be my personal favorite BNL album. The songs have meaningful lyrics, and a tone that BNL has never used in any of their albums since. Maybe that is why true BNL fans really love this album. The sincerity really shines through on this album. The opening track, "Jane," similar to "Enid" on 'Gordon,' is a song describing Jane, and how she can't open up to guys. The humorous note is when the listener hears the lyric that states he discovered Jane while shoplifting form the store. "Intermittently" sounds like a 1960s British swingers anthem. It describes the mental status of how people can love each other off and on. "Intermittently" might be Darryl Strawberry's favorite BNL song, who knows? Maybe the song off 'Maybe You Should Drive' most like anything off 'Gordon' is "These Apples." At first listen, the song seems to be senseless, at best. Yet each time you listen to it, you can hear that BNL really spent some time on these lyrics. The song is a true masterpiece of BNL, and still one of my most beloved BNL songs. The next track, "You Will Be Waiting," is a song that anyone can hear is a song with a lot of emotional attachment to it. I believe that BNL wanted to prove to its fans that it could write serious songs with emotional feelings tied in. After the emotional "You Will Be Waiting," the album kicks right into a cunning "A." It goes through many words beginning with the letter "a," and talks of a girlfriend being extremely upset with her boyfriend (the singer). Even the title, "Everything Old Is New Again," is an oxymoron. It could be that the whole song is an oxymoron, but I beg to differ. It talks of children in their mothers' cars, with an expressionless face. I think it talks of the old wanted to be young, and the young wanting to be old. Now I really like the song "Alternative Girlfriend," although not one of the more popular singles by BNL, the song is rich and fertile in lyrics. Usually by track 8 on an album, you would expect to start to run into fillers. But that is not the case on 'Maybe You Should Drive.' "Am I The Only One?" is a great song! It talks of being a stranger everywhere you go. "Life, In A Nutshell" mocks the "The Brady Bunch Lifestyle." It talk of always being happy, and never running into any problems in life. The last outstanding track on the album has got to be "The Wrong Man Was Convicted." It talks of an over used tale of a man dying for a crime he did not commit. Although BNL seems to revive the sharp idea with this song.

Though no one seems to realize this album exists, it is one of the best CDs I own. Unlike so many other bands, the Barenaked Ladies manage to make each of their songs unique in lyrics, instrumentals, and subject. I own 6 of their CDs, and this one is far better than Stunt, the album the Ladies are usually judged by. If you like good music, this is one good find!!!

Coming after their classic debut "Gordon", this was quite a switch for Steve, Ed and the rest of the boys. Where as "Gordon" was mostly full of funny, quirky songs. "Maybe You Should Drive" is a much more personal album, that shows that BNL is about a lot more then just being goofy. It shows that they can write some truly beautiful songs. this cd is not only my favorite BNL album, but my favorite album period. It still has their trademark sense of humor through-out, but it deffinitely shows a different side to these guys...and further proves that Barenaked Ladies are without a doubt the best band out there today!

An oldie but a goodie. An must for serious BNL fans. Check out their site at: BNL.org

Easily, people, the best of their albums..I, unlike most people, was a Barenaked Ladies fan since the beginning, with "Be My Yoko Ono"- I waited for this cd to come out, I ran to the store, and bought it with my "agricultural management" money, went home, and listened to it, straight through, once. I was amazed. I had kind of expected a let down, after the many, many, bad second albums, and I was pleasantly surprised. I must have listened to it a hundred times, all the way through that next month alone, and i was hooked. Barnaked Ladies surpassed REM as my favortie band of all time (and trust me, they're hard to beat)-but melodically, and lyrically, MYSD is far superior to Gordon, and any albums that came a long- Born on a Pirate Ship was the inevitable let down, but thats a different review. The album kicks off with "Jane" a great song about unrequited love in the mid-nineties,with a great riff,and a catchy chorus. 2-"Intermittently"-the pain of a breakup, the searching to get her back, and the need to be embraced by anyone, after they are gone, is captured quaintly, in this song-3."These Apples"-Like many songs on this album, a love song, but with a humorous twist, and a clever hook, women are, remember, the root of all evil...(these apples are delicious)-4."You Will Be Waiting-simple, aesthetic, song about love. Beautiful-5."A"-concert favorite. Fun, upbeat, and funny, a great song-6."Everything Old Is New Again"- a song about the disaffected youth of the nineties,and their feelings.7-"Alternative Girlfirend"-Another love song with a twist, about different sort of girlfriend.8-"Am I The Only One?"-Beautiful, beuatiful song, that manages to include humor in it, and retain its power, by cleverly breaking the lyrics at certain points, to make the listener assume something, then tweak that assumption.(Am I the only one, that loves when you leave...your hair down in front of your eyes?)- My personal favorite on the album.9-"Tiny Little Song"-Just to prove that they weren't getting too serious, Andy Creegan throws this little nothing in there to lighten the mood.-10-"Life, In a Nutshell" Easily the biggest hit off the disc, this one is catchy,and happy, a bit of a changes from the previous songs.11-"The Wrong Man Was Convicted" a sad,sad, sad, song about an ex-girlfirend and her new guy, and the ex-boyfriend's realization, too late, that he should have held on to her.8-(12-"Great Provider" It's about..leaving home for college? i really dont know, but its great.. And thats it. 12 great songs meched together into one great album-an underappreciated album,. but by far their best.. GO BUY IT!