Send "Barenaked Ladies " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Popmatters |
 With a 20-year career under their belts and a few memorable songs, it might seem like a good time for a greatest hits compilation from the Barenaked Ladies. On the other hand, the band’s biggest hit, “One Week”, dates all the way back to 1998. Furthermore, BNL covered a lot of ground on their first greatest hits compilation back in 2001, and their songs haven’t exactly been burning up the charts over the past 10 years.So what’s the motivation for Rhino to release Hits From Yesterday and the Day Before? Well, The Big Bang Theory, now in its fifth season, has grown into a major television success. And Barenaked Ladies’ theme song for the show has never been released on cd before, so there you go. Hits From Yesterday and the Day Before is strictly for casual fans and curious listeners who might want to hear the band’s basics beyond “The Big Bang Theory Theme”. As a greatest hits collection, this album gets the job done. The songs are arranged in chronological order, which doesn’t do the disc any favors in terms of flow, but otherwise it makes sense. It starts with the classic “If I Had $1,000,000” and ends with “You Run Away”, the lead single from 2010’s All in Good Time. Because the album is being marketed to people in the U.S., it wastes little time in getting to “One Week”, tracked fourth on the album. Rhino throws longtime fans a bone and includes minor American hits “The Old Apartment” and “Brian Wilson (Live)”, but by and large Hits From Yesterday and the Day Before is concerned with the songs BNL put out from “One Week” onwards. A hypothetical Canadian edition of this album would undoubtedly include the Toronto-area band’s very first hit, “Be My Yoko Ono”, and at least a couple of the singles from their second album Maybe You Should Drive, which isn’t represented here at all....full text |
| Sputnikmusic |
| One of the most remarkable aspects of the Barenaked Ladies is their continued ability to stay relevant and entertaining, despite changes in both their lineup and their target audience in their two(ish) decades of activity. Few pop rock ensembles have managed to win over quite as dedicated a fan base as the Ladies have, and even fewer have been able to do so while churning out one enjoyable album after another and maintaining an almost timeless image as the lovable goofballs of their genre. Even after the sudden departure of their one-time frontman, Steven Page, and the group's subsequent "serious" turn on their next release, All In Good Time, most long-term BNL fans have remained confident that the group's next album would see a return to the band's good old days of punny, infectious tracks and the charisma which has won them such support over the years. And, in a way, it has - though certainly not in a manner which anyone could have expected or wanted. Hits from Yesterday & the Day Before is a rather strange greatest hits compilation in that the majority of the material has been pulled directly from the last Barenaked Ladies compilation, Disc One: All Their Greatest Hits. The first nine tracks of the album - from ever-popular Gordon single "If I Had $1000000" to one-time chart topper "One Week" - appear exactly as they did in this previous format. Even the live recording of the band's classic "Brian Wilson" (which actually first appeared on live album Rock Spectacle prior to Disc One) remains virtually unchanged from its last appearance ten years ago. The remainder of the disc is composed of tracks from several of the ensemble's more recent albums, with the sole "new" addition of the band's foray into television, The Big Bang Theory theme. The Barenaked Ladies' decision to simply rehash a bunch of their old material here presents something of a conundrum for the group's older fans. On one hand, the vast majority of this compilation (with the possible exceptions of "Testing 1,2,3" and the aforementioned theme song, both of which are enjoyable but not quite hit caliber) is loaded with standout examples of the type of fine work which has made listening to this band so enjoyable for so many years. On the other hand, it's old. Even the relatively shiny and new closing track, "You Run Away" (the compilation's only song from the post-Page era) sounds positively worn out when presented in this sort of context. Indeed, it seems that the only real purpose of this album is to draw in a few new listeners before the group's new album. For a fan already acquainted with the Ladies, however, this compilation will serve only as a brief, moderately enjoyable trip down memory lane which showcases some of the band's finest sounds from years already gone by....full text |
| Rhino |
| As a diehard BNL fan who owns every album and all the rarities, I can honestly say I was pretty letdown with the tracklist at first. There is nothing new being released on this album. In fact, 9 of these songs were already released on BNL's previous greatest hits record. However, this is the first time the Big Bang Theory theme song is being released on the record. That is the key. Though this collection is not for diehard fans, it is great for introducing new fans. The Big Bang Theory has a very large audience, and I'm sure a majority of them either 1.) Want the theme song 2.) Are curious about BNL or 3.) Both. This will trigger many people to buy this record. It is great for introducing fans because it has all their hits from the 90's, as well as some recent singles such as "Easy" and "You Run Away". It spans their whole career. Many BBT fans will likely hear songs like "One Week" or "Pinch Me" and go "Hey, I know these songs! I didn't know these were by Barenaked Ladies!", which will suck them in even more so. So from a marketing standpoint, this album will be great for the band. It will definitely garner new fans. Though it is not exactly for hardcore fans, at least we have the deluxe edition to look forward to!...full text |
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