Born in New York and raised in Los Angeles, P.F. Sloan first recorded with his surf band, The Fantastic Baggys, in 1963 [the Baggys were also backing vocalists for Jan & Dean , '64-'66]. By 1965, he had made a remarkable transition with his first Dunhill Records solo album, Songs Of Our Times, revealing a depth of awareness previously untapped. The album contained "Eve Of Destruction" (which became a world wide mega hit for Barry McGuire), "Take Me For What I'm Worth" (an international success for The Searchers), and "Sins Of The Family." Sloan's own version of "Sins" charted high on the European charts.  His second album, 12 More Times, released in 1966, contained three hit songs, including "Let Me Be" (a big success for The Turtles). Two more P.F. Sloan singles scored on the European and Japanese charts.  Due to enormous political pressure, Sloan left Dunhill Records in 1967 after creating 26 chart records including the spy classic "Secret Agent Man." He relocated to Greenwich Village in New York and performed regularly, garnering a contract with Atco Records. A departure from his previous albums, Measure Of Pleasure, cut in the Muscle Shoals studios with Steve Cropper and the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section as the backing group, over the years has emerged as a cult favorite.  In 1972 in his personal nadir Sloan recorded what he refers to as his "Lost Angeles album," Raised On Records for Mums/Columbia. In the early 90's Sloan attempted to make a new album with Bruce Paskow (Washington Squares) but the results did not meet his creative standards. The record was finished without any direct participation from Sloan though briefly released in Japan without sanction. Which brings us to the present time… In 2005, P.F. Sloan was invited to come to Nashville by record producer Jon Tiven to make a great album of new original material as well as some of his best-known songs. Tiven has gained musical respect from his works with Don Covay, Frank Black, Wilson Pickett, BB King, and others. During an incredible high-energy period, Tiven and Sloan recorded an astounding 20 songs in 20 days. Among the powerful new compositions are "Violence,†"Love Is 4 Giving†and “Sailover.†Sloan also re-cut some of his most famous works, including a dynamic version of "Eve Of Destruction" featuring vocal performances by Frank Black and Buddy Miller. There is great creative artistry present here that satisfies and fulfills the promise and relevance of his early work. So what we have now is the ultimate P.F. Sloan album that die-hard aficionados have been waiting forever for. And an album that will most likely bring many new fans to an artist that is loved yet generally unknown to the American public. The album features many great musicians who gave of their time and talent because of their belief in the music of P.F. Sloan. Among the more well known of these is Felix Cavaliere (Young Rascals), Frank Black (Pixies), Lucinda Williams, Garry Tallent (E Street Band) & Tom Petersson (Cheap Trick). In addition, many of the finest Nashville session musicians including Buddy Miller, Billy Block, Craig Kampf, Tom Hambridge, Becky Hobbs, Bruce Bouton, and Audley Freed came to play for Phil.BUY PF SLOAN'S NEW ALBUM, SAILOVER, ONLINE . . . AND READ HIS BIO . . . AT HIGHTONE RECORDSREAD PRESS RELEASE.. ..REVIEWS:It's nice to know some things don't change. More than a dozen years after his last album and 40 years since he penned the epochal pop-protest number "Eve of Destruction," P.F. Sloan is still writing worthwhile pop songs with smart, impressionistic, and somewhat off-kilter lyrics, and Sailover confirms time has been quite kind to his muse since he last entered a recording studio. Sailover is not built from the same sort of Brill Building materials as Sloan's best-known work of the '60s (either as recorded by the songwriter himself or through such clients as Johnny Rivers, the Association, the Turtles, the Grass Roots and lots more); these days, Sloan and producer Jon Tiven go for a simpler approach (guitar, bass, drums, keys) that not only emphasizes the rootsy leanings of his melodies but brings out the Dylanesque side of his songwriting, which doesn't manifest itself in extended lyrical abstraction but a clear desire to write of the personal and the political with the same draw. While Sloan has resurrected a few old favorites for this set (including "Eve of Destruction," "From a Distance," and "Sins of a Family"), the new material makes it clear the man has been keeping his songwriting chops in solid shape; "Violence" and "PK and the Evil Dr. Z" speak clearly with the same mordant wit that he's summoned in his best-known music, while the compassion and warmth of "Love Is 4Giving" and the wanderlust of the title tune prove that while he's mellowed a bit, he's also learned what to make of it. And even when he does revisit the past, the mournful weight of the new recording of "Eve of Destruction" (with guest vocals from Frank Black and Buddy Miller) and the bitter eloquence of Lucinda Williams' verses on "Sins of a Family" show that some protest songs never die, they just remain uncomfortably relevant. Sailover shows P.F. Sloan still has songs in his bag that are well-worth hearing, and he has a gift for making them work in the studio; this is the work of a man who ought to be making records more often than once every 13 years, if he's so inclined and we're so fortunate.
MARK DEMING, All Music Guide
**********Sloan's singing has never sounded better; the years have mellowed his tone, added a subtle, confident sexiness that's especially appealing when he indulges his Dylan fixation on the playful space opera "PK and the Evil Dr. Z." Long before he found his guru, Sloan's songs asked big questions, and "Violence" and "All That Love Allows" show he's still crafting ambitious verses in the quest for answers. A highlight comes near the close of the disc with the lovely "Cross the Night," so understated and simple but informed by 4+ decades of pop smarts. Sloan has some excellent new songs that didn't make it onto Sailover, so I'm eagerly awaiting chapter two of his return. Til then, peel an eye for the hilarious live show (he knocked the roof off when he played free for a recent Scram magazine release), on the road this fall.
KIM COOPER, Scram Magazine**********PF Sloan was a major songwriter in L.A.'s burgeoning '60s folk and pop scene, with writing credits for the likes of The Turtles, Johnny Rivers and The Grassroots. His song "Eve of Destruction" (performed by Barry McGuire) was a #1 hit in 1965, and is widely recognized as one of the first protest anthems to crack the pop charts. After a long break from the music business, Sloan recently returned with the new Sailover. After entering the music business at 14, Sloan quickly became a driving force behind the Dunhill Records pop factory. His writing and performance credits from this era include tracks by The Mamas & Papas and Jan & Dean, as well as "Eve of Destruction"; this flood of productivity all took place before he was 22. After that prolific period, Sloan's musical output slowed considerably, so Sailover marks a welcome return. The album includes several of his classics alongside strong new compositions, with guests including Buddy Miller, Frank Black and Lucinda Williams.
MICHAELA MAJOUN, National Public Radio
**********Some things never change.Forty-one years ago this month, "Eve of Destruction," as sung by Barry McGuire, entered the Billboard charts and rose to No. 1.If its description of a planet on the brink seems timely, so might the renaissance of politically charged rock as exemplified by Neil Young's Bush-bashing Living with War and Bruce Springsteen's We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions.A new album also is out from P.F. Sloan, who wrote "Eve of Destruction" as a precocious 21-year-old. In his first album in more than 10 years, Sailover, which arrives Aug. 22, he spikes such targets as rampant consumerism, a collective fascination with violence and political corruption in an updated "Eve."With help from Lucinda Williams, The Pixies' Frank Black, The Rascals' Felix Cavaliere and Americana artist Buddy Miller, Sloan muses on a wide variety of subjects.Introspection receives just as much play as do his observations on the outside world, which perhaps is not surprising for someone who spent most of the past three decades battling mental and physical illnesses."(Producer) Jon Tiven had been calling me since 1991 to do an album," says Sloan, relaxed and looking healthy in his West Los Angeles home. "But I used to tell him: 'No. I have no energy, no focus. I'm not really well.' But he persisted, bless his heart. Last November when he called, I said yes, and the songwriter in me came out and wrote two songs that night."Those tunes, "Violence" and the surrealist rock-blues "PK and the Evil Dr. Z," are among the album's 10 new originals, some of which gestated for years."Songs are like a teenage girl getting ready to go to a dance," Sloan explains. "She puts on this makeup and does all this preparation, and suddenly this homely little girl becomes this ravishing creature."The guitar riff for "Love Is 4Giving" came from a song he had improvised at a 1972 audition for record executive Clive Davis. The cultural critique "Hollywood Moon" was inspired by a recent article on marketers' plans for advertising on the surface of the moon."It took us 40 years to get together," Sloan says with a laugh, referring to his collaboration on two songs with Beach Boys lyricist Steve Kalinich. "Steve wanted to work with me back in 1966, but it didn't happen. Not long ago, he asked if I'd put music to a meditation book he'd composed. It was 250 pages of blank verse. I said, 'I'll do it if I can find one magic chord that holds everything together.'"I got the guitar, found this diminished chord and reworked the verses so they rhymed. I called Steve and said, 'You're in luck.' "The meditation became the touching ballad "If You Knew."Sloan, who also wrote such pop classics as Johnny Rivers' "Secret Agent Man" and The Turtles' "You Baby," revisits "Where Were You When I Needed You," the Grass Roots' first hit [also covered by Jan & Dean], as well as "Eve" and three other compositions from his solo albums in the1960s."I was ecstatic about having Lucinda sing with me on 'Sins of a Family,'" he says of the new version of his sole chart single. "As far as I was concerned, she was the only one who could pull off" the tale of an abused teen girl who turns to prostitution. "That song wasn't very well received in 1966.""I like raw," he says, "and this album has a lot of raw on it." Still, he acknowledges that he has to fight the impulse to polish the music and "slick it up," a holdover from his days as a tunesmith for hire.But that was a long time ago."This is like a miracle to me," he says of Sailover, which he'll promote this fall with U.S. and European tours. "There's no reason in the world why, 40 years later, a guy who has never really been in the public eye should be recording and coming up with something good. This is only my fifth album."
GENE SCULATTI, USA TODAY
**********"PF Sloan was born sometime between midnight and dawn on an inspired evening in 1964," PF Sloan says from his small Los Angeles apartment.That was the night he wrote "Eve of Destruction," possibly the most famous and definitely the most commercially successful protest song of the '60s, a monster hit for Barry McGuire. Today, Sloan is back with "Sailover," his first album of new tunes in more than 30 years."Up until the night I wrote 'Eve' I'd been Phil Sloan, pop songwriter. I was half of (surf duo) the Fantastic Baggys with my writing partner Steve Barri. I'd been cranking out product for the pop music machine since I was 16, stuff like Round Robin's 'Kick That Little Foot,' 'Sally Ann' (a regional hit in Los Angeles), and producing and playing on a lot of the early sides at Dunhill Records. (Sloan was part of the Mamas and the Papas' studio band and created the guitar hook that opens "California Dreamin'.") At the same time, I'd started listening to Dylan, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and other folkies. That music opened up a level of consciousness I'd never experienced. I decided to move away from the pop stuff and created PF Sloan to be my folk-singing identity."On that night in 1964, Sloan wrote five songs, including "Take Me for What I'm Worth," later recorded by the Searchers; "Sins of a Family," a hit for Sloan in England; and "Eve of Destruction," his greatest success and his nemesis as well. When McGuire took "Eve" to the top of the charts in 1965, it created a huge backlash. The pop music people he'd been working with refused to publish "Eve," or any other PF Sloan tunes."Until that happened, I didn't realize how conservative some people in the music business were," Sloan says. "There were quite a few people with the mind-set we now call neo-con."The folk community accused him of trying to cash in on the folk-protest movement, somehow overlooking the fact that protest songs were commercial suicide for most artists. Sloan had a few more successes in the next two years, including the Grass Roots' "Where Were You When I Needed You" and Johnny Rivers' "Secret Agent Man," but "Eve" effectively put an end to Sloan's career as a pop songwriter. He was drummed out of the music business and crashed into a clinical depression that he tried to self-medicate with drugs and alcohol. He spent time in a mental hospital and moved back in with his parents, living with them until they died. He then spent years sleeping on a couch in his sister's apartment."If I knew then what I know now, would I have written that song?" Sloan wonders aloud. "If someone told the 20-year-old me that after you write this song you're going to get this quick burst of success, then spend the next 40 years wandering in the desert, would I have done it? I honest to God don't know, but I've learned so much in poverty that I probably would. Bob Dylan and Judy Collins were the only people who stood up for me. Everyone else in the folk community put me down. PF Sloan was supposed to change my life, but I didn't know those songs would get me kicked out of the music business. My publisher pulled out the old cliche and told me: 'You'll never work in this town again, kid. You'll never get any money from these songs as long as I'm alive.' They took all my money, and while I got out with my life and my integrity, I didn't know how to survive without music. I didn't do too well after that."Even more strange is the fact that "Eve of Destruction" was the B side of McGuire's first single."(Barry had) just started his solo career after years in the New Christy Minstrels and wanted a hit. I played him 'Exactly What's the Matter With Me,' and he signed with Dunhill to record it. He needed three more songs for the session, and 'Eve' was the last one he chose. Eventually, some DJ turned the record over and the phones lit up with people saying: 'Don't play that record again,' or 'Play it again, right now.' The rest, as they say, is history."Sloan put down his guitar for almost 40 years and made a living with blue-collar jobs -- delivering beer, doing telephone solicitation and "rearranging sunglasses at a Thrifty Drug Store." In 1991, he met musician and producer Jon Tiven."For the last 14 years, he's been calling me three times a year asking me to do an album," Sloan says. "I always said no."Tiven finally persuaded Sloan to buy a guitar, and he started playing again."The songs I was writing in my head didn't seem worth putting down, but suddenly the kid that was killed in 1966 re-emerged and wrote three songs in three days," he says. "There was an explosion of creativity after that, which was pretty cool after 22 or 23 years of not knowing if it even existed anymore."Sloan and Tiven went to Nashville and cut "Sailover" on a tight budget. The musicians on the album -- including Frank Black (the Pixies), Felix Cavaliere (the Rascals), and Americana icons Buddy Miller and Lucinda Williams -- all admired Sloan's work and donated their talents. The album mixes hits -- "Eve" and "Where Were You When I Needed You" -- with new tunes such as the smoky R&B ballad "If You Knew" and "PK and the Evil Doctor Z," a free-form surrealistic rant that tips its hat to Dylan. The CD has an organ-driven, '60s folk-rock vibe that sounds timeless. Sloan's vocals are smooth and mellow, without the edge of anger he had in his youth."I started a spiritual practice years ago," Sloan says. "I sing bhajans (Hindu devotional songs) every week for two hours, and I've been living a clean life, no alcohol or drugs, although I do smoke too much."Sloan now considers singing and songwriting a spiritual practice."When I sing 'Eve of Destruction' today, I sing it as a prayer," he says. "I'm singing to God and waiting for an answer. Back then, the line 'You don't believe we're on the eve of destruction' was a message to my peers. I was saying, despite what was going on, we didn't believe we were on the eve of destruction. At 20, I thought in five years we'd clean up the mess, deal with racism and war and greed and have a better world. 'Eve' was my diagnosis of what was killing the country."The question is still the same: 'Why do all these bad things happen and why do we let them happen?' It's insane that it's still topical after all these years."
J. POET, SFGate.com
