Book Review: He's A Rebel - Phil Spector, Rock & Roll's Legendary Producer by Mark Ribowsky

To get an idea of just how deep Phil Spector's psychosis runs, you need only to know this one story.  It's well-known that Spector took the title for his first hit, "To Know Him Is To Love Him," from the epigraph on his father's tombstone.  Less known, however, is that Spector's father committed suicide.

Mark Ribowsky's biography, He's A Rebel: Phil Spector – Rock & Roll's Legendary Producer, takes a look at the life of rock's first true genius.  As a writer and producer, Spector's hits of the early-60s, among them "Spanish Harlem," "He's A Rebel," "Be My Baby," and "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'," form a large part of any oldies radio station playlist.  His famed "Wall Of Sound" production style is instantly recognizable, and has been influenced everybody from Bruce Springsteen to The Arcade Fire. 

Ribowsky portrays Spector as being so haunted by his father's death that he doesn't allow anybody to get close to him.  As his star rises, the top names in the business are eager to work with Spector because of his talent and track record, only to be screwed over personally and/or financially.  What originally appeared to be naivety or eccentricities eventually reveal a pattern of manipulation and deceit.  But as long as the hits keep coming, Spector remains a necessary evil. 

By the time he releases Tina Turner's "River Deep, Mountain High" in 1966, he had so alienated everybody that they use the confusing single as an excuse to cut ties with him. The failure further isolates him from the world, and Spector's already-legendary paranoia becomes violent.  His 1968 marriage to Ronnie Bennett of The Ronettes lasts only six years, with Bennett emotionally scarred and penniless by the time the divorce was completed.

Spector begins the 1970s strong, thanks to The Beatles.  He sorts through the mess of Let It Be — earning him his only Grammy — to produce something listenable and guides John Lennon's and George Harrison's first solo albums, although later attempts to work with Lennon result in disaster.  By the time he works with The Ramones on 1979's End Of The Century, he is, despite the artistic triumph, a complete mess, locking them in his house and pulling a gun on them in the studio. 

Article Author: Dave Lifton

Dave Lifton is a writer whose take on pop culture can be found at Wings For Wheels. He also blogs about soccer at Booked For Dissent.

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