Phil Spector Presents The Philles Album Collection [Box set]

Phil Spector | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 24, 2011)
• Original Release Date: 2011
• Number of Discs: 7
• Format: Box set
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: Sony Legacy
• ASIN: B005BSCQPI
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #39,471 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

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Editorial Reviews

Fifty years ago, legendary producer Phil Spector established his own record label Philles, and a new sound began to ring out of radio speakers across America. The sound Spector created lush, resonant, and dramatic, blending the sentimental swoon of string sections with the excitement of rock and roll was so different, so instantly recognizable, it earned its own name: The Wall of Sound.

Through the 1960s, with songs like Be My Baby, Then He Kissed Me, Walking in the Rain, and Da Doo Ron Ron, he ruled the pop charts and made artists like Darlene Love, The Crystals and The Ronettes household names.

Through the 1960s, songs that rang with Phil Spector s signature studio approach ruled the pop charts. In his heyday, Spector s name was more popularly known than the artists he made famous the Ronettes, Crystals & Darlene Love. His had the Midas touch the pop singles on his own Philles label were as ubiquitous as Motown s and rivaled the popularity of the Beatles.

The Philles Album Collection brings together six pivotal albums from Phil Spector s groundbreaking label. Each remastered mono album is presented in its entirety for the first time on CD. Packaged in mini-vinyl replica sleeves and housed in a deluxe box, these classic 60 s albums showcase the labels legendary sound. The Philles Album Collection also includes a bonus disc of B sides, many available on CD for the very first time and featuring material not issued since originally released on 45!

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

64 of 66 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Six original Philles albums plus B-side instrumental bonuses October 25, 2011

By hyperbolium

Format:Audio CD

Much like the Cameo-Parkway catalog, Phil Spector's seminal records of the 1960s are only recently starting to see the reissues they deserve. For years they were reissued in dribs and drabs - greatest hits packages repeating the same chart entries, hard-to-find vinyl albums from the UK leaking out stereo mixes, reissues of the Christmas album, and so on. The 1991 box set Back to Mono and the more recent Phil Spector Collection each dug more deeply into the catalog, but there was still much to be done. With Sony's Legacy division having obtained reissue rights, 2011 kicked off with anthologies of the Ronettes, Crystals, Darlene Love and Spector's other hit productions. The reissues now continue with this box set of six original Philles albums, packaged in reproduction mini-LP sleeves.

Among the albums are three by the Crystals (although, as will be seen, they hold little more than one album's worth of original material), one each by the Ronettes and Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans, and a 1963 collection of label hits. Philles, like the pop music industry of its time, was focused on singles, with albums being little more than promotional afterthoughts. These albums were built around existing singles, and filled out with previously released material and album sides. Though some of the album material failed to match the brilliance of the hits, and the productions weren't always as lavish, neither were the tracks often throwaway filler. The Philles singles pipeline was well-stocked through these years, and otherwise hit-worthy tracks simply couldn't find room in the release schedule.... The set's designated filler is disc seven's collection of instrumental B-sides; but even here you get the Wrecking Crew in their prime.

The box kicks off with PHLP-4000, The Crystals Twist Uptown from 1962, which opens with the group's second hit, Mann & Weil's thrilling urban love song, "Uptown." Their first hit, the divine "There's No Other (Like My Baby)," is here too, but it's the album tracks that are likely to be new to many listeners. Spector's co-write with Doc Pomus, "Another Country - Another World," puts a fresh spin on an outcast love by replacing class separation with a cultural divide. Several of the songs, including "Oh Yeah, Maybe Baby" (featuring Patsy Wright on lead vocal) and "What a Nice Way to Turn Seventeen," feel the pull of `50s doo-wop and earlier girl groups like the Chantels, but the swirling strings, clacking castanets and underlying baion beats mark these as Spector's. The album take of "On Broadway" predates the Drifters hit, and the group's cover of "Gee Whiz" (retitled "Gee Whiz Look at His Eyes (Twist)") followed Carla Thomas' original by a year.

The Crystal's second album, PHLP-4001 He's a Rebel, was released in 1963 to capitalize on the hit single "He's a Rebel." The track list repeats nine selections from the debut, dropping "Please Hurt Me" and "Gee Whiz," and adding the title single alongside the hit "He's Sure the Boy I Love" and the notorious "He Hit Me (It Felt Like a Kiss)." The title hit holds two major distinctions: it was Spector's first chart topper with Philles (he'd scored a #1 with the Teddy Bears in 1958), and it wasn't actually the Crystals singing - it was Darlene Love (obscurely referenced by her then-married name Darlene Peete in Mick Patrick's liner notes) and the Blossoms. Accounts vary as to how the Crystals name was bestowed upon Darlene Love, and it's unclear if the failure of "He Hit Me" (a song whose violent theme is all the more chilling given Spector's personal history) was a factor, but Spector began recording Love and her backing group in Los Angeles and hit the jackpot with "He's a Rebel," as well as "He's Sure the Boy I Love."

The group's third album, PHLP-4003 The Crystals Sing The Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 isn't entirely a Crystals album. It includes only one new Crystals recording, 1963's "Da Doo Ron Ron" (featuring Lala Brooks on lead vocal) and fills out the track list with repeats from the group's first two albums, the leftover "Look in My Eyes", and four dance-themed titles (three covered from the Cameo-Parkway catalog: "The Wah Watusi," "Mashed Potato Time" and "The Twist") sung by the Ronettes. The latter had yet to release anything on Philles, and these covers weren't repeated on Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes Featuring Veronica. Still, with the Crystal's second album having mostly repeated their first, and their third cherry-picking from the first two, Spector showed his allegiance to the single as his ultimate format, as well as his savvy in picking the pockets of unsuspecting record buyers.

Philles' third album, PHLP-4002 Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah, was dedicated to Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans, a group that had three hit singles. Two of the hits are here, and the third ("Not Too Young to Get Married") is on disc five of this set, Philles Records Presents Today's Hits. Bob B. Soxx was vocalist Bobby Sheen, who was supposed to be backed by Darlene Love and her fellow Blossom, Fanita James. But once they began to record, Spector had Love step to the front and provide the lead vocals for everything but "Dear (Here Comes My Baby)" and the bluesy "Everything's Gonna Be All Right." The album tracks generally haven't the energy of the singles, with album filler like "White Cliffs of Dover" trying, but mostly failing to capture the magic of "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah." The one real discovery, aside from Sheen's two tracks, is the funky Jackie DeShannon tune "I Shook the World." The album closes with the instrumental B-side "Dr. Kaplan's Office," suggesting that Spector lost interest before producing a full album of twelve tracks.

The Ronettes only full-length album, PHLP-4006 Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes Featuring Veronica, was issued in 1964 and collected their five biggest hits, "Be My Baby," "Baby, I Love You," "(The Best Part Of) Breakin' Up," "Do I Love You?" and "Walking in the Rain." Also included was their earlier recording of "So Young," credited at that time to Veronica, a pair of non-charting singles ("How Does it Feel?" and "When I Saw You") and four album tracks ("I Wonder," "What'd I Say," "You Baby," and "Chapel of Love," the latter written for the group and recorded the year before the Dixie Cups had a hit, but not issued as a single). The album peaked at #96, and though the group would release excellent singles in 1965 and 1966 (and record many that Spector withheld, including "Girls Can Tell" and "Paradise"), their star had peaked. The album, never before officially reissued on CD in its original form, continues to be a collector's item, and is presented here, like all tracks in this box, in mono.

The fifth disc in this collection, PHLP-4004 Philles Records Presents Today's Hits, repeats six tracks from the Crystals', Ronettes' and Bob. Soxx and the Blue Jeans' albums, but fills in six more Philles hits. Chief among them is the Crystals' "Then He Kissed Me" and a pair of favorites by Darlene Love ("Wait `Til My Bobby Gets Home" and "(Today I Met) The Boy I'm Gonna Marry"), but also essential is Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans' third hit ("Why Do Lovers Break Each Other's Hearts"), Darlene Love's "Playing for Keeps" and the Alley Cats' energetic doo-wop "Puddin `n' Tain," featuring Bobby ("Soxx") Sheen on high-tenor. The added tracks flesh out the Philles picture, and the repeated tracks provide further evidence of albums being marketing items rather than artistic statements.

The last disc in this collection, credited to The Phil Spector Wall of Sound Orchestra, and titled Phil's Flipsides, presents the rarest material. The seventeen B-sides are instrumental flipsides of Spector hits, duly purposed to be cheap to produce, and to keep DJs focused on the A-sides. These are a mix of backing tracks and two-minute jams by Spector's assembled workforce, name-checking Wrecking Crew stars (and Spector's psychiatrist and first wife) in the song titles. In addition to the pop sounds you'd expect from Spector's band, there are some fine jazz and blues workouts, with sax, piano and guitar stretching out on lead and Julius Wechter's vibraphone adding atmosphere. Spector's instrumental B's for the short-lived Phil Spector label ("Larry L." and "Chubby Danny D") are included, but contemporaneous flips on Annette (including "Beatle Blues") and Shirley are omitted.

Each of the albums clock in at roughly 30 minutes, suggesting these could have been doubled-up, but it's hard to fault Legacy's artistic decision to reissue each in their original form in mini-LP sleeves. Given U.S. royalty laws (which charge per-track, rather than per-album), two-fers wouldn't necessarily have cost any less anyway. There's one album missing from Philles initial run, A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector, which has been reissued several times, most recently in 2009. The tail-end of Philles album releases, including three from the Righteous Brothers, one from Lenny Bruce, and the aborted 1966 release of Ike & Tina Turner's River Deep - Mountain High await a second box. The Turner title was issued in 1969 by A&M and reissued earlier this year by Hip-O Select.

All of the albums have been newly transferred by Kabir Hermon and Steve Rosenthal, and remastered by Vic Anesini, but some collectors will no doubt grouse about the lack of stereo mixes, particularly the well-circulated Ronettes and Christmas cuts. Others will note the repetition within the box, overlap between the box and the group compilations released earlier this year, the lack of rare and unreleased material, etc.; all fair criticisms, but really beside the point. Legacy is scratching an itch felt by many collectors to get reproductions of the original artifacts - the original albums. Is it a good value? That depends on how highly you prize what Legacy's reproducing, rather than what they're not. Spector may have dismissed albums as two hits and ten pieces of filler, but his vanity as a producer rarely let him attach his name to junk. The concentration of A-list singing, playing, producing, arranging and writing represented on these discs is nearly unprecedented, making even the instrumental B-sides shine brightly. [©2011 hyperbolium dot com] Read more ›

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Philles Album Collection Box Set October 25, 2011

By J. Hovey

Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase

Received today, needless to say I'm a "wall of sound" fan from way back in the 60's. And I have been waiting on this particular release for quite some time.

First, the packaging is excellent - gotta say that Sony Legacy did an excellent job of packaging these discs in their original LP cover art as mini-LP jackets, very similar to how the Japanese imports often package their limited edition CD's.

Second - the sound is great, especially compared to the 90's Back to Mono box set; sound is much cleaner and "up-front".

Third - the collection of songs on all CD's are MONO - which I, for one, am very happy with. Having listened to some of these on their original vinyl releases in both Stereo & MONO, I definitely prefer the MONO versions - making the Wall of Sound even more stirring and grand!
So that's a big plus for me. And I'm glad Sony chose to keep the MONO recordings for this release.

I won't bother with a descriptor of each CD as that is well done by previous reviewers. But this collection is definitely a must - for both "wall of sound" die-hards as well as those just listening for the first time. And I truly appreciate that each LP is reproduced musically as they were originally release on vinyl.

Totally happy with this purchase.

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Mostly For *Completists*; Many *Repeats*! October 26, 2011

By Alex Honda TOP 1000 REVIEWER

Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase

I mainly bought the PHIL SPECTOR PRESENTS THE PHILLES ALBUM COLLECTION because I wanted the "Presenting The Fabulous Ronettes Featuring Veronica" reissue, as well as The Crystals CDs.

Unfortunately, not knowing too much about The Crystals, I only heard certain selections ("He's A Rebel," "He's Sure The Boy I Love") that I enjoyed, but I've learned that those songs weren't actually recorded by The Crystals, but by The Blossoms (Darlene Love, Fanita James, Gloria Jones among others), so I was a little disappointed with the real "The Crystals" recordings. I was wondering why Love and James weren't pictured on the album covers of The Crystals, which was a little disconcerting, but makes sense, now that I read the present day liner notes. Although they might sound similar, I think the songs recorded by Love & The Blossoms were much more livelier than the ones recorded by the real group. Although their recordings aren't bad, The Crystals recordings aren't very exuberant compared to those recorded by Love and Ronnie Spector. Even though I knew that Darlene Love had sung on the above songs, I was under the impression that she was actually part of The Crystals group (but neither she nor James were or are part of The Crystals) and so the tracks recorded by the group are in a very different style than those by Love.

It must've been very difficult for the actual members of The Crystals to have songs and records released in their name, but not actually featuring them including CD # 4 "The Crystals Sing The Greatest Hits," which actually features four songs sung by The Ronettes (that also sound more livelier to my ear).

Anyway, I know that this is mostly a collector's item and that each CD, except CD #7, is an exact reproduction of the actual albums.... And that's great for those who had the originals, but for those not knowing you get a lot of repeats.

On CD # 2 The Crystals - He's A Rebel, there are 9 songs that are the exact same as on CD #1, The Crystals - Twist Uptown.

CD #5, Philles Records Presents Today's Hits, also has some repeats except tracks #1 by The Crystals, track #6 by Bob B. Soxx & The Blue Jeans, the Darlene Love tracks #8-11, and track #12 by The Alley Cats (that was actually recorded by Bobby Sheen --aka Bob B. Soxx-- according to the liner notes).

CD #7 are the "b" sides to the singles and are instrumentals. Though not repeats, the songs on this CD are really short , the CD has a running time of only 34:30, and some only constitute jam sessions. But it's nice to have

A wonderful booklet that's filled with color and black & white photos explains what the b-sides were and which singles they were attached to, and is included in this box set. The booklet also provides excellent information about the artists and how Spector would hold certain recordings back for unknown reasons, and includes album and song information, written by Mitch Patrick in June 2011.

The CDs come in cardboard replicas of the original album covers with liner notes on the back and come inside paper sleeves. Since the individual CDs are housed in a sturdy cardboard box, I'll probably keep them this way rather than transferring to a CD case.

So although the box set is a nice addition to any music library, I think those that are new to the "wall of sound" recordings may want to start off with The Sound of Love: The Very Best of Darlene Love, Be My Baby: The Very Best of The Ronettes, or perhaps Wall of Sound: The Very Best of Phil Spector 61-66. Read more ›

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars THE PHILLES ALBUMS AT LAST! October 24, 2011

By Motown Dave

Format:Audio CD

This is a pretty decent box set. I bought 2 as it is suppossed to be a limited edition. I do have to say it is mastered better than the previous box set Back To Mono but they could've done better. DISC 1- THE CRYSTALS TWIST UPTOWN-A very good album considering that the early 60's was a singles driven time. The only boring track on this one is The Frankenstein Twist(it's also repeated on He's A Rebel too). Also What A Nice Way To Turn Seventeen has that annoying hiss from start to finish. DISC 2- HE'S A REBEL-THE CRYSTALS- This one contains more hits on it than Twist Uptown. It also contains the single He Hit Me(And It Felt Like A Kiss). I also like their version of On Broadway. DISC 3- ZIP-A-DEE-DOO-DAH-BOB B. SOXX & THE BLUE JEANS-This is also a pretty darn good album when singles were all that any company really cared about. When Phil Spector International reissued this album in the 70's they dropped Jimmy Baby and included Why Do Lovers Break Each Other's Heart. Here is the album in it's entirety including the great track Jimmy Baby. I own the Philles release and I can now listen to this without the pops and hiss YEA! DISC 4- THE CRYSTALS SING THE GREATEST HITS- This disc wouldn't be so bad except for the 4 lackluster tracks by The Ronettes(Hot Pastrami,The Wah Watusi,Mashed Potato Time and The Twist)and credited to The Crystals. They actually sound like bad demos. DISC 5- PHILLES RECORDS PRESENTS TODAY'S HITS-VARIOUS ARTISTS- This is a very nice collection of hits and only 2 out of the 12 were b-sides and both by the wonderful and highly underrated Darlene Love(Who finaly made it into the RRHF). This is the only Philles album where you get the tracks by Darlene Love and 1 by the Alley Cats.... DISC 6- PRESENTING THE FABULOUS RONETTES- This is 1 of 2 of Phil Spectors album masterpieces in his entire career(the other being the River Deep-Mountain High album). I would have to say that this isn't really complete because the idiot still cut off the explosive intro on I Wonder.I have the complete song with intro on Phil Spectors Wall Of Sound Vol 1. The Ronettes Sing Their Greatest Hits and in TRUE STEREO. DISC 7- PHIL SPECTOR WALL OF SOUND ORCHESTRA PHIL'S FLIPSIDES(BONUS DISC)- This isn't bad. I will be the first to admit I am not a big fan of instrumentals. There are a few that are not bad at all but the best one is Torpedo Rock which had it been released as a single I truly believe it would have charted. The booklet that comes with it has quite a few rare pictures in it. One is the list for the tracks for The Fabulous Ronettes which lists 3 out takes(that you can see) which are-Why Don't They Let Us Fall In Love,Keep On Dancing Little Girl(that's the title listed here) and Soldier Baby. Even though it has a few rough edges I highly recommend it. It's still worth it to own it.You know the old saying "Once it's gone-it's gone!" Read more ›