New SLOAN album "Commonwealth" due Sept 9!

Just curious - which seven?

 

I didn't order these four:

Smeared
Twice Removed
Pretty Together
Action Pact

I did download an average of one song from each of these albums, but I didn't care much for the rest of the samples I heard. Those four albums sounded a bit too much like the Oasis "wall of guitars" sound that grates on me. Am I missing something?

 

I have the same take as you on Smeared, and maybe to some degree on Pretty Together and Action Pact (though those two are still pretty good). However, Twice Removed is one of my favorites and I would consider it essential in the Sloan catalog.

 

Nope, good choices. Twice Removed is a considered a classic and one of their best but it's definitely more alt-rock than their later Beatle-y material. Smeared is good but early-90s shoegazer pop and, like you said, heavy on the guitars. Pretty Together and Action Pact are uneven albums anyway. You'll love the other seven.

 

Big Sloan fan here even though I haven't listened to them much recently. Never Hear The End Of It was the last CD I bought but I am curious about Commonwealth. Navy Blues is my fave Sloan album. Even though they are guitar heavy, I think Smeared &/or Peppermint EP are essential Sloan with great songs (i.e. Sugartune & Underwhelmed)

 

Nice to hear, I think when people get turned on to Sloan, they get hooked. What's there not to like? All 4 guys sing and play various instruments, write great tunes with hooks and harmonies, and if you really break it down, they've never released a bad album. We are talking about a band that, for much of their career, didn't have a big money record company behind them. It's basically a DIY project and yet they continue to release strong album after strong album. There is a lot to be proud of there, and I feel really good slapping down my money each time they release something, because it just feels good supporting these guys. Lets put it this way, Sloan deserves way more recognition than they get, they are perpetual underdogs.....but that might have been the one thing that keeps them great. We need great bands that don't have butlers, and big mansions, driving around with super models getting arrested for stupid ****. TMZ does not know who the hell these guys are and I like it that way. The band kills it and I'm proud to be a Sloan fan.

 

You need Twice Removed and Pretty Together...like yesterday. Great albums. The new one is killer too.

 

Are there specific tracks you'd recommend for those albums? I ordered the new one already.

I Love a Long Goodbye is great from Pretty Together, but that's the only track that interested me.

 

For Twice Removed I would do, in that order:

Coax Me
Penpals
People of The Sky
Worried Now

Pretty Together, in this order:

The Life of a Working Girl
The Other Man
If It Feels Good Do It
Who You Talking To?
Dreaming of You

I think any of those tracks are stronger than I love a Long Goodbye.

 

Twice Removed is essential. Smeared too as far as I'm concerned. Pretty Together and Action Pact have some great highs with a lot of filler.

 

Agreed. All the albums are great, but I guess if I was starting out from zero I would save Action Pact for last.

 

Here you go:

Smeared: Underwhelmed, I Am the Cancer, 500 Up, Sugartune
Twice Removed: Coax Me, People of the Sky, Worried Now, Bells On, Snowsuit Sound
Pretty Together: The Other Man, Life of a Working Girl, If If Feels Good Do It.
Action Pact: I Was Wrong, Reach Out, Backstabbin, Gimme That

WELCOME TO THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF SLOAN.

 

Agreed. At this point I've been an unabashed fan for 20 years and it's hard to say that I dislike any of their material. I just like some songs more than others.

 

I've had the vinyl copy since the release date. Sounds great, great record. Get it.

 

Also, and I've said this before......... After a few of my first listens to Sloan records (especially Parallel Play for some reason) I was not super impressed. For some reason, a few of these records needed some time for me to come around. Get your 7 records and enjoy them and soak them up in all their glory... then work on the rest of em one by one. You'll probably come around to loving them.

 

From the wikipedia page:

In 1996, the music magazine Chartconducted a reader poll to determine the best Canadian albums of all time.Twice Removed topped that poll.[7]When the magazine conducted a follow up poll in 2000, Twice Removed lost the top spot to Joni Mitchell's Blue, but still placed third. In the third poll, in 2005,Twice Removed reclaimed the top spot.[8]

 

Alright, you guys talked me into it. Twice Removed is on order.

I received Commonwealth today and am thoroughly enjoying it! The third side is my least favorite, but the rest is pretty great.

 

Are you smokin' crack IMO Those are the four you SHOULD have ordered first!
Pro tip- If you don't care for the sound and approach on these 4 lp's, don't ever even think of going to see them Live.

 

Most people will say the 3rd side is the least favorite, but if you ask me, most bands would kill to have material like that to put out. It will grow on you, and to me side 4 is brilliant.

 

No sir, no I am not.
Thanks for the tip. I'm a much bigger fan of studio recordings than the 'live sound' anyway. Maybe that's why those four albums didn't do much for me.

 

I've never heard of someone putting Action Pact above their other albums...

 

Action Pact is, besides Smeared, the Sloan album I enjoy the least. Which isn't to say it doesn't have some excellent material on it...

 

That 3rd side (Patrick) is the most bland, uninspired, cookie-cutter guitar rock I've heard. The man simply did not come up with the goods at all for his side.

Not to mention it is probably 10 mins. total.

 

12 minutes and change...but...yeah.

 

Most of that record is fantastic--Are you Giving Me Back My Love is unbelievably good, and In The Movies is a totally rocking track. I really like everything on that record except Pick It Up and Dial It, which is think is not their strongest song. Had they put on the b side "Had Enough" or "Helen" instead, it would have been an even stronger lp. As far as Action Pact, Reach Out, Ready For You, Gimme That, and False Alarm are really great songs. AP usually is toward the bottom of my Sloan Favorites list, but its still a quality record. Again, if they had put the outtake (which actually came out as a nifty 45) Step On It, Jean on there, it would have helped it along considerably.