Some of the music I love is not by the innovators, but by those who were influenced by them long after the fact. Take a whole bunch of Nuggets-worthy garage bands, add few a measures of Revolver-era Beatles, then a couple of spoonfuls of the White Album, maybe a whiff of Emmit Rhodes’s debut album, definitely a hint of Big Star, and you get Sloan’s 1996 long-player One Chord to Another.
Not bad for a band that had technically broken up following middling sales of their first two releases. That, despite those albums being on the same label as Nirvana and Sonic Youth. Part of the problem may have been that label being disproportionately focused on artists such as those.
Fate would not be kind to this album, either, as it was one of the few releases from newcomer The Enclave, which folded not long after. I remember a whole bin of copies of the deluxe 2-CD version of this album available at a buck a pop at my local Camelot Music. I hope that price introduced listeners to it that otherwise might have been oblivious, as this is near the top of my favorite albums of the 90’s.
First single and lead track “The Good In Everyone” is unlikely to be dislodged anytime soon from my top ten list of all-time favorite songs by any artist. It starts with a fade-up of crowd noise and an announcer introducing the band to the stage. With that, the drummer completely pummels the skins during an opening riff of breakneck chord charges. Then a solid drum fill, and the guitars lock into a solid two-chord progression.
It’s garage rock without being overly deferential to its influences. It’s primitive, but from musicians who you know have chops, but are going to do whatever best serves the song. In this case, it’s two-chord verses, a four-chord chorus and a four-note guitar solo in the middle. It is absolute perfection. Be sure to check out the music video, a tribute to Easy Rider with a non-musical intro that is longer than the song proper. But the payoff when the song begins is nothing shy of stellar.
Many of the other tracks on the album hew fairly closely to The Beatles circa either Revolver or The Beatles (yeah, everybody calls it the White Album, I know), as if St. Pepper’s and Magical Mystery Tour never happened. I find it odd I wouldn’t be able to specify exactly which track of one band’s album reminds me of one of the other, but it is more of a general sound, in the same way The Bee’s Gees 1st Album makes me think the only album the Gibb brothers had at the time was Revolver.
On OCTA, the songs that make think of these albums are “Nothing Left For Me To Stay” (which has an interesting stop/start structure), “Autobiography” (with clever wordplay floating on a bouncing, McCartney-esque bassline), and “Everything You’ve Done Wrong” (with horns straight out of “Got To Get You Into My Life”). More specifically, the darkly humorous “The Lines You Amend” has an arrangement which recalls “The Ballad of John & Yoko”, even if the lyrics directly reference Ringo Starr’s solo hit, “Photograph”. “Anyone Who’s Anyone” may be my least favorite tune on the record, but it is the most like the more poppy and energetic numbers from Revolver. I may love “And Your Bird Can Sing” from that album, but the Sloan track is like that pitched at least an octave higher and with too much cluttering the mix.
Sloan contributed “Everything You’re Done Wrong”, as well as a couple of other songs, to the soundtrack of Sophia Coppola’s The Virgin Suicides. It’s a shame “Junior Panthers” from OCTA wasn’t used, as its mirror ball imagery would have been perfected suited for it. That, and the music and lyrics channel the bittersweet teenage angst of Big Star’s “Thirteen”.
Two songs which are curious outliers are compositions by Andrew Scott, the aforementioned drummer. “A Side Wins” caps off the first side, and is, despite the title, a celebration of the B-sides of singles. By putting the discarded tracks in the spotlight, I feel it also pays tribute to people who are aren’t the conventional winners in life. In that regard, it brought to my mind Timbuk 3’s “B-side Of Life”, a title I think is self-explanatory. Then the song “400 Metres” brings the second side to a close in a very odd manner. I’ve never had a good grasp on what is supposed to be conveyed here, and my hazy understanding might be the desired effect. There’s lyrics about barely crossing the finish line, which may simply be a meta moment addressing the impending conclusion of the album (something one line seems to explicitly address). There’s also a reference to the previous album’s “People Of The Sky”, so there also seems to be a bit of self-mythologizing.
That bonus disc which accompanied some copies of the album’s original release has them covering a couple of their songs as well as those of a great many of their heroes. Recorded Live at a Sloan Party! is composed of studio recordings which were then smothered in crowd noise so as to give the illusion of being taped in a live informal gathering. That this is a parody of Beach Boys’ Party, which had a similarly loose vibe and faked environment, shows this is an act that knows their history. Among the tracks covered are ones by Jonathan Richmond, Roxy Music and The Everly Brothers. A medley that will raise some eyebrows has Canned Heat’s “On The Road Again” meld seamlessly into the nearly identical “Transoma 5” by Stereolab. There’s a funny bit where we somehow exit into a side room briefly during the transition from one song to the next, and we hear a guy claiming to be a big Canned Heat fan, but they don’t know this song, the band’s biggest hit.
One Chord to Another is one of my very most favorite albums. It is effortlessly enjoyable, despite emerging from a volatile time for the band. After this, they released in succession two very successful albums (well, at least as far as alternative rock predominately popular in Canada is concerned). They are still going strong today. Not bad for a band Pitchfork once used as a slight against another band they felt was derivative, saying being a fan of the act in question would be “like building a shrine to Sloan”. I’m not sure I would do that, but I will raise my glass to the underdogs and never-woulds—the b-sides, if you like.