Barenaked Ladies don’t miss having Steven Page in the band
Apparently the Barenaked Ladies are avoiding the cataclysm that so often befalls bands when they lose an important member (bassists don’t count): they aren’t sucking. The reviews are in for the Ladies’ first post–Steven Page album, All in Good Time, which drops this week, and they’re pretty good.
“Because Page and [Ed] Robertson dominated the singing and writing, BNL sometimes felt less like a band than a duo with backing musicians. But the biggest difference with the new lineup is that Barenaked Ladies sound more like a band than ever before,” writes the Globe and Mail.
For their part, the Ladies aren’t exactly lamenting the loss of their former co–lead singer and songwriter, as remaining front man Robertson explains to Entertainment Weekly: “I don’t miss him in the context of the band: performing, making music, writing, recording. It’s not as a band member that I miss him. It’s, you know, I’ve been around the guy since the fourth grade. I still feel tied to him and responsible for him.”
Whether BNL’s new album will prove as successful as previous offerings remains to be seen. But we’re sure the Spice Girls, Take That and Backstreet Boys are all paying close attention. After all, they’ve been here before.
• Turning the Page, a revitalized BNL comes together [Globe and Mail]
• Review: Barenaked Ladies, All In Good Time [Vancouver Sun]
• All in Good Time: Barenaked Ladies [Toronto Star]
• Barenaked Ladies frontman Ed Robertson talks about their first album without Steven Page [Entertainment Weekly]
BNL without Steven Page is like the Beatles without John Lennon. Just like you couldn’t have the Beatles without John Lennon, BNL is not BNL without Page, regardless of how good they remain as musicians. Case closed.
I agree totally. I just saw them in concert without Steven Page and they sounded horrible. I’ve seen them in concert with Steven Page and they were a million times better!
BNL aren’t The Beatles and Page isn’t Lennon…
I totally agree with Aaron. Steven Page was dominant force in that bad and I am sad to see him go but happy that he is going out on his own. BNL should be worried about their fate sans Page.
BNL are a sick joke dying slowly. Their excuse for music are nursery rhymes in front of chords.
Good Luck to Page
BNL was a harmonic mixed bag of talented nuts that
combined music with plain old fashioned fun. The
members of the band played off each other with Ed
and Steven out in front. Now that Steven is gone
they have not only lost a prominent chunk of their vocal
talent, they also lost a unique personality. I am
sad to say, it will never be the same. Are they strong
enough to survive? I think the band needs to find their
Brian Johnson to move forward. I wish them luck. Personally, I hope Steven finds his way back and they live happily ever after.
I stopped listening to BNL when Steve left………it was too painful :(