The Campus Chronicle

Volume 2, No. 3
November 16 & 23, 2001

Latest Sloan record is ‘Pretty’ good

A Review
By John Bennett

Fans of the Canadian rock quartet Sloan live with the gnawing feeling they are investing emotional energy and the cost of concert tickets and CDs in a band that reached its creative peak seven years ago. What’s worse, they’re bedeviled by the notion that many otherwise well-informed music enthusiasts have never even heard the epically under-appreciated 1994 release "Twice Removed," and probably never will.

Sloan’s status as a group that should be huge (but isn’t) keeps customers coming back for more and hoping that the next release will be the one that reconnects the band with "Twice Removed." That’s not to say that post-"Removed" albums such as 1996’s "One Chord to Another" are without merit. Sloan also maintained fans thanks to dynamite live shows that provided evidence of the band’s superior musicianship and showmanship.

Yet, Sloan has never been able to recapture the brilliance and cohesiveness of the record that, interestingly, turned the band members against their label and each other. Sloan’s best record nearly destroyed the group, so perhaps it’s because none of the last four studio releases including this year’s "Pretty Together" has matched the intensity of "Twice Removed," that the band has stayed together. On every record, the band offers a handful of stellar numbers, only to retreat into safer but less satisfying territory.

Complicating matters is Sloan’s legions of hysterical fans, which the band simultaneously celebrates and denigrates. When I hear sound bites of fans chanting "Sloan" in a way that adds an extra syllable to word (a regular occurrence at Sloan shows for almost a decade), I can’t tell if the band is showing love or poking fun. Similarly, when I completely buy into "Pretty Together’s" opening track "If It Feels Good Do It," I can’t help but feel the joke may be on me.

Even if the song is a snide mock rock anthem, it does accomplish the unimaginable task of suggesting both Aerosmith and My Bloody Valentine in the same song. The Aerosmith reference is nothing new -- Sloan’s sound has been heavily informed by 1970s rock radio for several years now. However, reaching out for more modern material (If MBV’s 1991 "Loveless" can be considered modern) is an encouraging development. Band member Patrick Pentland also claims the Flaming Lip’s excellent "The Soft Bulletin" LP was a major influence during the recording of "Pretty Together," although that record takes considerable stylistic cues from both Led Zeppelin and Yes, leaving Sloan pretty much in the same place after all.

In "Pretty Together," Sloan delivers what fans have come to expect: a handful of real gems to keep them hanging around. Together with selected cuts from the last five records, several "Pretty Together" tracks make an excellent mix tape that hints at the potential follow-up to "Twice Removed" fans still hope to hear one day.