sound/voice

sound

vibrations that travel through the air or another medium and can be heard when they reach a person's or animal's ear

voice

the sound produced in a person's larynx and uttered through the mouth, as speech or song

...as I am patted down, ticket scanned and make my way through the gate, I begin to think more about the familiar sound that has somewhat escaped me for a number of years.  The unique sound, the identifiable voice of Steven Page and the Barenaked Ladies.  You have probably heard them, mainly in a car and yet their sound and his voice may make us feel something totally different.  For me, it was the summer of 1999 when this sound made me feel something.  The something over the years has been both comforting and familiar to me, knowing that its always there for me to listen to.  To give me that feeling once again; simply put, happy.  So as we found our seats and waited for the first note, my anticipation grew, thinking about the feeling I was excited to feel again.

Page

You see, that is what sound, and many times voice can give us; comfort, excitement, joy.  And although not all of us may be fans of BNL, like many musical artists, the sounds take us somewhere most of us want to return to, over and over again.  The feelings we get as we listen cannot be forced, they are ours to experience and hopefully enjoy.  What had been nearly 20 years since seeing and listening to BNL live in concert, the hour and a half show at the Blue Hills Bank Pavilion in Boston was truly enjoyable.  The band sounded just as good as I remember, yet something was missing, both sound and voice.  As the night went on I was fixated on this and to my shocking surprise 8 years prior, their iconic front man Steven Page had left the band...

So yes, 17 years ago I saw and more importantly listened to the complete BNL for the last time.  And now is about the time I'm left feeling cheated.  Page's voice is what drew me to the BNL, it is what left me wanting more time and time again.  His voice mixing with the musical sounds from the band made me feel something specific to them and now its gone, stripped away from our world.  My wife and I both were in agreement and spent the hour car ride home in the darkness of the night, with the glow of the dash, discussing this very thing, as we listened to all the songs that we missed out on that night.  All the classic Page sounds which the remaining "Ladies" mostly stayed away from.  Admittedly I spent the next few days obsessively reading up on the whole Page split as both my wife and I somehow missed this altogether.  Embarrassingly we were probably the only couple who couldn't figure out why the accordion player wasn't singing old apartment.

I guess you may be saying so what, just scroll through your library and cycle through all BNL music pre-2008, done.  So I say to you, you are right...