It’s as if Sloan gave a good thousand listens to the Beatles’ Abbey Road and then thought of how amazing the Fab-Four sounded when mashing little ethereal song ideas all together in one solid block of music. Oddly enough, as Sloan puts forth some amazingly lovely vocal and guitar harmonies on this album, the reference to the Beatles might not be all that far fetched.
Trust me, it all works.
From the simple backbeat of the opening track, “Flying High Again,” down to the great guitar swaggered groove of “Another Way I Could Do It,” this album amply served me my daily allowance of musicianship, talent, songwriting, harmony, and ambition — that’s right, ambition.
Sloan seems to be searching and reaching for something on this album. Sitting here and listening to the fruits of their labor, I find that all I can do is sit here and congratulate them on this record.
I love it, I find myself listening to it at least twice a day, and it will eventually cause me to hunt down every single thing this band has ever released. For those thinking I’m tooting their horn a bit too much — look, I realize that Sloan didn’t invent the wheel here.
I’m just grateful that they have shown, on this album at least, that they are very capable of taking it for a proper spin.
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Article comments
1 - Vern Halen
I mentioned this album in a comment in a thread last week - it's one of the best albums of the year, and maybe the best album of Sloan's career. I saw them a couple of months ago, and they opened with about 4 or 5 cuts off this album - brand new, never before heard, and instantly singable by the second chorus.
I like your comparison to Abbey Road - I personally thought of Husker Du's Zen Arcade, not for the sound, but for the scope. There's lots of ground to cover here.
This is possibly better even than One Chord to Another, Sloans's other great album, which I think is the best album the Revolver-era Beatles never made.
Yeah, go out and buy all of their albums - you'll have a great catalog to work through in the new year!
2 - Connie Phillips
Congrats! This article has been forwarded to the Advance.net websites.
3 - Sydney
Ya I just bought this album myself. I agree, it's awsome and one of the best of their career.
I think the critics are guilty of curbing the success of this band. They always complain that the band sounds stuck in a classic-rock feel... that there is no edge to the band. This type of criticism ignores that fact that the songs are catchy as hell. So what if it's not a new sound. It's a sweet sound, and that's all I want from one of the best pop-rock bands around.