It’s a shame when a great band goes out not with a bang but a whimper. Some, including the band itself, would argue that they have many albums left to give, but I consider 2006’s Barenaked Ladies Are Me their final proper release because (cue ‘Taps’) Steven Page subsequently left the band.
That’s like Paul McCartney leaving The Beatles, or Adam Schlesinger leaving Fountains of Wayne (different ends of the spectrum there in terms of impact, sure, but the same thing creatively speaking). Page is the co-writer of almost every Barenaked Ladies song and the lead singer of most of them. How does a band lose somebody like that and continue to be the same band? It doesn’t. Perhaps they’ll continue to make great music on the back of Ed Robertson, who wrote all of those great songs with Page, but it won’t be the Barenaked Ladies I’ve loved over the years.
Meet Me In Montauk 