Sloan - Navy Blues (Deluxe Reissue) (2019)

Having weathered the demise of its most recent American label, Sloan forges on, battered but unbroken and still delivering perfect pop records; Navy Blues might just be the band's best yet, with the sheer consistency of its infectious melodies, clever lyrics, and exuberant performances pushing the group toward new creative peaks. Moving away from the ornately Beatlesesque production of the previous One Chord to Another, the sound on Navy Blues is more down and dirty, indicating a heavy Big Star influence; a track like "Iggy & Angus" certainly isn't as raw as the homages implicit in its title would suggest, but its fuzzed-out guitars and lumbering drums are nevertheless emblematic of the sonic shifts that characterize the entire record. Truth be told, there's not a weak track here, but "C'mon C'mon (We're Gonna Get It Started)," "Keep On Thinkin,'" "Chester the Molester," and "I Wanna Thank You" all go above and beyond the call of duty, each undeniably catchy and instantly memorable.

Limited to 1,200 pieces, the Navy Blues deluxe vinyl box set is now available for pre-order through the band's website. The set features three LPs, a pair of 7-inch singles, a colour poster, digital downloads and a 32-page book complete with "many unseen photos, posters, artwork, ephemera, lyric sheets" and more.

As Sloan's Jay Ferguson explained in an email, the box's first LP will feature Navy Blues "in all its glory remastered from the original mixes," while the second LP contains "home demo recordings for each track on Navy Blues...some with early different arrangements and alternate lyrics."

The box set's third LP features 14 outtakes from both the album sessions and a handful of demo recordings. "Some of these songs wound up being re-recorded in different forms further down the road in our career (some lounging around for 20 years!) and some never went any further than here," Ferguson added. "The Outtakes LP almost makes for an alternate upside-down-world 1998 album that never was. "We'd like to thank all the fans who have been supportive and encouraging of both the previous box sets and tours (not to mention the continued interest in our new recordings). So please make room on that shelf, and we hope you dig this latest deluxe box. We're looking forward to seeing you all this fall and next spring." Sloan last released their 12 album in 2018. That same year, they treated digital-only EP Hit and Run to its first-ever physical release.