Sloan - Never Hear The End Of It

Disclaimer: When it comes to my reviews of a Sloan album, they should always be taken with a grain of salt since I have a tendency to change my mind regularly as to how I feel about them. A few examples: Navy Blues then: I said it was a little predictable and the songs all sounded the same. Navy Blues now: Classic! Smeared then: Other than "Underwhelmed" and "Take It In", I don't really get it. Smeared now: Masterpiece! Action Pact then: Their best album since Navy Blues. Action Pact now: Meh. Now on with the review of their new album entitled, "Never Hear The End Of It."

Seeing as the title of my blog is taken from a brilliant line in the Sloan classic song "Coax Me," it's probably safe to say that I'm a big Sloan fan and have been for many years. Back when Sloan released their brilliant album "One Chord To Another," they referred to it as the "new long-playing heavy by Sloan." However, the term "long-playing heavy" has never been more applicable to any album in recent years than to their latest CD. Clocking in at over 75 minutes, and boasting 30 new songs, I really wasn't expecting to be blown away. I mean, that's a lot of new material to digest. But this really is a better-than-average album, with enough good tunes to keep me interested, and actually very minimal filler. In fact, even the songs that sound sort of filler-ish to start with, actually get better and better with every listen. If you've been a little disappointed with their last few releases, than you may want to give this one a chance. For me it has a freshness that I haven't heard from the boys since the early years. Some of the highlights for me are songs like "Fading Into Obscurity", which is Chris Murphy at his most McCartney-esque, complete with tempo changes and piano-based melodies. I dig the one-two punch of "Living With The Masses" and "HFXNSHC" which is some bizarre Offspring meets Uncle Tupelo sort of foray into punk rock. I also absolutely love Andrew Scott's contributions, particularly "I Know You", which may be his best song since "People In The Sky." It's funny, because I just finished reading a review that criticized the album for all the reasons why I love it. Many of the songs are only 1 minute or so in length, which I think is a great idea for an album featuring 30 songs. It's like if Side Two of The Beatles' Abbey Road were a double album in length. Also, it's done in the continuous song cycle way, which the reviewer didn't like because it doesn't sound good on an ipod and it makes the songs less than ideal for a mix tape. Point taken, but in this day and age of mp3's, it's refreshing to hear a band create an ALBUM again! Which brings me to another thing I really enjoy about the release, the songs have been sequenced perfectly to create a mood wherein the album almost needs to be listened to in one sitting. (Or at least 2 sittings, maybe taking a break after track 15.) Overall, I think this is my favourite Sloan CD since "One Chord..." and in the 2 days since I've owned it, I've already listened to it all the way through more often than I did with their last 2 albums. Finally, this may be the return-to-form release Sloan fans have been waiting for.

Downloads: HFXNSHC mp3 / Fading Into Obscurity mp3

Purchase the album here.

Sloan on myspace.