Here's At Least One Verdict on Phil Spector

So the Phil Spector jury has deadlocked and couldn't reach a verdict. This is depressing news for people who think he killed actress Lana Clarkson and would like him to go to jail for the rest of his life to pay for the crime. Granted, I haven't heard the evidence presented as these jurors have but I can't deny that I am emotionally in the camp that wants him locked up anyway. Apparently, so were 10 of the jurors and all six alternates, leaving just two people who apparently needed to see a DVD slo-mo of Spector committing the act in order to convict.

Maybe knowing what happened that night is beyond our ability to know. So, in the interest of providing at least some verdict on Phil Spector, this morning on a long walk I listened to both the original "Let It Be" album which was produced by him and the recent "Let It Be... Naked" album which was de-Spectored by the surviving Beatles, mainly Paul McCartney.

Quick refresher: When the Beatles broke up in 1970, the group had one final album in the can, ready for release, "Let It Be." It gets tricky because this wasn't the last official Beatles album. That was "Abbey Road," which had been released the previous fall. "Let It Be," however, was a collection of songs which had been performed "live in the studio" over a year earlier. When the Beatles broke up, they pretty much all wanted to walk away, and those "Let It Be" tapes got given over to the legendary (and later reclusive) Phil Spector. He then proceeded to add his "wall of sound" style of orchestra, chorus and overdubs.

In 2003, EMI stripped away the strings, the chorus, and most of the overdubs and released "Let It Be... Naked."  Here's what Wikipedia has to say:

The album is presented in a form which is purported to be closer to The Beatles' original artistic vision to get back to the "rock & roll" sound of their early years... McCartney in particular was always dissatisfied with the "Wall of Sound" production techniques that had been employed on the Phil spector remixes, especially his song "The Long and Winding Road" which he believed was ruined by the process. George Harrison gave his approval to the project before he died.

The songs "Maggie Mae" and "Dig It" were both dropped as they were thought to be too weak for inclusion, and Lennon's "Don't Let Me Down" was added in their place. Even the running order is different. So is the photograph of George Harrison. Here's what Rolling Stone had to say in its review:

It's difficult to review "Let It Be . . . Naked" without drowning in the welter of vexed issues that shattered the Beatles. For a start, Naked is being hyped (in a musical nod to the "director's cut") as the "band's take" -- that is, the stripped-down version of the album the Beatles intended to make as they embarked on what was then thought of as "Get Back" in 1969. This notion, of course, is ridiculous. The unfortunate truth is that John Lennon and George Harrison are dead, and, whatever its merits, "Naked" exists essentially as an excuse for Paul McCartney, after decades of complaining, to finally remove Phil Spector's production effects from "The Long and Winding Road." As a result, the song -- a technologically souped-up version of the take in the "Let It Be" film -- now sounds like a vaguely interesting demo, rather than the lavish (and frankly emotional) epitaph for the Beatles that Spector turned it into.

So we know that Paul's verdict on Phil Spector was guilty. John Lennon held out for the other side and voted innocent.

"He was given the shittiest load of badly recorded shit with a lousy feeling to it ever, and he made something out of it. He did a great job."

Both of the deceased Beatles -- Lennon and Harrison -- went on to work closely with Spector, who produced "Plastic Ono Band," "Imagine" and "All Things Must Pass" -- arguably the three best albums of the Beatles' solo years.

I don't pretend to be a music critic (well, actually, by virtue of this blog, I have once or twice pretended to be one) so all I can discuss is what I felt listening to both versions back-to-back this morning.

First, there is no doubt that the new mix is simply a better sound quality all the way around. The vocals are more vibrant and present. In the original, they now sound receded and half-lost. The sparer renditions do allow you to hear the songs as if they're new, and they are damn good songs. The people who sniff that "Let It Be" was somehow one of the Beatles' worst albums are just plain, flat-out wrong. Hearing them one after another, I do think that Spector did a less than great job with them.

So, that's my verdict today on Phil Spector, he was guilty of messing with a great Beatles album. Not quite up there with murder, but a crime nonetheless.

As for whatever happened between Phil Spector and Lana Clarkson, maybe we'll never know. He may not be "guilty" there, but he sure wasn't "innocent."