Sing It Back: Songs for Every Day

Song #55 Sloan - Waiting for Slow Songs (off Between the Bridges - 1999)

Mike Portnoy left Dream Theatre earlier today. I was going to break my 15 Albums meme to play my favourite DT song (the extended, seven-minute version, natch), but that would involve revealing myself as a total fraud. Dream Theatre are great, and I enjoy their music a lot, but I don’t think about them every day. I’ve seen them live, but I was accompanying a fanboy because no one else would. Dream Theatre’s influence on my life? They’re a band to name-drop while seducing guitar players. On the other hand, at least half of my male friends are shedding a single manly tear, but one or two of them have said something along the lines of, “Yeah, it’s kind of sad, but it’s not like they’ve had a great album in a long time.”

That attitude reminded me of what some people have said about my own favourite band, Sloan. I’ve featured them before, using a song from their 2003 album Action Pact. Many, MANY people argue that AP is not their best work. I concur. Their BEST work was 1999’s Between the Bridges (sometimes jokingly referred to as “Between the Bitches” for its placement between their live album and what most regard as their worst album - 2001’s Pretty Together). With the exception of one song (“Friendship”), Between the Bridges is a perfect album.

Title aside (it has a double meaning, referring both to song structure and the harbour bridges in their native Halifax the Promised Land), this album is a True Sloan Fan’s favourite and is commonly regarded as The Last Great Sloan Album. I’d argue that 2006’s Never Hear The End Of It was pretty damn great, but I am often ignored. 

I have seen Sloan perform 40+ times. I have played their music more than any other artist ever, maybe even combined. I was a crazy, obsessed fangirl who (through maturity, not by fault of the band) is now a fairly level-headed fangirl.

Some dudes say they’re fine with Portnoy leaving DT because they were no longer the revolutionary prog-gods they once were. Sloan at one point led a music revolution, and I know some jerks who judge them for not staying at the forefront. While DT are still the Fathers of Modern Progressive Metal, Sloan are still a seminal (augh I hate that word), important band with TONNES of influence. 

I figure prog fans are generally treating Portnoy’s departure the same way Canadians would treat Patrick Pentland’s*: some would shrug; some would shed a tear and wish him well; some would think “Dude, 20+ years and you quit NOW?!”; I would probably cry more than a single manly tear, but I’d remember everything they’d accomplished. Appreciate your favourite bands, people. Love their best albums, don’t dwell on the mediocre ones. Admire them for their influence, don’t listen to the naysayers. Remember all the friends you’ve made through the music. Do what you’ve gotta do. Eff, I love Sloan. 

*Patrick, dude… stick with them. The four of you still have a good thing going. Sincerely, A Fangirl.