Sloan Greatest Hits Package & DVD

I'm not a big fan of greatest hits compilations. My long-standing theory about those kinds of albums is that if you like each song on that album, there's an excellent chance that you'd enjoy the songs in their proper context, plus you'd probably discover a song or two that you'd like even more.

That said, I gotta endorse this new greatest hits package by Canadian power-pop band Sloan, called "A Sides Win: Singles 1992-2005." Sure, there's a new track on it-no big deal in this day and age of downloadable music. However, the accompanying DVD is what draws me to this compilation. The DVD has a documentary of the history of the band, plus their music videos on it. So I'll probably be getting it.

For those of you who aren't all that familiar with Sloan, and yet enjoy the power pop, you should check into getting this album for yourself. These guys are moderately successful in their native country, but they just have not been able to scratch the mainstream surface stateside (although they just played at Coachella this year and toured with Jet last summer, so they are not as obscure as they used to be). To me, it's a big ol' mystery. For the last decade, these guys have been putting out some great Beatlesque pop infused with some good ol' butt kicking rock 'n roll (Plus they are tremendous fun live). There's no reason that they shouldn't have had at least one of their tunes trickle down to the radio. But that hasn't happened, and now you have an opportunity to listen to what the wizards at Clear Channel don't want you to hear. Although there are a couple of killer songs left off the compilation (probably because they weren't singles), there's plenty of great songs on there that will give you an idea of how cool this band really is.