river deep
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Artist:
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Track:River Deep Mountain High
I've been watching the Phil Spector trial on Court TV, seeing his hands tremble as he watches the first prosecution witnesses recount nightmarish stories about being terrorized at gunpoint. He looks frozen, possibly medicated, in that silly blond wig.And I've been reading Mick Brown's new biography of Spector, a well-researched but largely redundant telling of the Spector story, brought up to date with a notorious interview that Brown conducted with Spector, not long before Lana Clarkson wound up dead, shot with one of his many guns.Everyone I've ever met who's had dealings with Spector (The Ramones, Leonard Cohen, Dion, Ronnie Spector...) has had stories of Spector waving firearms around. And one night at a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame after-party, I saw him drunk and verbally berating perfect strangers. It was sad and unsettling.So finally, one of those guns went off, and someone died. It was bound to happen.Which doesn't diminish the power, the joy, the innovation of those Spector productions. I play those records all the time, and I remember seeing The Ronettes for the first time at the RKO Fordham in The Bronx. The term "erotically transfixed" comes to mind.The other night, on Letterman, in the midst of all this trial hoopla, Darlene Love came on the show and tore through a massive production of Ike & Tina Turner's "River Deep-Mountain High." It was a loving recreation, and you just knew that Paul Shaffer, a Spector fan and friend, assembled it to remind us that the tragic, frail guy at the defense table once created moments of true majesty. We will continue to hear testimony about Spector's very dark side. But we can also take the occasional recess and just listen to the music.
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