Phil Spector

A producer. Okay, the producer. You don't really think of The Ronnettes or Darlene Love or Bob B. Soxx, you think of Phil Spector. Sure, the releases below probably fall under "various artists," but I thought I could cheat to show off everyone's favorite crazy murderer musician.

Information: Phil Spector
Suggested first purchase/best of: Back To Mono
Suggested first album: A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector

A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector (1963) -- The blueprint for how to make contemporary Christmas music, featuring mostly secular favorites as performed by Phil Spector's artists (The Ronettes, The Crystals, Darlene Love, and Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans). Not only is it a great Christmas album, but it's the greatest single album that shows off these artists and Phil Spector's talents as a producer. Very fun to listen to every year. The Spector original, "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)," is the best on the collection. A

Back To Mono (1991) -- A wonderful collection of the most famous songs Phil Spector produced during his golden era (if you want the John Lennon, George Harrison, Ramones, etc. stuff, just go get those complete albums--they don't fit here). A very listenable history lesson of rock and roll, showing that The Beatles weren't the first to take teenage amateur music seriously. Pretty essential stuff for almost any music fan. The box contains three CDs as well as the entire album, A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector. A