Saturday morning, before heading out on adventures, I checked in, as I do, on social media, and find myself tagged by a friend with this:

Day X of 10 of my all-time favorite albums. 10 days. What really made an impact and is still on your rotation list, even if only now and then. Post the cover, no need to explain, and nominate a person each day to do the same. Nominated by XXXXXX, I now nominate XXXXXXX

This sort of thing, of course, is exactly the kind of thing that gets my brain churning. Music, if you know me, for me, is a very big deal. While I followed the rules over on social media, I’m reserving the right to extend my remarks over here, because this is my space, and I can do what I want. I’m a little behind, but I’ll catch up as time allows. Not in any particular order, though here we go.

Day Two: Barenaked Ladies: Maybe You Should Drive (1994)

As with the previous record, I reviewed this one here previously, back in September 2011. At the time, I said:

…When I imagine what “Barenaked Ladies” sounds like, I hear this record: “Alternative Girlfriend.” “Life In A Nutshell.” “Am I The Only One.” The vocal harmonies. The percussive acoustic guitars. The all-Creegan rhythm section. As much as I grew to like Kevin Hearn in the band, there’s just something about Andy Creegan’s piano, and the way it meshed perfectly with Jim’s upright bass that’s been missing in the band’s output since.

Yeah. I came to BNL, via one of my lovely wife’s college housemates toward the end of this record’s run, right before Born on A Pirate Ship came out. She was a little more into Gordon, but this one broke through the whimsy a bit and brought a kind of songwriting maturity that wasn’t as represented on that one. I really, really dug it, and in spite of the success that came later (post “One Week”), I love this one as a neat little discovery of some small Canadian band no one ever heard of doing great quirky pop. This experience also got me into a period of trading bootleg tapes of live shows on early internet boards, which was a neat experience, and one that’s pretty much been entirely overcome by technology here in the future.