Customer Reviews

Phil Spector: Out Of His Head

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Phil Spector is an enigma: A pop music icon who has obviously danced with his demons on many occasions. Richard Williams' book does a fine job of detailing Spector's upbringing, his early career, his domination of the charts with his Philles label, his years spent "in hiding", and his past attempts to stage a "come back." Very little about Spector's current legal woes is included, but it is touched upon. The book is filled with first-hand accounts from Spector's friends and colleagues (yes, according to these sources, Spector pulled a gun on several musicians, including Stevie Wonder). If you want to know what it was like working with him, this book paints the picture masterfully. He may have been very talented, but after reading this book, I'm glad I was never stuck in a studio with him!

Another story of a brilliant man who forged through life starting as the underdog and ending up at the top of his game only to throw it all away because of ego and needing to be in total control of everything and everybody. The end of this story is not in the book but on Court TV and coming to a close soon. What a waste of talent.

This is the third book I've read in recent weeks about Phil Spector, "Out of His Head" by Richard Williams. As a young girl I was always intrigued by his "wall of sound", and that's what it was. He had a special ear no doubt, however he must have been driven by something other than the music itself, it must have been some kind of "inner" ear. He appears to have been a self centered genius with a sense of entitlement. It's kind of hard to pinpoint his many idiosyncracies, perhaps a tortured soul? Mr. Williams' decriptions of his mixing, blending, layering and use of so many duplicate instruments made you almost "see" the cascading of his sound. His music is classic and speaks for itself.

Too bad his legacy will include the death of Ms Lana Clarkson. A tragedy for both on his part. Some of his predicament may be karma, my understanding from the books indicate he took writing credits he wasn't due and undercompensated most of his artists. What a waste and a shame, one of the books about him is titled "Reckless", I say "Senseless"!! Sad Sad Sad!

I'm not really qualified to write about a genius like Phil spector,
but that won't stop me! Anyway, Spector was born in the Bronx
borough of NYC. When he was very young his father died, and he moved
with his mom to los angeles. Spector could be seen at LA city
college with a guitar singing and playing on occasion. He studied
French and was interested in being the person, who in the courtroom,
records the proceedings, while operating a strange machine with
a keyboard -- like on Perry Mason, but Phil's interest in music pulled him in another direction, moving to new york to work in the historic Brill building, but his best work was to be done in los angeles, when he moved back there!

from the Ike and Tina turner movie: los angeles, 1966, gold star
studio, an amazing array of incredible musicians assembled for
"river deep, mountain high", which was the apotheosis of the "wall
of sound"!

Also, Phil playing "you've lost that lovin feeling" on
the piano during the "big T.N.T. show" as Joan Biaz sings the tune --
interesting as I've only heard that tune sung as a duet before!
There was a short-lived television program back in the sixties,
which tried to compete with "hullabaloo" and "shindig" on which you
could see Phil and the Dave Clark 5 running around Phil's Beverly
Hills mansion, which is where he lived before moving to Alhambra. In
the seventies during John Lennon's lost year (6 to 8 months?) in L.A., John would typically show up at the studio, where just about everyone was either getting drunk or high, waiting for Phil to show up. When Phil
did arrive he would take off his coat, exposing the sholder-hoster
with his gun, starting the rhythm section [I'm no maestro but I
appreciate good music], which would play for hours, then perhaps
later they would be ready for some vocals. The excellent "stand by
me" came from those sessions (i believe), but John wasn't too productive in
L.A., since being separated from Yoko apparently made him unstable.
Most of John's money was tied up in litigation at this time, so he
was almost living like a normal person. When John went to a
Hollywood party with many big names (e.g. Liz Taylor, Elton John in
attendance), John was still the most famous person in the room, but
getting back to Phil, who was a nervous wreck at this time because
his wife Ronnie was leaving him. So, the result was a disappointing
album for John. Phil's gun was the same type of snub-nose 38 (no longer made) that Jack Ruby used to kill Lee Harvey Oswald. Apparently, the district attorney has a bone up his rear-end about prosecuting Phil,
because another trial has just started in L.A., after Phil's first
trial not resulting in a conviction. I'm not saying that Phil's
considerable talent is an excuse to murder someone, but I like to
think he is innocent.
Da Doo Ron Ron