Sloan releases a new deluxe (and quite massive) edition of their Navy Blues album

[Picking a favourite Sloan album is tough, but the safest thing to do is default to the Navy Blues album from 1998. If that sounds like you, the band has just issued a new deluxe edition vinyl box set. Here’s the word from Jay. – AC]

Navy Blues is finally turning 21! Since a debutante ball is a bit expensive, what better way to celebrate this LP’s formal coming of age than with a marginally less expensive deluxe vinyl box set!

In 1998, we were coming off the heels of our most successful record, One Chord To Another. This 4th LP was the first record where there were real expectations, both commercially and critically. First single “Money City Maniacs” did (and continues to do) well at radio (and, currently, at Raptors games) here in Canada. While the record was, at the time, generally considered a nod to a more 70’s-rock infused sound, in hindsight it’s feels like a pretty varied collection from 4 songwriters.

Perhaps the extra content from the era added here even expands on that notion.

As with our previous Twice Removed and One Chord To Another box sets, there will be three LPs contained within. First up is Navy Blues in all it’s glory remastered from the original mixes, followed by a second LP of home demo recordings for each track on Navy Blues…some with early different arrangements and alternate lyrics.

The third LP is a 14 song collection of outtakes from both the formal studio sessions at Chemical Sound where the album was recorded 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.

The Outtakes LP almost makes for an alternate upside-down-world 1998 album that never was. As well as the three LPs, there’s not one, but two 7” singles included this time. The first single contains two more demo recordings leading up to Navy Blues…an early rocking incarnation of Chris’ “Summer’s My Season” titled “Rock Star Admit It” paired with a home demo of Patrick’s “Out To Lunch”. The second 7” single is a reverse nod to the very limited white vinyl, label and sleeve “Rhodes Jam” single we released in 1997. This time it’s an all black vinyl, label and sleeve instrumental outtake called “Hammond Jam”.

That’s correct…”Hammond Jam”. That’s me trying to keep up on bass while Chris wrestles the drums and Andrew jams the Hammond. That leads us to the piece-de-resistance from the attic offices of “Murphy Design”, the beautiful 12” x 12”, 32 page, full colour book detailing the recording process, stories and experiences from the era along with song by song specifics all told in an oral history fashion.

This is all rounded out with many unseen photos, posters, artwork, ephemera, lyric sheets and many other items that have finally found justification for sitting stored in boxes over the past 21 years! Now we’d absolutely be unable to make these box sets without our friend and photographer Catherine Stockhausen’s wonderful archive of photos and once we again had more visual content than would fit in the booklet. So, we relegated a shot she snapped of us atop Reaction Studios in Toronto (where we mixed the album) to create a deluxe 18” x 24” poster contained within.

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.

Track Listing:

Navy Blues (LP #1)
Side A
1. She Says What She Means 
2. C’mon C’mon (We’re Gonna Get It Started)
3. Iggy & Angus 
4. Sinking Ships 
5. Keep On Thinkin’
6. Money City Maniacs
7. Seems So Heavy

Side B
1. Chester The Molester 
2. Stand By Me, Yeah
3. Suppose They Close The Door 
4. On The Horizon 
5. I Wanna Thank You 
6. I’m Not Through With You Yet

The Demos (LP #2)
Side A
1. She Says What She Means (July/Aug 1996 demo)
2. C’mon C’mon (We’re Gonna Get It Started) (Autumn 1997 demo) 
3. Iggy & Angus (Jan/Feb 1997 demo) 
4. Sinking Ships (Oct 1997 demo)
5. Keep On Thinkin’ (July 1997 demo) 
6. Money City Maniacs (Aug 1997 demo) 
7. Seems So Heavy (Sept 1997 demo)

Side B
1. Chester The Molester (July 1997 demo) 
2. Stand By Me, Yeah (Aug 1997 demo) 
3. Suppose They Close The Door (July 1997 demo) 
4. On The Horizon (Oct 1997 demo) 
5. I Wanna Thank You (Autumn/Winter 1997 demo) 
6. I’m Not Through With You Yet (Aug 1997 demo) 

The Outtakes (LP #3)
Side A
1. So Beyond Me (Studio outtake) 
2. Just One Shot (July/Aug 1996 demo)
3. I Feel Lied To (July 1997 demo)
4. Mother’s Day (Studio outtake) 
5. Style Is Still Style (Studio outtake) 
6. 2, 3 Hello (Aug 1997 demo) 
7. Open Your Umbrellas (Early 1997 demo) 

Side B
1. Daddy Be Cool (Studio outtake) 
2. Family Tree (Oct 1997 demo) 
3. All By Myself (Studio outtake Version 2 )
4. Glen Campbell (July/Aug 1996 demo) 
5. I’ve Enabled Myself (Aug 1997 demo) 
6. Helen (Oct 1997 demo) 
7. Yours To Steal (July 1997 demo)  

7″ Single 1
Side A
1. Rock Star Admit It (July/Aug 1996 demo)
Side B
1. Out To Lunch (Aug 1997 demo) 

7” Single 2
Side A
1. Hammond Jam Pt. 1 (Studio outtake)
Side B
1. Hammond Jam Pt. 2 (Studio outtake)