VA — Phil Spector — Designing The Wall Of Sound (2012)
Flac (tracks) | Rock, Pop, Doo Wop | 352 MB
CD 1:
01. Kell Osborne — The Bells Of St. Mary\’s
02. Kell Osborne — That\’s Alright Baby
03. Ben E. King — Spanish Harlem
04. Ray Peterson — Corinna Corinna
05. Ray Peterson — Be My Girl
06. Johnny Nash — Some Of Your Lovin\’
07. Johnny Nash — A World Of Tears
08. Ben E. King — Young Boy Blues
09. Curtis Lee — Pretty Little Angel Eyes
10. Curtis Lee — Gee How I Wish You Were Here
11. The Paris Sisters — Be My Boy
12. The Paris Sisters — I\’ll Be Crying Tomorrow
13. Ben E. King — First Taste Of Love
14. The Top Notes — Hearts Of Stone
15. The Top Notes — The Basic Things
16. Billy Storm — When You Dance
17. Billy Storm — Dear One
18. Castle Kings — Anyone But You
19. Castle Kings — You Can Get Him Frankenstein
20. Castle Kings — Loch Lomond
21. Billy Storm — Honey Love
22. Billy Storm — A Kiss From Your Lips
23. The Topnotes — Always Late
24. The Topnotes — Twist And Shout
CD 2:
01. Lavern Baker — Hey Memphis
02. The Ducanes — I\’m So Happy
03. The Ducanes — Little Did I Know
04. Gene Pitney — Every Breath I Take
05. The Paris Sisters — I Love How You Love Me
06. The Paris Sisters — All Through The Night
07. The Creations — The Bells
08. The Creations — Shang Shang
09. Curtis Lee — Under The Moon Of Love
10. Curtis Lee — Beverly Jean
11. The Crystals — There\’s No Other Like My Baby
12. The Crystals — Oh Yeah Maybe Baby
13. Ray Peterson — I Could Have Loved You So Well
14. Ray Peterson — Why Don\’t You Write Me
15. Arlene Smith — Love Love Love
16. Arlene Smith — He Knows I Love Him Too Much
17. Karen Lake — I\’d Like To Miss My Graduation
18. Karen Lake — Air Mail Special Delivery
19. Sammy Turner — Raincoat In The River
20. Sammy Turner — Falling
21. The Blackwells — You Took Advantage Of Me
22. The Blackwells — I
23. Jean Du Shon — Talk To Me, Talk To Me
24. Jean Du Shon — Tired Of Trying
Strictly speaking, Phil Spector wasn\’t even a performer — he\’s a musician, but he very rarely released records under his name. However, as a producer — and, to a significant extent, songwriter, label owner, and session player — he has influenced the course of rock & roll for more than all but a handful of performers. The Wall of Sound that he perfected in the early \’60s opened unlimited possibilities for arrangements and sound construction in rock and pop, and his brilliant talents imprinted the discs that he produced with an artistic vision that was much more attributable to him than the talented performers with whom he worked.
Spector entered the record business in 1958 as songwriter, guitarist, and backup singer for the L.A. group the Teddy Bears, who landed a left-field number one with their first release, \»To Know Him Is to Love Him.\» The Teddy Bears couldn\’t follow their hit up and soon disbanded, but Spector almost immediately moved to New York and became a songwriter and producer. After producing a few hits, he founded his own label, Philles, and ran off a series of brilliant smashes, primarily with girl groups the Crystals and the Ronettes.
To an extent that had never been imagined in rock & roll, Spector pumped his records full of orchestration — strings, horns, rattling percussion — that coalesced into teenage symphonies, never overwhelming the material or the passionate vocals. Often called a mad genius because of his eccentric and temperamental behavior, Spector\’s idiosyncrasies were almost always validated by the artistic and commercial results of his sessions, which combined dozens of instruments and innovative production techniques into end products which only he could combine into works of art. His influence was immense, not only in the dozens of imitation Wall of Sound productions (some very accurate and worthy, it must be added) that flooded the market between 1962 and 1965, but as an inspiration to Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, Rolling Stones producer Andrew Loog Oldham, and others.
Spector was hip to the British Invasion before it had even reached the U.S., befriending the Beatles and Rolling Stones, but had nearly as much trouble as the rest of the industry in maintaining his success. Self-contained bands were writing more adventurous material and finding more adventurous sounds, and Spector\’s teen operas were becoming out of fashion, although he enjoyed a lot of success with blue-eyed soul duo the Righteous Brothers in the mid-\’60s. After the failure of Ike & Tina Turner\’s 1966 single \»River Deep, Mountain High\» — which he always considered among his greatest achievements, blaming a vengeful U.S. music industry for its poor sales (although it was a big hit in Britain) — he retired to his L.A. mansion, marrying Ronnie Bennett, lead singer of the Ronettes.
Spector re-emerged in the late \’60s and was hired by the Beatles to do post-production on their controversial Let It Be album; critics and Paul McCartney himself found his work faulty, although it must be pointed out that the material he was given to work with didn\’t rank among the Beatles\’ best. He then produced George Harrison\’s and John Lennon\’s first solo albums; though these were artistic triumphs, they were hardly Spector productions in the classic sense, owing much more of their success to the talents of the performers than the producer. After that, he was active only sporadically, producing isolated albums by Dion, Leonard Cohen, and the Ramones. He became one of rock\’s most legendary recluses and eccentrics, rarely appearing in public, but his accomplishments cast a shadow over all performers and producers who aspire to create works of art in the studio. That reclusiveness took a public turn in 2003 with the death of Lana Clarkson. The actress/fashion model was shot and killed in Spector\’s home, though Spector denied any involvement, citing an \»accidental suicide.\» It took four years for the case to go to trial, the first of which resulted in a mistrial, and the second of which found Spector guilty of murder in the second degree. He was sentenced on May 29, 2009 to 19 years to life in the California state prison system. ~ Richie Unterberger
