Phil Spector Verdict Today 4/13/09 4:30 pm EST

[JSngry]

By all accounts, Phil was a little "high-strung" and/or "eccentric"from the beginning. The American failure of "River Deep, Mountain High" is said to have begun the shift from

eccentric" to "crazy". He viewed it as an intentional & personal affront by "the industry" (and anecdotal evidence suggests that there was an element of that involved) and began to withdraw into a world of isolation, paranoia, and megalomania. That's a dangerous combination if it goes unchecked, and unchecked it went fo about40 years.

But listen again to that record "I Wish I Never Saw The Sunshine". That wasn't released until years after it was made, and hell, I can see why. No sane DJ in America would have played that, at least not when anybody was listening. If that came out of your car speakers in 1965 or 1966, it would have scared the shit out of most people. Hal Blaine is is fucking King Lear in the storm, railing against a world that no longer wants him or even cares about him. Dark shit. More and more, the Wall Of Sound became an impenetrable wall of rage, self-justification, and violent isolation. But there was still some soul left - I have a mid-70s Warner-Spector 45 of Phil producing Cher doing "Baby I Love You" as a suicidal dirge that's....haunting, I'll put it that way. Beautiful, sure, but definitely not the sound of a man who had any intention of returning to life as it is generally practiced.

The one thing I wonder about was the work with Lennon...mostly well-focused and disciplined..."conventional wisdom" is that Lennon demanded that Spector stay "sane" and had to call bullshit on him more than once. But that was Jonh Lennon in the immediate post-Beatle world of Rock and Roll. Not too many people in the world had that mojo at that time, and hell, even Lennon lost it as time went by.

Somewhere on the internets, there's the vocal track of "Baby I Love You", the Ronettes version, a capella, as well as a series of runthroughs of the backing tack. That stuff is beautiful, overflowing with energy and optimism. It was a damn nice place to be, but... when it turned, the guy never recovered. After 40 years, it's really nobody's fault but his own. At some point in life, you gotta confront yourself and either sink or take swimming lessons.

Edited June 3, 2009 by JSngry

[Enterprise Server]

Sick guy. Glad to see he could not escape his just fate this time.

[Beverly Getz]

BUT!! Did he.... insert smack, laced suppositories in babies behinds AND.... demand flights on the Concord before it was in existence??!! (hehe!)

[Chuck Nessa]

you are thinking of the wrong guy.

[Beverly Getz]

you are thinking of the wrong guy.

Ohhhhh! OOOPPSIE!! MY BAD! Silly me!

[Soulstation1]

Bev

Did / do you have any musical skills?

Just curious

Thanks

[Beverly Getz]

Bev

Did / do you have any musical skills?

Just curious

Thanks

I tested the waters with singing for a while... but it wasn't for me. Hated the business and and life! Didn't enjoy performing. I'm more of a behind the scenes person.

[Chalupa]

[JSngry]

...there was still some soul left - I have a mid-70s Warner-Spector 45 of Phil producing Cher doing "Baby I Love You" as a suicidal dirge that's....haunting, I'll put it that way. Beautiful, sure, but definitely not the sound of a man who had any intention of returning to life as it is generally practiced.

And here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8utX6amsOhE

I think that anybody who takes over five minutes to get through one chorus of "Baby I Love You" is trying to tell us something...