Snacktime! [Digipak] (CD - 2008)

Barenaked Ladies: Kevin Hearn (vocals, guitar, keyboards); Ed Robertson , Steven Page (vocals, guitar); Jim Creeggan (vocals, bass guitar); Tyler Stewart (drums, background vocals).

Following the cue of kid-friendly fellow alt-rock veterans They Might Be Giants, Barenaked Ladies issued their first children's record, SNACKTIME, in 2008. A natural detour for the lighthearted Canadian ensemble, this outing finds Steven Page, Ed Robertson, and the lads giddily indulging their sillier sensibilities, as revealed on playful songs such as "Pollywog in a Bog" and "Humongous Tree." While there is an undercurrent of an educational vibe (see the spaghetti Western-ish counting tune "7, 8, 9"), Barenaked Ladies mostly stick to having fun with more trivial subjects like "The Ninjas" and "Allergies." Though it may not qualify as an "official" BNL album, SNACKTIME doesn't stray too far from the group's easy-going, acoustic-leaning sound, making it of interest to many fans, and, of course, their kids.

The first full-length children's album by Canadian pop stalwarts Barenaked Ladies, Snacktime! reveals what is both enchanting and a little bit irritating about the often witty, sometimes silly, and usually melodically catchy pop band. Musically, all the Barenaked touchstones are here: '70s singer/songwriter, AM pop, indie rock, folk, alt-rock, and even some quirky electronic-based romps. In that sense, the album plays like most of the band's catalog, with each bandmember adding a composition to the mix. The difference here is in the lyrical content, which is obviously aimed at and inspired by kids. But rather than simply target kids of today, Barenaked Ladies have crafted a children's pop album inspired by their own '70s/'80s childhoods. Accordingly, listeners gets tracks like "The Ninjas," a popular and kitschy topic among Gen-Xers (due largely to the abundance of '80s ninja movies), turned here into a kind of fairy tale about sneaky and deadly nighttime visitors. Similarly, the loopy wordplay song "Raisins" finds vocalist Ed Robertson wondering whether "the Parthenon's in Greece/Or was it in Grease 2?" But rather than merely calling out retro-pop culture themes, songs like the giddy "Eraser" and the thoughtful "Canadian Snacktime Trilogy" bring to mind a time when kids were more likely to spend afternoons with crayons and Elmer's Glue than with computers and the Internet. It's also reminiscent of a time when bubblegum pop was the sound of kids' music, and tracks like "Vegetable Town," "'Drawing," and "Humungous Tree" bring to mind -- at least lyrically if not specifically musically -- the fantastical, bittersweet, pastry-laden landscapes of the Banana Splits and the Wombles. Admittedly, for all the pleasant and hummable tracks on Snacktime! there are conversely a few ear-grating numbers like the hyperactive rawk of "Allergies" and the quirky but static reggae of "What a Wild Tune," which may elicit enthusiasm from the PB&J set while acting as a kind of musical torture technique on parents. That said, cuts like the sunny and melodic "'Pollywog in a Bog," the airy and euphoric "Louis Loon," and the cinematic album closer "Here Come the Geese" bring to mind well-earned comparisons to Todd Rundgren, XTC, and the Flaming Lips, and are easily some of the best pop tracks, let alone children's songs, Barenaked Ladies have ever recorded. ~ Matt Collar minimize