The Unheard Music (Volume XLIX)

I recently wrote a piece about the band Sloan that aired as a "Hear Now" segment. I was amazed how many people heard it and told me that they'd never heard or even heard of  the band before.  That was all I needed to decide to do an Unheard Music feature on them.  From Toronto by way of Halifax, I present Canadian superstars but relative unknowns everywhere else: Sloan.

Sloan peaked kind of early, at least in the States.  After releasing just an EP on their own label, DGC snapped them up and they released their major label Smeared in 1992.  You can see how much a big budget major label record can influence a band's sound from Sloan's first single "Underwhelmed".  The version from their first EP is here, not bad, a catchy song but not a whole lot going on sonically.  Then we have the revved-up big-budget version here, from Smeared.  The Smeared album did alright but in the grunge era, it wasn't grunge enough and Sloan were far from a  grunge band anyway.  Their second DGC record--Twice Removed--tanked commercially.  I can't say I was a huge fan of the record, myself.  The record found an audience but not enough to satsify Geffen and they were dropped from the label.  The band then went on hiatus and they pretty much dropped off my radar until around 2003 when they made another attempt to crack the U.S. market with their Action Pact album.  It sure got my attention, leadoff track "Gimme That" harkened back to the glossy power pop of Smeared.  That song made my Best of CD in 2003.  While Action Pact failed to break Sloan in the States, it was enough for me to fill in the gaps in my Sloan catalog and I awaited their next record. 

I ended up waiting three years for the sprawling, epic Never Hear The End Of It, which clocks in at almost 80 minutes and contained 30 songs.  Not unlike Sgt. Pepper and XTC's Skylarking, most of the album is intermixed, with one song fading into the next.  A perfect example is the first two tracks, " Flyin' High Again/Who Taught You to Live Like That? " which features a nearly seamless transition.  What should have been a huge commercial success ended up as another critical smash and stengthened their Canadian fanbase.  It did crack the Billboard Heatseekers chart, making it the first Sloan record to chart in the U.S.  What sets Sloan apart from many other bands is that all four members write songs and like the Beatles did, he who wrote the song sings it, so you have four different voices on each album. They recently released a scaled-back follow-up Parallel Play, their shortest album to date.  Lead track  "Believe in Me" is textbook Sloan, which is to say it's a strong, poppy song with great harmonies.  So why is this band not huge?  You tell me.

What was your familiarity with Sloan before reading this post?  Do you like what you hear?  Thanks for visiting, have a great weekend, enjoy the music.

Comments

[Mike]

I received a free promo of "One Chord to Another" when that album came out. For me, Sloan falls into the "pleasant but not quite interesting enough to buy" category.

[Kenny]

I'm a big fan of Sloan. You can always count on a solid release from these kids. I feel like Sloan and Superdrag both should have been more popular. They both make great pop songs (In my opinion, should be all over the radio...but, we all know that story). I did read a very entertaining review of the new Sloan record:

Sloan, I only have room for so many bands in my life. I can't give myself to every single one, there'd be no me left. There are a ton of unlistenable bands in the world, and there's even more mildly listenable bands. There's a bit less listenable bands, and the smallest group is very listenable, or great, bands. But even though it's the smallest group, it's still a very big number. Too much for me to hold them all in my heart. So you and me, Sloan, we never got together. But whenever I see you, and I see you, around or whatever, I always know that if I'd lived my life differently, we might have been something.

[drcastrato]

SLO-OAN. I have been a HUGE Sloan fan since Smeared. I love every album, including Twice Removed. My favorites are 1998's Navy Blues, followed closely by 1999's Between the Bridges. They also put on a consistently good live show. They switch instruments regularly to give everyone a chance to sing their owns songs. Great band. I can't say enough good things about them. One of my all-time faves.