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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
What side of the Sloan street do you stand?, April 3, 2002
This review is from: Navy Blues (Audio CD)
If you are interested in Sloan and are looking for a body of work to try-out I would like to offer up "Navy Blues" as your inital outing. There are rabid Sloan fans out there who all fight tooth and nail over which Sloan album is the best. Some say "Twice Removed" which I rank as their 2nd best and some say "Between the Bridges" which I feel has little cohesion and ultimately fails as a "Long Player" which is also how I feel about their latest offering, "Pretty Together". That's why I feel so strongly towards this album. It works as a whole work where the sum parts smoothly create the whole. This is a buzzy late 70's California driving bubblegum fm radio album. From the very first guitar lick of "She Says What She Means" to the closing bars of "I'm Not Through With You Yet" this is feel good music at it's core. it has humor and heart and clever arrangements that homage it's inspirations and imbibes with originality. Track 1 is my absolute favorite mix cd track. I always get comments about that track. I don't know how true popularity eluded dear Sloan during the release of this album but it did. The world isn't ready for these prime time players. This is a strong album all in all but if I must highlight the standout tracks... 1. She Says What She Means 2. C'mon C'mon(We're Gonna Get It Started) 3. Iggy & Angus 6. Money City Maniacs 9. Stand By Me, Yea 12. I Wanna Thank You I really love them all, but if you are looking for songs to sample...try these.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sloan at their very best !!, January 9, 2001
This review is from: Navy Blues (Audio CD)
Sloan's "Between The Bridges" is probably their most immediate album but "Navy Blues" grows on you until you cannot help listening to it.It probably represents Sloan at their most rocking.The album opens with a real killer track "She says what she means" which contains a middle bridge which sound like a cross between Def Leppard and AC/DC.It really is one of the most heartstopping moments on the album.The second song "C'mon C'mon" is a lot more lighthearted but contains a tack piano reminiscent of 70's bands like Sailor."Iggy and Angus" is pure old fashioned rock a la Slade."Money City Maniacs" opens with a flurry of police sirens which set the scene for a frantic,heads-down rocker which is very catchy.The quality control rarely dips over the rest of the album either and there are numerous clever,catchy songs to follow. In all, this takes a while to get into but after a few repeated listens it becomes apparent that there are few bands who can match Sloan over this terrain.If brilliant guitar chops, marvellous harmonies and pop ingenue are what you are after,this is the place for you.My only advice is invest in a good quality CD player with a decent treble bass and crank up the volume if you want to do this wonderful piece of work any justice!
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Hey you! Come along for the ride...", September 26, 2000
This review is from: Navy Blues (Audio CD)
If John Lennon, Nick Lowe, Elliott Smith, and Keith Moon met along the space-time continuum and formed a Halifax-based pop-supergroup, it would sound an awful lot like Sloan. And this is the album they would record after a long night of listening to the MC5 and trading spoonerisms. If that doesn't sound like a flattering description, then maybe this is not for you. If you're into riff-driven, lyrically adventurous pop songs, then maybe it is. Previous Sloan albums have leaned towards pure pop song production. This has that too (see 'Keep on Thinking', and 'Chester the Molester' for good examples of this). But it also has really adventurous songwriting ('Sinking Ships') and riff-rock monsters laden with pop-tune harmonies and 'I Am The Walrus'- lyricism ('Money City Maniacs' and 'She Says What She Means'). This album stayed in my CD player for months. It has that kind of staying power.
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