Spector is off the hook!

Word...his production skillz are off the heezy fo sheezy!

this is immediately what i thought too

Police Refute Suicide Report In Spector Case
An investigator at the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department is refuting a radio report claiming that law-enforcement officials believe actress Lana Clarkson shot herself at producer Phil Spector's home Feb. 3.
Citing an unnamed source at the Sheriff's Department, a report on L.A. news station KFI yesterday (March 10) stated that Clarkson's death was being treated as an "accidental suicide." However, Lt. Dan Rosenberg, the lead investigator on the case, tells Billboard Bulletin, "We categorically deny that we are treating this as a suicide." He declined to comment further.
Clarkson was found dead of a single gunshot wound in the foyer of Spector's Alhambra, Calif., mansion; the producer was taken into custody and later released on $1 million bail. To date, Spector has not been formally charged; his March 3 arraignment was postponed indefinitely.
-- Chris Morris and Erik Gruenwedel, L.A.

Did anyone watch the Arena documentary/interview on Saturday?

Absolutely fascinating with some stunning archive footage.

Very cleverly put together though I would have liked some thoughts on the music he did after the Beatles (i.e. Cohen, the Ramones, Dion etc.).

He's obviously hugely aware of his own greatness but regardless of what he may or may not be like as a human being I think he's right to be proud of the music he made.

And on balance, and despite his history, I don't believe he's got it in him to actually shoot somebody.

A nice touch also to add screen commentary from Mick Brown's book, which looks excellent and I'll have to read it.

But the music can't be argued against.

apparently he had a serious head injury at one stage, which can sometimes induce severe personality changes. or was he barking from the start?

He seemed peculiarly obsessed with Tony Bennett's cocaine habit in the sixties.

But I think being responsible for records like "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" and £iver Deep Mountain High" excuses most things.

or even "River Deep Mountain High"

A nice touch also to add screen commentary from Mick Brown's book, which looks excellent and I'll have to read it.

i actually didn't like the way this was done - superimposing it over scenes from the trial seemed distracting, and i wasn't clear really what sort of point was being made by doing so.

Dramatic contrast. Also compels the viewer to (re)consider Larkin's Law.

i was struck by a) seeing court footage (in england we make do, literally, with chalk drawings) and b) just how bored he looked in the court.

> "We hate to use the words 'I told you so,' but I did tell you so," Spector wrote.

the shangri-las did it better 8)

I'm surprised anyone has any doubt whatsoever that he killed that woman.

Would his production on those songs excuse him if he'd been implicated in a race-related lynching, for example?

I mean, a little wife-beating and woman-murdering, that's all just fine and dandy as far as ILM goes.

I don't think being a psychopathic murderous asshole and making great music are mutually exclusive, but the latter does not "excuse" the former (at least not for me) in terms of the law.

Would his production on those songs excuse him if he'd been implicated in a race-related lynching, for example?

depends on what race, but most likely, yes.

I thought that documentary was pretty dubious (extensive footage of the defence case) and unquestioning.

Phil seemed to have a continuing theme: the genius of Phil Spector and why hadn't it been recognised in the same way as Sir George Martin etc

Each anecdote ended with something similar to..."And so in a way I'm greater than both John Lennon and George Harrison."

I think in many ways he was at least their equal.

updated 5:43 p.m. ET, Thurs., Oct. 23, 2008
LOS ANGELES - A jury has been selected for the murder retrial of music pioneer Phil Spector.

Attorneys immediately began questioning more prospective jurors Thursday to find six alternates.

Opening statements are scheduled for later this month, and the trial is expected to last until January.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27345575/

Unfortunately for you, SC, as far as Spector is concerned I'm interested in talking about art not morality or law.

As far as the latter is concerned, though, I still believe (foolhardily) in those quaint old dated and undoubtedly misogynist (to blinkered, dated nutbag all-men-are-shit fundamentalists) concepts known as "innocent until proven guilty" and "beyond reasonable doubt."

But hey, It's A Good Story, and that's what counts these days!

I suppose you think the American legal system never returns inappropriate verdicts either

OJ's gonna find the real killer one of these days!

I think you are equating "inappropriate verdicts" with "verdicts you want to hear" or "verdicts that suit you."

Since we are not living in Iraq or Zimbabwe I prefer to observe the normal ways of the law as detailed in my previous post.

Otherwise vote McCain if you want lynch mob rule to prevail.

you are doing some weird sort of magical projection of views/opinions/politics on me but whatevs. If you find Spector's "I stuck the gun in her mouth but she pulled the trigger cuz she was suicidal and that's how her dead body ended up in my lobby with my fingerprints on the gun and oh yeah ignore what I said to my bodyguard about me murdering someone cuz I was just upset" story plausible I have a Bridge to Nowhere to sell you.

also ignore all those times he beat/tortured women and threatened people with guns/fired guns at them

Uh, have you read any accounts of Lieber & Stoller, who more or less put him up in their home (I forget which he lived with) and gave him work before his Philles era?

And?

I see your point. I concede.

Tell us about Lieber & Stoller, who more or less put him up in their home (I forget which he lived with) and gave him work before his Philles era!

You see, I don't know about Lieber & Stoller, who more or less put him up in their home (I forget which he lived with) and gave him work before his Philles era, and I'd like to know about Lieber & Stoller, who more or less put him up in their home (I forget which he lived with) and gave him work before his Philles era, since you mentioned Lieber & Stoller, who more or less put him up in their home (I forget which he lived with) and gave him work before his Philles era.

I find Spector innocent until there is solid, incontrovertible evidence to prove otherwise. If you have any I'm sure the new jury would love to know it.

neither you nor I is on the jury so legally speaking neither of our opinions have any value. but from the evidence available to the public, he looks overwhelmingly guilty to me. I'm assuming you are likewise familiar with the evidence available to the public, yet you draw the opposite conclusion, which I find rather befuddling. Or does dead-body-in-his-home-with-his-prints-on-the-murder-weapon-plus-a-confession-plus-history of-violence-against-women not count as "solid, incontrovertible" evidence in your world (cf Chappelle sketch)

as bad as it sounds, that's not incontrovertible. it is plausible that she killed herself. It's not the obvious thing, but it's within the realm of possibility. and that's all the jury has to decide.

marcello, earlier today
http://www.oldmovies.net.au/userimages/user1367_1161334011a.jpg

as bad as it sounds, that's not incontrovertible. it is plausible that she killed herself. It's not the obvious thing, but it's within the realm of possibility. and that's all the jury has to decide.
OTM

OK, but to make it fair, try him outside L.A. and environs.

"12 angry ILXors..."

from the evidence available to the public, he looks overwhelmingly guilty to me

Virtually all of which, if you'd actually looked at it (or indeed watched the documentary, which included most of it), points to a depressed Clarkson shooting herself.

If new and/or contradictory evidence arises during the course of the second trial then the jury will have to take that into account when coming to a verdict.

Now can we get back to talking about his music?

this thread isn't about his music

Tough.

OP10-Phil Spector Productions

POXV : Phil Spector "Back to Mono" Box set

(unofficial) article response-marcello's spector essay

hey you already have your own Phil Spector thread, so what are you complaining about anyway

(or indeed watched the documentary, which included most of it),

um, was this even broadcast in the US?

Probably not.

"12 angry ILXors..."

LOL

I didn't start "my" Spector thread and I've very wisely kept away from it.

careful you don't break yr arm patting yourself on the back there