News
- 23 December 2011
Phil Spector's "The Philles Album Collection" has been named one of the 10 Best Reissues of 2011 by Rolling Stone, showing "the Wall of Sound at its Top 40 height" with "opulent teenage melodramas built around the vocal elation of the Ronettes, Darlene Love and La La Brooks." Read more at RollingStone.com.
- 20 December 2011
While there are innumerable albums of Christmas classics, there are very few classic Christmas albums. The most obvious is Phil Spector’s "A Christmas Gift For You," which – since its release in 1963 – has become the default answer to the question of what is the greatest ever Christmas album in the same way Citizen Kane has become the default answer to the question of what is the greatest ever film. ...As Brian Wilson would point out, Phil Spector’s Christmas Album doesn’t deserve to be compared to the likes of "Now That’s What I Call Xmas": it deserves to be compared to the likes of "Rubber Soul" and "Revolver."
Read more at The Spectator.
- 13 December 2011
Just in time for the holidays, The Guardian has republished an article about the making of "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" with John Lennon and Yoko Ono. The article describes Phil Spector at work on the single at various points. Here is an excerpt:
"Suddenly there's a little flurry at the entrance. Phil Spector's arrived, in big shades, wearing a red and white button saying 'Back To Mono', which breaks everyone up. But he's serious, you know.
Immediately, the session is working. Within seconds of getting behind the huge band, Spector is thinking in terms not just of sound, but of arrangement, drama, production. It takes him about 10 seconds to get a sound which transforms the guitars from a happy rabble into a brilliant cutting wash of colour, and they aren't even miked properly yet."
Read more at Guardian.co.uk.
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