Q: How do you deal mentally with any negative criticism of your work by reviewers?
Q: When you used to write songs for Dunhill they were done largely in the popular musical styles of the time. Is there a musical style that you model you current songs after?
Q: People often cite the mid '60s as a special time for music. What do you think was the ingredient that made that musical time so special?
Q: Will there be any new music coming out either on a regular label, or for fans, through the internet, as Brian Wilson and others have done?
Q: Please, Please, can you clear up the mystery of who sings lead on the original single of "Where Were You When I Needed You"? I have read that the single was Bill Fulton, the album was you, and later Rob Grill made a version. The songs on my single and album sound alike to my tintius tainted hearing.
A: okay sure..just cause i like ya...i sang the original record released as a single...it was pulled after it made the local radio charts....the company then insisted i put another singer on the record...enter Bill Fulton...new records were printed...the company then insisted we pull bill fulton from the record...end..ter rob grill.....who knows what version you have listened to?
Q: I also found a copy (if my mail order source comes through) of the Inner-Circle single "Goes to Show" and "So Long, Marianne". I'm excited because "So Long, Marianne" is my favorite Leonard Cohen song. Does anyone know the story behind this one? Were Sloan and Barri hoping for another Grass Roots?
Q: What Phil and/or Steve involved in the California/California Music projects by Bruce Johnston's Equinox records label?
Q: What Phil and/or Steve involved in the Dave Edmunds "London's A Lonely Town" recording?
Q: I have heard that Phil was responsible for producing one of the Rolling Stones' big singles... I think it was "Paint It, Black." I'd love to hear more about this, if it isn't apocryphal... I would also like to hear, in the same topic, about other "ghost" producing jobs Phil may have done in the '60s.
Q: In your early songwriting days, you and Steve Barri were directed to write follow-ups to hit songs. Did you try to write a similar song? "Another Day, Another Heartache" sounds like "Go Where You Wanna Go". Was that planned?
Q: How does P. F. Sloan think of himself as a songwriter? Is song writing a craft or a job to do? And do you have favorite songs (of your own)?
Q: Do the songs which you recorded as demos but did not release under your own name mean as much to you as the ones which did get released on your LPs?
A: Yes...Many demo'd songs mean as much to me as ones that have been recorded.. eg: Queen of my heart, I want my baby back, spinning wheel.
Q: How has your approach to song writing changed over the years and the phases that your career and/or life has gone through?
Q: Was Raised on Records a coherent, autobiographical record to some degree or was it a collection of the songs you were writing at the time? And is it meaningful to you to look upon the Raised on Records as a sort of a mature person's Pet Sounds (in terms of lyrical themes), as I tried to do in an early entry into the messages of this group? I hope this makes sense.
A: Was Raised on records coherent? Lemme see...hmmm....Jens it was autobiographical for sure...the songs were about what life was giving and unforgiving to me...at that time ...Turn on the light, though the form, i borrowed from Eddie Cochran�s 'nervous breakdown' made it clear even to myself that i was not in the best of health back in 1971! I was suffering then from an unknown disease called hypoglycemia...The record company, mums/colombia just called me lazy and would punish me by withholding money...though i went to dozens of doctors thru the years and went thru their 'imagined cures' the hypoglycemia stayed...Until i visited India in 1986, and had an audience with a Holy man, named SaiBaba...He slapped my face, i went into a 'bliss state' for a number of days and when i returned home to the states, the illness began to fade... it took a few years for clarity of mind to return and then a couple of years of hard physical work...Doing the club dates in Spain last year was taxing but i did 6 shows in 6 nights, each show 2 hours long! And i felt i could have continued on...So, i feel very much recovered.