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 peaked at #48 on the Billboard Heatseekers making it the bands first album to chart in the U.S..

A video for the track "I've Gotta Try" was also released and charted on Canada's MuchMoreMusic.

This is the only double studio album released by Sloan, making it the longest album by Sloan to date.

Miscellanea

*The song title HFXNSHC stands for "Halifax, Nova Scotia Hardcore".

*Patrick Pentland had written an earlier grunge-influenced version of "Ill Placed Trust" that was performed by the band during their tour of their first album.

*Along with "Fading into Obscurity" which is promoted during touring, each band member has written a single for this album.

Category:2006 albums

Category:Sloan albums

fr:Never Hear the End of It

Artist/Band Information

Sloan is a Toronto-based power pop quartet from Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Sloanlogo.gifthumbOfficial Sloan logo

History

Sloan two by kk.jpgthumb175pxleftChris Murphy of Sloan performing at South by Southwest.

Early years

The band was formed in 1991 when Chris Murphy and Andrew Scott met at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD) in Halifax; Patrick Pentland and Jay Ferguson joined soon after. In 1992 the band created their own record label, Murderecords, for themselves and other Halifax area bands, and released the Peppermint EP.

Name

According to Sloan's official website,

the band's name refers to a friend's nickname. Their friend Jason Larsen was called Slow One by his French-speaking boss, which with the French accent sounded more like Sloan. The original agreement was that they could name the band after their friend's nickname as long as he was on the cover of their first album. As a result, it is Larsen who appears on the cover of the Peppermint EP.

Geffen

Later in 1992 Sloan released their full-length album Smeared on Geffen Records. In 1994 Geffen did not promote their second album, Twice Removed, due to artistic disputes, although it sold well in Canada. Spin named it one of the "Best Albums You Didn't Hear" in 1994. A 1996 reader poll by Canadian music magazine Chart! ranked it as the best Canadian album of all time, only two years after its release. The same poll in 2000 ranked the album third, behind Joni Mitchell's Blue and Neil Young's Harvest. However, the 2005 poll once again ranked the album first.

Murderecords

After the release of Twice Removed, the band went on hiatus and were rumoured to have broken up, as they had rejected Geffen's offer for their next album.For more information see In 1996, however, they released the widely praised One Chord to Another on their own Murderecords label. Following 1998's Navy Blues album, Sloan released their first live album 4 Nights at the Palais Royale in 1999. Those albums were followed by Between the Bridges in 1999, and Pretty Together in 2001.

Seeking US success

Sloan made a concerted effort to break into the US market on their 2003 release Action Pact. Songs were recorded in L.A. with Tom Rothrock producing. The glossier, radio-ready sound failed to raise Sloan's profile in the US, though they continued to be highly popular in Canada.

Sloan's first compilation album A Sides Win: Singles 1992-2005, included two new songs, "All Used Up" and "Try to Make It". The Japanese release included two additional new tracks.

Never Hear the End of It

Now signed to Yep Roc Records for their US releases, they put out their eighth disc, Never Hear the End of It in 2006. The album contained 30 tracks with all the members of the band contributing new songs. It was met with widespread critical acclaim and became the highest charting Sloan album in the US up to that point.

In 2008, Sloan followed up their longest album with their shortest and most recent release Parallel Play.

Songwriting

Sloan 2007 right.jpgthumb240pxrightSloan performing at the Sudbury Summerfest 2007 in Sudbury, Ontario.

All four members of Sloan write their own songs, and when they play live they switch instruments accordingly. Usually the band performs as follows: Murphy is on lead vocals and plays bass, Pentland is also on lead vocals and plays lead guitar, Ferguson plays rhythm guitar, and Scott plays drums.

While Murphy has written more of the band's songs than any of the other members, Pentland is nonetheless responsible for having written many of Sloan's most recognizable hits. Perhaps more noteworthy, however, is the fact that every member of the group has contributed at least two songs per album, with only the following exceptions: On 1992's debut LP, Smeared, Scott and Pentland are credited with just one song each, while on 2003's Action Pact, Scott has no songs, for according to Eye Weekly, that album's producer, Tom Rothrock, essentially randomly selected tracks out of the band's submissions in the interest of creating a more streamlined sound. Scott's songwriting output at that time may also have been somewhat diminished because he had recently become a father.

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

Live albums

Compilations

Guest appearances

Honours and awards

Twice Removed was named the best Canadian album ever recorded in a 1996 reader poll by Chart! magazine. In the 2000 poll, the album was voted third, but in the 2005 poll it once again ranked first.

Juno Awards

*1994: Nominated – Best New Group

*1995: Nominated – Best Alternative Album (Twice Removed)

*1997: Won – Best Alternative Album (One Chord to Another)

*1999: Nominated – Best Rock Album (Navy Blues)

*2000: Nominated – Best Album Design (Catherine Stockhausen and Lee Towndrow, Between the Bridges)

*2002: Nominated – Best Rock Album (Pretty Together)

*2002: Nominated – Best Single ("If It Feels Good Do It")

*2007: Nominated – Best Rock Album (Never Hear the End of It)

*2009: Nominated - Best Rock Album (Parallel Play)

East Coast Music Awards

*1993: Nominated – Album of the Year (Smeared), Entertainer of the Year, Pop Rock Recording of the Year, Song of the Year ("Underwhelmed"), Video of the Year ("Underwhelmed")

*1996: Won – Alternative Recording of the Year

**Nominated – Pop Rock Recording of the Year, Video of the Year ("People of the Sky")

*1997: Won – Alternative Recording of the Year, Group of the Year

** Nominated – Pop Rock Recording of the Year

*1998: Nominated – Single of the Year ("Everything You've Done Wrong"), Video of the Year ("Everything You've Done Wrong")

*1999: Nominated – Group of the Year, Video of the Year ("Money City Maniacs")

*2001: Nominated – Group of the Year

*2002: Won – Video of the Year ("If It Feels Good Do It")

**Nominated – Album of the Year (Pretty Together), Entertainer of the Year, Group of the Year, Rock Recording of the Year, Songwriter of the Year ("If It Feels Good Do It")

*2003: Nominated – Entertainer of the Year, Single of the Year ("The Other Man"), Video of the Year ("The Other Man")

*2004: Won – Video of the Year ("The Rest of My Life")

** Nominated – Album of the Year (Action Pact), Group of the Year, Rock Recording of the Year (Action Pact), Single of the Year ("The Rest of My Life"), Songwriter of the Year ("The Rest of My Life")

*2006 Nominated – Single of the Year ("All Used Up")

*2007 Won – Rock Recording of the Year (Never Hear the End of It)

** Nominated: Album of the Year (Never Hear the End of It), Group of the Year

See also

*Canadian rock

*Music of Canada

References