Where's Phil?

So the seminal girl group, the Ronettes made it into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It’s a long time coming and surely well deserved. Ronnie Spector, the diminutive and sassy leader of the group, stayed at the mike for quite a while, running through a litany of thank you’s. She mentioned Murray The K, the famous NYC DJ who first booked the girls back when they were starting out, producer Phil Ramone, scores of others, as well as the other two Ronettes and their shared families. And while I would never be one to deny Ronnie her due, I found it a bit odd that neither she, nor the other two Ronettes, nor even swashbuckling Keith Richards who had inducted the trio, ever mentioned Phil Spector.

OK, so Spector is way kooky these days. Actually, an argument could be made that he always was! Yeah, he’s maybe connected to a recent murder. He stays secluded in his Hollywood mansion and, when seen, sports a wild hairpiece and a big bodyguard (or is it a wild bodyguard and big hairpiece?). Some accounts claim the producer carries a gun at all times. He has coddled a wild man reputation, a ‘Howard Hughes of Rock’ moniker for at least two decades. Still, this is the guy who invented the Wall of Sound!

He produced all the Ronettes’ biggest hits: "Be My Baby," "Baby I Love You," "I Do Love You," "Walking In the Rain." This is the guy who inspired the likes of Brian Wilson and worked with the Beatles. He implemented the concept of ‘flipping’ — the act of putting an instrumental on the ‘B’ side of a single, which effectively forced DJs at the time to ‘flip’ the record to the ‘A’ side, making them play the hit Spector was trying to push. He’s already in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his innovations, including some of the very aforementioned hits. We are talking about Phil Spector here!

Phillip, as he is called by only his closest confidants, was one of the few dudes to go up against Ike Turner. “River Deep Mountain High” was a huge hit for Tina Turner back in the day before she had yet to punch, kick, and chant her way from Ike’s clutches. To think Spector had the brass to suggest he wanted Tina to sing on his song, taking her out of Ike’s manipulations for one of her biggest hits, shows how single-minded and gutsy little Phillip was. Then again, he was at the top of his game — which he hasn’t been for a bunch of years. And Ronnie didn’t even give him a shout out?!

Nobody’s arguing with the fact that Ronnie and Phillip have a checkered past. The stories of abuse are legendary. The producer basically groomed his bride (Ronnie and Phil were eventually married…and divorced) and kept her shut-in unless she was performing. He grew into quite the paranoid genius, unfortunately as free with his hands as he was his temper, driving Ronnie to eventually fear for her life. But this speaks to what kind of a man Spector was (maybe still is). And while I would never condone his actions, we can’t overlook his talent. Whether or not Mel Gibson is indeed an anti-Semite doesn’t preclude me from liking Braveheart or not thinking Seinfeld’s Michael Richards wasn’t talented just because of a tirade or two! Yes a person’s actions, lifestyle, and opinions influence their art, but if that art moves you, isn’t that the only real test on how one should judge the art that’s produced?

There is no rock and roll devotee, or even causal listener who can’t recognize the specter of Spector in rock and roll. Even if you don’t truly understand what you’re listening to, you will recognize the difference between other pop hits of the early 60s when played side by side with a Phil Spector recording. The majesty and drama of his recordings with the Ronettes and others truly deliver a ‘wall of sound’ behind the vocalists. His use of studios as living, breathing entities, almost as important as the artists who were living and breathing in them, was truly a first in rock and roll. Spector is right up there with Dylan, Brian Wilson, the Beatles, and all the biggies. In fact, at the Hall of Fame wingding, it took Paul Shaffer, the defacto band leader on these occasions and foil to David Letterman, to saunter up to the podium and finally mention Phil. As if being a musician, songwriter, and producer himself, Shaffer simply couldn’t let the night pass without some mention of a man who evidently means a lot to him!

For Ronnie to deny Phil’s contribution to the Ronettes' career is a brash and unabashed slight. Would her own contribution to those wonderful songs be any lessened if she had nodded her beehive to her ex-husband? Believe me, I’m not saying she doesn’t have personal reasons to detest the guy, but by making such a long-winded speech and obviously omitting Phil, she made it more apparent than ever how he still affects her life.

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