Phil Spector - Part D - "Philles' Subsidiary Labels"

[Philles/Motown Gary]

Lots of great stuff once again Gary . It'll take some time for me to properly digest this catalogue , but it will be time enjoyably spent , as I look forward to getting to know each of these .
Of course first off, I immediately noticed this Buck Owens penned tune appearing here - myself having spent many a hot summer day and night in cut-off genes and barefoot while growing up in Bakersfield Calif.



I can't help but wonder if Betty having such a similar voice/style to Tina Turner's , didn't hurt both in the having a distinctive sound department.

And to have this record produced by Leon Russell ! Phil was sure surrounded by young new emerging talent [[ Bob Crewe, Nillson).

If I may stray from topic for a minute. In high school my best buddy was a Leon Russell devotee so I couldn't escape becoming a fan myself. Several years ago, at the Kern County Fair [[ Bakersfield) in fact, Leon Russel was , to my delight, appearing there on a free stage. That same night Bruce Hornsby was appearing at the larger paid arena,he was still hot then with THE WAY IT IS ... So I was enjoying Leon's show , but what a surprise when after Bruce finished his show, he raced over to the free stage so he could jam there with Leon. Very special, witnessing this rare moment , two artists taking the opportunity to share some impromptu comradery, just because they wanted to.

OK next I want to hear BEATLE BLUES and RINGO I LOVE YOU ! because it seems intriguing [[ and to tie it all in , the Beatles of course also recorded ACT NATURALLY)

Thanks, John! I'm glad you're enjoying it!

You grew up running barefoot in Bakersfield, CA, eh? I have a 2013 CD of newly-recorded music by Vince Gill and Steel Guitarist Paul Franklin titled "Bakersfield" consisting of cover songs originally recorded by Buck Owens and Merle Haggard. It's got a lot of country-swing tunes which I really love, and, as always, Vince performs them great! Amazon customer reviewers gave more than 400 positive reviews to back it up. Good stuff, for sure!

I must admit that, although I specialize in Philles Records, the music on some of those subsidiary labels is new to me. Thanks to Phil's "Rare Masters" albums, I was already familiar with The Treasures and Betty Willis, and, of course, Veronica [[The Ronettes), and a couple of the others including Cher and Al DeLory. Other tracks, like Harvey & Doc's "Oh Baby" were new to me. I still can't believe that Phil could resort to that.

Cool story about Bruce Hornsby rushing over to join Leon on stage as soon as Bruce's show was over. Speaking of Leon Russell, and because you're new to Philles, did you know that that's Leon playing those amazing piano passages on Darlene Love's "Christmas [[Baby Please Come Home)"? The part near the end, starting with the "Please [[please)" call-and-response between Darlene and the back-up choir through the end of the fade-out, is fantastic! When Phil heard what Leon was playing at the recording session, he whipped out his checkbook on the spot and wrote out a check to Leon for $50 as a bonus! That's how impressed Phil was with Leon's performance! [[Not particularly fair to the other members of The Wrecking Crew who were working just as hard, but Leon's performance was pretty darned incredible!)

Good point regarding Betty and Tina. Having similar voices may have hurt Betty's career, but it sure didn't affect Tina's!

I used to hate Cher's tribute to Ringo, but, I've gotta admit, it's grown on me. It just doesn't sound like a Phil Spector record to me, nor do most of the records on the subsidiary labels. Lotsa luck finding a copy -- especially in NM condition. Even the VG copies are rare and fetch a small fortune to purchase. In fact, the NM copy shown in the YouTube link is the FIRST and ONLY copy I've ever seen that looks new. They're usually the stock copy on the solid-red Annette label looking VERY used.