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!

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