FROM OUR ARCHIVES : (158) THE RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS : TREMENDOUS HARMONIES

Probably no other duo on earth has ever had the sound of the tremendous harmonies of Bobby Hatfield (who went to that Big Jam session in heaven himself in 2003) and Bill Medley (who is still performing!). Their music was not just harmonious, it was romantic - heartbreaking sometimes.

The Righteous Brothers were not brothers at all, but brother acts and a brotherly unity (even a fraternity unity like Elvis and his entourage and closest friends) were popular then. Phil and Don Everly were the prime example but the Smothers Brothers were also out there honing their country music and comedy. (Some people used to think Buddy Knox and I were brothers when we toured, even though we looked nothing like each other.)

Now, if you'll use the search feature of this Google blog you can see that we've posted on the brothers before in the Phil Spector -Wall of Sound blog. Here is more information on the Brothers... and more music to listen to...
The Righteous Brothers own official web site. RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS OFFICIAL

Christine here... This is one of my very favorite heartbreaker songs of all time. "Just Once In My Life..."Seems to me I've felt this way - more than once!

 video replaced February 2013

PHIL SPECTOR QUOTE ON ELVIS

"You have no idea how great he is, really you don't. You have no comprehension - it's absolutely impossible. I can't tell you why he's so great, but he is. He's sensational." - Phil Spector

THE GRAMMY MUSEUM GIFT STORE : BEACH BOYS - DICK DALE - PHIL SPECTOR - RONETTES - RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS - RITCHIE VALENS

WOW!  Christine here.  You know how I looove the Grammy Museum!  I usually post after a visit there. 

Here are some great CDs and one pressed vinyl album that you can buy at the GRAMMY MUSEUM shop.  We're pretty sure that you can go to the shop to shop without paying to tour the museum if you just want to shop and make a visit another time and there are always greeters at the door so ask!

 
BEACH BOYS PET SOUNDS
Includes A 180 gram VINYL RECORD LIMITED EDITION from the Capitol Records Vault!

THE VERY BEST OF DICK DALE  (Surf Music!)

PHIL SPECTOR - WALL OF SOUND - 1961-1966 includes
DARLENE LOVE
THE RONETTES
THE CRYSTALS
THE RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS

THE COMPLETE RITCHIE VALENS includes unfinished songs and live at Pacoima High School - 35 songs!

If you're interested in reading past posts here at WES BRYAN - MY LIFE IN MUSIC about any of these artists, please use the Google Search feature to bring them up! 

SONNY AND CHER ON SHINDIG : 1965

Shindig was in it's second hot season, and by 1965 the careers of Sonny and Cher had taken off. The duo had one of the most successful careers in the business that year, considering they were Americans. Sonny had worked for Phil Spector as a record promoter.

(411) BARRY MANN and CYNTHIA WEIL : SOUNTRACK OF OUR LIVES : LINK TO THEIR OFFICIAL SITE

W're linking her to the official site for extraordinary songwriters Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, a husband- wife team that started off in New York in the Brill Building.

Their official site really says it all, so just to paraphrase a bit so you'll want to read the whole thing, they started their career "in the 60's at Aldon Music, the legendary music publishing company founded by Don Kirshner and Al Nevins. They were members of a teen writing staff, which included Carole King and Gerry Goffin, Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield and Carole Bayer Sager. Among their other Brill Building colleagues were the likes of Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich, Jerry Lieber, Mike Stoller and Phil Spector. .... "Barry and Cynthia, together, have amassed an incredible 112 pop, country and R&B awards from Broadcast Music Inc., recognizing highest performance popularity on American radio and television in a particular year and 115 Millionaire awards, signifying radio performances of a million or more plays."

Known for writing YOU'VE LOST THAT LOVIN FEELING, which brought The Righteous Brothers to Fame, and one of the most covered songs in history, as well as so many others you've sung in the shower.

(351) DARLENE LOVE : A LOVELY PERSON TO WORK WITH : CHRISTMAS 1963

CHRISTMAS 1963

DARLENE LOVE worked a bit for me in the studio and I was lucky to have her because she had success of her own before, after, and during the period that she was a studio background singer! Like many studio singers she went uncredited for much of her work but she still has many noteworthy accomplishments. (I'm proud of my daughter Hollie and the professionalism she brings to studio work as well.)

Darlene sang lead on some of the CRYSTALS songs, produced by PHIL SPECTOR, including "He's a Rebel." She did background vocals for JOEY COOPER'S "I'm a Fool," (A song I co-wrote that we posted a Youtube video of recently). In 1968 she worked with ELVIS PRESLEY on his Welcome Back television special.

We're linking to the HISTORY OF ROCK page for DARLENE LOVE (click on the title) and here is the link for the ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME; Darlene has been nominated for induction in 2011: GO TO THE LINK FOR DARLENE ON OUR SIDEBAR!

Though studio musicians and singers are behind the scenes and many never earn the fame of stage and concert performers, they truly contribute to the sound track of our lives. They are often more professional in their attitudes and abilities than some of those who do achieve fame. I come from a time when recording took place quickly and without all the computer equipment that can help turn a mediocre performance into a better one. Darlene is one of those whose voice stood the test of immediacy and of time.

(299) PHIL SPECTOR - PHILLES RECORDS

Because Phil Spector started out as a music producer, recording in New York City where I met him, and then moved to Los Angeles, where I still sat and talked to him at a deli once in a while, people don't realize that though he had an uncle in New York who gave him a lucky break, he was born and raised in Los Angeles, and from the time of his lucky break until he succeeded he worked, worked, worked.

In the early 1960's Phil was working not only for himself but for various other lables, including Liberty Records, as a producer, and as contracted.

Who could turn work down?

Not even Phil Spector.

He's famous (and infamous) now but then he was one more producer, until he developed a recording technique that relied on his own ear, as much as playing with the equipment. It was called THE WALL OF SOUND, and it was the hottest sound going, at least through 1963.

Phil Spector formed his own label with Lester Sills, Philles Records, and one of his prime objectives was to record a "girl group" called The Crystals, who had a couple hits on that label.

Darlene Love, who was with the Blossoms, a background group, who I also hired to work with me many times, was also on the scene then.

We feel fortunate to have found this video of Phil Spector in the studio with the Crystals and Darlene Love...this little video gives you some idea of the equipment we were working with then...

THANKS TO A YOUTUBER!

A CONVERSATION with WES BRYAN on CAROL KAYE

It's Tuesday February 22nd, 2010 at 4:19 PM. Wes Bryan and I are sitting here together on the computer...

WES BRYAN: I knew Carol Kaye. "The Wrecking Crew" was originally all of Phil Spector's people... people like Jerry Cole. Carol was a member of Musicians Local 47 and in the studios with a lot of other great musicians, some who became my friends or who I hired when I was producing.

CHRISTINE TRZYNA: Which friends were those?

WB: Glen Campbell for one. Jerry Cole...

CT: Did you ever work with Carol?

WB: No, I was working with Jerry Cole and Joe Osborne but I saw her around studios and I knew her work. Carol could play the hell out of that bass. In fact if you were giving out a GOLD MEDAL, a SILVER MEDAL, and a BRONZE MEDAL, Carol, Joe, and Jerry would be scrambling to win within seconds of each other...

CT: What was the relationship between Carol, a woman in the studio in the early 1960's music business in Los Angeles, and the men?

WB: There was a hell of a lot of competition, because there is good money to be made as a studio musician, and lots of people went from the road into the studio or the studio onto the road. THE GREATEST BASS PLAYERS WERE IN LA!

Carol Kaye was THE ONLY WOMAN playing the bass in the studios. The guys treated her like a little sister. She was personally a little bit on the shy side and very particular about her playing.

She had a lot of class, a lot of elegance - bet she still does!

CT: If there was anything you could say to Carol Kaye right now what would it be?

WB: She's been there and done that, and I look forward to reading the memoir she's been working on for a decade! It'll be a big seller, especially among the music loving crowd, and all the people - the fans - who love all the people she worked with as well! I'll be sitting in the front row at her book signing, waiting to buy my copy!

C Wes Bryan and Christine Trzyna All Rights including Internet and International Rights Reserved.

1962 PHIL SPECTOR's TO KNOW HER IS TO LOVE HER THE BEATLES

The "Silver Beatles" recorded the Teddy Bear's hit "To Know Her Is To Love Her." That's John Lennon singing...

The Teddy Bears original

(244) DORE RECORDS - HOME OF THE TEDDY BEARS and JAN and DEAN

Mike Callaham and Dave Edwards, at the link above, tell the Dore Records Story...

Quote, "Dore Records started with a #1 hit in August, 1958, with "To Know Him Is to Love Him" by a trio called the Teddy Bears. The song was written and produced by Phil Spector, the leader of the group, which also contained Annette Kleinbard, and Marshall Lieb. After the one hit, the Teddy Bears left Dore for the greener pastures of the larger Imperial label in 1959." Unquote

Quote "Dore had hits in 1959 and 1960 with the duo Jan and Dean... Jan and Dean had four more charted hits for Dore in 1959 and 1960 before leaving for the Challenge label, and then Liberty...

Thanks Mike and Dave for another great informational site!

TRIBUTE TO JAMES DEAN - THE ORIGINAL REBEL - USING THE CRYSTALS' HE'S A REBEL

James Dean - THE ORIGINAL REBEL...

(240) LIFE IN HOLLYWOOD RECORDING STUDIOS

In 1962 I was living in Hollywood, not far from all the famous haunts. My brother was living with me. But as I maybe mentioned before, an exodus of New Yorkers came out to Los Angeles, including Johnny Rivers, who stayed with us for a time. Ersel Hickey was the one who had too much New York in him to come out this way.

Hollywood was laid back, easy going compared to New York. The people in the business were generous with their time and referrals. I tried to be the same way.

Working for American Music, I ran into another New Yorker I knew from the east, music producer Phil Spector. He would use the big studio - A, where he perfected his "Wall of Sound" at Goldstar, while I used the small studio - B, there. Dave Gold and Stan Ross owned Goldstar and it was one of the best.

Use the search feature of this blog to read about Phil Spector and our blog called GOLDSTAR - THE LUCKY STUDIO!

(209) DRUMMER EARL PALMER - A "SECRET" HIT MAKER

Another great musician that I met at the Musician's Union and became friends with was Earl Palmer.
Earl just went into Eternal Life September 18, 2008 - several weeks ago - at the age of 84.

He worked with Elvis. He worked for Motown and Phil Spector. The Righteous Brothers. Frank Sinatra.

I used to go into the Union looking for Earl and get on him about being from Louisiana in the way that only one Southerner can get on another Southerner. Out in LA it seemed like no matter what your race or background, being from the South was like being from the hood.

And he earned it; Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002, here's Earl's link there.

ROCKHALL : EARL PALMER BIO
updated March 2014

(81) GOLDSTAR and PHIL SPECTOR'S WALL OF SOUND

Now Sylvester Cross, the owner of American Music publishing, was a cheapskate. But when we were recording demos at Goldstar recording studio we were warned to stop whatever we were doing if we saw Phil Spector lurking around. Cross was convinced that Phil had a reputation for stealing other people's lyrics and licks for good reason. Phil Spector seemed way too talented to me to do so and everyone else was trying to steal his Wall of Sound technique, for which there was a lot of mystery at the time.

(We know that Phil Spector's sensational murder trial has been in the news lately and we aren't going to go there. Suffice to say, we'll leave our blog commentary here right where we are in our story, the late 1950's and very early 1960's.)

Phil was early on associated with producing girl groups like the Crystals, and the Ronettes, African-American girl groups. He married Ronnie of the Ronettes.

Here's a You Tube presentation of the Crystals and the sound of Phil's "Wall of Sound," on the Dick Clark Show. It's fast forwarding a couple years to the mod sixties. I can't help think again about the music business - entertainment - and the ground being broken when it came to integration between Blacks and Whites during these early pre-civil rights years.



(ChristineTrzyna: Does the audience in the Ronettes video reveal segregation or integration? The Go Go Dancers in the white boots key us in to the mod sixties and what is happening here, White girls dancing in the background for a Black girl group. Most interesting to me, the line of Black girls - probably from South Central Los Angeles - doing their thing in a row in the audience. I can't help but think how great it was for them to see some other African American women as stars. And more interesting to me, the girls in the audience are going wild for the girls, just like they did for the boy teen idols we all know. I mean, when do we see boys going wild for boys? Almost never!)

Ronnie almost seems like an early Tina Turner.

Phil produced "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' by The Righteous Brothers. This You Tube video presentation of them singing that song is a great example of the Wall of Sound, sound and what the genius Phil Spector could do.




I knew Phil Spector from New York. In Los Angeles we got together for coffee at Canters, the Jewish deli that's still operating in the Fairfax District today. He was younger than me and typically hyper, but he was also always respectful to me. I'll say this about my time with Phil. He never talked against anyone to me.

(74) GOLDSTAR - THE LUCKY RECORDING STUDIO

The studio we employees of American Music used the most was Goldstar.

Goldstar is legendary today. So many hits had been - and would be - recorded at Goldstar that the studio was considered good luck; about 250 hits by the time I was using the studio. Ritchie Valens had recorded "Donna," and "La Bamba," at Goldstar for Delphi Records.

Goldstar was owned by Stan Ross and Dave Gold and it is known for The Wall of Sound, a recording technique most associated with producer Phil Spector.

Goldstar has their own web site to tell the tale...link to it above!