Barenaked Ladies: Talk To The Hand

Listening to a Barenaked Ladies concert CD can sometimes be a little like Evening at the Improv, only with music. Before the band can even get to song number three, which is titled “Sound of Your Voice”, the group spies a man in the audience who is either playing maracas or shaking two beer bottles for extra rhythm. This leads the act into an impromptu funky tune, probably titled something like “Old School Maracas”. Although this disc is the soundtrack to a live DVD (normally a nervous time for most bands) Barenaked Ladies are unafraid of having a good time, cameras or no cameras. The disc opens with “One Week”, the group’s dialogue-packed hit song. But there are plenty other memorable moments, such as an organ-fueled robbery song, called “Bank Job”, and a nostalgic look back at a former hometown with “The Old Apartment”. This act may be smart asses enough to call a song “Be My Yoko Ono”, but they also come off surprisingly sincere while performing it.