Tearing Down The Wall Of Sound

When I first heard that Phil Spector had been accused of murder, I didn't believe it. Even when he was eventually convicted, I still couldn't accept the idea that the man responsible for records such as Be My Baby, You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling, and River Deep, Mountain High might be responsible for a crime like that. But I didn't really know anything about Spector beyond his music, and you can't judge a person solely by their artistic accomplishments. I should have learnt that by now.

Having read Tearing Down The Wall Of Sound: The Rise & Fall Of Phil Spector, I realised just how naive I'd been. Mick Brown's book is all about proving that our heroes and idols aren't necessarily nice people, they have feet of clay and hearts of darkness. Why should we expect them to be better than us, when chances are they're even more fucked up?

Most rock biogs are written with a tone of respectful awe, and that's fair enough since chances are if you've gone to the trouble of buying an artist's biog, you don't really want to hear what a sleaze they are (unless they're sleazy in an entertaining way like Keef Richards or Alex James). Morrissey famously wished his biographer Johnny Rogan would die in a motorway pile-up, but that was a typically Herculean overreaction from the Moz; anyone who's read Morrissey & Marr: The Severed Alliance will tell you that there's no bigger Smiths fan than Rogan, and the book contains very little in the way of actual criticism directed towards either of the author's subjects. Occasionally you do come across an author with a truly iconoclast (or just plain spiteful) agenda - Albert Goldman's infamous savaging Elvis comes to mind - but artists of less legendary stature generally have to make do with fawning adoration and the occasional critical jeer.

But Phil Spector is an interesting case. There's no denying his unique vision and achievements (especially when at the peak of his powers), and Mick Brown is obviously a huge fan of the man's work. Yet there's also little defence for his eccentric / insane behaviour both in and out of the studio. Though Brown does his best to provide us a fully-rounded character study, Spector still emerges as a bitter and desperately lonely man with a chip on his shoulder, a chip that leads him to acts of cruelty, vindictiveness, and control freakery writ large. His is the dark side of the rags to riches tale - a loser who makes it big and then devotes all his time and money to proving himself a big man. Desperate to be a bigger star than any of his performers and terrified of failure, this is the dream turned nightmare - yet thankfully, Brown maintains a neutral tone throughout and refuses to sensationalize, even when dealing with the tragic events that led to Spector's arrest and incarceration. He also strikes a fine balance between vindication and condemnation in his choice of interview subjects, from those who paint Spector as the devil incarnate (his ex-wife Ronnie) to those who stand by him, no matter what.

Amazingly, it's former Warner Brothers chairman Joe Smith who sums the whole sorry tale up best. Loathe as I am to quote 'the man' rather than the rebel, Smith hits the nail on the head... in Spector's case at least.

"With rock-and-roll artists you have to assume the human brain is like a computer with chips that govern its behaviour. Well, these people can take blank sheets of paper, put markings on it and take that into the studio, make music out of it that please millions of people. They can do things we can't do. They've got chips we don't have. But to make room for those chips, out falls sanity, reason, logic, gratitude..."

But whatever the truth about Phil Spector and the crimes he may or may not have committed, there's no denying his place in the pantheon of rock legends. Some records are truly timeless, and Phil Spector has produced more than his fair share...