So Phil Spector is finally found guilty. Six years to reach the only obvious conclusion, although, most music fans could tell you he’d committed murder as soon as he got his tiny little hands on the master tapes to ‘Let It Be’. But it’s official – it’s moiduh and Phil Spector will probably spend the rest of his life in a cushy corner of some state penitentiary or other, bald and friendless.
Murder 1
Of course, as you know, the music he worked on is mostly sublime. Timeless, not set by generation. You could be 5 or 95. There’s something there for all of us. Some of those tracks are practically folk songs. I’m going to remember him this way. And you should too. Listen to The Ronettes in the studio doing ‘My One And Only Baby’ as it was called before becoming ‘Be My Baby’. Here‘s an amalgamation of takes 21-25, mostly instrumental, with the odd backing vocal and studio chatter flung in for good measure. A Wall of Sound production in production.
Murder 2
Here‘s an unrecorded take of the same track, complete with lead and backing vocals and that ricketty-ticketty percussion at the end of every line. The wee tape rewind at the beginning makes me think this is Spector’s first play back of the completed track, but that’s only my thoughts. I guess we’ll never know now.
Finally, here‘s that Ronettes ‘Baby I Love You’ isolated vocal track that everybody still emails me about. *Note. I incorrectly labelled this as Be My Baby Vocals. But before you get yer knickers in a twist I just checked, and it’s definitely the vocal track of Baby I love You. OK!
Last time I posted tracks of this ilk, they were removed tout de suite by the DMCA. Make like Phil with a .45 and act fast!
Later everyone, gotta shoot…….!
Murder 3
Plain Or Pan 
that all-vocal track is just fantastic…many many thanks
you are the king of kingy-ness (possibly not a real word).
Anyway, hopefully the Pirate Bay thing will not worry you as your posted stuff is pretty much unavailable and as you point out – if you can buy it you will.
I have just bought The Hold Steady’s new live album (my current favourite band) despite having downloaded 1.5GB of live concert material from the band sponsored website which I cut to my own CDs. Giving songs away for nothing makes you eager to buy more, not less at least in my case.
And the new Record Company trick of remastered deluxe 2CD editions of albums you have already wasted mortgage repayments on is hardly ethical is it? what about a trade in?
That nice Mr Brown is offering £5K back if you buy a piece-of-crap electric car, so how about a fiver off remastered CDs (I don’t include Hawkwind reissues here as they are a special category of personal lunacy)
anyway, cheers for now.
I had a feeling you just might mention all of this…..
Brilliant stuff
really enjoyed this insight into making of some of my favorite music. poooor phil. getting old really makes some people freaky (myself included) but sadly old skinny chin looks pathetic. he made some great music but his personal life must have been a disaster after his star faded like so many more. anyway thanks for sharing your found treasures. i feel so sorry for that young girl who was killed by doctor phil. what goes through his twisted mind?