Search - Sloan :: One Chord to Another

While I'm Skipping Stones/And I'm Listening To The Shells...

winkingtiger | Oakland, CA | 03/20/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In the movie 'High Fidelity', some of the characters list their favorite opening tracks of all time. If I were doing that, 'The Good In Everyone' from this, Sloan's third album, would be in the top five of MY list. This is everything a good opening (rock) track should be: aggressive, grand, & somewhat shambolic (remember 'Taxman'?) And it only gets better from there!



By this album, Sloan had left their grunge roots behind and made what was to be the style of all subsequent Sloan albums, 60's pop sensibility, 70's stadium rock presentation, and a very modern indie-rock wryness...especially in their lyrics. I actually like their grunge stuff, but albums such as this and Navy Blues, etc., show that they are capable of so much more. With all four Sloan members writing and singing, not to mention occasionally switching instrument roles, a huge variety of sounds are available...and Sloan uses them all. Grand stadium rock in 'The Good In Everyone', Brian Wilson-esque introverted pop on 'Junior Panthers', neo-grunge indie zoom on 'G Turns To D'...there's a little of everything here. Yet it all sounds consistent and it always sounds like.....Sloan! The songs may take a few listens to 'sink in', but they will, and they're worth it.



Of course, any good (male) pop band needs songs about girls, and Sloan are no exception...except that their perspective is very different. 'Take The Bench' is addressed to a young girl performing a recital for a less-than-receptive audience, 'Everything You've Done Wrong' is about a girl who is about to serve a prison sentence, and 'The Lines You Amend' (a brilliant pop gem) is about a girlfriend who just killed herself! Everything in Sloan's world is slightly skewed...



Sloan should be as popular as any indie artist you can name. Unfortunately, they are almost unknown in the U.S. I guess being from Halifax, Nova Scotia doesn't really put you at the center of the music industry. It's a shame, really, and if you like extremely well-crafted pop-rock with a certain 'retro' feel, yet unlike anything else going on right now, you owe it to yourself to get at least one Sloan album. And if you can get this CD with the bonus disc, 'Live At A Sloan Party', do so...it's a great example of their early 'basement' days with covers of everyone from the Hollies to Stereolab, and an acoustic Simon & Garfunkel -esque version of "I Am The Cancer' ( ! ). Lots of fun!"

Bonus CD is worth the price of admission

07/08/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"One Chord to Another was originally released by a label called The Enclave, not Geffen, as listed here. It's since been re-released on Sloan's Murder Records. It's Sloan's 3rd full length and is excellent. This little gem includes a bonus CD of Sloan performing live at a house party. It's rough, it's sweet, it's tight, it's funny, it's energizing, it's intimate, it's everything a Sloan fan is looking for and includes a good mix of Sloan classics and some cool covers (including an interesting take on Roxy Music's "Over You")."