Phil Spector Series – Chapter 6 – Philles Records, The Late Years (124-136)
The Righteous Brothers (Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield) had been performing and recording in southern California for years. Phil was well aware of their singing talents from the records they had released on the small Moonglow label. He loved their voices and knew he could turn them into great stars with the right song and his production style. He contacted Moonglow 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. He even enlisted his old jazz guitar idol Barney Kessel to play on the song. He was determined to outperform any of the current top producers like Berry Gordy, George Martin, Andrew Loog Oldham and Brian Wilson. After nearly forty takes in the studio, Phil finally had the record he knew would put him back on top. For the flip side he included the Bill Medley written and produced “There’s A Woman.” “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’” / “There’s A Woman” [Philles 124] entered the charts on December 1, 1964 and meandered all the way to # 1 on February 6, 1965. It was a huge worldwide hit. (EDITOR'S NOTE: It has SINCE become the MOST-PLAYED song on radio in history! -kk) Phil had accomplished what he set out to do. All was right in his world. What would he do next?
What was Phil to do next to top “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’?” Phil, who shied away from releasing albums, had been talked into releasing a Righteous Brothers album to capitalize on their success. The You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ album was released with only the title song as a Phil Spector production.
It was December 1, 1964. Why not release something from the withdrawn Christmas album? That’s exactly what he did. He picked the album’s only original composition, Darlene Love’s “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).” It was released as Phil’s next record, but this time it had a different flip side than Philles 119. Another song from the Christmas album, Darlene’s outstanding version of “Winter Wonderland,” was used as the flip side. The withdrawn album may have been shelved, but it was not forgotten … DJs across the country were playing tracks from it throughout the holiday season as they have every year since 1963. It made good sense to re-release the Darlene Love record. “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” / “Winter Wonderland” [Philles 125 X] was also re-re-released in 1965. The 1965 release used the same 125 X record number, but this time it had a different flip side – another of the filler instrumentals called “Winter Blues.” All three Philles versions of Darlene’s Christmas record have become collectible. Especially collectible is the exceedingly rare 1965 release which sells for around $300 if you can find it.
Phil was anxious to release the next Righteous Brothers record hoping to match the success of “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’.” His next release, however, was another Ronettes song. One can only surmise that he did this to avoid his next Righteous Brothers record being lost in the flood of old Righteous Brothers recordings that Moonglow released to cash in on the success of “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’.” A Spector-Mann-Weil song was chosen for the next Ronettes record. “Born To Be Together” was coupled with what amounted to another filler instrumental, even though Ronnie did sing some on it, called “Blues For Baby.” “Born To Be Together” / “Blues For Baby” [Philles 126] entered the charts in February, 1965, and only managed to peak at a disappointing #52 – not a particularly good follow-up to “Walking In The Rain.” This is probably due to Phil devoting all of his attention to the next Righteous Brothers record.
The next Righteous Brothers record was a Spector-King-Goffin song called “Just Once In My Life.” It was coupled with a Medley written and produced song called “The Blues.” Choosing the Carole King – Gerry Goffin tune for this release angered Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, who had been promised the follow-up to “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’.” “Just Once In My Life” / “The Blues” [Philles 127] entered the charts in April, 1965, and rose quickly to # 9. A solid performance but not what Spector had hoped for. A Just Once In My Life album was also released. This album contained only two Spector productions and the rest were Medley selected and produced filler songs. Trouble was brewing with the Righteous Brothers. Bobby Hatfield was becoming disgruntled feeling slighted. Bill Medley’s ego (nearly matching Phil’s) was overtaking the duo. Both were also disgruntled by Phil overshadowing them with the public regarding their work as Phil Spector records rather than Righteous Brother records.
Things were not looking very good for Phil. The Crystals were gone; the Ronettes were feeling slighted by all the attention the Righteous Brothers were getting, and Annette, having heard the rumors of Phil’s romance with Ronnie, wanted a separation. The Philles roster of artists had dwindled to just two acts. Phil needed to do something to keep his success going. To pacify the Ronettes, the next Philles release was theirs. It was another Spector-King-Goffin song called “Is This What I Get For Loving You.” It was coupled with an old recording from Phil’s vaults called “Oh I Love You,” a good song and not another of the dreaded instrumental fillers. “Is This What I Get For Loving You” / “Oh I Love You” [Philles 128] entered the charts in May, 1965, and crawled to #75. Disappointed by this relative failure, Phil turned back to the Righteous Brothers for his next hit.
He chose another Spector-King-Goffin song for the A side of this release. “Hung On You” was a perfect song for the Righteous Brothers. To help ensure the record's success, Phil paired it with a full blown production of the classic “Unchained Melody” for the B side. Both songs of “Hung On You” / “Unchained Melody” [Philles 129] charted in early July, 1965, but the B Side outperformed the intended A side by climbing all the way to #4 versus #47 for the A side.
To follow the success of “Unchained Melody,” Phil decided to redo other similar old chestnuts for the Righteous Brothers’ next record. He chose “Ebb Tide” and paired it with “(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons.” Curiously, both sides in reality, feature only Bobby Hatfield (as did “Unchained Melody.”) At the same time, a new Righteous Brothers album was released called Back To Back. This album featured mostly solo performances by each of the Righteous Brothers. The Bill Medley tracks were produced by Bill Medley and the Bobby Hatfield songs were produced by Phil. This was a move to keep Medley’s ego satisfied and soothe Hatfield’s feeling of being simply “the other Righteous Brother.” It did not work. The Righteous Brothers were already working on switching labels to MGM / Verve. “Ebb Tide” / “For Sentimental Reasons” [Philles 130] entered the charts in December, 1965, and peaked at #5.
Despite the successes of the Righteous Brothers, Phil was in trouble. The Ronettes records weren’t selling, the Righteous Brothers were leaving, and his divorce from Annette was finalized. He needed a new act or a new beginning. Maybe he would try other venues like television or movies. In November of 1965, Phil was the orchestra conductor for “The Big TNT Show,” a movie designed as a successor to the popular T.A.M.I. TV show. Spector selected most of the artists to be featured in the show including the Ronettes, Petula Clark, the Byrds, the Lovin’ Spoonful, Donovan, Joan Baez and Ike & Tina Turner. Phil even played the piano for Joan Baez’s rendition of “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’.” It was during this filming that Phil approached Ike Turner about recording Tina. A deal was made. Phil offered Ike $20,000, providing that he would have nothing to do with the sessions that Phil recorded with Tina. In fact, Phil told Ike that he should not even attend the sessions.
Phil called Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich to work with him on writing a song designed especially for Tina. The writing sessions produced several songs. Among the songs were “River Deep – Mountain High,” “I Can Hear Music” and “I’ll Never Need More Than This.” “River Deep – Mountain High” was the perfect song for Tina. Phil was determined to make the record his biggest and best record ever. Many agree that is / was indeed Phil’s crowning glory, his best record ever. Tina recorded the vocals for the song on March 7, 1966. Several other songs were soon recorded for an anticipated Philles Ike & Tina album. On May 14, 1966, Billboard announced “Philles Records recently added the dynamic duo, Ike and Tina Turner, to their roster.” On May 29, 1966, “River Deep – Mountain High” / “I’ll Keep You Happy” [Philles 131] debuted in the top 100 at #98. On June 4th, it was #94. On June 11th, it was #93. On June18th it was #88. On June 25th, it dropped out of the Top 100. Phil Spector’s greatest recording achievement was a chart failure! How could this happen?
There are many speculations for why the record failed. Tina said “It was too black for the Pop stations and too Pop for black stations.” Ike thought much the same, blaming the failure on racism in America. Danny Davis suggested that the length was too long for Top 40 radio. Paul Case suggested that it was jealousy and resentment of disc jockeys and program directors whom Phil refused to court and bribe. Marshall Lieb said “They didn’t reject it because it was a bad record. They rejected it because they had a vendetta for Phil.” Some blame the Tom Wolfe “Tycoon Of Teen” article which was published in the New York Herald Tribune on January 3, 1965, and in his book “The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby” published in June of 1965, which discussed Phil’s hatred of the music industry establishment calling record distributors “a bunch of cigar smoking sharpies.” Others suggested that the industry in general had decided to blacklist Phil for his total independence. Larry Levine felt that Phil had tried to go beyond the scope of what could be done technically at the time. Perhaps all are true, but the fact is “River Deep – Mountain High” was a chart failure – at least in the U.S.
The news was not all bad ... in England, where Phil was held in high regard and there was no industry resentment of his success, “River Deep – Mountain High” was a smash hit reaching #3 on some charts and # 2 in others. Spector was quoted as saying “We can only assume that England is more appreciative of talent and exciting music than the U.S.” and “Benedict Arnold was quite a guy,”
Phil was devastated. He withdrew almost completely from the recording industry. Some say he had planned to retire any way, and others say he disappeared into the California desert having lost all interest in Philles. Philles was indeed dying, but it was not over yet. Five more singles were released on the label. None were actively promoted. Only one charted at a pathetic #100 and it was not produced by Spector (at least according to the label.)
The final five releases were:
Philles 132 – Righteous Brothers - “The White Cliffs Of Dover” / “She’s Mine All Mine”
Philles 133 – Ronettes – “I Can Hear Music” / “When I Saw You”
Philles 134 – Ike & Tina Turner – “A Man Is A Man Is A Man” / “Two To Tango”
Philles 135 – Ike & Tina Turner – “I’ll Never Need More Than This”/ “Cash Box Blues”
Philles 136 – Ike & Tina Turner – “A Love Like Yours” / “I Idolize You”
Philles 132 was taken from the Righteous Brothers Back To Back album. The Ronettes’ version of “I Can Hear Music” gave Jeff Barry production credits. The other releases were taken from the unreleased Ike & Tina Turner album. All of the releases are good records, especially “I Can Hear Music” and “I’ll Never Need More Than This.” “I Can Hear Music” was so good that the Beach Boys successfully covered it in 1969 taking it to number #24. The Ronettes’ version actually did chart at # 100 with no promotion what so ever. “I’ll Never Need More Than This” is an incredible record nearing or perhaps even surpassing “River Deep – Mountain High.” “A Love Like Yours” is a great cover of Martha & The Vandellas’ flip side of “Heat Wave”. Spector loved this song and recorded it at least twice more.
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So far in this series we have covered all of the Philles singles and mentioned some of the albums. For the completist, here is a list of all of the albums and the sole EP ever released on the Philles label.
Philles X-EP – Christmas EP - Darlene Love - “White Christmas,” Crystals - “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town”, Ronettes - “Sleigh Ride”, Bob B. Soxx & The Blue Jeans - “The Bells Of St. Mary”
LPs:
Philles 4000 – The Crystal - Twist Uptown
Philles 4001 – The Crystals – He’s A Rebel
Philles 4002 – Bob B. Soxx & The Blue Jeans – Zip-A-Dee Doo-Dah
Philles 4003 – The Crystals – Sing The Greatest Hits – Volume I
Philles 4004 – Various Artists – Philles Records Presents Today’s Hits
Philles 4005 – Various Artists – A Christmas Gift For You
Philles 4006 – The Ronettes – Presenting The Fabulous Ronettes Featuring Veronica
Philles 4007 – The Righteous Brothers – You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’
Philles 4008 – The Righteous Brothers – Just Once In My Life
Philles 4009 - The Righteous Brothers – Back To Back
Philles 4010 – Lenny Bruce – Lenny Bruce Is Out Again
Philles 4011 – Ike & Tina Turner – River Deep – Mountain High (withdrawn / unreleased)
Philles 100 – The Phil Spector Spectacular (unreleased)
With the exception of the Righteous Brothers albums (with all their Bill Medley produced fillers), all of the Philles albums are quite collectible, ranging in price from $300-$600. The few known copies of the Ike & Tina Turner album on Philles are worth thousands of dollars. The Phil Spector Spectacular album was never released. It contained 18 of Philles’ greatest hits. Only a few copies are known to exist, and they are equal or greater in value than the Ike & Tina Turner album on Philles. It is rumored that the album was intended to follow the Christmas Album as the second release of Philles material on the Apple label.
The Christmas album has been reissued on at least a dozen labels since the original Philles album release. Some of the labels include Apple, Warner-Spector, Pavillion, Passport, Phil Spector International, Chrysalis, and more. These are easily affordable and every rock and roll record collector should have a copy. The album is also available as a CD on several different labels.
Other than the Christmas album, the best and most valuable album is the Ronettes album with many outstanding productions that could have been monster hit singles, especially “I Wonder” and “You Baby.” Also of note is the Crystals’ version of “On Broadway” from Philles 4003. It is the original recording covered so brilliantly by the Drifters. Selected cuts from the Philles album will be covered in an upcoming segment - Phil Spector Series – Part X – Phil Spector International – Part 1
The end of the Philles label is not the end of the Phil Spector story. There is much more to cover after Phil’s “retirement,” including numerous post-Philles productions, a plethora of unreleased jewels, dozens of rare imported tracks, and many loose ends to follow up on including a 2003 production! Stay tuned.
Today’s songs:
Born To Be Together – Ronettes
Is This What I Get For Loving You – Ronettes
I Can Hear Music – Ronettes (Jeff Barry producer)
I’ll Never Need More Than This – Ike & Tina Turner
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