Action Pact  (Audio CD) 
by Sloan

I'm mixed about Action Pact. One one hand, Sloan have actually have put together an album that sounds cohesive. They've tossed out the Beatles obsession from Navy Blues and One Chord to Another for an AC/DC and Aerosmith obsession, courtesy of Patrick Pentland and Chris Murphy, who pen nearly all the songs. Even though Jay Ferguson contributes only two tracks, one of them, "False Alarm," is the best (and catchiest) on the album. But there's nothing from Andrew Scott, who has supplied some of the strongest (and more piano-driven, art-rock) tracks on previous Sloan releases, and I think that hurts Action Pact.

Overall, Action Pact is tight and slick. Having seen them live way too many times, these songs sound a lot better live than on record. Personally, I think that wearing the Beatles on their sleeves was a better fit.

2 of 7 found the following review helpful:

Pitchforkmedia Review; 6.9 out of 10.0  Feb 03, 2004
Sloan have been conquering power pop for over a decade now with an incalculable and possibly illicit debt to every great glam, punk, and hard rock band of the 1970s. The songs are irreproachably written and rhapsodically performed, and yet they remain incarcerated within the shackles of influence. It's not even as clear-cut as a derivative band churning out songs not up to par with the icons they emulate; on past albums, Sloan has written better songs than anything The Rolling Stones have put out in 20 years. It's nothing more nor less than comfort food: virile riffs, clunking drums, four-part harmonies, and disparate songs with lyrics that range from the exhaustive task of getting a girl to love you to the exhaustive task of getting a girl to love you for a slightly longer period of time. As anyone who's ever lived through a reality I like to call "perpetual pain and torture" knows, comfort food is often valuable, even necessary.

There are a lot of accolades to shower upon a band that masters such difficult terrain. Sloan has effectively perfected Pitchfork's "7.0" ranking starting with 1994's Twice Removed and continuing to the present. If one were grading the band's ability to sound like "7.0" rankings, they would receive a "10.0" with honors-- a quintessentially inessential band. They're always five or six feet from greatness, which is probably close enough for all but those with preternatural musicality or, alternatively, blindness.

Vastly unsurprisingly, Action Pact does nothing to develop or modify the plan of attack. There has been a proposition put forth for some years now that Sloan is gradually and achingly achieving some sort of mighty unity between their four members/songwriters, as if they were unwilling participants in some evil incantation. Allay your fears: They are here to kick out the jams, crush your square parents' scams, and get the hell out. Nothing more. Thus, the welcome and predictable opener, "Gimme That", is garage-pop that resists description because it has been described so many times before (in my first paragraph, for example).

Whether this album warrants purchase can be decided from the second song: The lyrics are, "You know you're wrong," the excess is converted into cowbell, and the guitar snaps into a deceptively simple circle that can accumulate a few brief moments of melancholy amidst the glee. For the most part, however, the riffs are addictively frivolous in the AC/DC/Aerosmith school of riffs with the laughable shuttle-launching production of prog (courtesy of Tom Rothrock). Of course, when combined with torrents of three chords and the occasional drop of angst, this bears the potential of a muddled, second-rate pop-punk with crestfallen teenage vocals that comes to full bloom on "Who Loves Life More?" And then, carrying on a 70s tradition that's gone from Bowie to Big Star, there has to be one slower, more melodic piece about silence and aging as a respite from the rest of the album's rock glory. "The Rest of My Life" fills this space admirably with its jangled, sing/speaking guitars and the "I started thinking 'bout the rest of my life" solemnity.

Sloan is not anyone's favorite band. It's doubtful Sloan's mom even places them in her Top 10. But there's simply no way to disrespect or disdain them. They're like the 2 Fast 2 Furious of pop. The car-crashing movie is about cars crashing and nothing else; the nostalgic jagged pop band, Sloan, is about nostalgic jagged pop and nothing else. They're a band with their heart worn on their sleeves. And even though that heart used to belong to a lot of celebrities from 1974, Sloan reminds us that stealing can be a badge of honor as well.

-Alex Linhardt, January 30th, 2004

0 of 4 found the following review helpful:

Just don't buy there other albums....  Jan 26, 2004
I had not heard of Sloan, till I found this cd at a listening station. I felt it rocked enough to buy it for $23 or so, and I was right. I love every song with the great guitar work and tight vocals. The last track was very trippy and reminds me of a 3 minute Monster Magnet song (if you're a MM fan you'll hear it. In short the album was awsome.

Then I went back and bought two of their previous albums, Pretty Together and some other one. That was a mistake. I'm glad they've changed their sound to this album, and hope it continues. Their other works are NOT my cup of tea. Soft/lame/ NO good guitar, etc. In short, there was nothing special about them, no good hooks.

If you want a rockin cd, this is it. If not, buy their old albums and not this one.

1 of 1 found the following review helpful:

Sloan is Dead? Long Live Sloan!  Jan 21, 2004
It seems to me that Sloan is listening to their fanbase with this one. I don't have Pretty Together due to the collective sigh issued by reviewers everywhere. Between The Bridges was so good, I didn't want to have my buzz ruined. So Sloan must have heard. Dropping the keyboards and punching up the guitars and the tempos, Sloan delivers a more hard nosed sound. But the advances in songwriting made over the years have not been jettisoned. Sure, "Backstabbin'" is some big dumb rock but they have never denied their taste for these moments. But then again a song like "Who Loves Life More?" somehow invokes Brian Eno in its harmonies.Their taste for the 80s is subtly mixed with the 60s and 70s throughout. What you get are those tight harmonies delivering thoughtful lyrics over some really tight rock riffs and grooves. The mood is downcast overall but never at the expense of some really driving pop/rock that is opposed to the prevalent adolescent mope you find coming from most quarters. While clearly embracing the emotive rush of youth, Action Pact is made by adults who like to rock. So if you have problems with four grown men holding onto the redemptive powers of two guitars, bass, and drums, clear out. And with time, this album sinks its teeth in and hangs on. It simply supercedes any rock hang-up I have and says this is real. It is all about leaving any critical sawhorse behind and getting swept up in the moment.