I don't feel out of line, or out of my mind, when I declare Sloan as the best power pop band to come out of Canada. When I first heard them in the early nineties I had visions of a Lennon / McCartney songwriting partnership being birthed way out east in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The boys never rose to that pinnacle in their art, or fame, but they grew into an extremely confident unit of four songwriters and singers and one of Canada's best.The band's debut full length was Smeared and it did... it smeared their name all across Canadian media (sometimes the media know a good thing, even when they hear it). Although like most debuts it was a hodgepodge of influences, but the most enduring songs from the record are the power pop numbers. "500 Up", "Underwhelmed", and "I Am The Cancer" still hold and deliver their power, but the best was yet to come. Some may argue with my choice of Sloan's best work... Twice Removed from 1994, but it was this release which brought the power pop influence to the fore while still being more firmly imprinted with the individulistic touchs of the band members. "Coax Me", "Shame Shame", "Deeper Than Beauty", and "Bells On" are all great songs, while "I Hate My Generation", "Snowsuit Sound", and "Worried Now" are just VERY good.
Sloan's most recent release is a collection of singles called A Side Wins: Singles 1992 - 2005. This album contains most of the songs referenced here and includes a new cut titled, "Try To Make It". A nice song, but nothing compared to the earlier songs brimming with the band's youth.
+ try to make it
Smeared, Twice Removed, and A Side Wins: Singles 1992 - 2005, are all now available at emusic. And get this... with emusic's great trial offer, 50 Free Mp3 Downloads!... you can get all three of these albums and you'll have ten downloads left over. Check it for yourself through this link.
Ok, while you are clearly awesome for discussing Sloan, posting this song and just for running this blog in general, I would actually argue that "Try To Make It" is the band's best song in, say, seven years. It backs off from the kind of glammy rock star posing that I thought rather dangerously afflicted the last two albums and finds them going back to writing straight up brilliant
ReplyDeletepop songs. Well done!
I wouldn't say it's the best Sloan song in seven years, but it's probably Chris's finest in at least that much. Could've been a great Squeeze single too.
ReplyDeleteGreat song. First time I've heard of them and now it's not going to be the last. :)
ReplyDelete