Chapter 14

When STEVE KNUETTEL and I first talked about putting this PHIL SPECTOR Series together, his fear was that it might run too long and cause people to lose interest.  I, on the other hand, felt that the material was SO strong that we could sustain an interest as long as we broke it into several "digestible" chapters.  MY only fear was that unless we included a fair amount of PHIL's most POPULAR work, we would alienate the more "casual" fans of his music by focusing too much attention on some of his rarest and obscure work, rather than to some of his most familiar tracks.  (An argument could be made ... and, to a degree WAS made ... that everybody already KNOWS the hits ... here was a chance to expose some PHIL SPECTOR Productions that MOST music fans wouldn't already be intimately familiar with ... and, of course, in DOING so, the DIE-HARD fans would love it!!!  In fact, thanks to the DIVERSE collection of STEVE KNUETTEL, we probably potentially saved you guys THOUSANDS of dollars trying to locate and purchase some of these EXTREMELY rare releases, most of which are now LONG out of print and nearly impossible to find!!!)

In hindsight, ALL of our fears now seem unfounded ... this series has been a TREMENDOUS success (and you'll see PLENTY of evidence of this as you read through what has now become HUNDREDS of comments spread out over the next several Comments Pages!!!)

When all was said and done, a "compromise" of sorts was ultimately reached when we mutually decided to recap some of the bigger hits that had previously been overlooked in the earlier chapters in what would become FOREVER known as "The PHIL SPECTOR Grand Finale Extravaganza!!!" (aka The Final Chapter to the series!) 

So now instead for this FINAL Chapter ... which will run in TWO segments due to the amount of musical material we've decided to feature ...  we're going to fill in some of the remaining "Top 40 blanks," as well as feature a few more personal favorites ... or songs that we felt were "noteworthy" of at least SOME recognition.  (You'll also find some more SPECTOR favorites and obscurities scattered throughout our up-coming COMMENTS PAGES!!!)  Hopefully in doing so, we're still able to give the people what they want ... as well as introduce them to a few more undiscovered gems!!!

So here's another batch of PHIL SPECTOR HITS ... as well as some closing thoughts, courtesy of our FORGOTTEN HITS Official PHIL SPECTOR Authority, STEVE KNUETTEL!!!  Enjoy!

-- Kent Kotal

***

Writing this series was, as many of you have surmised, a labor of love for me. I am a Spector fanatic and have been since the very early 1960’s when I started seeing his name on the growing number of 45s in my collection – “To Know Him Is To Love Him,” “I Love How You Love Me,” “Corrina Corrina,” “Pretty Little Angel Eyes,” “Every Breath I Take,” “There’s No Other (Like My Baby)” and  “Uptown”. I was hooked and determined to find out everything I could about this Phil Spector guy. I just loved his music, and, as you can tell from this series, I still do.

A few years ago, I met Kent Kotal in Austin, Texas, on one of my regular pilgrimages to the Austin Record Convention, one of the best (if not the best) record conventions in the country. (I have also met a few others of you there.) The ARC is where I have acquired many of the Spector rarities in my collection. Anyway, Kent and I chatted about our mutual love of music, the Forgotten Hits newsletter and lots of other topics. I told Kent that I would be happy to write an “article” for him on Phil Spector for Forgotten Hits.

After returning from the convention and cleaning, organizing, listening to and filing my prized new possessions (one of which I believe was “Hold Me Tight” by the Treasures ... or maybe it was “Oh Baby” by Harvey, Doc & The Dwellers), I started to write “the article.”  I quickly determined that just an article would not do. There was just too much to cover. I continued writing until I felt comfortable that I had adequately covered the music of Phil Spector.  Incredibly, I had written over fifty pages! Would Kent use all that information? Was it too much? How much would he edit out?  I began a serious editing task eliminating (as much as possible) personal opinions, tabloid trash talk and anything that did not specifically deal with the music of Phil Spector. Well, I ended up with even more pages after all that deleting!  I broke “the article” into several segments so Kent could send it out as daily Forgotten Hits segments. I sent it to Kent all at one time, asking his thoughts. He liked it and said he would definitely run it in Forgotten Hits. I was so proud. The next task was to send Kent all the files he would need for (what was now called) not “the article” but “the series.” At the time, I was still using a land-line for online services. It would have taken forever! Needless to say, I shipped him CDs of the music so he could make the files himself to send out. The series sat on the shelf for a little over a year. I would receive periodic emails from Kent reassuring me that he would be running it soon. Well, he FINALLY came through this month. What you have just finished reading and hearing is the end result of that effort.

For those wanting more information on the life and times of Phil Spector, I strongly encourage you to refer to the bibliography I listed a few chapters ago (in the Loose Ends segment). I highly recommend all of those sources and thank those authors for their work. I love those books, articles and websites. If you want more information on Phil, his life and his music, please check them out.

My one regret about the series is that I did not write it as if I were writing a term paper, giving proper credit to all the resources I used in writing it. I thought it was just going to be an article of a few pages. I did try not to plagiarize, but I am sure there are instances of that somewhere in the series. To the authors, I apologize if I did plagiarize, and I beg forgiveness. To the readers, please refer to the bibliography I listed a few chapters ago (in the Loose Ends segment.)  I highly recommend all of those sources and thank those authors for their work. I love those books, articles and websites. If you want more information on Phil, his life and his music, please check them out.

Anyway, to sum it all up, I tried to write a series for both record collectors and regular music fans alike. I also attempted to weave in a thread of continuity to the underlying story of Phil’s life without creating a biography. I wanted to educate as well as entertain. Although I have not revealed anything new in the series, I hope even the serious Spector collectors on the FH list have learned (or heard) something new. I hope that at least a few readers have gained an appreciation for Phil’s work and his contributions to Rock & Roll. 

Thank you all for reading and a very special thanks to Kent for his insightful “comments” and wonderful “in-between” segments (not to mention the monumental and outstanding job he did of preparing all the tracks for the series).

I hope you have enjoyed hearing many of the productions (the hits, the misses and the rarities) of Phil Spector. Without a doubt, Phil Spector definitely deserves his spot in The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame!!!  

All my best,

Steve Knuettel


TODAY'S MUSIC:

Walking In The Rain – Ronettes 

Baby I Love You – Ronettes 

Be My Baby - Ronettes 

Uptown – Crystals 

He's A Rebel - Crystals

Da Doo Ron Ron - Crystals

Why Do Lovers Break Each Other's Hearts - Bob B. Soxx & Blue Jeans


  

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