You can't do a PHIL SPECTOR Series and NOT feature some of the biggest hits of THE RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS. YOU'VE LOST THAT LOVIN' FEELIN' is now the MOST-PLAYED Record in the History of the Rock Era. (So if it seems like you hear this one all the time ... it's really true ... you do!!!) UNCHAINED MELODY can't be TOO far behind ... it seems that since this song was used in the GHOST Soundtrack, it's been played NON-STOP 24 hours a day on virtually EVERY type of radio station!!!
Speaking of UNCHAINED MELODY, there was quite a bit of discussion a while back here in FORGOTTEN HITS as to whether or not PHIL SPECTOR really produced this mammoth RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS Hit ... we ran some theories from some of our list members (see below) and then attempted to contact BILL MEDLEY himself for the definitive answer. FINALLY ... thanks to BILL's Tour Manager TIM LEE ... we received the answer to this question ... so here, setting the record straight once and for all, is BILL MEDLEY himself!!!
THIS JUST IN:
What, no mention of the recently discovered factoid that Bill Medley produced Unchained Melody, and not Phil?? Plus from what I understand, Phil was not even present when Unchained Melody was recorded, leaving the studio after completing a session and telling them to do whatever they wanted with the remaining studio time that had already been paid for .... the rest is history, as they say ...
Tom Diehl
It's coming, it's coming!!! Be patient!!! (Here is that "little factoid" that we put to rest earlier this year in FORGOTTEN HITS)!!!
'60's FLASHBACK:
Now the greatest 45 that ever got released on
Philles, Unchained Melody by the Righteous Brothers, actually started out as a
B side! On first pressings of the 45, it was shown as 129-B, with only the A
side, Hung On You, being listed with "Producer: Phil Spector".
It wasn't until the record got flipped over and got airplay that it was issued
as the A side (without A or B sides listed on the label) where it finally
started showing up as being produced by Spector. Hmm ... http://home.tbbs.net/~msland/Spector/PS0016.htm
I say Bill Medley produced it.
Tom Diehl
I asked STEVE KNUETTEL, who put together our special PHIL SPECTOR Series, what HE thought about this situation ... as well as about the "Producers Credit" on the JUST ONCE IN MY LIFE album, which also contained the UNCHAINED MELODY track.
Here's what STEVE had to say:
My thoughts on the Righteous Brothers
"Hung On You / Unchained Melody" variations are that Phil did produce
both sides and originally only put his name on his intended hit side. The
productions that Medley did produce were far inferior to Spector's -
usually as throw away B-Sides or album fillers - that will be addressed in
the series. In my humble opinion, Medley was incapable of producing
records this good - with the exception of the non-Philles "Soul And
Inspiration" which Spector and Nitzche had already arranged for production
before the Righteous Brothers left Philles. Medley just used the same
arrangements and musicians who had already been rehearsed for it and took
production credit for himself. By the way, the album cover for "Just
Once In My Life" shows "Producers: Phil Spector / Bill Medley." The album itself shows no productions
credits. The liners notes mention "the outstandingly successful and genius
production talents of Phil Spector" when discussing the title cut. No
other production credits are given for the other cuts.
Steve
So there you have it ... unless we hear back from
BILL MEDLEY on the subject. (I suppose I could have asked PHIL
SPECTOR, but at the time that this piece originally ran, PHIL was a
little tied up in his murder trial ... my feeling was that, depending on how
things ultimately came down, ol' PHIL might be detained ... or
unavailable ... for a while!!!) kk
UPDATE:
Those are the emails that started it all. I know that BILL produced a NUMBER of RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS B-SIDES ... and, at the time, UNCHAINED MELODY was considered to be nothing more than that ... so I wrote to BILL MEDLEY by way of his Road Manager, TIM LEE, and explained that I would LOVE to have a comment from BILL on this that we could use in our publication. And then I received THESE emails back:
Hi Kent,
I just spoke with Bill. You have the story right. Phil would produce the
singles and Bill would produce the album material. "Unchained Melody"
was never intended to be a single. Bill produced it.
In fact, check out http://65.175.91.44/righteousbrothers/interview.htm for more on this
topic.
Thanks
Tim Lee
Tour Mgr / Bill Medley
Thanks, TIM ... in a nutshell, here's what BILL MEDLEY had to say on this subject:
You have to remember
that I was producing our stuff before Phil Spector ... I mean I produced
"Little Latin Lupe Lu," "My Babe" and all that stuff. Then
when we went with Phil, Phil asked me if I would produce the albums because it
was too time consuming for him to produce the entire albums. So he was gonna do
the singles and I would do the album. And so that's how that happened and
that's how I produced "Unchained Melody," which Phil Spector
apparently now takes credit for. He can have the credit. And I'm not a
producer. I know how to produce. But it's obviously not a Spector
production. "Unchained Melody" was never intended to be the
single ... it was produced to be on the album. It was put on the B side of a
Phil Spector single, "Hung On You," and the minute it was released,
"Unchained Melody" just went through the roof.
--Bill Medley
So there you have it ... again ... only THIS time, right from the horse's mouth.
According to no less an authority than BILL MEDLEY himself, HE produced THE RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS' Hit UNCHAINED MELODY! (kk)
Regarding The Righteous Brothers' recording of "Unchained Melody" ...
Since I've helped Bill and Bobby with the lyrics to this song hundreds of times, getting to see his comments about its actual production is pretty special.
Without a doubt, this one belongs at or near the top of the All Time Top 10 list.
Thanks so much for sharing the story.
Chris
It's a story that needed telling as history will continue to circulate inaccurate "facts" surrounding this recording. It took a little bit of doing, but again I want to thank both BILL MEDLEY and his Tour Manager TIM LEE for setting the record straight once and for all for our FORGOTTEN HITS readers.
I still think Phil Spector produced "Unchained Melody." It would not surprise me to hear that Medley took credit for it - as a matter of fact, I'm surprised he hasn't taken credit for all the Philles Righteous Brothers releases. His ego is just as big as Phil's. Just listen to "Unchained Melody" and the songs actually produced by Medley. I think you'll come to the same conclusion. I don't think Medley was capable of producing "Unchained Melody," unless he had an awful lot of help from Larry Levine and Jack Nitzche.
Steve (SLK47)
The ONLY thing I can offer up in defense is BILL MEDLEY's quote (and claim above) ... AND the suggestion that you listen again to SOUL AND INSPIRATION, the first single THE RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS released after leaving PHILLES RECORDS. (The story goes that SPECTOR sold their contract to VERVE for One Million Dollars!!!) SOUL AND INSPIRATION, their SECOND Number One Record, has ALL the grandeur of a PHIL SPECTOR Production ... yet MEDLEY produced THIS track on his own, too. (Those of us NOT in tune with the "inside" scene back in 1965 just figured that SOUL AND INSPIRATION was the next in a series of massively produced PHIL SPECTOR tracks ... it sounded ... in nearly EVERY way ... just like what this power-house trio had achieved together on YOU'VE LOST THAT LOVIN' FEELING ... VERY SPECTOResque!!!) I've GOT to go with BILL MEDLEY's statement (all the MORE ironic when you consider all the reports in the years after UNCHAINED MELODY was released that MEDLEY never really felt it was a RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS Record ... that only BOBBY HATFIELD was being spotlighted on the track ... if BILL really produced it in the first place, wouldn't that have been his EXACT game plan???) No matter ... within months of this release, THE RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS were feuding like The HATFIELDS and The McCoys (or in THIS case, The MEDLEYS) and they split shortly thereafter.
Featured today are THE RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS' Hits YOU'VE LOST THAT LOVIN' FEELING, UNCHAINED MELODY, SOUL AND INSPIRATION, HUNG ON YOU and JUST ONCE IN MY LIFE ... along with a VERY rare PHIL SPECTOR Demo of JUST ONCE IN MY LIFE, sent into us by long-time FORGOTTEN HITS List Member (and frequent contributor) TOM DIEHL.
Thanks for the demo of "Just Once In My Life" - I did not have it. But if I were the Righteous Brothers, I'm not sure if I would have recorded it after hearing Phil's demo - lol.
Steve Knuettel
One more RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS Comment:
>>>Phil Spector contacted Moonglow Records and made a deal to lease the Righteous Brothers for Philles releases. He worked with Barry Man and Cynthia Weil to write “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’.” Harking back to the Paris Sisters’ opening line from “I Love How You Love Me” … “I love how your eyes close whenever you kiss me” – the new song started with “You never close your eyes any more when I kiss your lips”. Phil was determined to make this his finest production to date. Steve (SLK47)
When Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil were asked at one point about writing "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" with Phil Spector, there was an awkward silence for a few seconds. Then Cynthia cleared things up by explaining that Phil never really wrote but instead “inspired.” That’s one way of fudging the fact that Spector came to claim credit on a lot of music he did not compose. I think the way he dealt with Lester Sill says a great deal about Spectorian ethics.
Gary Theroux
CLICK HERE TO MOVE ON TO CHAPTER 7:
https://fhphilspector.blogspot.com/2021/04/chapter-7.html
YOU CAN ALSO USE THE ARCHIVE DROP DOWN TO RETURN TO ANY CHAPTER OF YOUR CHOOSING:
https://fhphilspector.blogspot.com/