Barenaked Ladies Album Due In October

By MEGAN O'TOOLE, ChartAttack.com, July 23rd, 2003.

What would you do if you had a million dollars, aside from "be rich," that is? Would you ditch The Old Apartment for One Week and go on a cruise? Nah, It's All Been Done... just ask Jane, Enid, or Brian Wilson. OK, so the song references are a little weak, but you have to know what band we're hinting at — that's right, Canada's own dream team, Barenaked Ladies. And we know that all the members of BNL are rich by now, seeing as they exploded into mainstream-success-land (also known as the U.S.A.) about five years ago, with their fifth full-length studio album, Stunt. Never mind the fact that Canada has been digging the Ladies' unique brand of ironic-alt-rock since the late '80s.

And finally, after a three-year studio hiatus following the release of 2000's Maroon, the Ladies are back in action and ready to deliver their seventh full-lengther this fall. Titled Everything To Everyone, the album will tentatively hit stores on October 21. Everything To Everyone was recorded and mastered in L.A. and was mixed by Mike Shipley (who has also worked with Queen, Def Leppard and Shania Twain, among others). According to the band's online web log, the finishing touches were put on the new material back in June. So now, fans just get to play the waiting game.

The final tracklisting has yet to be released, but for curious uber-fans across the nation, a few of the song titles include "Take It Outside," "Celebrity" and "War On Drugs." According to a recent entry by guitarist Ed Robertson, the latter is "a long and complex piece, in the vein of 'Call And Answer'... not thematically, just in terms of musical approach."

There are no current tour plans for the Ladies, though it's likely they'll hit the road in the fall to promote the new album. Also, if you're going to be in Guelph, ON tonight, you can catch the Ladies live at a special pre-Hillside Festival concert.