My Kinks-booklet had 3 main topics: a discography, all the song texts
and a lot of sleeves; NO story.
As there are books that tell the story of The Kinks very well, including
"X-RAY" by Ray Davies himself
(so why is it called the UN[!]authorised
autobiography?) and "Kink" by younger brother Dave Davies,
I didn't consider that as a big problem. But there wasn't a single book with
Sloan's story I felt the booklet
just HAD to contain a story in some kind of form.
Around that time I found out that another fan, Stephen McParland,
was busy with a book as well.
In May 1999 the P.F. Sloan Web Site announced:
"The book that P.
F. Sloan fans have been eagerly awaiting is finally ready! The account of one
of the most interesting
figures in the world of modern music has until now only been sketchily
documented, with the result that the few
interviews available usually cover similar ground. This book covers the whole
of his life right up to the present day,
from his early days in New York, through his days in Los Angeles in the mid-60s
at Dunhill Records, the reclusive
period in the 70s, his re-emergence in the 80s, and his continuing devotion to
music in the 1990s , a hugely creative
and inspirational force, as anyone who has seen his recent concerts will
attest. The book itself contains 18 chapters
covering approximately 225 pages! Following this is an exhaustive discography,
covering various aspects of his work,
such as singer, songwriter, session musician, producer, and so on. Several
photographs are included. If you have read
any of Stephen McParland's previous works, such as "The Wilson
Project", you will be aware of the care and attention
to detail which he dev otes to his subjects. Stephen has known P. F. Sloan for
many years, and this book is the result
of numerous interviews with both P. F. Sloan himself, and the people whose
lives he has been associated with.
In short, this book is a must-read."
Although the message also said: "This book is not available yet, but if
there is sufficient interest,
a limited promotional run will be printed", I decided to drop the plan of
writing a story of my own.
Instead you get a few biographies from Internet pages, liner notes and
magazines like Bam Balam
(early 70's?), The Rock Marketplace (dec. '74), The Fabulous Sounds Of The
Sixties (oct. '82;
Dutch translation of previous article), California Music ('84-'85 and '90-'91),
Goldmine (oct. '85),
Song Talk (winter '91), Discoveries (feb. '98) and Otono Cheyenne ('99).
All together they make a reasonable story, but for THE biography you'll have to
get
Stephen McParland's book.You
can rach him at: cmusic@hotkey.net.au
Contents of MY booklet (number of pages
between brackets; all together 200 pages):
next page: Tracklisting of
the CDR
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