Are yew Marewwwn? Then get barenaked at the main Tony Blairnaked Ladies page now! Mareewn Overall Album Score: 8.7 out of 10 And The Barenaked Ladies surprise me! Maroon is a rather sophisticated album! ... Indeed, any of you who are familiar with the bands' most beloved album, Gordon, might be a bit surprised at Maroon for its sophistication, because Gordon was basically a novelty album. The big improvements here are the more carefully constructed instrumentation levels. ... This is the first time in the discography of this band where I paused multiple times during a song to think: "Wow! Now, there's something really nice about these arrangements!" ... Frankly, I don't know why this album isn't always a highly-thought-of one within the Barenaked Ladies catalogue. In my book, the song "Sell Sell Sell" should be a Barenaked Ladies classic. Easily, that has the best melody ... and I was also very impressed with the studio production of it! ... Geeezzzz, that's a good song! ... The second-best songs on the album don't even come close to reaching the breadth of "Sell, Sell, Sell." All of the other songs on here are good as well ... It seems, unfortunately so, that the weakest songs appear at the beginning of the album. If it wasn't then so many people might not have dismissed this album ... or, as the All Music Guide put it, a failed attempt for a commercial retread. I won't go so far as to classify this as an "art" album, but as far as I can see, this is the least commercially-minded album the Ladies ever put out at this point ... I always find it annoying when musicians treat their songs as if they were stabs in the dark for a radio hit. I will admit that there seem to be a few attempts in here for a radio hit by the Ladies, but there's not an annoying amount. Yup, Maroon is a good album. Overall Album Score: 8.7 out of 10 (From the very first time I heard it, I knew that this album would garner a higher score than Gordon. This time, The Barenaked Ladies prefer more sophisticated levels of instrumentation to just sheer novelty. ... Of course, if the novelty is the only reason you would want to continue listening to The Barenaked Ladies, then this isn't anything you need to listen to soon! It's a very nice record, though.) Average Song Score: 8.7 (Easily the most solid set of tunes The Barenaked Ladies ever wrote. The most serious album they've ever done is a success in my book.) Album Score: 8.5 (Very entertaining! ... It takes awhile for the album to pick up its speed, I guess, but once it does, it's nice indeed.) Artist Rating: 9.0 (I must say that I'm very impressed! ... It's no Gordon. This is easily the most sophisticated thing the Barenaked Ladies have ever done, and for that I congratulate them.) Track Reviews Too Little Too Late 9/10 ...The first few chords of this album make me think The Stones' "Start Me Up" is about to play! ... Does this happen to anyone else, or am I just a weirdo? ...... or both, maybe. Anyway, this is a really good song! Picking up where they left off in Stunt, the Barenaked Ladies continue to sound very confident with their music. And, this is easily likable, like a lot of the stuff from Gordon was. ... What amazes me about this song, though, is the instrumentation is quite a bit more mature than what I remember Gordon being. Indeed, I get this feeling quite starkly through the rest of the album. Never Do Anything 8/10 ...The tune is nowhere interesting enough, but this song is notable for its enthusiasm and its instrumentation (most notably the very beginning of the song). Yeah, the tune's general lack of effective hooks keeps it from being particularly memorable or anything. Pinch Me 9/10 A really nicely-constructed groove here ... I do get a little bit sick of hearing it repeated so much after awhile, but ... oh well. Go Home 8.5/10 I'm tapping my toes! Woohoo!!!!! ... This seems to try to recreate a pre-1965 Beatles pop song! ... It's never a bad thing to aspire for, except the Barenaked Ladies will never be able to write a hook quite like the Beatles could. Falling For the First Time 9/10 I really enjoy this one ... (yeah, it sounds a bit too poppy, but ... who cares about that when the song is actually good?) The hooks here are *not* weak, it's nicely-arranged, and ... it's just an enjoyable ditty! Conventioneers 8.5/10 This is also a fairly entertaining song ... This one is slower paced and it's rather romantic. ... Romantic songs aren't always a bad thing, you know. This is quite pleasant! Sell Sell Sell 10/10 I love this song!!!! I like everything about it! I like the military beat, the harp doing scales in the background, the melody (that reminds me of one of the coolest songs ever done by the Electric Light Orchestra, "Way Life's Meant to Be"), and lastly the goofy, pseudo-dramatic feel of it. Really, this song is GREAT!!!!! The Humour of the Situation 9/10 Oh, holy crud! I forgot for awhile that they are Canadian! They misspelled "humour!" ... or, maybe I think "humour" should be spelled the wrong way. I don't know about that. But I do know that this is a good song! I like the melody of this one, but I like the enthusiastic performances by the band much more than that! Cool! Baby Seat 9/10 I always think that it's kind of a dirty trick to start your album off with some of your weakest tracks! This is *another* good Barenaked Ladies song! I really like the sexxxy rhythm section on this one. The melody is good as well! Off the Hook 8.5/10 I really like those light keyboard taps in the background! Those are really neat! ... Other than that, I'm not head-over-heels impressed with the melody. There've certainly been better ones on this album. But it's fine. I like the presentation of this very much, though. Helicopters 8/10 This is pretty good as well ... I certainly enjoy it! It's a pleasant-sounding song that'll probably have your head bobbing up and down in contentment even though the subject matter isn't that lighthearted! ... The end of it gets annoying, though. Tonight is the Night I Fell Asleep at the Wheel / Hidden Sun 8.5/10 The Barenaked Ladies' most unconventional songs (for them) seem to appear as the last track of the album now! They had a Moody Blues thing on Stunt ... and, here, at the end of Maroon, we get this huge, 9-minute epic! The first section of it has folk at its base, but it's not without some nice instrumentation. The horns, the military-sounding drums, the plucking banjo. The second part is a very slow piano-ballad type thingy. It's as equally as intriguing (or, not-intriguing) as the first part. ... Both sections are different, but they are suited for each other. Other than this entire track's length, this isn't significant on any level. It entertains, though, and is perhaps among the most pleasant moments on the album! COMMENTSSSSSSSSSSS here!

All reviews are copyrighted by the author, Michael Lawrence. He is the bishop of East Anglia.