The Ronnettes - 08/18/11
I just got back into Portland last night, but rather than try to deal with writing the Fix, I wanted to spend the final hours of Wednesday celebrating my 3rd anniversary with my lovely lady. Luckily, my buddy Cody Hoesly wrote a Guest Fix about a song which seems appropriately sweet.
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The Fix has given a lot of attention to song writers and performers over the years, but rarely has the focus been placed on a producer. Producers can have as big of an effect on a song as anyone. For example, when The Beatles were breaking up in 1970, they couldn't finish their last album, Let It Be. John and George brought in Phil Spector, widely regarded as the greatest producer of all time, to finish the record. Spector came up with the now-classic versions of Across the Universe and The Long and Winding Road. Paul, however, who wrote the latter song, hated those versions and in 2003 released Let it Be...Naked, which included his own, very different versions of the songs.
What was the Phil Spector difference? The Wall of Sound. Spector would line up several guitarists, electric and acoustic, and have them all play the same part to give that part a fuller sound. Then he'd add in strings, horns, bells, sitars, and numerous other orchestral and unusual instruments, and then a choir. Then he'd run that cacophony through an echo chamber (a basement room outfitted with speakers and microphones) to give it a reverberant quality before it was recorded. Oh, and Specter also loved to build things up nice and loud, and then create a sudden silence, followed by another jolt of sound.
The best example of the Wall of Sound is Be My Baby by the Ronettes. This song flattened The Beach Boys, inspired The Pixies, birthed whole new genres of music (shoegazer), and has been copied by numerous artists, in full and in part. Spector was so pleased with himself he married the lead singer. Then Spector's craziness really blossomed: he became a murderer and a toupee fashionista. Today, he's like Michael Jackson, a pop titan whose reputation will always be footnoted with weirdness.
Be My Baby - Ronnie Spector & the Ronnettes
1963 - Be My Baby: The Very Best of the Ronettes
Rhythm & Blues
Track Length - 2:40
Right Click to Download
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The Fix has given a lot of attention to song writers and performers over the years, but rarely has the focus been placed on a producer. Producers can have as big of an effect on a song as anyone. For example, when The Beatles were breaking up in 1970, they couldn't finish their last album, Let It Be. John and George brought in Phil Spector, widely regarded as the greatest producer of all time, to finish the record. Spector came up with the now-classic versions of Across the Universe and The Long and Winding Road. Paul, however, who wrote the latter song, hated those versions and in 2003 released Let it Be...Naked, which included his own, very different versions of the songs.
What was the Phil Spector difference? The Wall of Sound. Spector would line up several guitarists, electric and acoustic, and have them all play the same part to give that part a fuller sound. Then he'd add in strings, horns, bells, sitars, and numerous other orchestral and unusual instruments, and then a choir. Then he'd run that cacophony through an echo chamber (a basement room outfitted with speakers and microphones) to give it a reverberant quality before it was recorded. Oh, and Specter also loved to build things up nice and loud, and then create a sudden silence, followed by another jolt of sound.
The best example of the Wall of Sound is Be My Baby by the Ronettes. This song flattened The Beach Boys, inspired The Pixies, birthed whole new genres of music (shoegazer), and has been copied by numerous artists, in full and in part. Spector was so pleased with himself he married the lead singer. Then Spector's craziness really blossomed: he became a murderer and a toupee fashionista. Today, he's like Michael Jackson, a pop titan whose reputation will always be footnoted with weirdness.
Be My Baby - Ronnie Spector & the Ronnettes
1963 - Be My Baby: The Very Best of the Ronettes
Rhythm & Blues
Track Length - 2:40
Right Click to Download
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