Customer Reviews

Twice Removed

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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"Twice Removed" is my favorite Sloan album by a mile and would seriously make a running for my top 20 albums of all time (along with Bob Dylan, the Smiths, Catherine Wheel, the Pixies, Cure, Radiohead, Stone Roses and Tom Waits). Though it's very poppy and accessible, I have yet to tire of it in 8 years; I doubt I ever will. 'Coax Me', 'Pen Pals', 'Bells On', 'Deaper than Beauty' and 'I Can Feel It' are all songs that belong in any music lovers collection.

This album has some of the cleanest, purest pop sounds of the 90s. Songs like "I Can Feel It" and "Coax Me" are pure genius. This is a recommended buy for all true pop fans. Beach Boys, Matthew Sweet, Belle and Sebastian...the list goes on. If not for bad timing (it was released at the height of the grunge era) and being ahead of its time pop-wise, this would already have been a classic known to all good music lovers. BUY THIS RECORD.

Sloan's first album "Smeared" was full of fuzz, reverb, and heavy guitars. Their most recent albums have been drenched in the Beatles, Cheap Trick, with a hint of Kiss: in other words, rocking power pop. This album is probably the mildest of all of their releases, yet still shows their knack for good melodies, good harmonies, and quirky lyrics (and a few handclaps as well). Among the standouts are "Penpals", the album's opening track; this tune is based on fan mail from overseas (according to singer and bassist Chris, based on a St. Louis radio interview back in '94). "Coax Me" and "Worried Now" are also noteworthy, for their catchy melodies and toe-tapping bubblegum pop beat. Likewise, "I Can Feel It" is a stripped down pop song with beautiful 2-part harmonies. The album also has its share of some quieter, even darker numbers. "Loosens" and "Bells On" document the end of relationships, and longing for ones that have long since ended. If you buy _One Chord to Another_ or _Navy Blues_, pick this one up as well. And if they should happen to be in your neighborhood for a concert, it's worth your money to check out their show: they're upbeat, full of humor, and really rock onstage.

In what can only be called a Pop/Grunge masterpiece this album was truly ahead of its time and anyone interested in the evolution of music through the mid-1990's should have this in their library.

Twice voted as the Greatest Canadian Album of All-Time by Chart Magazine in 1996 and 2005, beating out Neil Young's Harvest and Joni Mitchell's Blue, this album blows me away every time I hear it, even 13 years on. Sloan was signed to Geffen after their fuzzy and chrunchy debut Smeared. After hearing this album, Geffen refused to promote its release in 1994, due to its departure from their previous sound as well as the grunge tastes of the day. This resulted in Sloan ultimately being dropped from Geffen.

However, this was obviously short-sighted, given the eventual prominence of this record in the Canadian rock pantheon.

Sloan is indeed a talented group, featuring four multi-instrumentalist-songwriter-singers and this record marks their turn towards blending pop harmonies and melodies with grunge guitars and rock beats. This sound continues to be heard in their music today, 6 or 7 albums later.

The first five tracks of this record, might be the strongest run of songs on any album in the 1990s, let alone in Sloan's career, pulling you into this brave leap of experimentation.

This was a new sound, that clearly the world wasn't ready for. This album is timeless, its just a shame no one knew it in 1994.

In 'Deeper than Beauty' -- an energetic pop masterpiece that doesn't suffer at all from an absence of bass guitar -- the final refrain contains the lines, "We're like the rest of them with our thumbs up our .../ If you call I will come, but I'm about as thick as molasses / When I dream of you you're not wearing your glasses". If this kind of cheeky, smirky, but oh-so-pertinent lyrical style isn't your cup of tea, maybe Sloan is not for you.

If Sloan is for you, then you probably like pop songs written from the point of view of East-Indian thirteen-year-olds whose English is kind of clunky ('Penpals'). Or melancholic songs -- with both chugga-chugga and jangly rhythm guitaring -- where the narrator at one point "saw his widow speak on her fortunes", and then later "saw her widow's peak on her forehead" ('Coax Me'; this song also contains the line: "It's not the band I hate, it's their fans"... sometimes I feel like I can quote Sloan lyrics all day long). Or sweet paeans to our innocent days on the school playground ('Snowsuit Sound'). Or an album stacked top to bottom with great pop songs written by four great pop songwriters with very distinctive pop songwriting styles. You probably like adventurous melodies that aren't afraid to be backed up by harmonious "La-la-la's". And punky/jazzy drumming. And bouncy, melodic bass playing.

For my money, this is pure Sloan. Which means its about as good as it gets when it comes to alterna-pop music.

If I had to only take 10 albums with me on a deserted island, this would be one of them.

This Sloan album is terrific from start to finish. "I Can Feel It" is one of my favorite pop songs of all time. Check it out.

In what can only be called a Pop/Grunge masterpiece this album was truly ahead of its time and anyone interested in the evolution of music through the mid-1990's should have this in their library.

Twice voted as the Greatest Canadian Album of All-Time by Chart Magazine in 1996 and 2005, beating out Neil Young's Harvest and Joni Mitchell's Blue, this album blows me away every time I hear it, even 13 years on. Sloan was signed to Geffen after their fuzzy and chrunchy debut Smeared. After hearing this album, Geffen refused to promote its release in 1994, due to its departure from their previous sound as well as the grunge tastes of the day. This resulted in Sloan ultimately being dropped from Geffen.

However, this was obviously short-sighted, given the eventual prominence of this record in the Canadian rock pantheon.

Sloan is indeed a talented group, featuring four multi-instrumentalist-songwriter-singers and this record marks their turn towards blending pop harmonies and melodies with grunge guitars and rock beats. This sound continues to be heard in their music today, 6 or 7 albums later.

The first five tracks of this record, might be the strongest run of songs on any album in the 1990s, let alone in Sloan's career, pulling you into this brave leap of experimentation.

This was a new sound, that clearly the world wasn't ready for. This album is timeless, its just a shame no one knew it in 1994.

This is true pop-rock. Best tracks - Coax Me, Deeper Than Beauty, Snowsuit Sound, I Can Feel It, and Penpals.

This is a top ten MUST have records of the 1990's if you are ANY kind of rock fan. Many people categorize Sloan as pop music but I think perhaps authentic rock 'n' roll might be more fitting.
Everything on this album is unapologetically catchy and singable. The lyrics are clever, biting, funny and touching. Sweet, vunerable yet reflective and revealing. Get ready to feel irreverant and lovelorn. Hear the snowsuit sound and know this album is deeper than it's beauty.
If you like the hip, oasis, blur, the smiths, beach boys, beatles you will love Sloan and this record will blow your proverbial socks off.