The Canadian act’s single ”Brian Wilson” is from its 14-month-old album ”Rock Spectacle,” an enhanced CD of live performances released worldwide Nov. 19, 1996, on Nettwerk/Reprise. The single has helped set up a strong foundation for the group’s upcoming studio album, slated for worldwide release July 7.

  According to SoundScan, ”Rock Spectacle” has sold 346,000 units in the U.S. ”Brian Wilson” is No. 68 on the Hot 100 Singles chart, No. 24 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart, and No. 40 on the Adult Top 40 chart.

  The group’s co-singer/guitarist Stephen Page says the album has given Barenaked Ladies – often referred to as BNL – a ”second chance.”

  ”We feel that we’re on the verge of breaking this band big this year,” says Rich Fitzgerald, executive VP/GM of Reprise Records U.S. ”Radio and TV have never gotten them. They just thought it wasn’t right for them. In the last 60 days, however, the band’s image has changed. [Industry] people are now saying, ’We want to be involved.’”

  The 13 track ”Rock Spectacle” features sparkling live versions of tracks from the band’s previous albums: ”Gordon” (released worldwide in July 1992) ”Maybe You Should Drive” (1994); and ”Born On A Pirate Ship” (1996). Among the gems on ”Rock Spectacle” are ”What A Good Boy,” ”If I Had $1,000,000,” ”Jane,” ”When I Fall, ”The Old Apartment,” and ”Shoe Box.

  According to Page, ”Rock Spectacle was intended as a stopgap for the U.S. market while the band prepared it next studio recording, originally due last year. ”[The performances] captured a lot of the energy that the stud records haven’t,” Page says. ”We’re been on the road straight for the pa year. Our tour was supposed to finish. last May. We took three months off and went out for the entire summer and good portion of the fall.”

  The band’s manager, Vancouver based Terry McBride of Nettwerk Management, says the strategy for the band’s career is based on the template he used for Sarah McLachlan,, whom also manages. ” ’Rock Spectacle’ is about [setting up] the band’s next album,” he says. He adds that promoting”Brian Wilson” will help set up the first single from the Barenaked Ladies next album in the way that McLachlan ”Possession” single set up the single ”Building A Mystery” from ”Surfacing.”

  Eric Fritschi, artist development manager for Reprise Records U.S., the label approached ”Rock Spectacle as a greatest-hits record that would give the label a chance to revisit songs of ”Gordon” and other previous release. With the introduction of ”Rock Spectacle,” Fritschi says the label shipped a live version of ”The Old Apartment originally on ”Born On A Pirate Ship and ”re-attacked modern rock [radio]

  Bob Divney, VP of alternative  promotion for Reprise Records U.S., ”We ended up having 40 modern rock stations on ’The Old Apartment’ throughout the life of the record, which was almost a year.”

  As Reprise executives pondered the next single from ”Rock Spectacle,” WDCG Raleigh, N.C., WPLT Detroit, and WKSE Buffalo, N.Y.– all of whieh had supported ’The Old Apartment” – began to play ”Brian Wilson.” ”We then saw huge sales moves in those markets, and that helped us to decide on ’Brian Wilson,” says Fritsehi. The album track and a new studio version, recorded in Seattle, were serviced to top 40, AC, triple-A, modern rock, and roots music stations in September 1997.

  During the second-to-last week of 1997, modern rock WKQX (Q101) Chicago added the record, and WNNX (99X) Atlanta had, as Divney says, ”a phenomenal call-out research story.”  “We then picked up 15 to 18 adds the following week,” Divney says, “including WPOY in Philadelphia and WHFS in Washington, D.C.... Now we’re at 65 modern rock stations on ’Brian Wilson’ and closing in on 1,000 spins.” Adds Fitzgerald, ”After Q101 hit the record, and 99X went with it... sales blew up.”

  Says Alex Luke, PD at WKQX: ”Around Christmas time, we started talking about bands that had a following and were generating interest in Chicago with little or no radio airplay. And Barenaked Ladies fell under that banner. They’ve always had a loyal following here, and [adding ”Brian Wilson”] was more giving a nod to the band than to the song. Once we put it on, it started getting requests, and [the album] began to sell like crazy.” The label plans to service a videoclip for the single in March. The single will be serviced to pop radio in March as well, according to Fritsehi.

  BNL, formed in the fall of 1988 by its prime songwriters, Page and co-vocaist/guitarist Ed Robertson, also includes drummer Tyler Stewart, bassist Jim Creeggan, and keyboardist Kevin Hearn. The group is recording its next album with Susan Rogers at Arlyn Studios in Austin, Texas. BNL, booked by Little Big Man, is set to participate in the 1998 H.O.R.D.E. tour, slated to start July 10. That lineup is also expected to include H.O.R.D.E.’s founding band, Blues Traveler, and artist Ben Harper.

  The project failed to attract much attention until the band, popularly known as BNL, was prohibited from performing here in a city-sponsored New Year’s Eve concert because then-Mayor June Rowlands considered its name sexist. The resulting media coverage made the group a household name nationwide.

  Boosted by airplay of its tracks on MuchMusic and at modern rock, album rock, top 40, and even country radio stations, the cassette made Canadian music history as the first indie release to reach gold status (50,000 units); it eventually sold 75,000 units (Billboard, Jan. 11, 1992).

  Barenaked Ladies then entered a music contest at modern rock CFNY Toronto and won $100,000 Canadian. The group used the money to finance its first album, ”Gordon,” and subsequently signed a worldwide deal with Sire Records.

  Some sources say the band’s car- toonish image hindered its ability to develop a strong base of support for ”Gordon” among skeptical American radio programmers. However, the band did moderately well at modern rock stations in markets close to the U.S.-Canadian border – such as Buffalo, N.Y., and Detroit – and in such pockets as Phoenix; Tucson, Ariz.; Santa Fe, N.M.; and Denver. The recent sales surge of ”Rock Spectacle” – Barenaked Ladies’ latest album, which includes a live version of ”Brian Wilson” – has affected ”Gordon” in the U.S.; the latter has sold 852,000 units to date.

  Despite its tepid U.S. reception, ”Gordon” topped the Canadian retail album chart in Canadian trade The Record within two weeks of its release and eventually sold 950,000 units, according to Ron Morse, marketing manager, Warner Music Canada.

  The band’s second album, ”Maybe You Should Drive,” was released worldwide in August 1994 on Sire Records. The album has sold 265,000 copies in Canada, according to Morse; in the U.S., it has sold 194,000 units, according to SoundScan.