This news got me thinking about Phil Spector as a producer. I got a compilation called Back to Mono which features his 60's work. In short I did not care for his "wall of sound" approach at all. In a better system like most of us have it just sounds like background noise. It no doubt sounded better on car radios and the small transitors of the day. The Ronnetts sounded particullarly muddled. On the other hand the songs he did with the Rightous Bros sound great. The Ike and Tina Turner classic River Deep Mountain High is pretty much ruined by the approach. Listen to Eric Burden and The Animals version to see what a less heavy hand can do with the song.
