by Bill Pearis
These Sloan deluxe album box sets are so well done, it’s a real treat to go through their back catalog with them, learning stories behind the songs and getting to hear alternate versions and songs that didn’t make the cut or that weren’t quite ready for primetime yet. It helps that, where they are in this reissue series, is dead in middle of their mid-’90s creative peak, with all four members writing some of their best-ever songs. I waffle back-and-forth as to what Sloan’s best album is — One Chord to Another? Twice Removed? Between the Bridges? — but Navy Blues is up there for me.
The album has a reputation as a dive into ’70s riff-rock, and the album’s two singles — the AC/DC-ish hit (and continued Canadian jock jam) “Money City Maniacs” and the incredible Thin Lizzy-esque opener “She Says What She Means” — certainly fall into that category. But 21 years on it feels more like a continuation of what they were doing on on One Chord to Another, but now moving out of the ’60s and into the early-’70s. Less Beatles and Kinks, more Badfinger and Big Star. (There’s still a little Beatles here, at least a couple songs feel pulled from Side 1 of Abbey Road.) Production and arrangements became more ambitious, with songs flowing into one another, and at least a couple “song suite” type numbers (Chris Murphy’s “Suppose They Close the Door” and Andrew Scott’s “Sinking Ships”).
There are no bad songs on Navy Blues and the highs are dizzying: from the aforementioned riffy rippers “She Says What She Means” (by Murphy) and “Money City Maniacs” (by Patrick Pentland) to Jay Ferguson’s jaunty “C’Mon C’Mon” (which has one of my favorite guitar solos of the last 25 years), Andrew Scott’s cocky “On the Horizon.” There’s also Murphy’s joyous “Keep on Thinkin’,” and Pentland’s wistful “Stand by Me, Yeah” (which has a little Thin Lizzy in it too), and…the whole record’s fantastic. What was “retro” sounding in 1998 has aged into evergreen. A classic.
There are two LP’s worth of bonus material. The first is Navy Blues in demo form with some songs pretty much arriving fully-formed (all of Andrew’s song), some almost there minus lyrics (“C’Mon C’Mon” is almost totally “blah de blah de yeah yeah”), and some that would change quite a bit (“Keep on Thinkin'”). The third disc is much more interesting, all studio outtakes, many of which would end up on later albums. Sometimes much later and in radically different form. Patrick’s “Just One Shot” finally reared its head 20 years later as “This Day Will Be Mine” on 2018’s 12, and I like the slightly lighter touch the original has. Elements of “Open Your Umbrellas” and “I’ve Enable Myself” would end up in Chris’ “Fading Into Obscurity” from 2006’s Never Hear the End of It, “and Daddy Be Cool” became “Your Daddy Will Do” on 2013’s The Double Cross. “So Beyond Me,” would end up on Navy Blues‘ follow-up, 1999’s Between the Bridges with just a bit of “Yours to Steal” thrown in.
I find it so fascinating to see how songs evolve, are torn apart, spliced together and, for the most part, made a lot better. The liner notes, part of the 32-page book that comes with the set, help tell that story too. More casual fans may want to wait for the sure-to-come single LP repress of Navy Blues, but fans should definitely pick this up (you probably already have). And if you’ve never heard it at all…
--taken from: Brooklyn Vegan
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