Tearing Down The Wall of Sound: The Rise and Fall of Phil Spector - Hardcover

Brown, Mick

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0747572437 ISBN 13: 9780747572435

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, 2007

Synopsis

In December 2002 Phil Spector - legendary record producer, legendary control freak, legendary recluse - sat down on a sofa in his Los Angeles castle and gave his first major interview for twenty-five years. The journalist he talked to was Mick Brown. Shortly afterwards, Phil Spector was arrested for murder. Over the course of that day, Spector spoke with extraordinary candour about his life and career; his mercurial rise to become the most successful record producer of the sixties; the genius thathad been both a blessing and a curse; his creation of a sound never before heard in music; his trademark 'Wall of Sound'; his fragile mental state and his years on the brink of insanity. 'I've been a very tortured soul', said Spector. 'I have not been happy. I have devils inside that fight me'. The interview with Spector (described by MOJO as 'one of the most famous interviews in rock journalism') appeared as a cover story in the Telegraph magazine on 1 February 2003. Twenty-four hours later, a Hollywood actress named Lana Clarkson was shot dead in Spector's castle. Phil Spector was immediately arrested, and later released on $1m bail to await trial. Tearing Down the Wall of Sound is Mick Brown's personal odyssey into the heart of the strange life and times of Phil Spector. Beginning with that fateful meeting in Spector's home, and recounting the story of his colourful life and career, including the unfolding of the Clarkson case, this is one of the most bizarre and compelling stories in the annals of pop music.

About this title

Review:

"As well as being the most current account of an extraordinary, troubled life, Brown's book is also the most sympathetic and balanced."
-- Sunday Times Books of the Year

"Certainly the music book of the year... beautifully researched." -- Metro

'Tearing Down the Wall of Sound' has that rare mix of dogged
research and vivid story-telling. -- The Mail on Sunday - Craig Brown - 25th March 2007

'Tearing Down the Wall of Sound' is a remarkable book about, among
other things, fame, obsession, genius, money and madness. -- The Observer - Sean O'Hagan - 18th March 2007

`A satisfying read ... His diagnosis of why "River Deep Mountain High" is more impressive than lovable is a fascinating insight into The Wall's last hurrah' -- Robert Sandall, Sunday Times

`Riveting ... the tale Brown tells is so extraordinary, its subject so bizarre, that it grips from start to finish ... Brown, long one of Britain's most authoritative and incisive music writers, brilliantly recreates the atmosphere of camaraderie and dogged labour that went into creating Spector's "Wall of Sound" ... Tearing Down the Wall of Sound is a remarkable book about, among other things, fame, obsession, genius, money and madness. It paints the fullest picture yet of a man who, whether creating some of the greatest pop music of all time, or destroying the lives of those closest to him, seems to have existed in a continuous state of mental agitation. The Phil Spector story still awaits its ending. In the meantime this is the definitive study of the man, and the myth that engulfed him' -- ***** Sean O'Hagan, Observer Music Monthly

`Tearing Down the Wall of Sound has a rare and wonderful mix of dogged research and vivid story-telling. Virtually every page carries a tale of farce or horror, or more often than not, both'
-- Craig Brown's Book of the Week, Mail on Sunday

spirited and incisive -- Metro, April 4th 2007

About the Author:

Mick Brown is a freelance journalist, broadcaster who has written extensively on pop music and culture for a wide variety of British and American publications. He is currently senior writer on the Telegraph magazine. He is the author of several books, including: Richard Branson: The Authorised Biography, Heartbeat: Travels from Woodstock to San Jose by Song Title (shortlisted for the Thomas Cook Prize for best travel book in 1994), The Spiritual Tourist, the Bloomsbury Movie Guide to Performance, and The Dance of 17 Lives: The Incredible True Story of Tibet's 17th Karmapa.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0747572437
• ISBN 13: 9780747572435
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 512