Various Artists - The Hitmakers Sing Tony Hazzard (1969)

Anthony Hazzard was born on 31 October 1943 in Liverpool, and is best known as a successful songwriter of the late 60's. He learned the guitar and ukulele when young, but didn't start his music career until he finished his education at Durham University, and with the encouragement of Tony Garnett of the BBC, he moved to London where he signed a contract with publisher Gerry Bron. Bron could see potential in Hazzard's songs, and wanted him as a solo artist, releasing his first single 'You'll Never Put Shackles On Me' in 1966. Although it didn't chart, another of his songs was submitted to Herman's Hermits, who had a Top 20 hit with 'You Won't Be Leaving' in 1966. Following a dry spell where he struggled to write anything that he considered worthy, he gave 'Ha! Ha! Said The Clown' to Manfred Mann, who took it to the upper reaches of the UK charts. In 1968 his psyche-tinged 'The Sound Of The Candyman's Trumpet' was recorded by Cliff Richard and entered into the 1968 'Songs For Europe' preamble for the Eurovision Song Contest, although it lost out to 'Congratulations' in the final vote. Simon Dupree and the Big Sound, The Casuals, The Family Dogg, and The Swinging Blue Jeans all turned to Hazzard's pop tunes in the late 1960's, and many of them scored hit singles with their recordings. In the midst of all this success as a writer, Hazzard released his first solo album 'Tony Hazzard Sings Tony Hazzard' in 1969, and despite the fact that every single track had been successfully released as a single by another artist, it was commercially unsuccessful, although his second album, 'Loudwater House', fared much better. It could have been the fact that he was a relatively unknown singer which caused that first album to flop, as it certainly wasn't the quality of the songs, and so to make it appeal to a wider audience I've replaced Hazzard's own versions of his songs with the hit single versions from a wide variety of 60's artists, and we end up with a great tribute album by some of the biggest names of the era, and a fitting celebration of Hazzard's songwriting. 

Track listing

01 Listen To Me (The Hollies)
02 Brown Eyed Girl (The Family Dogg)
03 Me, The Peaceful Heart (Lulu)
04 The Sound Of The Candyman's Trumpet (Cliff Richard)
05 Hello It's Me (The Casuals)
06 Fox On The Run (Manfred Mann)
07 Hello World (The Tremeloes)
08 Goodnight Sweet Josephine (The Yardbirds)
09 Ha! Ha! Said The Clown (Manfred Mann)
10 Hey Mrs. Housewife (The Swinging Bluejeans)
11 You Won't Be Leaving (Herman's Hermits)
12 Fade Away Maureen (Cherry Smash)

Various Artists - Can I Get To Know You Better? (The Songs Of P. F. Sloan & Steve Barri 1966 - 1967) (1967)

In the mid-60's P. F. Sloan joined the group of L.A. session musicians known as The Wrecking Crew as a guitarist, working with such well-known backing musicians as drummer Hal Blaine, guitarist Tommy Tedesco, bassist Joe Osborn, and bassist/keyboardist Larry Knechtel. While working with Barry McGuire, Sloan created and played a guitar introduction as a hook to a new song by John Phillips entitled 'California Dreamin'', and the same backing track was used for the hit version by Phillips' group The Mamas & the Papas, which led to Sloan being a regular in their recording sessions. Sloan and Steve Barri also were performers while on Dunhill, and released a collection of surf instrumentals as the Rincon Surfside Band, while Sloan's successful folk-influenced songwriting prompted Dunhill to offer to record two solo albums by him. His single 'Sins Of A Family' reached the Billboard top 100 in late 1965, in the wake of the huge success of 'Eve Of Destruction'. During this time, Sloan & Barri continued to do session work with Jan Berry of Jan & Dean, until Berry's near-fatal car wreck in April 1966, which basically ended Jan & Dean's career. They also produced a number of other acts, including Ann-Margret, The Robbs, Terry Black and Patrician-Anne McKinnon, but the the main Sloan/Barri recording efforts for Dunhill were done as The Grass Roots, where they wrote and recorded their material under that name. However, after The Grass Roots enjoyed a Billboard Top 30 single with 'Where Were You When I Needed You', Dunhill forced the pair to recruit a real band to perform as The Grass Roots to promote their album, with Sloan and Barri continuing as producers for the band. However, despite having an accomplished songwriter on board, the new Grass Roots wanted to write their own material, and this, plus the fact that Sloan still wanted to have his own recording career, alienated him from both Barri and Dunhill management. During this period, Sloan's growing experience and reputation also attracted the attention of other young and aspiring musical artists, seeking both musical and business advice, and as a favor to a friend, he first met the relatively unknown Jimmy Webb at his home in 1968. Webb played him his songs 'Wichita Lineman', 'Up, Up And Away', an early version of 'MacArthur Park, and lastly 'By the Time I Get To Phoenix"', and Sloan has said that it changed his view of the 'singer/songwriter' forever. 

According to Barri, Sloan changed after the success of 'Eve Of Destruction', following McGuire to England and coming back a different person. Sloan himself described a change at this time: "I wanted to be loved. I wanted to be Elvis. . . . But P.F. Sloan? He wanted honesty and truth." During the Summer of Love, Sloan played as a solo artist on the final day of the Fantasy Fair and Magic Mountain Music Festival in 1967, being a precursor to the more famous Monterey Pop Festival held the following weekend. Sloan's final Dunhill release was a solo single, 'I Can't Help But Wonder, Elizabeth' b/w 'Karma (A Study of Divinations)', released under the name Philip Sloan in 1967, before he moved to ATCO Records for further releases. After the falling out with Barri, Sloan wrote on his own, but the songs didn't seem to have the same hit potential are their collaborations, although they were still recorded by a variety of successful artists. After leaving Dunhill, Sloan recorded an album in 1968 titled 'Measure Of Pleasure', but in 1969 he left the music scene due to numerous business and legal problems, repeatedly reporting that Dunhill made threatening advances to force him to sign away the rights to his valuable compositions, and also blaming his absence from the music scene on an illness. It was not until the new millennium that he finally found relief from his long illness, with help from Indian guru Sathya Sai Baba. In 2005, Sloan made a series of recordings with producer Jon Tiven in Nashville, Tennessee, and the resulting album 'Sailover' was released in August 2006, followed by his final recording 'My Beethoven' in 2014. Sloan died of pancreatic cancer on November 15, 2015 at his home in Los Angeles, aged 70. After Dunhill was acquired by ABC Records, Barri stayed on in the 1970's as head of Artists & Repertoire (A&R) where he focused on signing and producing new artists. He collaborated with songwriters Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter on three albums for the Four Tops, which included the million-selling single 'Ain't No Woman (Like The One I've Got)', and after ABC Records reorganized in 1975, Barri departed to become A&R chief at Warner Brothers Records, leaving in 1986. This second post of the duo's songs includes many of my very favourite 60's singles, from The Turtles, The Mamas And The Papas, and The Grass Roots, and is a fitting tribute to two of the best songwriters of the 60's. 

Track listing

01 Secret Agent Man (Sloan, Barri) Johnny Rivers 1966
02 I Don't Wanna Say Goodnight (Sloan, Barri) Gary Lewis And The Playboys 1966
03 Let Me Be (Sloan, Barri) The Turtles 1966
04 Hold On (Sloan) Herman's Hermits 1966
05 What Am I Doin' Here with You (Sloan, Barri) Twinkle 1966
06 The Man Behind The Red Balloon (Sloan) Noel Harrison 1966
07 Can I Get To Know You Better (Sloan, Barri) The Turtles 1966
08 Autumn (Sloan, Barri) Gary Lewis And The Playboys 1966
09 You Baby (Sloan, Barri) The Mamas And The Papas 1966
10 I Know You'll Be There (Sloan, Barri) The Turtles 1966
11 See Ya 'Round On The Rebound (Sloan) Sandy Posey 1966
12 Things I Should Have Said (Sloan, Barri) The Grass Roots 1967
13 This Precious Time (Sloan, Barri) Terry Knight And The Pack 1967
14 My First Day Alone (Sloan, Barri) Peter And Gordon 1967
15 Another Day, Another Heartache (Sloan, Barri) The 5th Dimension 1967
16 Cling To Me (Sloan) Johnny Tillotson 1967
17 On A Quiet Night (Sloan, Barri) The Association 1967

Various Artists - Take Me For What I'm Worth (The Songs Of P. F. Sloan & Steve Barri 1964 - 1965) (1965)

Philip Gary Schlein (known professionally as Philip Gary "Flip" (P. F.) Sloan) was born on 18 September 1945 in New York City, to an American father and a Romanian-born mother. His family moved to West Hollywood, California in 1957, where his father, a pharmacist, changed the family name from "Schlein" to "Sloan" after repeatedly being denied a liquor license for his store. When Sloan was 13 his father bought him a guitar, and while at the music store in Hollywood he met Elvis Presley, who gave him an impromptu music lesson. In 1959, the 14-year old "Flip" Sloan recorded a single, 'All I Want Is Loving' / 'Little Girl In The Cabin' for the Aladdin Records label in LA, but the label folded soon after its release. At 16 he became part of the burgeoning Los Angeles music scene, landing a job on the songwriting staff at music publisher Screen Gems, which was then the largest publisher on the West Coast. While there he formed a partnership with Steve Barri (Steven Barry Lipkin), and the duo made several attempts at recording a hit single under names such as Philip and Stephan, The Rally-Packs, The Wildcats, The Street Cleaners, Themes Inc., and The Lifeguards. In 1963, they came to the attention of Screen Gems executive Lou Adler, who decided to use them as backing singers and musicians (Sloan on lead guitar and Barri on percussion) for Jan and Dean, whom he managed. Sloan and Barri wrote the theme song for the T.A.M.I. Show (Teen Age Music International Show) and were credited on all Jan and Dean albums from throughout 1964 and 1965, and Jan Berry used Sloan as the lead falsetto voice instead of Dean Torrence on the band's top 10 hit 'The Little Old Lady From Pasadena'. Around that time, Sloan and Barri also wrote their first U.S. Billboard Top 100 hit, 'Kick That Little Foot Sally Ann', arranged by Jack Nitzsche and performed by a Watts, California-born artist named Round Robin. They also appeared on surf records by Bruce & Terry (Bruce Johnson and Terry Melcher pre-involvement with The Beach Boys) and the Rip Chords, and they recorded their own surf singles and an album as The Fantastic Baggys. Adler then doubled their salaries to hire them for his startup companies, publisher Trousdale Music and label Dunhill Records, and while under contract he wrote or co-wrote hits for many performers, including Barry McGuire, The Turtles, Herman's Hermits, The Searchers, and Johnny Rivers, for whom they wrote the theme tune for Danger Man, a British TV series that had been given a new title (Secret Agent) and theme for the US market. In the first of two posts, here are some of the best songs that Sloan and Barri wrote which were recorded in 1964 and 1965, covering garage-rock, surf tunes, R&B belters, songs for UK pop groups, including the pre-Procol Harum r'n'b group The Paramounts, and possibly Sloan's most famous song 'Eve Of Destruction'.  

Track listing 

01 That's Cool, That's Trash (Sloan, Barri) The Kingsmen 1964
02 Summer Means Fun (Sloan, Barri) Bruce & Terry 1964
03 Please Don't Go (Sloan, Barri) Yvonne Carroll 1964
04 Meet Me Tonight Little Girl Sloan, Barri) Philip & Stephan 1964
05 Kick That Little Foot Sally Ann (Sloan, Barri) Round Robin 1964
06 You Say Pretty Words (Sloan, Barri) Ramona King 1964
07 (Here They Come) From All Over The World (Sloan, Barri) Jan & Dean 1965
08 Upon A Painted Ocean (Sloan) Barry McGuire 1965
09 These Are Bad Times (Sloan, Barri) Paul Revere & The Raiders 1965
10 I Wonder Who The Lucky Guy Will Be (Sloan, Barri) Freddie And The Dreamers 1965
11 Eve Of Destruction (Sloan) Barry McGuire 1965
12 The Sins Of A Family (Sloan) Murray The "K" 1965
13 Goes To Show (Just How Wrong You Can Be) (Sloan, Barri) Joey Paige 1965
14 Take Me For What I'm Worth (Sloan, Barri) The Searchers 1965
15 Where Were You When I Needed You (Sloan, Barri) Del Shannon 1965
16 A Must To Avoid (Sloan, Barri) Herman's Hermits 1965
17 You Never Had It So Good (Sloan, Barri) The Paramounts 1965

Herman's Hermits - The London Look (1968)

Herman's Hermits undoubtedly had their biggest success in the early to mid 60's, and with the onset of psychedelia towards to end of the decade they started to sound a bit out of step with the emergent psyche bands of the time. They did their best to try to keep up, and released their 'psychedelic' album 'Blaze' in the US in 1967, but while it was critically acclaimed in America, it didn't even warrant a UK release at the time. Although it did contain a couple of proto-psyche songs like 'Moonshine Man', most of it wasn't really that different from some of their previous work, and so wasn't a threat to the genuine psyche bands. I think the release of the soundtrack album to the film 'Mrs. Brown, You've Got A Lovely Daughter' confirmed to many that their heart wasn't really into competing with this new style of music, although there were a few random songs scattered around on singles, b-sides, and their albums which could have held their own in a psychedelic battle of the bands. I've picked what I think are the best examples of the band trying to keep up with their peers, after The Beatles kick-started the whole thing with 'Revolver' in 1966. While some of them still have that bubblegum pop feel that they couldn't seem to shed completely, they were trying their best, and even covered Nirvana's 'Wings Of Love' in 1968, so overall this shows the band maturing and looking forward to a new direction. Unfortunately they weren't able to consolidate on this new-found maturity, as Peter Noone left the band in 1970, going on to some solo success covering David Bowie's 'Oh! You Pretty Things', while the rest of the group gamely carried on, but struggled to find success without their lead singer.       

Track listing

01 Sunshine Girl (single 1968)

02 What Is Wrong - What Is Right (b-side of 'East West' 1966)

03 A Year Ago Today (previously unreleased)

04 Daisy Chain Part I (from the film 'Mrs. Brown, You've Got A Lovely Daughter' 1968)

05 Daisy Chain Part II (from the film 'Mrs. Brown, You've Got A Lovely Daughter' 1968)

06 Don't Try To Hurt Me (b-side of 'Bidin' My Time' 1966)

07 Wild Love (from the soundtrack of the film 'Hold On!' 1966)

08 Rattler (from 'There's A Kind Of Hush All Over The World' 1967)

09 Little Miss Sorrow, Child Of Tomorrow (from 'There's A Kind Of Hush....' 1967)

10 Big Ship (previously unreleased)

11 Wings Of Love (b-side of 'Big Man' 1968)

12 London Look (b-side of 'Sleepy Joe' 1968)

13 The Colder It Gets (previously unreleased)

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Herman's Hermits - '65/66 (1966)

I've never really been a fan of Herman's Hermits, and there are two main reasons - Peter Noone's voice, which never sounded convnicing, and 'I'm Henery The Eighth, I Am' / 'Mrs Brown, You Got a Lovely Daughter'. I hated these novelty songs - and these weren't the only ones they did - and so although I grew up hearing their singles on the radio, I never got any of their albums until someone pointed me in the direction of 1967's 'Blaze' a few years ago, which did contain some good late 60's pop. As well as the novelty songs, a number of their singles were slushy ballads, which I was also not keen on, and yet despite this I kept seeing online comments saying 'this band were very under-rated and should have been much bigger', so I thought I'd investigate to see if they were right. I got their first four albums, 'Introducing', 'Both Sides', 'Silhouettes' and 'There's A Kind Of Hush', and the first thing I found was there's an awful lot of duplication on them. This could well be because the UK and US versions are dramatically different, as in America they took tracks from a couple of the UK releases to make up one of their own, and I don't think 'Silhouettes' was even issued in the UK. The second thing I discovered is that there is a massive amount of filler on the albums, and it's really only the singles that stand out. So I've picked out what I consider to be the best songs from those four albums, along with the many accompanying bonus tracks, and yet I really struggled to come up with a 38 minute album which I could listen to more than once. But I think I did it, and it's telling that nearly all of these songs date from 1966, which seems to have been their golden year, and every one was released as a single somewhere in the world. There's some nice R'n'B on here, which you don't normally associate with the group, and I've kept the singles that I did like back in the 60's, so it makes for a nice mixture of pop and rock. There is an album called 'Herman's Hermits '66' (which is only partially successful as it still includes a lot of dross), so I've adapted that cover.

Track listing

01 Can't You Hear My Heartbeat (single 1964)
02 Just A Little Bit Better (single 1965)
03 Listen People (single 1966)
04 Got A Feeling (b-side of 'Listen People')
05 Silhouettes (single 1965)
06 A Must To Avoid (single 1965)
07 You Won't Be Leaving (single 1966)
08 This Door Swings Both Ways (single 1966)
09 For Love (b-side of 'This Door Swings Both Ways')
10 No Milk Today (single 1966)
11 My Reservation's Been Confirmed (b-side of 'No Milk Today')
12 East West (single 1966)
13 What Is Wrong, What Is Right (b-side to 'East West')
14 Hold On! (single 1966)
15 Where Were You When I Needed You (single 1966)
16 Gotta Get Away (b-side of 'Where Were You When I Needed You')