| Product Summary | | Label: Wea/warner Bros. | | UPC: 00093624781424 | | Release Date: 9/12/2000 | | Buy.com Sku: 60432998 | | Item#: MWCFNK | Format:  CD |
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| 1998's quadruple-platinum smash Stunt catapulted Barenaked Ladies from alternative favorite to major pop stardom. The colorful Maroon, produced by Don Was (Rolling Stones, Bonnie Raitt, Randy Newman, B-52's), marks the return of the wittiest, hook-happiest pop-rock band in all the land.
| | Album Notes and Credits |
Notes & Personnel Info |  | Barenaked Ladies: Ed Robertson (vocals, acoustic, electric & 12-string guitars, banjo, mandolin, cabasa, tambourine); Steven Page (vocals, acoustic guitar, flute, recorder); Kevin Hearn (electric & baritone guitars, harmonica, accordion, melodica, piano, electric piano, Clavinet, organ, keyboards, glockenspiel, samples, background vocals); Jim Creeggan (baritone guitar, violin, viola, acoustic & electric double basses, 4-string electric bass, background vocals); Tyler Stewart (drums, tympani, castanets, shaker, tambourine, bells, background vocals). | | Additional personnel: Jim Scott (vocals); Rob "Tiny" Menegoni (bass drum, maracas, tambourine). | | Recorded at Cello Studios, Hollywood, California between April & June 2000. | | "Pinch Me" was nominated for the 2001 Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. | | Between the releases of 1998's STUNT and 2000'S MAROON, Barenaked Ladies' keyboardist/guitarist Kevin Hearn underwent (and successfully recovered from) a bout with leukemia. Not surprisingly, the subject matter on Barenaked Ladies' sixth album leans toward the darker side of life. Among the foreboding topics touched on are the thoughts of a car crash victim ("Tonight Is the Night I Fell Asleep At the Wheel") and touring countries torn by political strife ("Helicopters"). Luckily, this Canadian quintet uses a combination of impressive pop sensibility and perfect songcraft driven by undeniable hooks to lighten the mood. | | So even though they might be singing about relationships that are either headed south ("Too Little Too Late") or unrealized ("Conventioneers"), the Ladies do it with an exuberance that helps sweeten some of the bitterness. Among the upbeat pop moments found on MAROON are the don't-take-yourself-so-seriously anthem "The Humour Of The Situation" and the infectious optimism of "Falling For the First Time," where runaway piano, chiming guitars and perfect harmonies form an idyllic pop moment. An added bonus is the secret track "Hidden Sun," an ethereal piano-driven song about internal strength that sounds like something They Might Be Giants might have written in a serious moment. | | Between the releases of 1998's STUNT and 2000's MAROON, Barenaked Ladies keyboardist/guitarist Kevin Hearn underwent (and successfully recovered from) a bout with leukemia. Not surprisingly, the subject matter on Barenaked Ladies' sixth album leans toward the darker side of life. Among the foreboding topics touched on are the thoughts of a car crash victim ("Tonight Is the Night I Fell Asleep At the Wheel") and countries torn by political strife ("Helicopters"). Luckily, this Canadian quintet uses a combination of impressive pop sensibility and perfect songcraft driven by undeniable hooks to lighten the mood. | | So even though they might be singing about relationships that are either headed south ("Too Little Too Late") or unrealized ("Conventioneers"), the Ladies do it with an exuberance that helps sweeten some of the bitterness. Among the upbeat pop moments found on MAROON are the don't-take-yourself-so-seriously anthem "The Humour Of The Situation" and the infectious optimism of "Falling For the First Time," where runaway piano, chiming guitars, and perfect harmonies form an idyllic pop moment. An added bonus is the secret track "Hidden Sun," an ethereal piano-driven song about internal strength, sounding like something They Might Be Giants might have written in a serious moment. |
Producer: Don Was |
Engineer: Jim Scott; Michael Scotella |
| | Compilation Appearances |
| | Associated Artists and Works |
| | Technical Info | | Release Date : 09/12/2000 | | Original Release Date : 2000 | | Catalog ID : 47814 | | Label : Reprise | | Number of Discs : 1 | | Studio/Live : Studio | | Mono/Stereo : Stereo | | SPAR Code : n/a | | UPC : 00093624781424 |
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| | Professional Reviews | | Rolling Stone (9/14/00, pp.17-12)
- 3.5 stars out of 5 - "...It's been a while since something so unabashedly wholesome, a rock album so incandescently proud to reference classic pop, came over the transom..."Entertainment Weekly (9/15/00, pp.74-5)
- "...[It] could be the purest pop record to come along in months....finding the band refining its musical strengths and expanding its lyrical worldview, pounding hooks and messages home with palpable passion and humor..." - Rating: A- Mojo (Publisher)
(10/00, p.109)
- "...If you liked the previous stuff you'll like this: it's punchy, inoffensive, jolly, laden with harmonies and hooks..." Billboard 7 of 10
But for fans of [their] last album, there are enough winning moments early on to make Maroon a worthy successor.
Rolling Stone 8 of 10
...tart, smart writing defines much of Maroon, making it a "nyah-nyah" to those who dismissed Barenaked Ladies as nothing more than an accomplished novelty act. From the opening riff, which recalls the hulking rhythm-guitar line of the Stones' "Start Me Up," it's clear that this band isn't just aiming for kitschy laughs anymore.
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| | Bio | | "I think this is the best record that they've ever made. Their songwriting, and their playing, has hit another plateau." The record is Maroon, an impressive collection of 12 brand new original songs by Barenaked Ladies. And perhaps most impressively, this shower of high praise is coming from the man who produced the record, Don Was. That is, "Grammy Award-winning producer Don Was," a man who has earned the respect and admiration of his high profile clients like The Rolling Stones, The B-52's, Bonnie Raitt, Iggy Pop and Paul Westerberg. Clearly, Don Was knows of what he speaks, and right now he's speaking volumes about the new songs contained on Barenaked Ladies' first new album since the groundbreaking Stunt. Stunt pulled off a few impressive stunts of its own. In addition to the album being certified quadruple platinum, the single "One Week" gave Barenaked Ladies their first No. 1 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100. Then came the television appearances on everything from the Tonight Show With Jay Leno to their featured stint as musical guests on Saturday Night Live. As the 20th century came to a close, Barenaked Ladies had become one the hottest touring acts in popular music, playing sold-out stadium shows all over the United States and their native Canada. In 1998, however, keyboardist/guitarist Kevin Hearn, whose musical footprints were all over Stunt, was diagnosed with leukemia just as that record hit the stores. While Kevin waited for a stem cell transplant in a Toronto cancer hospital, he was unable to join the band on first arena tour of the U.S. The Stunt tour was a kind of "victory lap" for all the hard work he and his bandmates had put in, year after year. But Hearn had bigger battles to fight. Miraculously, over two very physically and emotionally draining years, Hearn has pulled through and in the words of Ed Robertson, "kicked cancer's ass." "While I was in the hospital going through heavy cancer treatments and a bone marrow transplant," says Hearn, "I was seeing a lot of hospital workers, working hard on the night shift, and taking care of people in pain. People like myself. These are the real heroes in life." Hearn's gratitude spreads not only to his bandmates and close friends but also to the thousands of fans who wrote or e-mailed him during his recovery. "I was really showered with a lot of love," remembers Hearn, "from people I knew and many I didn't know. I received many cards and phone calls. I don't know how I can possibly thank all these people." Now finally, and thankfully, Kevin Hearn takes his own personal victory lap around the twelve tracks that make up Maroon. All over the record, the multi-talented Hearn is heard on piano, clavinet, organ, guitar, glockenspiel, melodica, accordion, synthesizer, vocoder and digital sampler.
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