Everything to Everyone
Everything to Everyone (commonly abbreviated E2E) is the sixth full-length studio album by Barenaked Ladies. It was released in 2003 and was produced by Ron Aniello. Singles from the album include "Another Postcard", "Testing 1, 2, 3", "For You", "Celebrity" and "Maybe Katie". The content of the album is noted for its increased political commentary over previous albums. This was their last album with Reprise Records (or any major label for that matter) before switching to a more independent label, Desperation Records and subsequently Raisin' Records.
Everything to Everyone | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | October 21, 2003 | |||
Recorded | April 3 – May 25, 2003 | |||
Genre | Alternative rock | |||
Length | 50:40 | |||
Label | Reprise | |||
Producer | Ron Aniello | |||
Barenaked Ladies chronology | ||||
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Singles from Everything to Everyone | ||||
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Aggregate scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Metacritic | 56/100[1] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [2] |
Blender | [3] |
Consequence of Sound | [4] |
Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [5] |
Entertainment Weekly | B[6] |
NOW | [7] |
Popmatters | [8] |
Q | [9] |
Rolling Stone | [10] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [11] |
Creative process
After recording and touring incessantly from 1995 until 2001, the quintet opted to take some time off for 2002 and most of 2003. It was the first long-term hiatus for the band since their inception. Upon returning to the recording studio to begin recording what would become Everything to Everyone, BNL adopted a new policy of keeping the writing exclusively within the band members. This resulted in increased contribution from Jim Creeggan and Kevin Hearn, and the band ended up recording more songs than usual (which in turn resulted in a 14-song album plus a bonus track). The album was recorded in Los Angeles, and was the first album the band recorded following the inception of their online blog. This allowed the band to communicate with their fans on a continual basis during the recording, and gave additional insight into the creative process.
The band took to the facility's B-studio near the end of the recording to record versions of the album's songs on acoustic instruments. This was quickly set up, and drummer Tyler Stewart ended up using a drum kit assembled from various unusual objects. The band performed eleven songs which comprised the entire released album except for "Shopping", "Unfinished", "War on Drugs" and the bonus track "Yes! Yes!! Yes!!!". This acoustic session proved successful, and a similar performance would be undertaken for their next album, Barenaked Ladies Are Me (abbreviated as BLAM).
The album's cover was painted by Canadian Chris Woods, and depicts the band in profile displaying a white flag of surrender. The title text was displayed over the flag, though to preserve the meaning of the white flag, the album title was not printed on the cover itself. It was instead placed as a sticker on the transparent wrapping, and was "flat", not wavy to match the flag's contours. For the special edition, the title was on the clear plastic sleeve, and matched the flag's waves. The original painting, a 60" x 60" oil on canvas, reportedly hangs at Page's farmhouse studio, Fresh Baked Woods.
Tracks recorded but not included on the album:
- "Statue of Los Angeles" (unreleased) – a Hearn song; released on his album The Miracle Mile
- "Sign Me Up" (unreleased) – described as "basically us swearing our heads off for six minutes"
- "Adrift" (re-recorded for BLAM, and released on the album Stop Us If You've Heard This One Before)
- "What a Let Down" (re-recorded for BLAM)
- "I Can, I Will, I Do" (previously recorded on Disc One, and re-recorded for BLAM; appears on iTunes Originals - Barenaked Ladies. Later released on Stop Us If You've Heard This One Before).
- "Yes! Yes!! Yes!!!" (bonus track on the special edition's DVD, and b-side on the UK single for "Celebrity". Later released on Stop Us If You've Heard This One Before).
As with each of their early albums, the band recorded one song, "Sign Me Up", completely naked. Everything to Everyone is the band’s last album for which a naked track (recorded in the nude) was recorded.
Release
The album was released in three versions:
- The standard 14-track album
- A limited edition, marked with a sticker, that contained three bonus tracks from the acoustic session
- A special edition in a threefold digipack with plastic sleeve; with the standard CD, and a bonus DVD labeled Everything Else (containing DVD-Audio of the album including bonus track "Yes! Yes!! Yes!!!", and both video and stereo-audio forms of the acoustic show, and several video clips from the recording studio)
The album's first single was "Another Postcard", which many fans perceived as an attempt by the record company to repeat the success of hit singles "One Week" from Stunt and "Pinch Me" from Maroon, which have similar styles and rap-based vocals. Though the band appeared on a number of major U.S. talk shows to promote it, the single was not significantly successful. The band supported the album release with a U.S. tour called the Peepshow tour, which was not a typical promotional tour for the band and was seen as being somewhat geared towards the band's biggest fans, rather than promoting the album to casual fans. Everything to Everyone debuted in the Canadian and US Top 10, but dropped fairly quickly down the charts. At the time it was only the band's second album to have not at least been certified Gold in the US, along with 1994's Maybe You Should Drive.
The album's second single, "Testing 1,2,3", was released early in 2004 with its own music video, coinciding with a more traditional arena tour. A different single, "Maybe Katie", was released to radio in Canada. The album, however, did not see a significant resurgence in sales.
A third single, "For You", was released on a single with the album version and a live version from Glasgow, Scotland, but did not receive a video. The song received little airplay. In the UK, "Celebrity" was released as a radio and commercial single.
DualDisc version
Everything to Everyone was included among a group of 15 DualDisc releases that were test marketed in Boston and Seattle. It contains the standard CD album on one side, and bonus DVD material on the second side. The DualDisc version has not been reissued.
Track listing
All tracks are written by Steven Page and Ed Robertson, except where noted.
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead vocals | Length |
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1. | "Celebrity" | Steven Page; Ed Robertson; Kevin Hearn | Steven Page | 3:27 |
2. | "Maybe Katie" | Steven Page; Ed Robertson; Jim Creeggan, | Steven Page, Ed Robertson | 2:58 |
3. | "Another Postcard" | Steven Page, Ed Robertson | 3:25 | |
4. | "Next Time" | Steven Page; Ed Robertson; Kevin Hearn; Jim Creeggan | Steven Page | 3:51 |
5. | "For You" | Ed Robertson | 3:27 | |
6. | "Shopping" | Steven Page; Ed Robertson; Kevin Hearn | Steven Page | 3:34 |
7. | "Testing 1,2,3" | Ed Robertson | 3:32 | |
8. | "Upside Down" | Steven Page | 3:15 | |
9. | "War on Drugs" | Steven Page | 5:32 | |
10. | "Aluminum" | Ed Robertson | 4:34 | |
11. | "Unfinished" | Steven Page; Ed Robertson; Kevin Hearn | Steven Page, Ed Robertson | 3:00 |
12. | "Second Best" | Steven Page; Ed Robertson; Kevin Hearn | Steven Page | 3:21 |
13. | "Take It Outside" | Ed Robertson | 3:49 | |
14. | "Have You Seen My Love?" | Steven Page | 2:55 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead vocals | Length |
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15. | "Another Postcard (acoustic)" | Steven Page, Ed Robertson | 3:35 | |
16. | "Maybe Katie (acoustic)" | Steven Page; Ed Robertson; Jim Creeggan | Steven Page, Ed Robertson | 3:09 |
17. | "Second Best (acoustic)" | Steven Page; Ed Robertson; Kevin Hearn | Steven Page | 3:21 |
Personnel
Barenaked Ladies
Additional personnel
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Production
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References
- "Everything To Everyone by Barenaked Ladies". Retrieved October 3, 2016.
- Wilson, MacKenzie. Everything to Everyone at AllMusic. Retrieved 2011-09-02.
- "Barenaked Ladies: Everything to Everyone". Blender: 108. November 2003.
- Tully2K. "Wait, You've Never Heard: Barenaked Ladies' Everything to Everyone". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved September 2, 2011.
- Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-85712-595-8.
- Weingarten, Marc (October 24, 2003). "Everything to Everyone Review". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved April 2, 2012.
- Galloway, Matt (October 23, 2003). "Barenaked Ladies: Everything to Everyone". NOW. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
- Schabe, Patrick (November 13, 2003). "Barenaked Ladies: Everything to Everyone". Popmatters. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
- "Barenaked Ladies: Everything to Everyone". Q: 98. May 2004.
- Hoard, Christian (November 4, 2003). "Barenaked Ladies: Everything To Everyone : Music Reviews". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on October 1, 2007. Retrieved April 2, 2012.
- Wolk, Douglas (2004). "Barenaked Ladies". The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). New York: Simon & Schuster. pp. 44–45. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.