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

Brown, Mick

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0747591547 ISBN 13: 9780747591542

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

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.

Edition details

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
• Publication date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0747591547
• ISBN 13: 9780747591542
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 512