Sloan: Rock Gods of the Internal Stadium
By Tankboy in Arts & Entertainment on May 18, 2007 7:50PM
We will never understand why Sloan is not the biggest band in the world right now. This group of Canadians consistently release strong albums, the weakest of which still put 98% of the world's rock and/or roll bands to shame. They've transitioned from a band of shoegazing popsters, into a '60s-tinged hit-machine until settling on their current trend of penning impeccable melodies influenced by equal parts '70s arena rock and timeless power-pop.
The band's latest disc, Never Hear The End Of It, carries on for 30 (!) tracks, and while there are a couple stumbles along the way, the journey is overwhelmingly blissful. We would still recommend their masterpiece Navy Blues to a neophyte (or their excellent singles compilation (but make sure you get the version that includes the bonus DVD with all their videos (who KNEW Sloan had so many videos?!)), but Never Hear The End Of It does an excellent job of capturing the many strengths and extreme flexibility of Sloan.
We've seen the band a number of times, and have never been let down by their live show. Since the band follows the rule of "you sing the songs you write", the four men of Sloan are constantly switching instruments and taking their turns at the microphone, and the result is a tumultuous good time. If you only see one show this weekend, this is the one that should knock all the other out of contention.
Sloan plays The Metro tomorrow at 9 p.m. Small Sins opens and Panic!'s DJ Pogo provides the between set tunes.