miércoles, 16 de junio de 2021

P.F. Sloan – Take him for what he’s worth / Rare singles and unreleased demos + Booklet (Folk-Rock)

Pues hoy tenemos un trabajo de esos de categoría, a cargo del amigo Rob Kopp, ya habitual por estos lares, y es curioso la de coincidencias que tenemos, ya que cuando el montó su "Dutch Nuggets", los dos coincidimos en que la mejor canción era la de Sandy Coast y nuevamente cuando yo publiqué "Ten Years Of Music Friendship & Fun Around The World" en la que incluí como representante de los USA "From a Distance" de "PF Sloan", el me comunicó su gran admiración por el maestro y me comentó el trabajo que realizó hace años antes sobre él.
Y ante la proposición de publicarlo aquí, para mi fue todo un honor, por que ya sé que cuando Rob se pone, se pone de verdad. Esta colección la había visto tiempo ha en discogs, pero nunca la había escuchado. Componen la colección singles raros y también unas cuantas demos, todo lo cual está acompañado de un apabullante libreto donde encontrareis de todo sobre el maestro.
Y para comentar este disco, lo mejor es copiar la presentación que incluyó Rob en el Cd:


The tracks

Being a member of ‘Platenclub Utrecht’, a record club of 7 Dutch collectors who aren’t just collecting records but also are releasing them, my original plan about this Sloan-project was to make it a booklet and a vinyl EP. 
But soon it turned out to be very hard, if not impossible, to pick out only 4 songs from that reservoir of rarities, so in the end the choice between 4 tracks on vinyl and about 25 tracks on a CDR wasn’t too difficult.
As the title of this project “Take him for what he’s worth” was derived from Take me for what I’m worth the CDR begins and ends with that song. Track 1 comes from the Trousdale sampler “What’s going on here?” According to the sleeve it should be a Sloan & Barri demo, but probably it’s the same take as the version on Sloan’s debut-LP and just a different mix with the voice in the middle instead of the left channel.
Tracks 2-5 are the a- and b-sides of 2 rare singles from 1959 and 1960 when Sloan wasn’t called P.F. yet. All I want is loving and Little girl in the cabin are by Flip, If you believe in me and She’s my girl are by Phil.
Track 6 There’s something about you has only been released by Terry Black on his LP “The Black plague” and the b-side of his single “Rainbow”, but when you listen carefully it’s obvious this Sloan-composition is not sung by that Canadian singer but by the composer himself!
Track 7 That’s cool, that’s trash is good “gar(b)age” with a great guitar. There seems to be no difference between this Sloan & Barri-acetate and the Street Cleaners-single, except for the end. Just like the cover by The Kingsmen the acetate ends with a stuttering “It’s garbage, folks” (It even sounds like the same guy!).
Maybe unfortunately for you, you won’t find anything from Sloan’s swim or surf period on this CDR, but the demos from that time just can’t beat the demos from his folk-rock and singer-songwriter period. 
Half of this CDR, tracks 8-20, should have appeared on “Child of our times / The Trousdale demo sessions 1965-1967”.
This CD was announced by Varèse Sarabande in ‘97 and ‘98, but despite the fact it already had a number (VSD-5825) it has not been released. Together with Sloan’s first 2 solo-albums “Songs of our times” and “Twelve more times” and the Grass Roots debut “Where were you when I needed you” it would have been the perfect quartet. The Sloan & Barri-demos You baby and Can I get to know you better come from the Trousdale promo “What’s going on here?”, the other tracks are previously unreleased. Why? Don’t ask me!
Especially the title song Child of our times is a masterpiece. When these 13 originals would have been released on one LP in the sixties, it surely would be a candidate for the title of best Sloan-album ever.
Track 21 Autumn is my favourite Trousdale demo that was not scheduled on the “Child of our times”-CD.
Track 22 I can’t help but wonder, Elizabeth found a place on this CDR for a very subjective reason as well. It’s the only official release from the Dunhill days I didn’t have on 7”/LP/CD yet. An objective reason for its inclusion could be it’s the bridge between the folk-rock andsinger-songwriter years. Or the beautiful bass.
After his 4th solo-LP “Raised on records” nothing was heard from Sloan for more than a decade until 1985, when he did a couple of come back concerts in the Bottom Line in New York and started to record again.
Track 23 Eve of destruction 1990 (The environment) is a re-recording by Sloan of his most famous song. And again it was Barry McGuire who released it. You can find it on the Wildlife Fund CD “El Dorado”.
Track 24 combines the intro of Secret agent man from Sloan’s 1993-CD “Serenade of the seven sisters” with Danger man, a vocal demo by Sloan & Barri from 1965 (their demo of Secret agent man is an instrumental).
Tracks 25-27 are “Trousdale classics revisited”, recorded by Sloan in April 1997 with just his acoustic guitar.
Finally I’d like to thank Tony Fitton for discussing the tracks with me. Without a doubt this resulted in the best track listing you can think of. 27 rare singles and unreleased demos: take them for what they’re worth!

Rob Kopp - We are the PSPS, the Phil Sloan Preservation Society

Solo resta poner las tres canciones escogidas por Rob:

Child Of Our Times
Autumn
Secret Agent Man - Danger Man


Pues como siempre creo que un gran trabajo a Rob, cosa que agradecemos todos y si queréis algo mas de info la tenéis AQUÍ.
Hasta la semana proxima que toca... ¡Tommentón!


Se agradecen los comentarios

33 comentarios:

FiveGunsWest dijo...

Great! Really nice work. I interviewed Barry McGuire a couple of times for the LA Free Press 60s Music Page. He was a hoot! A real character; He has a different opinion, as I am sure you know, as to who wrote it. I don't take sides. I enjoy the people and the music, ya know? Thanks again. Nice post.

babelain dijo...

¿El Link? O no me he despertado todavía.
Saludos.

jose kortozirkuito dijo...

P.F. Sloan - Take him for what he's worth

https://www.mediafire.com/file/dga22kud1gila8c/P.F.+Sloan+-+Take+him+for+what+he's+worth.rar/file

o

https://drive.google.com/file/d/18BJbTyLyP05XN31Pi8RvnGQlRTyGgs_S/view?usp=sharing

jose kortozirkuito dijo...

Amigo Babelain.
El que no me había despertado era yo esta mañana, lo había escrito, pero no le había dadoa publicar comentario.
Lo que digo siempre:
"Volverá a ocurrir"
Gracias por el chivatazo
Jose

jose kortozirkuito dijo...

Hi Fivegunswest.
Thanks for your interesting comment.
P.F. Sloan is undoubtedly an essential character in the history of music.
Enjoy your music
Jose

Tom dijo...

Hello Jose , many thanks for this rare CD with P F Sloan from your musical friend!! I have a greatest hits CD from P F Sloan and enjoy to hear the unknown rare tracks.Great that you offer them on your side!!! Many greetings Thomas

Anónimo dijo...

Wow! This kind of share is why I drop by! THANK YOU! - Stinky

Rob Kopp dijo...

Hi José, I just published this comment on blog Twilightzone:

Today my Spanish friend José placed P.F. Sloan - Take him for what he's worth on his excellent blog Tommentón en la Cuadra.
http://tommentonenlacuadra.blogspot.com/2021/06/pf-sloan-take-him-for-what-hes-worth.html
The Discogs page for the CDR is https://www.discogs.com/PF-Sloan-Take-Him-For-What-Hes-Worth-Rare-Singles-And-Unreleased-Demos/release/3353450
What makes the download on José's blog special is that it also has a PDF-file of the booklet (200 pages!). In 2000-2001 I made 3 editions of 30 copies each, but as I don't intend to make a 4th edition after all these years, I thought I might as well throw it on Internet.
For more info see https://pwedding.home.xs4all.nl/pfsloan/pfsloan.htm

jose kortozirkuito dijo...

Hi Thomas
This is a great, excellent job, like all of them, from friend Rob. All credit is yours.
Best wishes
Jose

jose kortozirkuito dijo...

Hi Stinky.
I am lucky to have very good friends who enrich the content of this blog, with their work.
Without them all this would be very boring.
Cheers
Jose

jose kortozirkuito dijo...

Thanks Rob for your friendship and your work.
Greetings
Jose

Steve dijo...

Thanks so much for posting this and for all the great compilations youve made over the years. Love your work!

Psychfan dijo...

Thanks very much to all involved. P.F.Sloan is one of my favorites from the mid sixties.

jose kortozirkuito dijo...

Thanks Steve
I am surrounded by good friends and this encourages me to continue.
Cheers
Jose

jose kortozirkuito dijo...

Hello Psychfan
P.F. Sloan, is without a doubt one of the most important characters in the history of music, and in this blog he has always had the recognition of him in various collections.
Best wishes
José

Daniel dijo...

Una gran recopilación de un artista que la merece sin luagr a dudas. Uno de los tantos grandes que nos dio la música de los años sesenta.
Saludos.

jose kortozirkuito dijo...

Amigo Daniel.
Creo que P.F. Sloan es un músico al que todos respetamos por su brillante carrera y por la calidad de sus composiciones.
Esta colección ayuda un poco mas a conocer su obra.
Un saludo
Jose

babelain dijo...

Magnífico trabajo del amigo Rob. Y buena idea publicarlo aquí. Tengo varios discos de P.F. Sloan. También de Sloan & Barri. Con estas rarezas completo mi colección.
Gracias a los dos.
Saludos.

jose kortozirkuito dijo...

Hola Bab:
Los trabajos de Rob, es que son garantizados. Ideal para completar su discografía. Creo que despues de Dylan es el máximo compositor USA de los sesenta.
Saludos
Jose

Orlando dijo...

Me ha encantado ,
sobre todo Autumm,
acorde con mi estacion
preferida del año, un
saludo.

jose kortozirkuito dijo...

Hola Orlando.
A mi Autumn también es de mis favoritas.
Uno de los grandes PF Sloan.
Jose

Rick dijo...

No sé si es el mayor compositor yanki tras Dylan, pero desde luego es el Dylan pop; una especie de equivalente a Donovan en la Isla, por decirlo de algún modo. Me pasa lo mismo que con los otros dos, que algunas canciones me gustan mucho y otras no tanto, pero en cualquier caso es un grande. Otro personaje necesario aquí.

Saludos mil.

Rob Kopp dijo...

I'm not so fond of his surf period, but his first 2 solo albums, the first album by The Grassroots and the compilation CD "Child of our times", that was released after "Take him for what he's worth" anyway, are full of great SONGS. And that's where his strength lies: beautiful songs. To Babelain: I have so many cassettes with unreleased Sloan songs, but I don't have the means (yet) to convert them to MP3's.

Psyclist dijo...

Thanks for these rare recordings. Certainly a great addition especially if those recordings are difficult to obtain. I wanna hear them! Great share

jose kortozirkuito dijo...

Hi Rob
Of course, Sloan's surfing era is quite unknown, as he departs from his songwriting side, but he was very mixed in the phantom surf bands that were in L.A. and he collaborated a lot with Hal Blaine and more musicians from the Wrecking Crew, but hey, Rob, you know all those stories better than I do.
The cassettes would be interesting to listen to, although I think the best thing will always be what came out on his official records.
Cheers
José

jose kortozirkuito dijo...

Hy Psyckist:
You will surely like them, they are carefully compiled by Rob, a great P.F. Sloan specialist
Greetings
Jose

HenkP dijo...

Hi Rob, Tony, Jose

This is one magnificent job on a great songwriter; all hail to the PSPS! I first became aware of him (and Steve Barri) when buying my first Turtles and Grass Roots LPs, decades ago. Never grew tired of his songs. Thank you for all the efforts cocerning this collection.

jose kortozirkuito dijo...

Hi HenkP
Thanks for your words, PF Sloan is undoubtedly one of the most important songwriters in history, and Rob's work is really good, as he includes things that are very difficult to listen to elsewhere.
Greetings from Spain.
José

Racati dijo...

Mon ami Jose,
Sloan sera un gran compositor pero como interprete me parece de lo mas coriente.
Barry McGuire con "Eve Of Destruction" o The Searchers con "Take Me For What I'm Worth", por ejemplo, lo superan sin problema.
Pero bueno, como siempre, para gustos.
Esta vez no repitaras con el 10/10.
Un amical salut.

jose kortozirkuito dijo...

Mon ami Racati.
Menos mal que ya habías avisado.
Desde luego, la faceta de compositor es muy superior a la de interprete, pero eso le pasa a muchos, Bob Dylan por ejemplo (Me juego la colleja).
Bueno, no siempre puede ser un 10/10.
El post de esta semana no hace falta ni que lo mires, que no te va a gustar nada.
Saludotes
Jose

bikeboy dijo...

Great post, thanks so much for this. I'm wondering if anyone has a link for Raised On Records as I can't find one anywhere.
Cheers, Bikeboy

jose kortozirkuito dijo...

Hi Bikeboy:
Thanks for your visit.
Raised On Records:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Rhg-RZ4woOm22IRxZ2c6AOppxDIfpmZc/view?usp=sharing
Best wishes
Jose

bikeboy dijo...

Thanks so much Jose, most appreciated!
Cheers, Bikeboy