''Silverball'' is the 11th full-length original-material studio album by

Barenaked Ladies Barenaked Ladies (BNL) is a Canadian Rock music, rock band which was formed in 1988 in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough, Ontario. The band developed a following in Canada, with their Barenaked Ladies (EP), self-titled 1991 cassette becoming th ...

. The album was released on 2 June 2015. The album is the band's third studio album since the departure of founding member

Steven Page Steven Jay Page (born June 22, 1970) is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He was a founding member, lead singer, guitarist, and primary songwriter of the music group Barenaked Ladies. Page left the band in February ...

in February 2009. The album was recorded in late 2014 and early 2015 with producer Gavin Brown. The cover art depicts a

pinball Pinball games are a family of games in which a ball is propelled into a specially designed table where it bounces off various obstacles, scoring points either en route or when it comes to rest. Historically the board was studded with nails call ...

sitting on a pinball table surface, reflecting the darkened figure of a man playing. Lead singer and guitarist

Ed Robertson Lloyd Edward Elwyn Robertson (born October 25, 1970) is a Canadian musician, best known as the lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter of the band Barenaked Ladies. He, along with former member Steven Page, founded the group in 1988. As of Page' ...

, an acknowledged longtime video game fanatic turned his interest towards pinball in the 2010s, amassing a collection of machines. The inspiration of the name Silverball came from the giant glitterball which hung above the floor of the O2 ABC venue in Glasgow, Scotland. Which the band relayed as one of their favourite venues. The venue itself has since burned down and is no longer in use - it is believed the glitterball was destroyed in the fire.

Best Buy Best Buy Co., Inc. is an American multinational consumer electronics retailer headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota. Originally founded by Richard M. Schulze and James Wheeler in 1966 as an audio specialty store called Sound of Music, it was r ...

offered a retailer-exclusive limited-time edition of the album in the U.S. including "Counting Down" and "Fall Back On", two songs which were initially cut from the album. Both songs are exclusive to

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

in Canada, who also offer a track-by-track commentary by the band for the album. The album was released on vinyl on 31 July 2015. '' BNL Rocks Red Rocks'', a live album recorded at

Red Rocks Amphitheatre Red Rocks Amphitheatre (also known colloquially as simply Red Rocks) is an open-air amphitheater in the Western United States, western United States near Morrison, Colorado, approximately southwest of Denver. It is owned and operated by the c ...

during the tour for ''Silverball'', was released 20 May 2016.

Reception

In Canada, the album debuted with 4,000 copies sold in its first week of release. In the U.S., the album debuted at No. 46 on the Billboard 200, and No. 5 on Top Rock Albums chart, selling 11,000 copies in its first week. The album has sold 28,000 copies in the United States as of April 2016.

Track listing

Singles

The lead single, "

Say What You Want "Say What You Want" is a song by Scottish rock band Texas, written by band members Johnny McElhone and Sharleen Spiteri. It was the first single to be released from the group's fourth studio album, ''White on Blonde'' (1997), and released via ...

", was made available for streaming on 27 April 2015. On 4 May 2015, a video for "Silverball" was released as a thank you from Robertson to the community of the pinball website Pinside.com for their technical assistance with his pinball machines. It was released for digital download the following day. A lyric video for "Duct Tape Heart" was released 10 July 2015. The official music video for "Duct Tape Heart", containing live footage of the band's performance at

on the Last Summer On Earth 2015 tour, was released on 19 October 2015 to coincide with the start of the Canadian leg of the Silverball tour.

Personnel

Jim Creeggan James Raymond Creeggan (born February 12, 1970) is the bassist for Canadian alternative rock band Barenaked Ladies. Early life Creeggan was born in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough, Ontario. His mother taught piano lessons to neighbourhood chi ...

– Electric bass, background vocals, lead vocal on "Narrow Streets" *

Kevin Hearn Kevin Neil Hearn (born July 3, 1969) is a Canadian musician who is a member of Barenaked Ladies, and his own group, Kevin Hearn and Thin Buckle. He primarily plays keyboard (instrument), keyboards and guitars. He is also a member of Rheostatics ...

– Piano, synthesizers, keyboards, acoustic and electric guitars, background vocals, lead vocal on "Passcode" and "Tired of Fighting With You" *

– Lead vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, banjo, background vocals *

Tyler Stewart Tyler Joseph Stewart (born September 21, 1967) is the drummer for the Canadian music group Barenaked Ladies. Early life Stewart was born in Toronto, but was raised in Newmarket, Ontario. He is the son of Sandra Stewart and stepson of Robert Stew ...

– Drums, percussion, mouth guitar, background vocals Additional: *Tim Bovaconti – Pedal steel on "Fall Back On" * Mike Evin – Keyboards on "Counting Down" *Lyle Herbert-Robertson – Electric guitar solo on "Piece of Cake" *Hugh Marsh – Electric violin on "Duct Tape Heart", "Matter of Time", "Piece of Cake" and "Tired of Fighting With You" *Perry White – Saxophone on "Passcode"

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2015 albums Barenaked Ladies albums Vanguard Records albums Albums produced by Gavin Brown (musician)