'Naked Ladies have a theme

By ELYSA GARDNER, USATODAY.com, 20th October 2003.

As the boy who cried wolf learned the hard way, the trouble with being too much of a smart aleck is that it's hard to get folks to take you seriously. This famously droll Canadian band serves up a batch of typically wry, well-crafted tunes with the kind of lyrics that the cliché "too clever by half" was coined for. When the guys try to wax earnest, as on the sweetly folky For You or the plaintive War on Drugs, you might find yourself waiting for a sudden wisecrack or perverse twist that never materializes.

Rating: Two and a-half stars out of four.