IN REVIEW: Sloan - "Parallel Play"
When a band you love starts to wear out their welcome, it's a sad thing. Take Weezer, who've released an album that's raking in more pity than positivity. As disheartening as it is, sometimes your favourite bands... well, for lack of better terms, go bad . And, it almost happened to Sloan. When A-Sides Win , their 2005 best-of was released, it couldn't have come at a better time. Sloan hadn't released a great effort in seven years, with three passable-to-mediocre albums in a row ( Between the Bridges, Pretty Together and Action Pact ) threatening to thrust them headlong into the dump bins of our hearts. Sure, those albums weren't outright bad, but they just lacked something. Soul, drive, determination. Maybe they knew it, maybe they didn't, but on record the band didn't really seem fully into it anymore. It happens to the best of us. That best-of seemed to reignite their creativity, resulting in the staggering 30-song set Never Hear the End of It...