Never Hear the End of It

A formidable pop force in their Canadian homeland, Nova Scotia’s Sloan have been relegated to cult status elsewhere. Their ‘60s flavored retro-pop and early ‘70s AM radio hooks make their every release feel like a trip into an alternate musical library where the likes of the Beatles, Badfinger, Eric Carmen and the Raspberries have been recast as modern rockers. *Never Hear the End of It* is a sprawling 30(!) track album that amazingly never wears out its welcome – though the sheer abundance is inevitably overwhelming. The tracks come charging out of the gate with tight harmonies, enthusiastic handclaps, hastily strummed guitars and a myriad of keyboards. If you weren’t told otherwise, you might think this was a collection of singles spanning their entire career. While there are minor tracks that serve as segues to other tracks (“Something’s Wrong”), overall these are well thought out compositions that playfully twist their influences into new configurations (hear the “Tomorrow Never Knows” drumbeat behind “Golden Eyes”). Traces of garage rock (“Ana Lucia”), the Beach Boys and Hollies (“I Understand”) the ‘60s Brit Invasion (“Will I Belong”) and ’70s new wave-punk rock (“HFXNSHC”) abound.

Never Hear the End of It, released on September 19, 2006 is the eighth album by Canadian rock band Sloan. The record's first single was "Who Taught You to Live Like That?", while "Ill-Placed Trust" was launched as a second single in November. The album debuted at #29 on the Canadian Albums Chart[5] and peaked at #48 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart,[6] making it the band's first album to chart in the U.S.

The Nova Scotian power pop band offers a pleasant surprise-- this 30-track LP is its best since 1999's Between the Bridges.

There's a typically Sloan-like joke in the title of the band's eighth studio album, Never Hear The End Of It, which crams 30 songs into 76 minutes, and threatens to send even Sloan fans into power-pop overload. It'll take a strong constitution to weather power chord after power chord, and soaring harmony after soaring…

A few records after their career-defining 1996 third album, One Chord Leads to Another, Sloan seemed to fall into a trap that snared many classicist guitar pop bands: their devotion to classic hooks and harmonies, the very thing that set them apart from their peers, began to turn from fresh to familiar.

The album’s form is at the very least consistent with the band’s feedback-heavy, rambunctious live performances.

One trend in the 15-year-career of Canadian pop/rock group Sloan (stars in their own country, cult heroes elsewhere) has been towards excess.