Categories : Music Reviews, Rock + Pop.
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Rating: 3/5 Released: September 19, 2006 Reviewer: David Coats |
Having released several albums considered to be some of the finest music this country has ever produced, Never Hear the End of It is Sloan’s third consecutive average album, an overwhelming thirty-song monster, inevitably making it susceptible to accusations of quantity over quality. Like their past two records, the album is led by a sauntering lead single (‘Who Taught You To Live Like That?’), which, while a solid arena-rock anthem, is not as memorable as either ‘If It Feels Good Do It’ or ‘The Rest Of My Life.’
Many of the tracks are brief interludes, and while making the album oddly cohesive, most add nothing consequential to the whole, meaning listeners have to mine a little deeper for the record’s gems, including the theatrical pop structure of ‘Fading Into Obscurity’; the record’s best song, ‘I Understand’ (containing horns, making it a satisfying throwback to the ‘Everything You’ve Done Wrong’ era); and the laid-back Chris Murphy-penned satire of ‘Set In Motion.’
Several songs benefit from the inclusion of piano, organ, and handclaps, as Sloan hold true to their patented 60s-influenced pop. The instrumentation is balanced, but generally seems restrained, though this may improve when performed live. The band’s harmonies remain strong, and they can also still write a quality lyric, such as, “The thing about identification / Is that it fools most people into just giving their lives away / When they’ve only got one,†but as ever, the band occasionally cross the line between clever and trite (for instance, in ‘Someone I Can Be True With’).
The songs are reliable and many have their melodic or lyrical moments (though not usually simultaneously, interestingly), but, disappointingly, most simply aren’t that memorable, especially compared to Sloan’s own catalogue. Never Hear the End of It, though their best record since the decade began, won’t add to or subtract from their legacy.
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