#489 Phil Spector and Various Artists, 'Back to Mono (1958-1969)' (1991)
Previously #65
Surely this has got to be the biggest drop in the list. This listen was a three-and-a-half-hour marathon of impeccably produced songs weaving a thick part of the tapestry of 20th Century music. A 4-disc collection of every single that Phil Spector produced. Artists the likes of The Ronettes, The Crystals, Darlene Love, The Righteous Brothers, Ben E. King, Ike & Tina Turner, Nat King Cole, and his own band, The Teddy Bears. It takes us on a journey pre-dating his iconic Wall Of Sound production technique all the way through to ‘Black Pearl’ by Sonny Charles and the Checkmates, Ltd. Released in July 1969.
It’s a masterclass in production and an education in some of the biggest songs ever released. I did find that I felt Spector-fatigued by the end of it. There’s only so much reverberated drums one can listen to in one sitting. But the big moments on this collection are so big that you forget you’ve been listening to the same collection for so long. Is there a better build up in a song than The Righteous Brothers’ ‘Unchained Melody’? Spector really took it to the next level.
I mentioned on The Ronettes review the influence he had on Brian Wilson and the impact on his mental health. Phil Spector is not a nice man. I mean, I’ve never met him personally, but by all accounts, he was abusive and psychotic. There was that little incident of actress, Lana Clarkson’s murder. He imprisoned ex-wife, Ronnie Spector, in his mansion and subjected her to years of psychological torment. When they divorced, he forced her to forfeit all record earnings to him and he allegedly hired a hitman to kill her. His sons allege that he kept them captive and forced them to simulate sex acts with his girlfriend. There are hundreds of other stories about his gun-toting in the studio, and for that matter, out of it too. You can’t argue with that fact that he wrote and produced some of the greatest songs of all time, though. It’s just a shame about everything else. The next chapter following this boxset saw Spector go on to produce The Beatles, John Lennon, George Harrison, Leonard Cohen and The Ramones.
#rs500albums