Wall of Sound: The Very Best of Phil Spector, 1961-1966 in Bloomington, MN

Phil Spector
was really more of a back-tier session musician, songwriter, and occasional producer when he started his own
Philles Records
imprint in 1961. He had some success, having written, played guitar, and sung backup vocals on 1958's
"To Know Him Is to Love Him"
(which hit the top of the pop charts that year) as part of
the Teddy Bears
and he worked for a time as part of the production team for
Leiber & Stoller
, co-writing
"Spanish Harlem"
for
Ben E. King
and playing guitar on
the Drifters
'
"On Broadway,"
and he produced minor sides for
LaVern Baker
and
Ruth Brown
, among others, but there was really little to distinguish him from any number of other hopefuls clustered around the pop music scene as the 1960s dawned. But
Spector
was driven, single-minded, and stubborn, and he had a sound in his head. Now with his own label, he set out to record a series of singles he termed "little symphonies for the kids" that are among the most distinctive and influential recordings in the history of pop music. Combining massed pianos, guitars, string arrangements by
Jack Nitzsche
, tons of layered percussion, and huge washes of echo, working with the West Coast's best session players (including
Hal Blaine
,
Tommy Tedesco
Larry Knechtel
Leon Russell
, and
Harold Battiste
-- the so-called
Wrecking Crew
), and leaning heavily on his engineer
Larry Levine
to catch all of this in the small confines of
Gold Star Studios
in Los Angeles,
developed his "Wall of Sound" production approach, controlling every aspect of the recordings until, even though he wasn't singing or even playing any instrument, they became -- in essence --
records. This is not to diminish the singers he used --
Ronnie Bennett
Darlene Love
Tina Turner
the Righteous Brothers
, among others -- but a
recording in the 1960s was just that, a
recording. This 19-track set collects the best of his
Philles
releases, including the classics
"He's a Rebel,"
"Da Doo Ron Ron,"
"There's No Other Like My Baby"
by
the Crystals
"Be My Baby,"
"Baby, I Love You,"
"Walking in the Rain,"
"(The Best Part Of) Breakin' Up"
the Ronettes
"You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling,"
Ike & Tina Turner
's
"River Deep, Mountain High."
amassed a singular catalog at
between 1961 and 1966 and his legacy will always be linked to it -- for those five years, there was no one on earth making better-sounding pop records. The proof of that is collected here. ~ Steve Leggett