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Never Hear the End of It

by

Sloan

 
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Proof positive that Beatlesque power pop never really died.

  • We Say...

    Review by Johnny Black

    Proof positive that Beatlesque power pop never really died comes in the shape of Canadian quartet Sloan. Superstars anywhere north of Niagara Falls, they’ve never quite cracked the rest of the world despite massive critical acclaim for their endlessly inventive, tune-strewn, high-octane songs, recalling the days when pop and rock were frequently the same thing. Since 1992 they’ve rarely disappointed and their latest album finds them as fecund as ever with a staggering thirty tracks of whack, many of them well under the two-minute barrier, zipping into your field of vision like a skyrocket, exploding into a million colours and then speedily clearing the decks for the next one. "Everybody Wants You" is perfect Lennon-McCartney circa 1965, "Listen to the Radio" transmits its signals across the same universe that John and Paul first explored in 1968 while "Who Taught You to Live Like That" pushes into the '70s by adding a T. Rex glam bounce.

  • They Say...

    Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

    A few records after their career-defining 1996 third album, One Chord Leads to Another, Sloan seemed to fall into a trap that snared many classicist guitar pop bands: their devotion to classic hooks and harmonies, the very thing that set them apart from their peers, began to turn from fresh to familiar. Not that the band's skills diminished, but they were now merely reliable, with each new album offering subtle variations on their signature sound: one might be a little sunnier, one might be a little rougher, but each record could easily be classified as just another good Sloan album. All of this makes their eighth album, Never Hear the End of It, such a welcome shock: it's unmistakably the work of the same band that loves '60s guitar rock -- everything from Merseybeat to the Velvet Underground -- as much as they love new wave and college rock, but they have found a way to make the familiar sound fresh again by constructing the album as a seamless suite spread over 30 songs and fitting on a single CD. The easiest touchstone, of course, is the second side of Abbey Road, where brief snippets separated longer songs that were often multi-segmented, as they are here, but Never Hear the End of It isn't nearly as lush or grandiose as the Beatles' career-capping final recorded album. It's densely saturated with color, yet it's also lean and direct; it may swirl with rushes of psychedelic harmonies and shards of punk guitars, but it's precisely constructed upon the quartet's knack for sharp, memorable pop hooks, so there's a sense of momentum and purpose in how the album winds through the detours and main roads on these 30 songs. This has some of the shaggy eclecticism of The White Album, yet it flows like Rundgren's deliberate head trip A Wizard, a True Star, all the while never abandoning Sloan's pop strengths, which makes Never Hear the End of It a rather remarkable piece of art pop -- one where the concept is evident, but one where the pop elements are never sacrificed for art. Cut for cut, segment for segment, this is as indelible as the best of Sloan, but here the emphasis is not on the individual songs, as it has been on each of their albums in the past decade: the emphasis is on how each of these pieces, each of these hooks, joins together to create a kind of sonic sculpture. Never Hear the End of It is as concrete as that, but it's also a record to get lost in, since it is dense with alluring details that create its own distinct atmosphere. Coming from a band that seemed to be settled comfortably within its own sound, this kind of album is indeed a surprise, but this layered, kaleidoscopic album would not have been possible without good straight-ahead records like Action Pact: on those albums, they mastered their popcraft, and here they apply what they've learned on an inventive, excellent record that's their much-needed next great step forward.

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