Out and About Costa Blanca Magazine - June 2021 Issue -188

16 | OUT AND ABOUT COSTA BLANCA
JOHN CURTIS
Hello again and a warm welcome
to this month´s All Time Greats
which is the continuation and
completion of my review on the late and
infamous Phil Spector. We left off last
month in 1966 and him taking a break
from production following the failure of
his work with Ike and Tina Turner notably
the lack of recognition in the US for the
epic “River Deep Mountain High.” Phil
lay low for four years during which he
got married to Veronica Bennett the lead
singer of The Ronettes and he did show
up on the set of the film Easy Rider in 1969
and played a cameo role as a drug dealer.
A dabble back in the studio in late 1969
lead to the next spell of working behind
a mixing desk. American Alan Klein who
had taken over managing The Beatles at
PHIL SPECTOR - PART II
the very troubled end of their era thought
that Phil could add something to John
Lennon´s solo song “Instant Karma” and
invited him over to the UK. Produced by
Phil Spector the song was a number 3 hit
in early 1970 and a working relationship
was forged with both John Lennon and
George Harrison. The recent success of
the Abbey Road LP made The Beatles
wonder if their earlier and disharmonious
Let It Be recordings, shelved a year earlier,
might yet yield some fruit and it was John
& George who invited Phil to remix and
overdub these tracks very much against
the wishes of Paul McCartney who, on
this occasion, was outvoted. The Let It Be
album, released as The Beatles swansong
in the spring of 1970, had the Spector
hallmark “Wall Of Sound” all over it to