MetaChat - from Wall of Sound to prison walls...

MetaChat is an informal place for MeFites to touch base and post, discuss and chatter about topics that may not belong on MetaFilter. Questions? Check the FAQ. Please note: This is important.

13 April 2009

from Wall of Sound to prison walls... famed music producer Phil Spector guilty of murder.

post by: flapjax at midnite at: 19:51 | 15 comments

Sad on so many levels, but also exactly what needed to happen. Spector risked many peoples' lives over the years with all his drunken fucking around with guns; the fact that he managed to kill a non-famous person first almost gave him an out. I'm glad it didn't.

(As depressing as it is to see one of the most amazing musical minds of the last 50 years end up this way.)

posted by BoringPostcards 13 April | 20:05

Good. What a fucker, and not just for the overproduction of Let it Be. I hate L.A.'s reputation for letting celebrity murderers get away with, well, murder, so I was glad he finally got what was coming to him.

posted by scody 13 April | 22:00

(Incidentally, Robert Blake's wife was killed just blocks from our house, and my boyfriend almost got put on the Robert Blake jury.)

posted by scody 13 April | 22:01

...and not just for the overproduction of Let it Be.

Haha! One thing, though: McCartney wailed about how Spector ruined The Long and Winding Road with those strings, but having heard the stripped down version without them (a bootleg somewhere) I have to say I think Spector did the tune a service... the arrangement certainly wasn't inappropriate for the kind of tune it was, and in fact the song sounded kinda feeble without those big lush strings adding their drama, IMHO.

posted by flapjax at midnite 13 April | 22:17

I am glad that justice was finally served. . .the whole suicide claim was never very convincing.

Not that I wish prison on anyone, but I am also glad he's in custody, as I type this.

posted by danf 13 April | 22:28

I don't know much about Mr Spector, but I did take exception to the google news headline: "Verdict blights Spector's legacy".

No, mate, fucking SHOOTING SOMEONE has blighted his legacy. Sheesh.

posted by pompomtom 14 April | 00:23

having heard the stripped down version without them (a bootleg somewhere) I have to say I think Spector did the tune a service

Ooh, I would actually be interested in hearing that sometime. If you come across it again, let me know!

posted by scody 14 April | 01:40

scody, the Spectorless version of that album was released a few years ago as "Let It Be Naked." It's a commercial release.

posted by BoringPostcards 14 April | 05:22

From this article, also including his mugshot:

His ex-wife Ronnie said she often felt like a hostage in their home. She also said Spector set up a glass-topped coffin in the basement and told Ronnie’s mother that if Ronnie ever left him, he would kill her and keep her there like Snow White.

he would show up in court wearing a parade of bizarre outfits and hairstyles, then scorn the notion this would make anyone think him odd.

If there are 12 pics of him floating around out there we could do that Spector's 'Do's calendar & raise money for the treatment & prevention of bipolar disorder. Or not.

posted by chewatadistance 14 April | 07:42

I don't know much about Mr Spector...

A brief overview of Spector's career highlights.

posted by flapjax at midnite 14 April | 09:00

As a producer, he's on my list of overproducing assholes who seem to think a 64-track board needs 64 instruments/sounds. It doesn't.
As a person, he's on my list of crazy assholes who play with guns too much.

posted by rocket88 14 April | 09:33

Justice for the win.

posted by initapplette 14 April | 10:19

the Spectorless version of that album was released a few years ago as "Let It Be Naked."

Oh, cool. For some reason, I forgot all about that being released... I'll have to check it out.

posted by scody 14 April | 11:08

Since Leonard Cohen is to me like Paul Weller is to Scody (well at least as far as I feel about his music), I bought, sight-unheard, Death of a Ladies Man, which Spector produced. I do not know how I would feel about it now, but it was unlistenable, back then. I gave it away.

Cohen had stories about being held in the studio against his will, which are pretty much in line with, as it turned out, how Spector treated people.

posted by danf 14 April | 11:24

My trainee at work today asked me "who IS Phil Spector?"

Does anyone know if Dominick Dunne covered the trial?

posted by essexjan 14 April | 17:30

← Hay fever and cigarettes. || More inter-species cuteness: →

HOME || REGISTER || LOGIN