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“Secret Agent Man” — Johnny Rivers
For a Bond-esque tale of glamour, danger and intrigue, you can’t go far wrong with the PF Sloan and Steve Barri song “Secret Agent Man”…
PF Sloan was a fascinating character who operated right at the heart of the LA record industry in the early-to-mid-1960s and played for, wrote for and produced for many of the biggest acts of 1960s.
A great guitar player and session musician, you can hear him playing the intro on The Mamas and Papas’ “California Dreamin’”.
He also worked as a producer and label executive, most famously for music industry legend Lou Adler at Dunhill Records.
And…very unusually…PF Sloan even had a song written about him by one of his songwriting contemporaries — “PF Sloan” by Jimmy Webb, who also wrote hits like “Wichita Lineman”, “Up, Up And Away” and “MacArthur Park”.
You can probably tell I’ve got a mild obsession with PF Sloan’s life and work, but I can highly recommend his biography “What’s Exactly the Matter with Me? Memiors of a Life in Music” if the record industry of the 1960s is something you’re interested in too.
As a songwriter, PF Sloan had two massive hits. His biggest record as a songwriter was Barry Maguire’s “The Eve Of Destruction” — a 1965 Billboard Number One, a UK Number Three and quite simply the best record ever made…
