The songwriter who penned a number of great Top 40 hits in the mid-60’s, including Barry McGuire‘s Eve Of Destruction, has died.
P.F. (Phil) Sloan passed away on Sunday evening (11-15) in Los Angeles at the age of 70 after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer a number of months ago.
Sloan, while a staff songwriter for Dunhill Records, composed Eve Of Destruction in collaboration with another label staffer, Steve Barri.
Here are a few other hits also penned by Barri-Sloan:
Can I Get To Know You Better / The Turtles (1966 • #89)
Secret Agent Man / Johnny Rivers (1966 • #3)
Summer Means Fun / Bruce And Terry (1964 • #72)
Where Were You When I Needed You / The Grass Roots (1966 • #28)
You Baby / The Turtles (1966 • #20)
Songwriters Steve Barri (left) and P.F. Sloan
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Either solo, or in collaboration with others, he also penned:
A Must To Avoid / Herman’s Hermits (1965 • #8)
Another Day, Another Heartache / The 5th Dimension (1967 • #45)
I Found A Girl / Jan & Dean (1965 • #30)
Let Me Be / The Turtles (1965 • #29)
Take Me For What I’m Worth / The Searchers (1966 • #76)
In addition, he wrote at least a dozen other songs, including by some of the same artists listed above.
He also had a low-charting song of his own on the Billboard Hot 100 (#87) in 1965 called The Sins Of A Family. (See below)
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Here’s a musical tribute to P. F. Sloan with some of the songs he wrote, many of which are big favorites of mine. They are presented in alphabetical order, with minimum commentary. Enjoy!
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[Note] Some audio song files may not play on smartphones, tablets or connected devices. A laptop, desktop PC or Mac may be required for optimal enjoyment.
EVE OF DESTRUCTION
Barry McGuire
[1965]
Of course it’s the most famous chart hit he co-wrote. The record label incorrectly spelled his name ‘Sloane’ and omitted listing Steve Barri as co-composer.
https://youtu.be/0ZQjHW-GO5w
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MORE P.F SLOAN SONGS
A MUST TO AVOID
Herman’s Hermits
[1965]
https://youtu.be/HULk6s4N3Sc
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CAN I GET TO KNOW YOU BETTER
The Turtles
[1966]
My absolute favorite song from The Turtles. While the melody and ‘middle eight’ are perhaps only average, the chorus – with its beautiful soaring vocals – is outstanding! It should have been a bigger hit IMHO.
https://youtu.be/PHnFt2LePTw
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I FOUND A GIRL
Jan & Dean
[1965]
https://youtu.be/t0Kd6htpmPw
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SECRET AGENT MAN
Johnny Rivers
[1966]
Johnny’s long-time producer – and the owner of the Dunhill Records label, for whom several artists had hits with Phil Sloan’s songs – Lou Adler also did the same on this one.
https://youtu.be/_OvwbKovUQU
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SUMMER MEANS FUN
Bruce And Terry
[1964]
Prior to his time at Dunhill Records, Sloan had worked with the duo Jan & Dean on their 1964 #1 hit The Little Old Lady From Pasadena, which led to his penning this Beach Boys-type surf song.
It became a low-charter for Bruce Johnston (who later joined the Beach Boys for many years) and Columbia Records producer Terry Melcher (The Byrds, Paul Revere & The Raiders) and also the late son of actress Doris Day.
https://youtu.be/q_kL2hv50rU
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TAKE ME FOR WHAT I’M WORTH
The Searchers
[1966]
https://youtu.be/5k8dTPTwcJI
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WHERE WERE YOU WHEN I NEEDED YOU
The Grass Roots
(Original Single Version)
[1966]
The original Grass Roots was Dunhill writers Sloan and Barri – in fact, the demo of this recording had Sloan as lead vocalist. But the duo brought in two members of a San Francisco band – Willie Fulton and Joel Larson – to record the single.
This is the original charted hit version with Fulton on lead vocals.
[Note] The lead singer on most of the Grass Roots’ subsequent big hits was the late Rob Grill. After he joined the band, another version of this song containing his lead vocals was recorded and is included on virtually all Grass Roots hits compilations.
Sloan and Barri had written this for the Herman’s Hermits‘ 1966 movie Hold On, but Peter Noone (Herman) and his producer Mickie Most chose not to record it as the follow-up to HH‘s ‘A Must To Avoid’
https://youtu.be/o8P2kFfVw8A
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THE SINS OF A FAMILY
P.F. Sloan
[1965]
Here’s the single which P.F. Sloan charted as a solo artist in 1965.
https://youtu.be/Mk43r2IWjC4
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More on the career of P.F. Sloan.
Source: RollingStone.com
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Song Source: The Music Vault of HouseoftheHits, Inc.
Billboard® Chart Data: Joel Whitburn’s Record Research (eBook Editions)
Record Sleeve & Label Graphics: Courtesy of 45cat
