Customer Reviews

Complete Phil Spector Sessions

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Phil Spector's mighty Wall of Sound was custom-built for his splendid girl groups--The Crystals, The Ronettes, and singer Darlene Love. The Paris Sisters, however, were the first girl group to have a major hit with Spector at the helm. Their ethereal ballad, "I Love How You Love Me," was a Top Five pop smash during the fall of 1961, and marked the beginning of the girl group era. The CD features the A & B sides of all five singles produced by Phil Spector. This is the first time these songs are appearing together on CD, and most are on CD for the first time ever. Features songs by Brill Building songsmiths Barry Mann ("You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin', "On Broadway," and Gerry Goffin and Carole King ("Will You Love Me Tomorrow," "One Fine Day"), as well as songs written by Phil Spector himself.
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For many years i have been longing for all the Phil Spector produced tracks of the Paris Sisters,and at last i now have them.Although it isn't the Wall of Sound,the voice of Pricilla is so haunting,and compliments the lack of background sound. lovely Album

I have searched for the Paris Sisters' recording of 'Be My Boy' for so long that I'm becoming an old man. As a 14 year-old my heart melted (and new feelings were aroused) when I first heard Priscilla's breathy voice. So I'm thrilled once again to have her, I mean this album, in my possession. Kudos to Varese for putting together a brief but lovely collection. Priscilla's thwarted career and sad death add to my recollection of a simpler, sweeter time.

Following his initial success with the Teddy Bears' 1958 "To Know Him is To Love Him," Phil Spector's mentor, Lester Sill, arranged for his protégé to apprentice with the legendary Leiber and Stoller in New York. Spector wrote songs, played guitar on various sessions, began producing, and made the acquaintance of the brilliant songwriters of the Brill Building. Upon returning to Los Angeles, Sill tasked him with producing the Paris Sisters for the newly formed Gregmark label. The San Francisco trio had been performing since they were children, and recording since 1953, but despite contracts with Decca and Imperial, they'd failed to break through. Spector's touch would soon change all that.

After four years without a studio date the group found their act radically reshaped by Spector, with their three part Andrews Sisters styled harmonies given over to the girl-group lead-and-backing vocals style. Priscilla Paris' breathy vocals, Spector's unusually restrained production and drowsy tempos gave many of the group's Gregmark singles a unique sound and emotional resonance. Their first side, Spector's "Be My Boy," merges love, hope and longing into the sort of idealized dream that Brian Wilson would emulate in early ballads with the Beach Boys. The Paris Sisters version completely trounces the overwrought original ("Be My Girl") that Spector had recorded as Ray Peterson's B-side to "Corrina, Corrina."

Even though Spector rebalanced the group's vocals, he refrained from modernizing them with a backbeat. Their second single, Barry Mann's "I Love How You Love Me," retained the dreamy lead vocal and languid tempo of the debut, but added a violin that gives the recording an extra voice. Topping out at #5, the Paris Sisters finally had a bona fide hit. The B-side (which was originally considered as the A-side), "All Through the Night," picks up the tempo and thickens the arrangement into a prototype of the Wall of Sound. It's catchy, and might have been a minor hit had it not been the flip of something as ephemerally perfect as "I Love How You Love Me."

Spector picked up additional material from Goffin & King ("He Knows I Love Him Too Much"), Doc Pomus ("What Am I To Do?") and another from Mann ("Let Me Be the One"), and though they all capture the fragile magic of Priscilla Paris' voice, none climbed back to the upper reaches of the charts. The group's fifth and final single for Gregmark paired Spector's "Yes - I Love You" with the group's own "Once Upon a While Ago," with neither side charting. Spector began producing a Paris Sisters album, but financial arguments between he and label owner Sill led to the tapes being "accidentally" erased.

Spector would perfect his wall of sound and move on to his greatest fame with the Crystals, Ronettes and others. The Paris Sisters made stops at MGM, Mercury and Reprise where they released singles and an album. Priscilla Paris cut a solo album, but the commercial magic of "I Love How You Love Me" was never recaptured. This collection includes all five of their Gregmark singles, both A- and B-sides, and a stereo remix of "I Love How You Love Me." The latter's an interesting curiosity (if just to realize that the session wasn't physically recorded single-track mono), but, unsurprisingly, it doesn't have nearly the overwhelming presence or balance of Spector's original single.

This is a fascinating early chapter in both the Phil Spector story and the '60s evolution of the girl-group. The only negative is the short 26'48 playing time, of which 2'12 is the stereo remix. But that's what Spector recorded with the group for Gregmark, so that's what you get. Now if someone could only find and restore the "mistakenly" erased album tapes! 4-1/2 stars, if allowed fractional ratings. [©2007 hyperbolium dot com]

While the song selection is pretty good, the sound quality is terrible!Very muddy and distorted. It really detracts from their unique, sweet voices. In fact, the sound quality is so bad in my opinion, not only do I feel taken on the price, but that the sound quality is better on Youtube! What a cheap, poorly executed copy of recordings.

Buyer beware.

Only "I Love How You Love Me" ever appeared on oldies or girl group collections and my old 45s just didn't have the sound quality that is so clear on this CD. Phil Spector and Priscilla Paris weren't quite Phil and Ronnie, but they were still great.

The only problem here with this album is, that there are not enough songs on here, but what is here is very vey good and non disappointing.If you are a Paris Sisters fan, this is one album you'll want, if you don't already have.

Well those hot Paris sisters relly sizzle here.
The last track is a STEREO remix of "I love how you love me".
It has a wierd noise reduction problem that happens when you use too much
but still worth the price of admission.
"Now that we're through with love" ls a cool song and they even do a rockabilly type tune on here with a guitar that sounds twangy like "on broadway" if you know what I mean.(harvey)
Happy listnin' E.Michael Brydalski
Remember Lana Clarkson who can't defend herself Harvey.

The Paris Sisters - The Complete Phil Spector Sessions is a great value for money. I'm not particularly into the Paris Sisters or Phil Spector but I saw the Paris Sisters in some silly early 1960's British pop movie and loved their haunting sound. This CD showcases the songs they recorded with Phil Spector from that period and it doesn't disappoint. I liked all but one (the fast one) of the tracks. This is Phil Spector before he started reading his press clippings and you can hear the beginnings of what would become the girl group wall of sound.