Phil Spector Presents The Philles Album Collection [Box set]

The world became an infinitesimally better place with the release, finally, of these six albums produced between 1962 and 1964 by Phil Spector, and accompanied in this beautifully presented box set by a seventh new compilation.

Due to past neglect of the Philles label catalogue all six albums are appearing on CD for the first time, all remastered in their original mono. They are presented as mini facsimiles of the original album releases in thick cardboard sleeves (with paper liners) that are slightly larger than the standard 5" CD size to better enjoy the original artwork. A 36-page booklet includes an informative essay by Mick Patrick as well as full track list details. At present these albums are only available in the box set, and although modestly priced, I would hope that they become available separately eventually.

The six albums comprise the first five to be released on the Philles and the seventh. The omitted sixth album is the legendary Christmas album, which has long been available on CD before and is easily obtainable elsewhere.

Phil Spector was primarily a producer of singles and did not extend the same production values or care to his early albums. Bob B Soxx and the Blue Jeans' album largely runs out of steam after the singles that comprise the first two tracks and limps home with an instrumental on which none of the group even appear. Bob B Soxx (aka Bobby Sheen) is replaced by Darlene Love as lead singer on over half the tracks. She was Spector's secret weapon and also led two of the Crystals' biggest singles. Of the three albums the Crystals made for Phil Spector, all would probably all fit onto one CD because the second album, He's A Rebel, was a disguised re-issue of the first, Uptown Twist, but with three new tracks replacing two from the first, whilst the third, The Crystals Sing The Greatest Hits, Volume 1, recycled some of their hits yet again, but added five new covers of recent dance hits, most of them sung by Veronica from the Ronettes. Four Crystals' tracks (Uptown, Oh Yeah Maybe Baby, There's No Other and on Broadway) appear three times each throughout this box set. Today's Hits has just five tracks not included elsewhere in the box, these being four Darlene Love singles (Playing For Keeps is a B-side new to CD, and very welcome) and the third Bob B Soxx single, Not Too Young To Get Married (also led by Darlene).

By the end of 1963 Phil Spector had become more ambitious and began preparing albums on which every track could be a single. The first of these was the aforementioned A Christmas Gift For You, and then in November 1964 came Presenting The Fabulous Ronettes Featuring Veronica. This, one of the greatest albums ever made, included all their singles to date, and three B-sides, released before and after the album. So Young, the old song by the Students, had also been released as a single by Veronica. Spector would clearly have liked to make Veronica a solo performer, but they and their family were resolved they stay as a trio. However, Spector later claimed that neither Estelle or Nedra ever sang a note on a Ronettes record. He was renowned for using session singers such as the Blossoms, Bobby Sheen and Chér to augment the Crystals, the Ronettes and others to create his wall of sound. Famously, none of the Crystals sang on He's A Rebel and had to learn the song after it had been released in order to perform it live.

Of the purely album tracks I Wonder was to be a single by the Crystals (in the UK only), who recorded it a couple of months after the Ronettes; and Chapel Of Love by the Dixie Cups (after both songs' writers, Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry, had jumped ship to the Red Bird label). I Wonder was revived a year later on Red Bird by a group called the Butterflys, whose line-up included two former Crystals. When I Saw You, a slow ballad written by Phil Spector, was allegedly inspired by Veronica (later Ronnie Spector). It was, in an earlier version, the first song he recorded with the Ronettes; whilst the Ray Charles classic What'd I Say replicated the Ronettes' exciting stage act, complete with toppy microphones and live audience responses (though it was all concocted in the Gold Star studios). Ten of these album tracks were on The Best of The Ronettes CD compilation, and eight in the Back To Mono box set, but this is the first time the original album has been available on CD. In 1975 Spector released a vinyl stereo mix of the album in the UK under the title The Ronettes Sing Their Greatest Hits, and these were all included on a German Ronettes CD compilation called All The Hits, on the Charly subsidiary label Classic Hits.

The 'bonus' CD is a new compilation that gathers 17 largely instrumental B-sides. Spector liked to put out studio jams of no commercial value on the flipsides of singles, to ensure concentrated airplay on the top-sides. These were played by the crack team of sessioneers that comprised the Wrecking Crew. Some of these held a nostalgic appeal for me as I bought many of those singles on the London label in the UK and turned the records over countless times. Not an obvious choice for a CD release, I am delighted these have seen the light of day.

Still uncollected are the remaining five Philles albums: three Righteous Brothers albums, a Lenny Bruce album and Ike and Tina Turner's River Deep - Mountain High album (already commercially available). A lot of additional material became available in the seventies on the Warner-Spector label in America and even more on Phil Spector International in the UK, collected as a nine-album vinyl box set called Wall Of Sound. One can only hope that this material might also now one day become available on CD.

As Phil is in the first year or so of his 19 year sentence the biggest question is how many more ways are there to issue the catalogue?
Here's one way -to release what were the actual LPs up to but not including the Christmas Gift For You.Because of this a number of recordings are repeated especially by the Crystals.And because of Spector's somewhat odd ideas re LPs many were not actually made as such.
The Crystals Sing The Hits-which was further titled Vol.1 even though there was no Vol 2 was an idea for an LP which seems to have been screwed up somewhere as 3 songs are credited to the Ronettes!
Only 3 of these LPs gained U K release and you had to wait for the Box Set Age to discover just what Spector had decided to hide from the public
According to one of the Spector biogs he wasn't interested in making albums yet a couple came out by the Righteous Brothers in the mid 60s which were made as albums-the 2nd one Just Once In My Life became the first time this song was heard in the U K as Spector decided not to issue the single as the follow up to Lovin' Feelin' because in his opinion "its not what the U K wants"!
The real plus factor here is the extra CD of instrumentals which Spector was putting on the B sides of most of the singles from 1963 in what could be seen as utter contempt for the record buyer.They should have ideally been used for an LP seperately as these are classy instrumentals which would have existed without him in the studio anyway.
So 3 stars for the simple reason that its not the music at fault here its the oddball way it was issued

Whatever you may think of Phil Spector nowadays he was certainly an important figure on the music scene when these Philles albums were originally released in the early sixties. Philles was a label set up by PHIL Spector and LESter Sill in 1961 with Phil taking full control the following year - when he was just 21. For many years the material was reissued through the ABKCO label but control passed to EMI/Sony in 2009 and it is this combination who have produced this collection.

The package itself is first class with six original albums, and a bonus seventh disc of rare B-sides, presented in mini facsimile card sleeves within the presentation box. Also included is a thirty six page booklet with plenty of track details, photos and informative essay. The music has been mastered by Vic Anesini in New York, who has worked on many of Sony's projects in the past.

The quality of the packaging at the price makes this release well worth a full five stars - but that doesn't mean that goes for all the music as well! Although there are many classics included here, and a few of pops finest moments, there is also plenty of filler. These albums were originally released in the days when singles were king and albums something of a rarity, and this is very evident in the way these albums were put together. These reissues stick to the original album content with no bonus tracks or additional material - all the rarities are on disc seven which definitely falls into the "Interesting" category rather than "Essential".

If you are just looking for Phil Spector's classic work you may be better off with the new 2 disc Essential collection released in October 2011. However, if you are looking for an in-depth collector's item then this Philles album collection is just that and currently at a really good price. A really nicely produced collection with many tracks on CD for the first time - but don't expect every track to be a classic!