Commonwealth
9 September 2014
Murderecords
3
stars out of 5
In
case you'd forgotten, Sloan is one of the better known musical
products of Canada's Atlantic provinces (and the band that gave you
“the best Canadian album of all time,” Twice
Removed),
and you might be interested in discovering that they have just
released their 11th
album, Commonwealth.
The gimmick: each of the band's four members (Jay Ferguson, Chris
Murphy, Patrick Pentland, and Andrew Scott) wrote and sang his own
side of this double LP. You'd think that this would result in
something bloated to epic proportions, but the whole project is still
much shorter than one half of Speakerboxxx/The
Love Below
(and there was much rejoicing).
Things
get started with the rhythm guitarist, Jay Ferguson, on the side
titled, “Diamond.” Ferguson mines the late '60s and early '70s of
The Beatles and their respective solo careers for his material,
coming up with something which seems both a tribute to that era as
well as stuck in it. Bassist Chris Murphy's suite (“Heart”) is
rather more modern, although the mid-'90s alt-rock vibe he throws
down is also rather less interesting. Lead guitarist Patrick Pentland
kicks off his section (“Shamrock”) with some blue-based rock 'n'
roll in the form of “13 (Under a Bad Sign),” perhaps a reference
to blues legend Albert King, or perhaps not. Things stay in the same
vein with “Take It Easy,” although straying dangerously close to
Eagles territory (never a good thing).
By
far the best and most interesting side (“Spade”) of the four is
that of drummer Andrew Scott, and although it consists of only one
song, that song is almost eighteen minutes long. “Forty-Eight
Portraits” begins with several minutes of what seems like the band
torturing a very upset dog with aimless jamming, but then things pull
together without warning and zip along through and extended
medley-like composition with more changes than a Girl Talk mash-up.
It's “Forty-Eight Portraits” alone that earns Commonwealth
its three-star rating; without it, we're looking at a two-and-a-half
at best. It's a delight to listen to, the pleasant reward for having
put up with the dull pretension of the previous three sides.
reviewed
by Richard Krueger
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