Phil Spector ...

[uwe]

Ouch, the Guardian paints a rather somber picture of his enduring legacy - or endured by others ...

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/18/phil-spector-toxic-svengali-music-industry

[Pilgrim]

Ouch, the Guardian paints a rather somber picture of his enduring legacy - or endured by others ...

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/18/phil-spector-toxic-svengali-music-industry

Well that author finds nothing redeeming in Spector, does not separate his musical talent from his personal transgressions, and pretty much blames him for all the bad behavior of the musical producers and figures who followed.

Sounds like the author would make a great prosecuting attorney, sitting in her chair and muttering "guillotine, guillotine..."

[Dave W]

I'm not sure that there would have been a Roy Wood's Wizzard, an ELO, a Bowie's Ziggy Stardust, an Alice Cooper's Welcome to my Nightmare, a Springsteen's Born to Run, a Meatloaf's Bat out of Hell or a Kiss' Destroyer without him. Perhaps not even a Beach Boys' Pet Sounds (Brian Wilson was a fan). Much less a Joe Meek in the UK (and how would we have found Blackmore then?!).
...

By coincidence, I don't own any of those albums.

Good riddance. One-trick-pony producer who thought it was acceptable to wave a gun at musicians to get the best out of them. Then murdered somebody.

The same people mourning his loss are those that complain about how modern pop music is derivative; churned out by artists with no talent as a disposable consumer product. Phil Spector contributed heavily to this situation, but he's the 'tortured genius' in the room apparently.

I knew if I refrained, someone would post what I was thinking. 

[uwe]

By coincidence, I don't own any of those albums.

Ignorance is bliss, Dave!

[Dave W]

Ignorance is bliss, Dave!

I didn't say I hadn't heard any of them. I've heard all except the first.

[ajkula66]

I tried really hard to think of a single album which Spector produced that left me in awe. None.

OTOH, I could think of several which I would've highly preferred that he stayed away from...

Not a great loss to music, let alone humanity in general. IMO, that is.

[D.M.N.]

I never liked the Wall of Sound. IMHO It was a detriment to music.

My sentiments. Some of those albums mentioned that came later I love, but anything I listen to that was produced by him leaves me feeling it would have been great if the production didn't blow. The wall of sound has never been something I love, and I think has only continued to be a detriment as it's integrated further into popular music, and I'd argue a fairly large contributor to the volume wars and solid bricks of songs we hear now. So let's see, I hate his production style AND he's a violent, unhinged goon? Yeah, not that anyone deserves to catch and die from COVID, but I hardly mourn the loss.

[eb2]

I am anxiously awaiting the De-Spectorized All Things Must Pass.  His production techniques were rancid. He was an undiagnosed mentally ill guy, and for that I feel sorry.  He was too big to hear the word no.

[uwe]

Yet when Harrison still lived, he refused to have a dryer remix done as he himself wrote on some reissue. He saw it as a period piece.

Let It Be - Naked didn't really sound better, just less.

[eb2]

I have mixed feelings on Let It Be Naked, as I had Get Back bootlegs for ages of the same stuff, and never liked the crummy overall sound of the Let It Be tracks to begin with.  Especially the intonation from hell Hofner crap sound. I liked the Spector stuff as it was as it all sounded bad.  But as a comparative, the sound of Instant Karma - which is arguable how much Spector actually did with that - is a much more listenable and actually good sounding reverb loaded track when compared with something like Awaiting On You All, which is sonically evil. George did do that remix that strangled off a hair of the reverb levels.  I think they were just so infatuated with working with the legend that they forgot their work always sounded better than anything he ever did.  Hell, Sonny Bono was a better Phil Spector than Phil Spector.