Album Review - P.F. Sloan - Sailover
John Metzger
There's a reason why PF Sloan is known as a songwriter rather than a
performer, and to put it bluntly, his lyrical depth and melodic
sensibilities are far stronger than his performance skills. Even
bolstered by a line-up that includes Lucinda Williams, Frank Black, The
Rascals' Felix Cavaliere, Cheap Trick's Tom Petersson, and the E Street
Band's Garry Tallent, his latest endeavor Sailover largely lands with a
dull thud. Sloan seems to be all too aware of his deficiencies, and
throughout the set, he self-consciously searches for a voice that he can
call his own. Unfortunately, he never finds it, and although he blurs
the lines among Ray Davies, Elvis Costello, and David Bowie on All that
Time Allows and swipes Lou Reed's deadpan tonality for a refurbished
rendition of Halloween Mary, he far more frequently settles into an
imitation of Bob Dylan's sneering twang. It certainly doesn't help
matters that neither the arrangements that Sloan employs nor Jon Tiven's
bare-bones, roadhouse production values do much to give the songs the
jolt of electricity that they desperately need.
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