Review: Various Artists, “Wall of Sound: The Very Best of Phil Spector...
In another time, in another place, I would not be writing this review of Legacy’s new Phil Spector compilation with a slight pang of melancholy. And you wouldn’t be reading it with the possible tug at...
View ArticleReview: The Crystals, The Ronettes and Darlene Love: “The Very Best Of”
If Phil Spector didn’t exist, someone would have had to invent him. Spector scored his first chart-topper as writer, artist and arranger in 1958 with “To Know Him is to Love Him” performed his by...
View ArticleCrossing the Pond: “London American Label 1963″ Spotlights Spector and More
It’s 1963. Imagine a label that counted Roy Orbison, Darlene Love, James Brown, The Drifters and Jerry Lee Lewis all among its artists. While such an array of talent never convened under one roof in...
View ArticleFINAL UPDATE 8/4: “Phil Spector Presents the Philles Album Collection” and...
Well, get a load of that! This is the photo I’ve been waiting for – and if you’re reading this, chances are you’ve been waiting with bated breath, too! As of August 4, we have official confirmation...
View ArticleRelease Round-Up: Week of October 24/25
It’s Tuesday, but most of the new music this week has already been out for a day. But assuming you were too busy to get out to the shops, here’s a look at what’s new. And there’s quite a bit! Various...
View ArticleReview: Phil Spector, “The Philles Album Collection” and “The Essential Phil...
Whoa-oh, a-whoa-oh-oh-oh! Think of The Ronettes’ wail, every bit as iconic a cry as a-whop-bop-a-loo-a-whop-bam-boom. Doesn’t rock and roll have a way of elevating onomatopoeia to poetry? And no...
View ArticleBe My Baby: Sundazed Preps Spector Reissues On Vinyl
It’s once again time to go back to mono. Sundazed has just announced the vinyl reissue of four classic albums from Phil Spector’s Philles label. On July 31, The Ronettes’ Presenting The Fabulous...
View ArticleLeaders of the Pack: Ace Celebrates Legendary Songwriters Ellie Greenwich and...
The union of Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry was a brief one. Married in 1962, the same year that they began a songwriting partnership, they were divorced in 1965. Their professional partnership only...
View ArticleSongwriters Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil Are “Born to Be Together” on New Ace CD
Born to Be Together: could a more apropos title have been devised for a collection of the songs of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil? Married since 1961, the team both defines and defies the phrase “unsung...
View ArticleJerry Lee Lewis, The Ronettes, Del Shannon, Louis Armstrong Feature On “The...
1964 will forever be remembered on American shores as the year of Beatlemania, when those four moptops from Liverpool led the British Invasion to the top of the pop charts. That tale has been...
View ArticleSweeter Than Wine: “This Magic Moment” Compiles Brill Building Nuggets
Today, 1619 Broadway in the heart of New York City’s theatre district doesn’t particularly stand out. Despite the building’s ornate façade, 1619 appears to be just another office building on a busy...
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