‘A Tribute to P.F. Sloan’ honors iconic tunesmith who died last month
Songwriter P.F. Sloan died last month, of pancreatic cancer, at age 70. Though the general music audience has seldom known his name, among singers and tunesmiths he’s held in very high esteem.
In his honor, Altadena’s Coffee Gallery Backstage fittingly presents a tribute concert Thursday night. Singer-songwriters Carla Olson, Peter Lewis and John York, journalist Paul Zollo and lyricist Steve Kalinich will toast Sloan in song and story.
Few pop writers of the 1960s had the kind of success Sloan enjoyed. As a contract writer for Screen Gems, his successes included “I Found a Girl” for Jan and Dean, “Let Me Be” for the Turtles and “A Must to Avoid” by Herman’s Hermits, “Secret Agent Man” for Johnny Rivers, “Where Were You When I Needed You” for the Grass Roots, and “Another Day, Another Heartache” for the Fifth Dimension.
But it was the 19-year-old Sloan’s harsh critique, “Eve of Destruction,” that made the whole country stop and listen.
For some it was a propaganda anthem that gave aid and comfort to the enemy in the Vietnam War, and was banned by many radio stations. To others it was a wake-up call for America to get its moral house in order.
Sung by the gravel-voiced Barry McGuire, the record inspired more comment and controversy than anything released in 1965 — including those under Bob Dylan’s name.
Phil Sloan grew up in Los Angeles, and at 14 recorded his first single for Aladdin Records. With his partner Steve Barri, Sloan wrote for and recorded with Jan and Dean on “(They’re Coming) From All Over the World.”
As the Fantastic Baggys, Sloan and Barri wrote and sang their own “Tell ’Em I’m Surfin’.” It would be impossible to divorce or isolate P.F. Sloan from the Hollywood Renaissance of the ’60s, just as it would to overestimate his importance.
For all of his success, Sloan was a contractual slave and saw very little of the money his songs generated. As he detailed in his autobiography, “What’s Exactly the Matter With Me?” (Jawbone Press, 2014), he entered into a long period of frustration, depression, drug abuse and even a period of institutionalization.
After years of spiritual introspection and searching, Sloan was eventually paid a settlement. More importantly, he gained a measure of personal grace, and was presented at the prestigious Ponderosa Stomp festival in New Orleans. Ninth-inning albums “Sailover” (Hightone ’06) and “My Beethoven” (MsMusic ’14) gave him great satisfaction as well.
Dylan’s success as an idiosyncratic vocalist made possible Sloan’s own early albums like “Songs of Our Times” and “Twelve More Times,” for Dunhill, released in ’65 and ’66 respectively.
While they didn’t sell a lot of units, songwriters devoured Sloan’s recordings. One was lyricist Steve Kalinich, who grew up in Binghamton, N.Y.
“My favorite writers were Phil Sloan, the Beatles and the Beach Boys,” Kalinich says, from his Beverly Hills home, “in that order. Phil’s thoughts were closest to my own. He was the one guy my age who was writing my thoughts — especially in ‘Let Me Be’ and ‘Eve of Destruction.’”
“Phil had a lot of Biblical content in his lyrics,” Tiven believes, “and he was probably at the root of me quoting ‘Be still and know that I am God’ from the Bible’ when I wrote ‘Be Still’ with Brian Wilson for the beach Boys’ ‘Friends’ album.”
Nashville songwriter Jon Tiven wrote with Sloan on “Sailover.” He contends: “Phil had a very pointed moral compass. His songs were true to the human condition. He was like Dylan, but Dylan was very elliptical. Phil said it more directly.”
Carol Schofield released “My Beethoven,” Sloan’s valedictory masterwork. “He was an icon,” she says, “and when an icon touches peoples’ lives like he did, it transcends fame and money.”
What: “A Tribute to P.F. Sloan”
Where: Coffee Gallery Backstage, 2029 N Lake Ave, Altadena
When: Thursday, Jan. 7, 3 p.m.
Admission: $20
More info: (626) 798-6236, coffeegallery.com
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KIRK SILSBEE writes about jazz and culture for Marquee.