Phil Spector's Wall of Sound: Will This Studio Technique Continue in Music?

Unless there's a plea by Phil Spector to produce new albums in prison, chances are you'll never see this music producer's face, Chia Pet hair or hear an update of his studio sound ever again as he goes away for murder. While sending Spector away for life in prison is a blessing for many, others who recall his achievements in music over the last 45 years are saying that it's ultimately a tragedy toward everything he accomplished and what he still could have accomplished. At least his best legacy in the studio was that he was a stickler for details and knew what sounded good. Of course, what sounds good is still one of the most subjective things on the planet, especially now. We still see adamant debates over whether bombast is better in the studio or a production that's stripped down to the bare essentials.

For Spector, he had a Wagnerian frame of mind that perhaps hid a massive ego behind that reclusive nature of his.

But the sound of music changes drastically with the times. Just in 40 years, the harmonies, lyrics and all other dynamics of music are utterly another world away now from what it was during Spector's heyday. Yes, we see a lot of copycats who provide the essence of all retro sounds in the studio recently. Even Spector's Wall of Sound has been copied, however not recently. Because it hasn't been recent, it's an indication of where studio technique is going.

One thing we're learning at the Grammy Awards in recent years is that albums that have the simplest production are getting more recognition. Once a listener finds the intricacies of just a vocalist and a piano (or guitar) on an album featuring a great artist, it can potentially become addictive and bring out the hidden layers of music that's long been lost. Sometimes listening to a stripped-down acoustic album is the ultimate decision-maker for the listener in realizing how over-the-top production values are actually nothing but hyperbole. It just might end up being an epiphany for someone after thinking the Spector Wall of Sound sounded so cool for so long.

And, let's be fair: The Wall of Sound worked for certain material. Because it even managed to sway at least two of The Beatles when Spector worked on their "Let it Be" album, perhaps the legitimacy of it was assured for at least a while. In fact, it isn't far-fetched to think that due to the Wall of Sound being utilized on "Let it Be" and some of John Lennon and George Harrison's albums later, many listeners just went with it because whatever the Beatles loved, so should everybody else. Ironically, it may have been the only holdout, Paul McCartney, who ultimately changed everybody's mind years later.

When McCartney helped supervise the release of "Let it Be...Naked" in 2003, Beatles fans finally had a chance to hear McCartney's original intention for the sound of the album, despite his Beatle comrades originally overriding his opinion. Yet with the critical and consumer raves of how much better the album was stripped down to just an acoustic production, there seemed to be a more significant shift away from Spector's Wall of Sound. That's not to say it wasn't happening for a while before then, particularly with the renaissance in performers who sit at a piano or even the advent of neo-crooners who used the art of a jazz trio. You remember the renaissance of Tony Bennett in the early 90's that brought back the small club trio sound to the joy of practically every demographic. Even rock artists of all stripes started joining the simpler acoustic fray when MTV's "Unplugged" show made it hip during the 90's.

Is it tragic irony then that Phil Spector is going away to prison for life right when his classic studio sound may be at its end?
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Perhaps his Wall of Sound is better off staying put on retro recordings we hear on Oldies radio or used in soundtracks, commercials and everywhere else. It's a sound representative of its era where the bombastic instrumentation and reverb still gives a chilling effect to the turbulent times when the music was created. You can't hear those classic girl group hits of the early 60's using Spector's sound without thinking of the last days of JFK and the approaching storm of the counterculture. Similarly, you can't hear the early days of The Righteous Brothers and their ubiquitous Spector-produced "Unchained Melody" without thinking of it playing as a soundtrack to Vietnam and the growing dissension of the Baby Boomers over the war.

Outside of all that reverb bombast which defined an era, the single most emotional aspect to his sound is on Spector's arguably most famous single he produced: John Lennon's "Imagine." Eerie it is that it's become the emblematic song of peace in the world. It was also his most stripped-down single he ever produced where John Lennon singing with just a piano was the only two things necessary.

All the arguments on the net (see Entertainment Weekly source link) after Spector's second conviction for murder were conflicted whether we should continue to listen to his music. The consensus in the comment section seems to be that we should continue to listen to it for the sake of art. Whether all that repeated listening in our pop culture inspires a producer to reinvent the Wall of Sound will depend on the times. In a time of this article when everybody is trying to simplify their life, uncluttered music is making music producers who think the same thing richer than Spector ever was...

Source:

http://music-mix.ew.com/2009/04/phil-spector-wh.html