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 Singles? Yes. Best Of? No. Aug 23, 2008
Sloan is a pretty good band. They are the type of hometown boys who one hopes will make good. They are not extravagantly talented, but among the four of them, they know how to write really good - sometimes very good - songs. And while their albums are always a bit uneven, several tracks (not only the singles) from each of them have emerged as favorites of fans and critics.
For these reasons, Sloan's singles collection is especially useful to the curious listener. Of course, a band's singles are not necessarily their "best" songs. However, knowing a band's singles is the most effective way to learn what made them popular. On A Sides Win - named after a track from their 1996 album One Chord to Another - each album is represented by at least two songs, except for 2003's Action Pact. Two very worthwhile new recordings are also included. (The hard-rocking "All Used Up", which isn't quite as good as "Try To Make It", was released as a single.)
One Chord to Another, considered among many critics to be their best album, is the only one to have three of its songs featured on this collection. Among these is the (early) Chicago-esque "Everything You've Done Wrong" and the short and snappy "The Good In Everyone". One Chord's predecessor, Twice Removed (which was voted best Canadian album ever in two separate polls by the same magazine) is represented in part by "Coax Me", which is probably the best power pop song of their career. As long as I am working my way backward, I should mention that wonderfully clever "Underwhelmed" and "500 Up" are only two of several really good songs from their underrated debut LP, 1992's Smeared.
However, the singles-only approach causes the band's 1998-2003 output to be represented less effectively. Three adjectives can be used to describe any almost any Sloan album: "rocky" (as in rock 'n roll), "poppy", and "pensive". The "rocky" might be a bit overrepresented on this compilation at the expense of the other adjectives. Granted, the tongue-in-cheek "Money City Maniacs" is the best rock song from Navy Blues (1998). However, "She Says What She Means", with a chorus made up of dipstick puns, is probably the same album's worst one. A Sides Win would have benefited from something poppy or pensive from that album, such as "Stand By Me, Yeah", "Suppose They Close the Door", or "I'm Not Through With You Yet".
1999's Between the Bridges is similarly represented by two rock songs, "Losing California" and "Friendship". These are definitely good songs, especially the former, but that album's best tracks are "Waiting for Slow Songs" (poppy) and "The Marquee and the Moon" (pensive). "If It Feels Good Do It", from the underrated album Pretty Together (2001), is almost as bad as the title might suggest, especially its adolescent, I'm-a-carefree-rock star chorus. Fortunately, "The Other Man" is fine example of Pretty Together's more mature sound, as are that album's superb "Dreaming of You", "The Life of a Working Girl", and "Who You Talkin' To?" Finally, the one song from the underrepresented "Action Pact" (2003) is the perfectly pensive and poppy "The Rest of My Life".
In the end, A Sides Win is exactly what the title says it is: a collection of songs that were released as singles. It is not a Best Of. Still, by working at seemingly cross purposes, it achieves its objective. It gives a thorough picture of a band whose hits were sometimes good and sometimes not. However, the good songs are enough to convince the listener that Sloan is a better band than their lesser songs might suggest. While it is difficult for me to recommend any specific album without qualification, I highly suggest listening to them online (on a site like Soundpedia) and downloading the songs that you like the most (from, e.g., emusic). Eventually, you will find yourself with a playlist of at least two dozen songs that will assure you that Sloan is worthy of their popularity in Canada and of wider recognition in the U.S.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 A "best of" from one of the great pop bands in the history of rock Feb 09, 2007
For the life of me I don't know where I learned about Sloan. But I confess it was only recently and I must further admit some shame at never before having heard of such a magnificent band. I started doing some research and discovered that when they were first breaking out in a big way in Canada, their record company decided that the kind of power pop they played would not go over well in the United States, where post-Nirvana grunge was dominating the rock scene. This was certainly my loss, since some of my all time favorite bands--the Beatles, Big Star, the Shoes, and the Smithereens--were all power pop bands. I started asking some of my more musical savvy friends about Sloan and was surprised that none of them had heard of the band either. And after poking around on some chat boards, I'm convinced that Sloan may be the greatest band around that the United States remains in complete ignorance about. Since first finding out about Sloan, I've been frantically rushing about getting as many of their albums as possible and am now convinced that except for the New Pornographers, they may be the best band out of Canada in the past couple of decades at least.
A SIDES WIN is a superb overview of Sloan's albums, but I have to add a qualifier. Some best-of anthologies can distort a band, making them sound better on a single disc than they do on individual albums. What is astonishing about Sloan is that most of their individual albums are very nearly as good as this greatest hits disc. There is no sharp drop off in quality between the songs that made the A-Sides discs and those that didn't. In fact, many of the songs that I have most enjoyed on individual albums did not make this disc.
This is power pop, a genre that has wide but not universal appeal. I absolutely love it. To me there is nothing more exciting than a band that can combine a strong of marvelous hooks, catchy lyrics, and great musicianship to craft easily accessible and joyous pop songs. Sloan absolutely excels at this form. They have a sort of genius for hook-driven songs, with precisely the right enhancements to put the song over the edge towards perfection: a guitar riff here, some horns there, some tight harmonies, a thick and lush guitar chord, an organ or hand clap. On top of all this they are a wonderfully tight, talented group. They don't quite reach the level of the New Pornographers in their playing, but then who does?
Every song on this disc is stellar and the disc moves from one stunning gem to another. "Underwhelmed" starts the disc off marvelously, but instantly gives way to the equally superb and very upbeat "500 Up." The next song is the wonderful "Coax Me," and a couple of cuts later is "The Good in Everybody." As they say, the hits just keep on coming. Other highlights include "Friendship" about the end of a friendship, "The Rest of My Life" in which the singer expresses grown up thoughts about maturing, and the unusual "The Other Man," in which the singer tells a woman with a boyfriend but with whom he is sleeping while supposedly just a friend expresses his side of things ("I'm the other man/No one's rooting for me").
The only reason not to own this album is if you already own all of Sloan's other albums. And actually, that is not even right, because this version of the album comes with a DVD extra that contains videos of all the songs on the CD. The short of the matter: if you don't own this, get it.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Perfect Introduction to Sloan Aug 27, 2006
I've become a fast fan of the band after downloading this compilation. Sloan may be "power pop" but the hooks are smart and addictive and the the hard-driving guitar riffs still come off clean without losing any edge. Essential tracks: All Used Up, The Rest of My Life, The Other Man, If It Feels Good Do It, and Underwhelmed.
If you like bands like Allister or Something Corporate but haven't heard of Sloan, start with this collection and you won't be disappointed.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Solid representation of a great Canadian band Mar 01, 2006
OK, so this is the album containing every single they have released and therein lies it's only flaw, it's a singles collection and not a best-of. I know that some may feel these songs feel better within the context of the original albums. I think these songs fit together in a compilation. It's very strong songwriting and it documents a band's growth and changing from album to album over the years and the shift of rock music in the meantime. Since this band plays a straightahead style of powerpop that's well known people may think they have no merit because they sound like others, but do they sound superior to the others, I think so. They at least hold their own here and cut their own niche. The harmonies and melodicism are something not seen much in today's popular scene, outside of Fountains of Wayne. Yes, their sounds goes from raw straight ahead rock to studio sheen at the end, but I find that both eras fit them well. As for the DVD, I find it interesting and good in the same way I find the CD to be, and the extended documentary for the videas is very illuminating and informative about the personalities of the band and their intelligence, concepts, etc.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Yes, a DVD...JOY!!!1 Feb 20, 2006
Although most Sloan fans doubtlessly have all these songs on the CD, the DVD included in the set makes it all worthwhile. Two hours of videos--every one released thus far--and documentary info on the making of the videos make this a must-have for any fan of the greatest band in the hemisphere. If you're unfamiliar with Sloan, there's no better way to get an introduction to what these guys are about. Tell you what--just stop reading the reviews and order this, already.
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