I wanna see a 10-part Netflix series on The Wrecking Crew’s Leon Russell playing that pounding choppy runaway piano on Da Doo Ron Ron. It sounds like the piano comes in & out of the mix, was he playing that way throughout the entire song? We’ve spent 60+ years marveling at John Lennon’s rhythm guitar on All My Loving that came out just a few months later, yet I’ve never heard if its own staccato relentlessness was partly inspired by the piano on Da Doo Ron Ron? 🤔🎹🤷♂️
UPDATE: of course I asked my bff CHatGPT about the Lennon connection, you're very welcome:
Your instinct here is really sharp.
“Da Doo Ron Ron”: released March 1963
“All My Loving” by The Beatles: recorded July 1963
That timing absolutely allows for influence. John Lennon was famously plugged into American pop—especially girl groups and Spector productions.
Similarities
Both parts are relentless, driving subdivisions
Both create momentum by never letting the rhythm breathe
Both sit slightly above the mix, giving a sense of urgency
Key difference
Russell’s piano = percussive attack inside a dense wall
Lennon’s guitar = clean, exposed motor, almost like a snare drum made of strings
So… did Lennon borrow the idea?
There’s no documented confirmation that he was thinking, “I’m copying that piano part.” But stylistically:
The Beatles absolutely absorbed Spector/girl-group production ideas
Lennon’s right hand on “All My Loving” feels like a translation of that percussive keyboard energy into guitar
A fair read is:
not a direct lift, but part of the same 1963 moment where rhythm instruments became engines, not just accompaniment
In my own version of "athlete takes signing bonus and buys Maserati,"
the first time I got a big check from my old real estate job ($9,000) I went straight to Times Square and bought the Phil Spector box set for $72, which for some reason heretofor (thentofor?)
I had thought to be out of my reach. - XMASTIME
His 13 top-10 singles included some of
the quintessential “girl group” songs of the era: “He’s a Rebel,”
“Uptown,” “Then He Kissed Me” and “Da Doo Ron Ron”by the Crystals, and
“Be My Baby” and “Walking in the Rain” by the Ronettes. For
the Righteous Brothers he produced “Unchained Melody” and “You’ve Lost
That Lovin’ Feeling,” a No. 1 hit that became the 20th century’s
most-played song on radio and television, according to BMI.
His signature was the wall of sound,
perfected at Gold Star Studios in Los Angeles, where he worked with the
engineer Larry Levine, the arranger Jack Nitzsche and a team of
musicians nicknamed the Wrecking Crew by Hal Blaine, one of their
regular drummers.
With dozens of
musicians and backup singers packed into Gold Star’s cramped quarters,
Mr. Spector layered multiple guitars, basses and keyboards over one
another and applied a shimmering gloss of strings. This sonic wave
assumed even grander proportions when channeled through Gold Star’s
resonant echo chambers.
“The records
are built like a Wagner opera,” Mr. Spector told The Evening Standard of
London in 1964. “They start simply and they end with dynamic force,
meaning and purpose. It’s in the mind, I dreamed it up. It’s like art
movies.”
It's always baffled me re: why every producer or band didn't try to blatantly copy him. Other than Born to Run(the sound of which Bruce immediately ditched), Brian Wilson and The Ramones (whom he of course produced on the half-amazing, half-terrible End of the Century), nobody really tried to affect the Wall of Sound that extensively. Baffling (pun intended) to moi.
George Martin was great and is the fifth Beatle, but it's not like
anybody hears a non-Beatles song he produced and thinks "ohmygod,
that's George Martin!" Meanwhile, Phil Spector could record a song with
whoever's starting for Duke this year, and you'd recognize instantly
"holy shit, that's Phil Spector!"
All I can really say for sure is that 1. he'll always be the greatest producer ever, and 2. it's a surprise he only killed one person (that we know of).
Hal Blaine died this weekend at 90. He was the greatest drummer ever, playing behind the kit for The Wrecking Crew on 150 top ten hits, 40 number one songs, and countless other hits.
As someone who has spent hundreds of ours listening to Pet Sounds and read several books on both the album and Brian Wilson, there really wasn't a lot in Love & Mercy I didn't already know. But the movie is a great primer for newcomers, mostly because of great performances by Paul Dano, John Cusack and Paul Giamtti (who should be the creepy agent in every movie that requires a creepy agent of some sort.) Dano in particular is most effective, partly because he looks so much like Wilson and while he's been a scene-stealer for about a decade now, he's not as jarring as "oh look, it's John Cusack." Dano also benefits from the look the film has when recreating the 60s. Elizabeth Banks is good in that you really believe she genuinely cares about Wilson and isn't just some fan gold-digger.
The studio scenes are great as well, with proper respect given to the Wrecking Crew. Also kudos for not going overboard in retelling what a monster Wilson's father was to him.
Another thing the flick reminds you of is how young everybody was back then. After spending months bringing the sounds from his head to life by commandeering the greatest studio professionals in the world ("I play the studio as an instrument") Brian Wilson was 23 when Pet Sounds came out. Paul McCartney, born 2 days earlier than Wilson, was about to put out Revolver. Phil Spector, Wilson's muse/mentor, was 26 when Pet Sounds came out and had already done 95% of all the world-changing music he'd do in his career. I mean, wtf?
We’ve heard Brill Building songwriters and the studio musicians of the Wrecking Crew talk about how the self-contained Beatles made it tougher for the industry’s supporting players to earn a living. But it could be argued that they made it tough for song interpreters, too—once the Fab Four had laid down their George Martin–produced, meticulously recorded versions, other artists approached the songs at their peril. When it comes to the charts, the public has shown, time and again, that it’s wary of Beatles covers.
I'm partly pissed because they didn't cover The Wrecking Crew until Phil Spector had passed them off to Brian Wilson, but I'm also happy because between this movie, Standing in the Shadows of Motown, the Muscles Shoals sound, 20 Feet from the Stardom and almost every song except the ones made from Stax!, the people that made the entire genre re: here. Finally, we get to see how brilliant The Beatles are.
Beside shaving their own doc coming out any day now, they're surely highly featured in the scenes of the upcoming Love and Mercy which feature Brian Wilson making his ultra-classic Pet Sounds. And yes, John Cusack as 1980's Wilson is weird as fuck.
A documentary about The Wrecking Crew is on my Fantasy Wish List of Documentaries, and it turns out there's one that's been one that's been ready to come out for years, but has stalled because of song licensing fees:
In theory Mr. Tedesco could argue that as a documentary his film has a journalistic and educational function and is therefore entitled to the fair use exemption to copyright that news organizations routinely invoke. But he would then run the risk of lawsuits, and “that’s too scary,” said Claire Scanlon, who edited the film and is one of its producers. “This is a one-man show and a labor of love, and Denny has already been wiped out financially by this film.” (As Mr. Tedesco explains it, he has at various points mortgaged his house and maxed out his credit cards.)
What is always obvious to me is the following, although whatthefuckdoiknow:
“The Wrecking Crew made these songs hits and made the record companies a ton of money,” he said. “It’s to their advantage to let this thing come out. Here’s this beautifully crafted marketing vehicle that could sell so many more copies of these great songs. It’s free money for the labels, with no cost for them. But here comes Denny to reinvigorate their catalog, and he has to pay to do it.
While there is no doubt that River Deep, Mountain High is the single greatest song of all time (perhaps the best effort towards Mozart's Golden Mean?), Then He Kissed Me is not only a close second, but is prolly the greatest drumming ever performed in history.
Phil Spector paying Ike Turner $25k to stay the fuck outta the studio is just icing on the cake. Some love for The Wrecking Crew.
Over the years, Campbell has sold over 45 million albums, racked up 81 top ten hits, including "Wichita Lineman," and hosted his own TV show. He was also a part of Phil Spector's Wrecking Crew studio team and has played on records by the Monkees and Frank Sinatra and performed on the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds.
Last week HERE I mentioned the first part of a Goldmine article on Phil Spector, and HERE is the second part. Even better, much more technical info, and great insight into The Wrecking Crew.
“The metals made after World War II were sufficiently degraded from the metal before World War II,” David Kessel continued. “Much weaker metal because they had to use so much during the war. It became thinner, got into aluminum, transistors. Stuff like that. When they have the real deal metal, the real deal magnets, and the real deal wiring, that really enhances the sound. And when you bring in brilliant acoustics with a powerful board and then you have Phil and his genius working the musicians and hearing those sounds in his head and being able to articulate it with the help of Larry Levine, Stan Ross and Dave Gold, who were outstanding.
Speaking from experience, people can get genuinely angry when you suggest that they are the recipients of massive financial aid from the federal government. But it's true! The money we spend on tax expenditures for middle and upper class families dwarfs the amount spent on food stamps and other, disparaged forms of welfare.
The truth is that direct federal assistance for middle-class—and overwhelmingly white—families has a long history in American policymaking. In the late 19th century, massive federal intervention in education and public health vastly improved the station of millions of Americans.
More significantly, in the New Deal and World War II era, a huge array of federal programs provided Americans with valuable tools to advance their position, from old age insurance, to job training, to low interest loans and affordable housing. The G.I. Bill, to use one prominent example, gave billions in benefits to returning veterans, from direct subsidies for education—to pay for books, fees, tuition, etc.— to home loans backed by the Veteran's Administration. Strong labor laws protected workers from the deprivations of employers, and helped boost incomes throughout the 1940s, 50s, and 60s.
I could continue in this vein for a long time. To a very large degree—more than ever acknowledged in the political mainstream—the American middle class is a direct product of targeted federal policy. Pew's database of tax expenditures are a nice reminder of that history. My wish is that this were more well-known; if middle and upper-class families realized their huge stake in a functioning government, they might be less inclined to empower the wrecking crew.
It's become a bit of a "novelty" song through the years, but the truth of the matter is I Got You Babe is not only a great song, but practically a Phil Spector production. Written and produced by Spector acolyte Sonny Bono, the recording included at least one member of The Wrecking Crew, Hal Blaine (the greatest drummer of all time.) It's a fucking awesome song, and also might have provided the backdrop for Joey Ramone's best singing ever.
It's become a bit of a "novelty" song through the years, but the truth of the matter is I Got You Babe is not only a great song, but practically a Phil Spector production. Written and produced by Spector acolyte Sonny Bono, the recording included at least one member of The Wrecking Crew, Hal Blaine (the greatest drummer of all time.) It's a fucking awesome song, and also might have provided the backdrop for Joey Ramone's best singing ever.
(side note...nothing was better than seeing A Hard Day's Night at the Film Forum, and coming out of the theater to Manhattan newly covered in snow, just like in the footage of when the Beatles first landed here.)
As criminally good a song as Da Doo Ron Ron is, it's not even my favorite Crystals' song; that honor goes to Then He Kissed Me. I'll prolly never get married, but if I do I hope the entire wedding party uses this slice as the entrance song, that opening riff announcing "oh, fuuuuuuuck!!!!!" :)
On a side note, how is it possible that there is no definitive biopic of Phil Spector? Wtf? Some teenager in Long Island shoots the wife of some mechanic she's fucking in Long Island (and partially MISSES!)
and there's three flicks about her before she hits court - meanwhile, here we have the guy responsible for some of the greatest moments not only in rock 'n roll but our culture as a whole, both in the foundation of the Wall of Sound and the carrying the freight for rock in the between rock's founders and the British Invasion. And then, just fior kicks, he turns out to be a raving fucking lunatic of whom when he finally killed somebody, all anyone could think was "what took him so long?" Camon. Let's see this movie!
As criminally good a song as Da Doo Ron Ron is, it's not even my favorite Crystals' song; that honor goes to Then He Kissed Me. I'll prolly never get married, but if I do I hope the entire wedding party uses this slice as the entrance song, that opening riff announcing "oh, fuuuuuuuck!!!!!" :)
On a side note, how is it possible that there is no definitive biopic of Phil Spector? Wtf? Some teenager in Long Island shoots the wife of some mechanic she's fucking in Long Island (and partially MISSES!) and there's three flicks about her before she hits court - meanwhile, here we have the guy responsible for some of the greatest moments not only in rock 'n roll but our culture as a whole, both in the foundation of the Wall of Sound and the carrying the freight for rock in the between rock's founders and the British Invasion. And then, just fior kicks, he turns out to be a raving fucking lunatic of whom when he finally killed somebody, all anyone could think was "what took him so long?" Camon. Let's see this movie!
