The Vanity Project

Infobox Album |
Name = The Vanity Project
Type = Album
Artist = The Vanity Project


Caption =
Released = June 21, 2005
Recorded =
Genre = Pop
Length = 46:19
Label = Flagship Recordings
Producer =
Reviews =
Last album =
This album = The Vanity Project (2005)
Next album =

The Vanity Project is a side project for Steven Page of the Barenaked Ladies. It is also the name of the first (and presently only) album released under the project.

Steven Page began collaborating with songwriter Stephen Duffy in the early 90's, and their first co-written tracks appeared on the Barenaked Ladies' second release, "Maybe You Should Drive". The two co-wrote a number of songs over the years, including several on each of the band's next two albums. On their fifth album, "Maroon" Only one Duffy co-write was included (at least two others were cut). Starting with the following album, the band decided that it would be best to keep the writing duties amongst the band members. Page started the Vanity Project to allow himself to write with other writers outside of Barenaked Ladies, as well as to express some writing ideas that did not work within the band.

The only album produced to date is self-titled and features songs written mostly with long-time collaborator Stephen Duffy (one track - "So. Cal" - was written solo). Some of the songs are older holdovers ("That's All, That's All" was a song cut from "Maroon"). Other songs were written later for the project.

The album was released on June 21, 2005. Its first two singles, "That's All, That's All" (in the U.S.) and "Wilted Rose" (in Canada), were released in early May 2005. Only the latter song had a music video, which was animated.

Track listing

#"Hit and Run" – 4:10
#"Wilted Rose" – 4:40
#"These Wasted Words" – 4:11
#"So. Cal" – 3:16
#"That's All, That's All" – 3:42
#"Everything's the Same" – 5:56
#"Glitterbug" – 2:36
#"Thank You For Sharing" – 4:42
#"Baby Loves the Radio" – 2:54
#"By The Roadside" – 3:56
#"So Young So Wrong So Long" – 3:18
#"Here Today and Yesterday" – 2:57

Live Performances

Steven Page toured alone in the summer following the album's release, and played solo shows, mainly in music and book stores around the United States. He played both songs from "The Vanity Project", and Barenaked Ladies songs.

In January 2007, Page put together a band for the Barenaked Ladies Ships and Dip Cruise. The Vanity Projects, as he dubbed them, performed two shows in the Firebird Lounge of the Carnival Legend. The band included Steven Page (vocals, guitar), Jay Coyle (drums, vocals), Chandler Coyle (Bass) and Allan Fogul (guitar, vocals). The first show was January 15, and included guest performance by Kevin Hearn on guitar for the final encore of "Second Best" (a Barenaked Ladies song). The second show, on January 17, included a guest performance by Ed Robertson singing on "Wilted Rose", and playing tambourine, and the band playing a cover of The Jam's "This is The Modern World" as one of their encores.

In January 2008 the Vanity Projects band played 2 shows as a part of the Barenaked Ladies Ships and Dip III cruise on the Carnival Victory. The band included Steven Page (vocals, guitar), Jay Coyle (drums, vocals), Chandler Coyle (Bass) plus Craig Northey (guitar, vocals) and Murray Atkinson (guitar, vocals, keyboards) from the New Odds. The first show was Monday January 28 in the Adriatic Lounge and included a cover of a song by The Mountain Goats called "This Year". The second show was Wednesday January 30 and originally scheduled for the Lido Deck stage, however weather forced a change of venues and the band returned to the Adriatic stage. Steven did a long solo acoustic portion at the beginning of the show and was joined by the band for the remainder of the show. During this second show they played "This Year" again and also a cover of a song by the The Long Winters called "Honest".

External links

* [http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/_/id/7360215/barenakedladies RollingStone.com news item: "Barenaked Page Goes Solo"]
* [http://www.bnlmusic.com Barenaked Ladies official website]
* [http://www.vanity-project.com The Vanity Project official website]