Phil Spector Series – Chapter 15 – The Final Segment –
Phil Spector & Billboard
This is the final segment of this Phil Spector Series. It was added based on a suggestion from Mr. Forgotten Hits himself.
Thanks, Kent!
Starting with his first hit record, “To Know Him Is To Love Him,” in 1958, Phil Spector had SIXTY Top 100 hits charted in Billboard (including the tag-along B-Side Hits "Isn't It A Pity", "For You Blue" and "Deep Blue".) Of those, (NOT counting the tag-alongs), thirty-three made The Top 40; nineteen made The Top 10, and FIVE made it all the way to Number 1!!! The following is the list of Phil’s Top 100 charting songs by position.
Here's the "official" PHIL SPECTOR BILLBOARD LIST
as compiled by STEVE KNUETTEL
(along with ... as usual ... a few more comments from me!!!):
+ He’s A Rebel – Crystals - #1
+ My Sweet Lord / Isn’t It A Pity – George Harrison - #1
+ You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ – Righteous Brothers - #1
+ To Know Him Is To Love Him – Teddy Bears - #1
+ The Long And Winding Road - Beatles / For You Blue - #1
(EDITOR'S NOTE: THE BEATLES' #1 Single LET IT BE has NOT been included on this list because IT was produced by GEORGE MARTIN. PHIL SPECTOR later took those same master tapes, remixed them, extended them, overdubbed a COMPLETELY out of place fuzz tone lead guitar, and then issued this NEW version of LET IT BE on the album of the same name. By the way, I found another source that gave SPECTOR co-producer credit for THE BEATLES MOVIE MEDLEY, a #12 Hit that CAPITOL RECORDS released in 1982 to cash in on the whole STARS ON 45 craze ... in fact, GEORGE MARTIN produced ALL of those snippets as well, including the original version of GET BACK ... to MY mind, the little "tag" ending snippet used on the LP and the end of this single HARDLY qualifies SPECTOR for producing credit on this single. You'll see a comment from GEORGE MARTIN in our upcoming COMMENTS PAGES that states that HE feels the proper LET IT BE LP Production Credits should have read as follows: "Produced by George Martin / Over-Produced by Phil Spector." lol)
+ Be My Baby – Ronettes - #2
(Many record critics agree that this may not only be PHIL SPECTOR's GREATEST single recording achievement ... but that it ALSO may be the greatest single record EVER made!!!)
+ Da Doo Ron Ron – Crystals - #3
+ Instant Karma – John Lennon - #3
+ Imagine – John Lennon - #3
+ Unchained Melody – Righteous Brothers - #4
(A definite point of contention as this series has already pointed out ... BILL MEDLEY himself told us that HE produced this track, not PHIL SPECTOR ... but we've allowed it for the purposes of this recap chart since PHIL SPECTOR ALSO claims to have produced this track!)
+ I Love How You Love Me – Paris Sisters - #5
+ Ebb Tide – Righteous Brothers - #5
+ Then He Kissed Me – Crystals - #6
Second Hand Love – Connie Francis - #7
+ Pretty Little Angel Eyes – Curtis Lee - #7
+ Zip-A-Dee Doo-Dah – Bob B. Soxx & Blue Jeans - #8
+ Corinna Corrina – Ray Peterson - #9
+ Just Once In My Life – Righteous Brothers - #9
+ What Is Life – George Harrison - #10
+ He’s Sure The Boy I Love – Crystals - #11
Power To The People – John Lennon - #11
+ Black Pearl – Sonny Charles & Checkmates Ltd - #13
+ Uptown – Crystals - #13
+ There’s No Other (Like My Baby) – Crystals- #20
- / + Bangla-Desh / Deep Blue – George Harrison - #23
(DEEP BLUE is one of my ALL-TIME favorite GEORGE HARRISON tracks. We featured it in our FAVORITE, FORGOTTEN B-SIDES Series, where it earned a respectable 142 of YOUR votes, too ... so we're featuring it AGAIN as part of this PHIL SPECTOR Series!!!)
+ Walking In The Rain – Ronettes - #23
+ Baby I Love You – Ronettes - #24
(Heck, we included just about everybody ELSE's version of this song ... so I figured that we just HAD to include THE RONETTES' original version!!!)
+ Wait Til’ My Bobby Gets Home – Darlene Love - #26
+ He Knows I Love Him Too Much – Paris Sisters - # 34
+ Do I Love You – Ronettes - # 34
+ Why Do Lovers Break Each Other’s Hearts – Bob B Soxx & Blue Jeans - #38
+ (Today I Met) The Boy I’m Gonna Marry – Darlene Love - #39
+ (The Best Part Of) Breakin’ Up – Ronettes - #39
+ Every Breathe I Take – Gene Pitney - #42
+ Puddin’ 'N’ Tain – Alley Cats - #43
Mother – John Lennon #43
Under The Moon Of Love – Curtis Lee - #46
+ Hung On You – Righteous Brothers - #47
+ Born To Be Together – Ronettes - #52
+ A Fine Fine Boy – Darlene Love - #53
Be My Boy – Paris Sisters - #56
I Could Have Loved You So Well – Ray Peterson - #57
+ Woman Is The Nigger Of The World – John Lennon - #57
Not Too Young To Get Married – Bob B. Soxx & Blue Jeans - #63
+ Love Is All I Have To Give – Sonny Charles & Checkmates Ltd - # 65
+ Proud Mary – Sonny Charles & Checkmates Ltd - #69
+ Is This What I Get For Loving You – Ronettes - # 75
+ Home Of The Brave – Bonnie & The Treasures - #77 (Jerry Riopelle, producer)
+ Try Some, Buy Some - Ronnie Spector - #77
+ Jealous Guy - John Lennon - #80 (1988)
(Although this is NOT the last track produced by PHIL SPECTOR that was ever recorded, it IS the last charted record produced by PHIL SPECTOR to date. Originally recorded in 1970 for JOHN LENNON's IMAGINE album, JEALOUS GUY reached #80 when it was reissued in 1988 to help promote the new IMAGINE Documentary Film that had just been released. Since SPECTOR produced the IMAGINE album, this became a late '80's charter for him!!!)
Let Me Be The One – Paris Sisters - #87
+ River Deep – Mountain High – Ike & Tina Turner - #88
(Although this record flopped when it was first released back in 1966, it is considered by many to be PHIL SPECTOR's Crowning Achievement as a record producer. However, based on the volume of emails that WE'VE received during the course of this series, the general consensus seems to be that this is, at best, an "OKAY" record.)
Oh Why – Teddy Bears - #91
+ Little Boy – Crystals - #92
+ All Grown Up – Crystals - #98
I Don’t Need You Any More – Teddy Bears - #98
+ I Can Hear Music – Ronettes - #100 (Jeff Barry, producer)
All of the songs listed above that are marked with a plus sign (+) have been featured during the course of this series. This includes 47 of the sixty PHIL SPECTOR's TOP 100 CHARTING SONGS that have been sent ... combined with all of the other Spector obscurities sent thus far, this makes for a grand total of 118 music files!!! (Pretty amazing indeed!) The desire in these final segments was to make up for slighting at least a few more of those chart hits that have not already been sent ... as well as a couple of our personal favorites!
I hope you readers have enjoyed this series or at least found something new and interesting.
All my best,
Steve
Congratulations, STEVE, on an EXCELLENT and OUTSTANDING Job Well Done!!! Thanks again for sharing some of the EXTREME rarities that make up your PHIL SPECTOR Collection with our FORGOTTEN HITS Readers. (Don't be surprised if you hear from some of these folks wondering what ELSE you've got locked up in those SLK vaults!!! lol) In fact, I know that STEVE would LOVE to hear from other PHIL SPECTOR fans on the list ... drop him an email yourself and tell him again what a GREAT job he's done with this piece!!!
(NOTE: Sadly, Steve Knuettel passed away a few years ago and is no longer able to receive your praise, comments or queries. We will, however, include any new comments that we receive in the upcoming pages of Forgotten Hits … and ultimately post them here, too, on this brand new Phil Spector web page.
We hope you have enjoyed our little PHIL SPECTOR Profile Series ... lots more to come in FORGOTTEN HITS, so please stay tuned! (kk)
Today’s Songs:
Ebb Tide - The Righteous Brothers
Rock 'n' Roll High School - Ramones
My Sweet Lord - George Harrison
Deep Blue - George Harrison
Imagine - John Lennon
Jealous Guy - John Lennon
Woman Is The Nigger Of The World - John Lennon
(Included for no other reason than the COMPLETE unlikelihood that you'll EVER hear this one on the radio again!!!)
Baby I Love You - Ronettes
COMING UP NEXT:
YOUR PHIL SPECTOR COMMENTS
Thanks again to STEVE KNUETTEL for an INCREDIBLE Series ...
and to all of you FORGOTTEN HITS Fans who stayed with us!!!
This PHIL SPECTOR SERIES has become one of the most-read pieces we've ever done ... and generated a record number of emails filled with comments and kudos.
Now that you've had a chance to see it again ... for the first time in 13 years ...
Or, quite possibly, for the first time EVER ...
Please help to spread the word so that other Phil Spector fans can enjoy it, too.
Feel free to share this link with others.
*****
It was important to Steve and I that this series focus ONLY on the music that Phil Spector created during his illustrious career ...
We did our best to steer clear of all the headlines (which wasn't easy as Phil's trial was going on the whole time this series first ran!)
Still, it's all about the music.
And while you WILL find a snide comment here and there (and, ok, some of them are probably mine ... ok, MOST of them are probably mine!), the purpose here was to introduce you to a lifetime body of work, of which you were quite likely only exposed to the tip of the iceberg in the past.
Thank you all for your patience ... and support.
kk
Kent Kotal
Forgotten Hits
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