Phil Spector may have built his name defining the girl group sound, but his biggest hit was for a blue-eyed soul duo, sung by a man whose slo-mo baritone belied the fact that he was himself barely out of his teens. “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’” may have only stayed at #1 a modest two [...]
Posts Tagged ‘phil spector’
80) The Crystals – “He’s a Rebel”
Posted in 09, 1962, tagged darlene love, gene pitney, girl groups, phil spector, the blossoms, the crystals on January 7, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
“He’s a Rebel” is not my favorite Phil Spector record. I prefer The Ronettes’ “Be My Baby,” which peaked at #2 on the Hot 100 and thus will not be discussed in depth here. But “He’s a Rebel” – recorded by The Blossoms but released under the Crystals nameplate, much to the surprise of The [...]
38) The Drifters – “Save the Last Dance for Me”
Posted in 09, 1960, tagged ben e. king, leiber and stoller, phil spector, the drifters on January 27, 2009 | 1 Comment »
(Apologies for the video – it’s the only one I found on YouTube that used the original recording.) The ascendance of “Save the Last Dance for Me” almost seems to be a bit of overcompensation on the part of the American listening public. After “Mr. Custer,” anything would have been an improvement, but instead we [...]
7) The Teddy Bears – “To Know Him is to Love Him”
Posted in 08, 1958, tagged phil spector, the teddy bears on December 12, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Even before the murder trial of Lana Clarkson (now in retrial phase), Phil Spector has long been one of the legendary eccentrics in pop. But despite bizarre tales of threatening wife Ronnie Spector with a gold-plated casket in the basement of their house and forcing Leonard Cohen to record Death of a Ladies’ Man at gunpoint, Spector’s reputation [...]
