Customer Reviews

Never Hear the End of It

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After a few years break, Sloan roars back with a pop/rock masterpiece. Brazenly displaying their Mersey/Beatles/Yardbirds influence, the quartet delivers a 30 cut disk that doesn't waste a track. This one is hard to get out of your cd player, and you'll be hard pressed to not be haunted by several of the tunes.
Dare I compare it to the White Album??
Christ, I just did!!

I generally like my music to be either power-pop or catchy acoustic, rock 'n roll but not heavy metal, and do not like having to work hard to listen to it or absorb it. I was about 10 years old when the Beatles hit America in the 60's, and have heard a lot of music since. After a friend exposed me to "Try to Make It" off one of their recent albums, I have started to listen to Sloan only over the past couple of years, with my experience limited to a couple of collection-type CDs. There were a handful of songs I liked a great deal, a few fairly good ones, and a higher percentage I did not care for on this limited sample of Sloan's music I have in my collection. This CD changes all of that! This is an excellent CD that mixes pop, power pop, some acoustic stuff, a lot of great harmonies and production, and a great deal of variety from track to track due to the group having 4 distinct writers and singers. All of it is not good, but 80-90% of it is, and it is assembled and produced in a way that I have never heard for the entire length of the CD before. Though my favorite tracks are probably the two that open the CD and, especially, "Ill Placed Trust", a terrific power-pop rocker, there are well over a dozen other very good tracks of varying lengths and styles. All but perhaps 3 or 4 tracks are fairly good at worst, while most of the CD is comprised of very catchy or intriguing songs that make it a very enjoyable listen. The CD is best listened to as a whole, continuously, or in large chunks, just because you receive the full effect of the way the songs blend and flow as they interconnect. Like other reviewers, there are several tracks that are so good that I wish they were longer or more fully developed, but I feel that this CD is such a gift and joy of a listen that I can't complain too much. I'll definitely start exploring more of Sloan's full studio albums after hearing this one, because I'd like to hear more of this stuff!

Sure, it's only January 11, 2007, but Sloan's "Never Hear the End of It" gets my vote for Record of the Year. It's as if those forgotten gems of early 1970s AM radio were resurrected with the added muscle of the post-heavy metal/grunge and every other genre of hard rock new millennium. And the harmonies--so yummy, yummy, yummy they taste like raspberries. Did I mention intelligent songwriting? How about the "movie of my life" cliché turned on its head in "Set in Motion"? Or would you believe a true, adult look at lessons learned through numerous relationships until you've figured it out and finally settle down with someone who's compatible, as in "Last Time in Love"? Unbelievable! And there are many other great songs here--"Listen to the Radio," "Fading into Obscurity," "Ill Placed Trust," etc. etc. Sure there are a bunch of 1- to 2-minute snippets--so what? Who says that every piece of fiction has to be a novel? This is pure, assured pop/rock by master craftsmen. P.F. should be proud of the latest Sloan.

'Never Hear The End of It' is Sloan's 'Alien Lanes' (Guided By Voices' frenetic classic LP). At well over an hour and through 30 songs, Sloan throws a welcomed salmagundi of quirky rock and beautiful pop at the listener in generous portions. This is more like it! At this point, they've earned the right to make this record.

Throughout their brilliant career, the band has explored, celebrated, documented the far reaches of pop music like happy-go-lucky "Jacques Cousteaus," with an authority and competency practically unparalleled. And still, outside of their native Canada, the band is criminally unnoticed except for a small but rabid cult following. The band Jet was purportedly created after the members started an annual, celebratory "Sloan Listening Party." Sloan is amalgam of all the best things about power-pop, 70s rock, punk, etc. They take all these things and, because of their incredible musicianship, make it their own...It makes me wonder what would happen if Robert Pollard was suddenly named `lead singer' of AC/DC? I mean...tell me that wouldn't be amazing...come on, Brian Johnston, take a year off and turn over Angus Young to Pollard!!!! I've just pictured Pollard outside a house, standing next to a beat up station wagon, shouting through a bullhorn "I'm just here for Angus! Send Angus out and I'll leave peacefully!" But I digress,...last time out, Sloan took a jab at a straight-up rock album (2003's Action Pact). The record was led almost exclusively, and frustratingly, by bassist Chris Murphy and guitarist Patrick Pentland; who have always written the most accessible music of Sloan. 'Never Hear the End of It' fills the void left by Action Pact's lack of quirky numbers penned by the drummer Andrew Scott and the A.M. dial beauties supplied by Jay Ferguson. It appears Sloan is ready to move in a more eclectic direction again, thank God.

The first song sets the tone..."Flying High Again" clocks in at 1:24 with some tongue-in-cheek, self-effacing lyrics which may or may not allude to the breadth of the album and the band's insecurities about the listener "never hear[ing] the end of it." More importantly, the 90-second song features all the members' singing. It sets the collaborative, multifarious tone for the record. And, Jesus, there is plenty of everything here: hand claps over pretty piano (Fading Into Obscurity), heavy and lo-fi chord progressions with a nice dose of distortion (I Can't Sleep), jangly, pretty pop (Listen to The Radio), and grooving seventies-esque melodies (Can't You Figure It Out).

Chris Murphy's 'Fading Into Obscurity' has already become my favorite anthem for the trajectory of the `indie rocker's' career. Part of the song is his long, hard look-in-the-mirror-confessional as he describes the all-to-real (and arrived) clarity of being "unable to tell if I know who I am/A modest success, a shill or a sham/" and then later, and more poignantly: "The cake is baked but I much preferred the batter/Perhaps in part because it had so much potential/To be delicious and still be influencial" ...Pollards and Malkmus' of the world- pay attention. The other part of the song is directed toward the fans as he prepares them for the inevitable split/retirement (I hope it's still a few albums off!)...he warns they'll "have to fend for [themselves]" and they're "getting to old to be cared for..." and wasn't that the truth...Sloan has gotten old on me....wait...I've gotten old too! Damn.

Sloan's lyrics have always been a little light and self-effacing, but their knack for wringing every drip of feeling from simple observations rings true with me...and who says you can't have any emotional impact whilst referencing Gremlins 2?
"someone to wait in the cue with/someone to hear Husker Du with/Someone to hate all things new with/someone to watch Gremlins 2 with/Someone to not watch The View with/Someone to laugh in the pew with/Someone I can be true with"
(from Someone I Can Be True With)

This may be Sloan's finest moment. Get it.

Never before have these guys sounded more like the Beatles of The White Album era. They definitely have turned down the arena rock riffing and turned up the melody along with the piano, tambourines, and hand clapping.

On first glance one would think that releasing 30 tunes on one disc, mostly short song fragments, that this album would have turned out to be a glorious mess. But when you take time to listen to the album as a whole, its clear Sloan had a vision of blending one tune into another, never dwelling on one emotion or idea for two long, but flowing effortlessly from one tune to another. It is quite a ride.

The only complaint I have is that some of the shorter songs, definitely could have been developed into longer stronger pieces. This is an experimental work where its clear they were just trying something new in the studio. I am sure with four songwriters in the group, they come to record an album with more songs than they need. But this time they just threw it all out there without being super selective or spending a great deal of time developing song ideas into full fledged singles. But it works, it really works and the result is brilliant, poppy, and melodic.

Standout track - I Understand, which isn't surprising since it is a full minute and a half longer than anything else on the album.

This album will be truly be enjoyable for someone looking for something new and exciting and different from the presentation of the now all too common 10-15 songs on a disc that seem disjointed. This album almost works as one complete song or movement, its a great work as a whole. Enjoy!

I got this CD in January, fell in love with it immediately, and told friends that, early as it was in the new year, there was no doubt this would make my personal Top 5 Best of 2007. Well, here we are at the end of 2007, and Never Hear the End Of It is still entrenched at the top of my list. Unlike many of these other reviewers, I was NOT a passionate Sloan fan before. Sure, I loved their many tremendous singles; who doesn't? But this album takes me to a whole new level of appreciation. I cannot remember the last time I actually tried to learn the words to an entire album!! The music, melodies and hooks... just fantastic. I LOVE this album. And, a year later, this is the CD I'm sending to my music-loving nieces and nephews for this year's Christmas gift. BTW- 30 songs may seem like a lot, but they are all, for the most part, SO good that I actually downloaded the 3 free tracks offered with the CD when I got it!

This album blows me away. I can't comprehend how these guys have no award buzz. They have consistantly put out incredibly good rock and roll albums for years. No, you don't have the introspective 'cry me a river' type lyrics that so many of us thrive on, but they truly cpature a musical magic comparable to likes of 70's Cheap Trick, late 60's Beatles, and the more recent Teenage Fanclub. Because of the careful knitting together of tracks, This does play like a concept album, but it's nothing like the overly-self-indulgent crap like so many others are prone to doing. You'll find no larger than life Nickleback style production nor purposly bad (and pretentious) indie rock garble. Sloan has a simple, straightforward, and believable production quality. Who can come out with an 8th record that features 30 songs and not have half of them suck? Sloan can. I'm not going to do a song-by-song breakdown, the whole thing is good and can be listened to in its entirety. They are a brilliant band, and this is a great album.
Nice work guys.

best album of 2007. I've been listening to the record for months, and it continues to energize and entertain me. Maybe because there are so many songs...dozens of listens later I'm still surprised. It has great songs, vocals, muscle and harmonies and it does what so many rock and roll albums fail to do - bring the listener that much closer to God. For me at least.

their finest hour...uh, hour+.

it rocks, lyrics are dense, singing is great, playing is great. however long the songs are they're completely realized and seem consistently to be at the highest of their (very) high level of quality.

amazing when superb bands get even better. but they do.

Since the early days of their career, the Sloan boys have felt it is better to manage themselves and take control of their creativity rather than be subject to the desires of big-time record companies who want to impress by being hip with the latest sound trends. This means that each Sloan album is done as the band wishes and if that means a 30-track album blending tracks barely a minute long with longer tracks, combining a variety of sounds and styles from piano rock to feedback guitar rock to piano ballads to hard core punk well then so be it.

Because of the lengthy track list it is quite easy to pull a good selection of favourite songs. Had the album been only half as long with all my favourites I am sure I would have been in total Sloan heaven. But wait! The tracks in between are totally necessary. This album flows. Trying to reduce it to fewer songs is like removing certain colours of M&Ms from the pack. While I won't listen to every track every time there is a wonderful feeling of continuity from beginning to end.

Personal favouites of mine are Jay's piano rocker "Who Taught You to Live Like That?" and "Can't You Figure It Out?"; Chris's mix-tempoed "Fading Into Obscurity," the slow and heavy "People Think They Know Me" and the short but enjoyable "Will I Belong" with its catchy rock chorus; Patrick's beautiful and sad-sounding "Listen to the Radio," and his hard core number "HFXNSHC"; and Andrew's too short but heavy distortion feedback numbers "I Can't Sleep" and "Something's Wrong." Looking at the track list I could easily name a few more.

One final thought that occured to me is that with each Sloan album reviewers try to name which band each track sounds like, as Sloan are known for having a very mixed bag of influences. My impression with "Never Hear..." is that Sloan have come out sounding very much like themselves. There are songs that remind me of "Smeared", songs that remind me of "One Chord to Another," and songs that remind me of "Pretty Together." This album is in a way a retrospective of their career but with all knew material. Though the critics are sure to be divided over the album I personally find this album to be extremely enjoyable. It is not my vote for the best Sloan album ever but it fits in perfectly with the band's repertoire.