PF SLOAN Sailover (Hightone)

You might think that the first album in 13 years by grizzled protest veteran – he wrote “Eve Of Destruction”, y’know – PF Sloan (once eulogised in song by Jimmy Webb, no less) would be a major event, especially when it arrives boasting cameos from the likes of Frank Black, Garry Tallent and Lucinda Williams. Unfortunately, “Sailover” - an uncomfortable melange of new songs and re-recordings of some now several decades old – is less than impressive. Sloan’s well-intentioned social commentary is frequently sent stumbling by his verbose, clumsy lyrics; hamfisted and clunking phrases are all over this album like weeds. The musical backing rarely rises above a comfortable puddingy consistency, being a shapeless, quivering blob of sound. And whilst it might seem unfair to complain that “Eve Of Destruction” (remodelled here, as if you had to guess) is hardly “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall”, no such clemency can be applied to the many other occasions when this album is shrouded in the Zimmerman shadow. “Halloween Mary” is a curdled attempt to recreate Dylan’s thin, wild mercury music circa “Blonde On Blonde”, without a drop of the Bobfather’s eloquence; the title track’s not unpleasant Wilbury-esque stomp is sabotaged when the artist lapses into a nasal Dylan parody; and “PK & The Evil Dr Z” compounds its pillaging of “Bob Dylan’s 115^th Dream” by opening its rambling narrative in the vicinity of an actual Dylan concert. (And who might the eponymous Dr Z be, d’you think? It doesn’t take a Mensan…no, hang on…)

“Sailover”, unfortunately, is a chore to get through: the tragedy is that with a little more nipping, tucking and fairy dust it has the potential to be a far greater work than it actually is. Fans will undoubtedly flock to it, but the casual listener might wonder what all the fuss is about.

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