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Phil Spector, Dead at 81
- Thread starter wmhill
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It's a great book, not a lot of detail but he was with them right from their first session to their last, he walked out during the White Album the acrimony was so thick and was very happy he couldn't do the Let It Be sessions, they were constantly arguing during that period among many other things. He did Abby Road after it.
Lennon went out of his way to praise the Spector "Let It Be" patch job in his legendary Rolling Stone Interview. Of course, Spector had also just done Plastic Ono Band, and would soon produce its follow up, Imagine. In between which, Spector was producing Harrison's stuff. The fact that John and George were willing to wait on Spector for their respective sessions bespeaks their preference for him. They were Beatles, and as such could have anyone at the desk.
Lennon, moreover, considered Phil a foil. The idea for a stripped-down Plastic Ono Band was not the work of a producer trying to set perimeters to reinvigorate the artist, but the exact opposite: John wanted to deny Phil his full train set and toy set, the better to focus him on the program of stripped-raw emotion. So in this sense Phil was a true foil and creative partner, at least as Lennon desired and forged it.
I think Lennon liked Phil, too, as a sort of demonic to himself. Lennon could be testy and bullying, and he liked it in his partners such as Phil, and also Alan Klein, who carried himself like a mobster, much to Lennon's delight. Check out the YouTube film "John Lennon rages for a full minute" to see how surly and abusive John could be in the studio, while Phil stands meekly by.
Many of them also unknowingly like Carol Kaye's playing.
The comment I wanted to make was related to The Ramones' time with Spector.
It got quite 'hairy' at least once~
, I think I read something about it somewhere or other.
Spector was well known for pointing firearms at musicians in the studio.
I am pretty sure Ted Bundy never earned his law degree. My position is that even horrible people often do great things. Acknowledging that someone was great at something does not mean I overlook evil they did.
...As for Macca's opinion of Let It Be, he was the only Fab to attend the 1971 Oscars, where he claimed the the Best Score Award for the film. Which is to say, he was on record as being happy with the result until a few years later, when English critics like Ray Coleman kept calling Let It Be a "shabby epitaph" and so forth.
That's Phil Spector playing the drug connection at the beginning of "Easy Rider". Came to mind as we're discussing Toni Basil (...same movie) in another thread.
Riis
Riis
The substantial prison population in the United States is strongly connected to drug-related offenses. While the exact rates of inmates with substance use disorders (SUDs) is difficult to measure, some research shows that an estimated 65% percent of the United States prison population has an active SUD. Another 20% percent did not meet the official criteria for an SUD, but were under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of their crime.1
Phil Spector was one of them, alcohol and drugs ruin many lives, some people find programs, many don't and either die, go insane or end up in prison, sounds like the last two happened to Phil. Many other great musicians have ruined their lives through that drugs and/or alcohol.
Criminal Justice DrugFacts | National Institute on Drug Abuse
Of course they do. But we might want to think twice before we happily celebrate the accomplishments of someone who proved, in the end, to be a sociopathic murderer. It's not a good look for anyone to do that, and nothing else he could have done would outshine the murder of Lana Clarkson. I don't care if he cured cancer. He doesn't deserve to be celebrated. Y'all are going to be canonizing Ike Turner next.
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Phil Spector = Pure Evil
Whatever he did with music should be forgotten. He was a monster, a narcissist, an abuser and a cold blooded murderer. Nobody should praise him.
Whatever he did with music should be forgotten. He was a monster, a narcissist, an abuser and a cold blooded murderer. Nobody should praise him.
When you are the product of your grandfather raping your mother, you start off seriously behind the eight ball.
Thank you. And people who excuse him on the "drugs and alcohol change you" argument would probably not be so understanding to the gutter drunk asking for a handout. None of that excuses what he was.
Ike Turner was not a murderer. The first sentence in any Phil Spector obituary is that he died a convicted murderer. I do not believe anyone here is ignoring his crimes.
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