Product Description

P.F. Sloan is best known as the man who wrote hits for Barry McGuire ("Eve of Destruction"), Johnny Rivers ("Secret Agent Man"), and the Searchers ("Take Me For What I'm Worth"). He was also an early exponent of the singer-songwriter scene, and HERE'S WHERE I BELONG reissues both of the mid-'60s albums Sloan recorded for Dunhill (minus two tracks he decidedagainst including for some reason), featuring his own versions of some of the abovementioned tunes and many other folk-rock gems.

Track Listing

1. Sins Of A Family
2. Take Me For What I'm Worth
3. What Exactly's The Matter With Me
4. I'd Have To Be Out Of My Mind
5. Eve Of Destruction
6. This Mornin'
7. I Get Out Of Breath
8. This Is What I Was Made For
9. Ain't No Way I'm Gonna Change My Mind
10. All The Things I Do For You Baby
11. Goes To Show Just How Wrong You Can Be
12. What Am I Doing Here With You
13. From A Distance
14. Man Behind The Red Balloon
15. Let Me Be
16. Here's Where You Belong
17. This Precious Time
18. Halloween Mary
19. I Found A Girl
20. On Top Of A Fence
21. Lollipop Train (You Never Had It So Good)
22. Upon A Painted Ocean
23. City Women
24. Melody For You
25. Sunflower Sunflower
26. Karma (Study In Divinations)
27. I Can't Help But Wonder Elizabeth

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10754 in Music
• Released on: 2008-05-26
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .24 pounds

Customer Reviews

A worthy tribute - finally!
This is the compilation that all fans of P.F.Sloan have been waiting for - an almost perfect collection of the artist's work for the Dunhill label in the mid sixties. All that's missing are the last two tracks from Phil's second album - and as there is about 78 minutes worth of material here there was just no room left to squeeze them on!

If I were to have one minor quibble, for collectors, I could suggest that the compilers might have left off material that was also featured on the 1999 American "Anthology" collection on the "One Way" label to leave space for the missing tracks. I would imagine most of Sloan's fans will already own that earlier disc, all of who's 18 tracks are featured again here, plus 9 additional cuts. That would have made it possible for all the material to have finally been available on CD.

However, where this collection scores heavily over the earlier one, apart from the extra material, is the audio quality which makes it sound so much better than it did previously. Tim Forster, who had a big hand in preparing this release, has written a very good review for Amazon in which he explains why this is so. Amazon themselves also have a very informative Product Description for this disc which is well worth reading.

The "Big Beat" label is part of the "Ace" stable which is a guarantee that the research in compiling a collection like this will be thorough and exhaustive. Also, that the sound quality will be as good as possible and from the best audio sources available. This collection lives up to that fine reputation and I doubt that this material could ever be released in a better sounding edition. The accompanying booklet is also well illustrated and very informative, a very good read indeed. This package is a true labour of love by all involved and worthy tribute to a much underrated, but important, artist.

Even if, or perhaps especially if, you already have the earlier Anthology, this new collection would still make a valuable addition to your CD collection. Don't be put off by any duplication of tracks, this set starts afresh!

Ground-breaking Singer / Songwriter Compiled At Last
I had better declare my interest from the outset - I had a hand in compiling this CD, I also wrote the liner notes and supplied most of the photographs... But at least that proves I'm passionate about the artist, OK?

Of course I'm bound to say that Sloan is an overlooked genius. And I do. I make the case in the CD booklet and you can either take that or leave it. But I'm not alone. No less a song writer than Jimmy Webb paid tribute to him in his 1970 single `PF Sloan'. Sloan was in many ways the prototype singer / songwriter who paved the way for many of those who would find fame a fortune in the ensuing decade.

Even when he is not being overlooked he has often been misunderstood. When Barry McGuire took Sloan's `Eve of Destruction' to number 1 in September 1965 (replacing The Beatles' `Help' and ensuring that Dylan's `Like a Rolling Stone' never made it to the top) he attracted adulation and condemnation in equal measure. Fellow teenagers understood lines like "You're old enough to kill, but not for votin'" - reflecting the disparity between the age of enlistment (18) and voting (21) which existed in most US States at the time - but to the folk / protest establishment it was, in Phil Och's words, "tenth-rate Dylan".

But Sloan was never a pretender to Dylan's crown. He wasn't a protest singer. He didn't even write folk music as such. He was a pop craftsman who, along with writing partner Steve Barri, composed some of the finest music to emerge from Los Angeles in the mid to late 60s. And here it is at last for all to hear, including the original version of `Eve', Sloan's own minor hit `Sins Of A Family' and songs that were covered by many others artists, such as The Searchers, The Turtles and The Grass Roots.

This compilation, which has been several years in the making, marks the first time that many of these songs have appeared on CD and the first time that several have been reissued at all. Essentially it includes all of Sloan's Dunhill releases bar the last two cuts from his second LP (Patterns and When the Wind Changes) which we left off simply for reasons of space (and with Phil's full agreement). Crucially it also includes the five non-LP single cuts that are among Sloan's finest work - City Women, A Melody For You Sunflower, Karma and I Can't Help But Wonder Elizabeth.

Thanks to Tony Rounce at Ace and Andrew Sandoval the sound is also top-notch. Rather than the thin, clumsily separated stereo used on the old, incomplete Anthology CD, the first LP is presented in glorious mono - and, in my view, sounds much better for it. Elsewhere the re-mastering of the stereo cuts (including new mixes of three of the singles) really brings the sound alive. Oh, and Melody is the correct single version, complete with marimba backing.

Phil is very pleased that his work is back on the shelves after so many years. The CD has already received favourable reviews in Record Collector and Uncut. So what are you waiting for?