Maybe You Should Drive

by

Barenaked Ladies

Edit

Most of the people I know who are into BNL seem to think this is the group's weakest album. I couldn't disagree more. While Gordon was a tough act to follow, Maybe You Should Drive was a fantastic second album, continuing the tradition of shiveringly perfect harmonies, ultra-clever lyrics, and so much fun you almost have to restrain yourself from jumping around the room with glee.

Possibly I'm prejudiced by the fact that I first saw the band in concert during the tour for this album. The sheer joy I got from seeing BNL live has always been linked in my mind with Maybe You Should Drive. "Jane," "Intermittently," "These Apples," "A," "Alternative Girlfriend," "Life, In A Nutshell"... all such strong, funny, bouncy, wild tunes... this album always seems fresh and new to me.

From "A": "A is for Algebra, I learned it in school/A is what Fonzie said cause he was very cool."

From "Jane," a pop culture reference so specific to the time of the recording, it was obscure 6 months later: "No promises as vague as Heaven/No Juliana next to my Evan."

And here is the entirety of "Little Tiny Song," a 62-second nugget of bizarreness from bassist Andrew Creggan: "Hey I'm a cow, I'm curious/Hey watch me now, I'm furious/Hey I'm a cow, I'm full of hate/Hey watch me now, I'm on your plate."

The songs and albums to follow Maybe You Should Drive were (and are) always good and often great, but this was the last BNL album that felt like 100% fun to me. You need to own it.