Deathblog: Phil Spector(1940-2021)

On the great scales of metaphysical justice, should destruction of human life always outweigh artistic achievement? [YES - morality ed.]

By which I mean, how does murdering the star of ‘The Barbarian Queen’ stack up against recording ‘Be My Baby’ and ‘Baby, I Love You’, legacy-wise? [POORLY - morality ed.]

Such are some questions what may or may not never be resolved in our lifetimes. [DONE IT - morality ed.]

Over to you, Richard Williams:

“So what, in the final analysis, do we make of this strange little man - this combination of genius and pushy creep, of giant and gnome, of aesthete and pugilist? We can point to the personal demons which drove him through the early years and which now, quite clearly, won’t let him rest. Success has never brought him what he must have expected: the world’s unalloyed adulation. Always, he’s wanted more, and winning has often involved rudeness and ugly scenes (both justified and gratuitous) and the consequent unkind comment. Yet, he can also be the kindest, most thoughtful of men […].

To today’s kids, he means little or nothing. They can’t be expected to find interest in the fact that some of their heroes (Roy Wood for example) are living off Spector’s innovations of ten years before. Even those who grew up with his music often dismiss him, these days, as an Icarus in a world of Boeings. They, surely, are the ones who never mainlined on the spirit of his records, or prefer to forget their debts.

Perhaps his ‘accident’ is a sham, as some allege; maybe it’s another retreat, a response to Veronica’s show of independence, or in preparation for future work on his new label. More probably, it’s for real. Whatever the truth, on his eventual return he’ll be in the position of having to prove himself once again - a blatant and enduring absurdity in view of his achievements in the Sixties. Yes, as somebody once said in reference to teenage tycoons, but what about the fifty years before you die? Living in his Bel Air mansion, surrounded by monogrammed everything and pictures of himself covering the walls, Spector has yet to find an adequate resolution.

- Richard Williams Long Ditton, April 14, 1974”

What’s remarkable, I think, is that that summation remained entirely valid (give or take a Roy Wood reference) for nearly thirty years after Mr Williams banged it out and signed off his manuscript. Then, Phil’s addled brain and shaking fingers finally delivered the long-delayed resolution, much to the world’s chagrin.

Seeing ‘Pop Producer Jailed For Murder Dies Aged 81’ sink like a stone down the BBC top stories yesterday, nowhere to be seen 12 hours later, constitutes his sad reward.

 “..an Icarus in a world of Boeings..” 

 Lest we forget: