music producer phil spector dies in prison, age 81

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he was known for his "wall of sound" production technique that made his music, reproduced on AM radios of the day, sound huge. he also was known for murdering model lana clarkson [on feb. 3, 2003], in a [typical for him and his non-existent temper] fit of pique, and being given what was in effect a life sentence for the foul deed. another infuriating thing he was known for, was insisting that his original recordings remain in monophonic forever, even when multichannel master tapes exist. anyways, if you watched the movie "easy rider," in the beginning he has a cameo part. RIP.

When the also elderly Bill Cosby kicks the bucket some years down the road from now, when presumably he will also still be in prison, what would you say about it?

Probably something like what you would say about Phil Spector now. Something like "I dont know WHAT to say."

Or sumpin' like...

"He brought the world much joy, and was a big part of my growing up, but ...I still cant shed a tear for the bastard even though he is now dead."

I knew his name sounded familiar and not from the murder, which occurred during a time period I paid zero attention to the news.

Wikipedia has a long entry for him; he wrote and produced hits that anyone listening to radio in the last half of 2019 would probably recognize. Here is just a brief excerpt from wikipedia:

In 1970, Allen Klein, manager of the Beatles, brought Spector to England. While producing John Lennon's hit solo single "Instant Karma!", which went to number 3, Spector was invited by Lennon and George Harrison to take on the task of turning the Beatles' abandoned Let It Be recording sessions into a usable album. He went to work, using many of his production techniques, making significant changes to the arrangements and sound of some songs.[49]

The resulting album, Let It Be, was a massive commercial success and topped the US and UK charts. The album also yielded the number 1 US single, "The Long and Winding Road". (A recording of "Let It Be", released before Spector got his hands on the tapes, was released as a single two months before the release of the album, hitting number 2 in the UK and number 1 in the US


He also worked with Leonard Cohen who in the end did not like his "wall of sound" style. No surprise there.

john lennon was appreciative of him in a big way, hiring him to do other work for him. lennon said of his work on their "let it be" album, "he took a sh***y record with a sh***y feel, and he made something of it."

Thank you for your work and Rest in Hell

I would say "I have lost that lovin' feeling... for him".

Actually ... its not as if I had actual affection for him the way that some folks have for the home team, or the way I and most have some for some actual performers like the Beatles or Robin Williams (or like had for Cosby at one time).

But I did have affection for records he produced, and artists he worked with.

The Righteous Brothers hit "Lovin Feeling" is awesome, and was a perfect example how his "wall of sound" thing worked. Though it didnt work for everything. Artists from Leonard Cohen, to the Ramones, couldnt stand working with him. The reasons were probably some combo of the personal and the artistic.

if only there were no guns, he would likely have avoided prison.

Research ‘Ronnie Spector’ if you want the real story.
He was unstable and dangerous.
And gifted with music, but dangerous to women.

and if his finger had slipped, mighta killed john lennon a decade ahead of time, when he brandished a pistol in a recording studio lennon was in at the time.

I think what he did with Long and Winding Road was brilliant and masterful and a good way for the Beatles to go out. McCartney was never satisfied with it, but it wouldn't have been the same without the strings and the background choir.

macca is surely talented but he is also SO FULL OF HIMSELF, like he can do absolutely no wrong in his thinking. granted, so was spector, but i guess that comes with talent.

If I'm not mistaken, Wall of Sound was always mono, even if the source material was recorded in stereo. So, after doing his thing, I'm assuming Spector re-stereoized Let it Be.

In some ways, you and Spector are kindred spirits. Both reclusive. Both enjoy mono-to-stereo projects. Question is...how's your girlfriend doing?

[that's just a joke]

sorry but spector used wall of sound for stereo projects as well such as things that came after his xmas record, such as his righteous brothers hits. listen to "you've lost that lovin' feeling" and you'll hear both stereo as well as the dense wall of mud (sound ) qualities. all wall of sound really translated to, was a too-small recording studio with too many musicians crammed into one space and too many things crammed onto a limited number of audio channels, recorded at borderline [or past] overload levels to elude tape hiss plus to get that saturated sound on the tape, plus all the cross-track over-dubbing or track bouncing on that 3-track ampex 300-3 tape machine to get the desired density of instrumentation. with the righteous bros material he had benefit of [from what i read] two-4-track decks to spread the sound around sufficient for a true stereo mix.

That's interesting. I recall reading that Spector didn't like recording in stereo because he thought it diminished his control over the final production. When it comes to the Let it Be album, most of the music was recorded before Spector even got involved.

So, in that scenario, I'm assuming Wall of Sound was more of a post-recording overdub than the start-to-finish recording process of the Righteous Brothers songs.

gold star recording studio [tiny place] is what he used a LOT in his early years including the early years of his stereo recording. so a lot of the sound density techniques he used in wall of sound were translated into stereo per the insistence from the executive suite of the record company and record clubs who wanted stereo product and they wanted it NOW. so grudgingly he went along. there is nothing about it [wall of sound] that demands either one channel or several. it is just density of sound, including what distortions the primitive overloaded tape machines added with repeated generational passes from track to track [more IM distortion, more wow and flutter-based interchannel chorusing, modulation noise et al which adds up to the glue-like sound density he was after]. if you listen to the vocals of the xmas record you can clearly hear overmodulation [tape being overdriven to the point of magnetic saturation, the characteristic crackle gives it away]. the sound really was/is kinda dirty. not a comparatively vaporous cloud of sound [normal] but a brick wall of the densest sound possible. hope the analogy makes sense.