| · By this point they probably have a million dollars.
It could be argued that the Barenaked Ladies are turning into a younger Blue Rodeo. Every album that comes out is solidly melodic and catchy and full of clearly distinguishable, witty, but never obscene, radio-friendly tunes. They’re a polite, unoffensive, mid-sized musical force. In the case of Everything to Everyone the album title seems unwittingly to say it all.
As with most of their albums, Everything to Everyone is good. It’s musically solid, lyrically smart, occasionally poignant, often amusing and well mixed. There’s the ironically upbeat "Shopping," an ode to North America’s shopping addiction, the accordion-rich "Upside Down" (who doesn’t love a good accordion solo?), and the sharply bitter "Aluminum." It also holds a couple of inexcusably bland, pseudo-celtic ballads, which one hopes is not the band’s new musical direction.
It’s not a masterpiece, but as with every album the Ladies put out, it’s mostly solid and entertaining, although it’s neither as witty as Stunt or as moody as Maroon. It feels a bit like one of those "marking time" kind of albums that bands occasionally put out – not outstanding, but nothing to sneer at, either. At the very least, there’s something for everyone.
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