Born on a Pirate Ship

by

Barenaked Ladies

Edit

I'm a huge BNL fan. Have been for about 4 years now. I have all six of their CDS. My absolute favorite song of theirs, "Break Your Heart," is on this disc. While it may not be quite as raw as the version on "Rock Spectacle," it's an incredible song and that alone makes the disc worthy of the 5 stars. Whereas some of the songs on here, I feel, are not the best songs by BNL (ie. "Spider in My Room" and "Same Thing") this disc has some absolutely inccredible songs: the aforementioned "Break Your Heart," the sad and touching "When I Fall," the rocking "Old Apartment," the troubling "I Live With It Everyday" and the very cathcy "This Is Where It Ends" For any BNL fan, this disc is worth having. If you're one of those who got into BNL as a result of "Stunt" or "Maroon" and are looking to buy an older CD, first get "Rock Spetacle" and "Gordon" -- then come looking for this and "Maybe You Should Drive" -- not that these are at all bad CDs - the first two just happen to be more consistantly better.

My first true exposure to BNL came via this album, which remains quite good several years later. Obviously more "adult-oriented" than their previous work, it contains several great tracks - "Shoe Box" (which sounds even better in the "radio remix version"), "Straw Hat & Old Dirty Hank" (a happy song about an unhealthy obsession), and "When I Fall" are my favorites, plus bonus points for making "Same Thing" work, even though it shouldn't on paper. That said, the album can sound rather samey all the way through, and although there's nothing inherently wrong with them, several tracks just don't rate ("Stomach vs Heart" and "Spider in My Room"). A few more truly catchy numbers would have helped, too. Still, a worthwhile album.