P.F. Sloan is one of those minor legends in rock music.
He is well regarded by his peers, has a devoted small following and he put out some undeniably great (and influential) music during his career.
He also was a founding father of folk rock.
To me, back as a youth in the 80s he was everything I liked – 60s, west coast, pop and rock, but thoughtful and with a cool semi mysterious persona. Listening to PF Sloan as a youth was like being in a secret gang with secret hand signals. The trouble was in those pre-internet days there was precious little PF Sloan floating about. All I had was a handful of op-shop 45s, so we had to listen to him through his song writing hits for others.
But, that wasn’t such a bad thing.
His biggest and certainly, to me, his greatest song is “Eve of Destruction” for Barry McGuire. That was (is) one of my favourite 45s. and a nice slab of folk protest done as a pop song.
This is the skill of PF Sloan – he could get any number of styles and add enough pop to make them commercial but not so much that they would lose their origins.
Sounds easy but it isn’t.
Wikipedia: “Sloan was born to an American father and a Romanian-born mother. His family moved to West Hollywood, California in 1957, where his father, a pharmacist, changed the family surname from "Schlein" to "Sloan" after repeatedly being denied a liquor license for his store. At 13, Sloan's father bought him a guitar; at the music store in Hollywood, Sloan met Elvis Presley, who gave him an impromptu music lesson.[2] In 1959, at 14, "Flip" Sloan recorded a single, "All I Want Is Loving" / "Little Girl in the Cabin" for the L.A. R&B record label Aladdin Records, which folded soon after its release….He became part of the burgeoning Los Angeles music scene, landing a job on the songwriting staff at music publisher Screen Gems, which was then the largest publisher on the West Coast, at 16…wrote hits for many performers, including "Eve of Destruction" (Barry McGuire); "You Baby" and "Let Me Be" (The Turtles); "A Must to Avoid" and "Hold On!" (Herman's Hermits); "Take Me For What I'm Worth" (The Searchers); and "Secret Agent Man" (Johnny Rivers). This last song was the theme tune for Danger Man, a British TV series that had been given a new title (Secret Agent) and theme for the U.S. market…Sloan also became a session guitarist as part of the group of L.A. session musicians known as The Wrecking Crew, working with such well-known backing musicians as drummer Hal Blaine, guitarist Tommy Tedesco, bassist Joe Osborn, and bassist/keyboardist Larry Knechtel, among others”.
This album was made after a four year break and Sloan had moved firmly into singer songwriter territory. It was not a big leap for him as he had been influenced, heavily, by Bob Dylan (and perhaps Donovan), by folk, and by west coast folk rock ….all of which had roads that led to the singer songwriter style.
Likewise, his contemporaries, and distinctly similar songwriters in the east coast Brill Building scene (Carole King, Laura Nyro, Neil Diamond etc) were all moving to into singer songwriter territory.
It was inevitable he would try his hand at this.
And he grew a beard to show he was serious about it.
Fans are still mixed on this album, maybe because it is a departure from his earlier works, but all the PF Sloan stylistic touches are there.
Namely, thoughtful songs, with some sharp observation, gentle social criticism, shrouded in flavourful backing and given a smart pop overlay.
Sloan is in good voice though he probably sings too well as people expect this type of music (unfortunately) to be a little more ragged.
The whole album reminds me of Jimmy Curtiss’ solo work, an east coaster with a similar musical background to Sloan though more obscure (see this blog for words on him). There are hints of James Taylor and Dan Fogelberg in there also.
Where the album lacks is in the hooks. Sloan is a hook master but here he hasn’t managed to pull any off. So, even though the songs are never less than pleasant there isn’t that one song to go stellar which all the others can hang off.
Does that make the album a failure.
No, nowhere near it.
Tracks (best in italics)
- Let Me Be – A Sloan remake (originally on his 1966 album “Twelve More Times”). This song works on two levels. As a song of a possessive love and as a hippy statement of faith : "Let Me Be" – think about it. The song is quite good and it grows on you, albeit slowly.
- Way You Want It to Be – sliding into soft rock territory with a hint of Elton John here.
- Night the Trains Broke Down – emotive and quite pleasant.
- Moon Is Stone – hmm
- Raised on Records– clearly biographical though a bit naff …."if it wasn’t for the music I might have said goodbye a long time ago". Music saved my soul type stuff. Ultimately though it works because of its sincerity
- Springtime -gentle
- Como – I'm a sucker for Spanish in songs (or generally any little bit of a foreign language thrown into a song)
- Sins of a Family – A Sloan remake (originally on his 1965 album “Songs of Our Times”). An interesting song (quite Dylanesque) and more in the Sloan style of subversive song writing. This is an otherwise mid tempo singer songwriter song with a catchy chorus has some interesting (and possibly disturbing) things to say
- Turn on the Light – so so though apparently Duane eddy played guitar on this.
- Midnight Girl – a gentle love song with a samba-esque bounce
- Somebody's Watching You – a nice guitar and violin song with the violins played as stark solos rather than as "strings". It works
And …
Not always successful but certainly no worse than other singer songwriter albums of the same period. …. I'm keeping it.
Chart Action
US
nothing
England
nothing
Sounds
http://recordlective.com/P.F._Sloan/Raised_on_Records/7cb45dd6-327f-4890-9054-602e656bee71/
Como
mp3 attached
Others
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnvwh_gbOIU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Id6roL2dYfM
Jimmy Webb's song about PF Sloan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_W9HLWZfOo
Review
http://www.allmusic.com/album/raised-on-records-mw0000852620
http://www.redtelephone66.com/2011/08/p-f-sloan-raised-on-records-1972/
Bio
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PF_Sloan
http://www.allmusic.com/artist/pf-sloan-mn0000414420
http://www.funtrivia.com/en/subtopics/I-Have-Been-Seeking-PF-Sloan-I-330427.html
Website
http://www.myspace.com/pfsloan
Trivia
- the album listing an all-star cast of sessions players including Johnny Barbata, Barry Beckett, Hal Blaine, James Burton, and Larry Knechtel.
- wikipedia: "P.F. Sloan" is also the title of a song by singer-songwriter Jimmy Webb, who is better known for the 1960s hits "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" and "Up, Up and Away". Webb released two different versions of the catchy, bittersweet composition, which seems to be about the costs and disappointments of being a creative ground breaker”.
