Back to Mono (1958-1969) [Box set]

Amazon.com
Among producers, his name remains the simile of choice. If some hotshot studio whiz emerges in, say, hip-hop, he's inevitably labeled "the Phil Spector of rap." That's quite a statement given that decades have passed since this boy from the Bronx remodeled rock & roll to suit his own visions of grandeur. The story of the girl-group auteur is a fascinating one. Spector composed a No. 1 hit at 17 (the Teddy Bears' "To Know Him Is to Love Him," its title inspired by the inscription on his father's tombstone). By 19 he was head of A&R for Atlantic Records. By the time he was 22, he'd founded his own label (Philles) and was churning out Wall of Sound hits at an unprecedented clip, beginning with the Crystals' "He's a Rebel." The four-disc Back to Mono befits its singular subject in both presentation (the richly annotated booklet includes a piece by Tom Wolfe) and content (60 songs cut between 1958 and 1969, plus the entire classic Yuletide LP A Christmas Gift for You). --Steven Stolder

Tracks:

To Know His Is To Love Him - The Teddy Bears
Corrine, Corrina - Ray Peterson
Spanish Harlem - Ben E. King
Pretty Little Angel Eyes - Curtis Lee
Every Breath I Take - Gene Pitney
I Love How You Love Me - The Paris Sisters
Under The Moon Of Love - Curtis Lee
There's No Other Like My Baby - The Crystals
Uptown - The Crystals
He Hit Me (It Felt Like A Kiss) - The Crystals
He's A Rebel - The Crystals
Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah - Bob B. Soxx And The Blue Jeans
Puddin' N' Tain - The Alley Cats
He's Sure The Boy I Love - The Crystals
Why Do Lovers Break Each Other's Hearts - Bob B. Soxx And The Blue Jeans
(Today I Met) The Boy I'm Gonna Marry - Darlene Love
Da Doo Ron Ron - The Crystals
Heartbreaker - The Crystals
Why Don't They Let Us Fall In Love - Veronica
Chapel Of Love - Darlene Love
Not Too Young To Get Married - Bob B. Soxx And The Blue Jeans
Wait Til My Bobby Gets Home - Darlene Love
All Grown Up - The Crystals

Tracks:

Be My Baby - The Ronettes
Then He Kissed Me - The Crystals
A Fine, Fine Boy - Darlene Love
Baby, I Love You - The Ronettes
I Wonder - The Ronettes
Girls Can Tell - The Crystals
Little Boy - The Crystals
Hold Me Tight - The Treasures
(The Best Part Of) Breakin' Up - The Ronettes
Soldier Baby Of Mine - The Ronettes
Strange Love - Darlene Love
Stumble And Fall - Darlene Love
When I Saw You - The Ronettes
So Young - Veronica
Do I Love You? - The Ronettes
Keep On Dancing - The Ronettes
You, Baby - The Ronettes
Woman In Love (With You) - The Ronettes
Walking In The Rain - The Ronettes

Tracks:

You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' - The Righteous Brothers
Born To Be Together - The Ronettes
Just Once In My Life - The Righteous Brothers
Unchained Melody - The Righteous Brothers
Is This What I Get For Loving You? - The Ronettes
Long Way To Be Happy - Darlene Love
(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons - The Righteous Brothers
Ebb Tide - The Righteous Brothers
This Could Be The Night - The Modern Folk Quartet
Paradise - The Ronettes
River Deep-Mountain High - Ike & Tina Turner
I'll Never Need More Than This - Ike & Tina Turner
A Love Like Yours (Don't Come Knockin' Everyday) - Ike & Tina Turner
Save The Last Dance For Me - Ike & Tina Turner
I Wish I Never Saw The Sunshine - The Ronettes
You Came, You Saw, You Conquered - The Ronettes
Black Pearl - Sonny Charles And The Checkmates
Love Is All I have To Give - The Checkmates

Tracks:

White Christmas - Darlene Love
Frosty The Snowman - The Ronettes
The Bells of St. Mary - Bob B. Soxx and The Blue Jeans
Santa Claus is Coming to Town - The Crystals
Sleigh Ride - The Ronettes
Marshmallow World - Darlene Love
I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus - The Ronettes
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer - The Crystals
Winter Wonderland - Darlene Love
Parade of the Wooden Soldiers
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) - Darlene Love
Here Comes Santa Claus - Bob B. Soxx and The Blue Jeans
Silent Night - Phil Spector and Artists

Amazon.com

Among producers, his name remains the simile of choice. If some hotshot studio whiz emerges in, say, hip-hop, he's inevitably labeled "the Phil Spector of rap." That's quite a statement given that decades have passed since this boy from the Bronx remodeled rock & roll to suit his own visions of grandeur. The story of the girl-group auteur is a fascinating one. Spector composed a No. 1 hit at 17 (the Teddy Bears' "To Know Him Is to Love Him," its title inspired by the inscription on his father's tombstone). By 19 he was head of A&R for Atlantic Records. By the time he was 22, he'd founded his own label (Philles) and was churning out Wall of Sound hits at an unprecedented clip, beginning with the Crystals' "He's a Rebel." The four-disc Back to Mono befits its singular subject in both presentation (the richly annotated booklet includes a piece by Tom Wolfe) and content (60 songs cut between 1958 and 1969, plus the entire classic Yuletide LP A Christmas Gift for You). --Steven Stolder

Customer Reviews:

Greatest bargain.......2007-05-16

A few months ago I ordered this set for only about $20 & it is the best CD bargain I've ever had. This set originally sold for about $75 back in the 90's (glad I waited to buy it!)& I keep wondering why it's so cheap now. (Is Spector not allowed to make money on his music anymore?) It is a BIG set in an LP size box (I store it with my old LPs on my shelf),comes with a great big book printed on high quality paper, comes with the Christmas album & even a button. Only thing not big about this set is the sound quality, it's typical 80s & early 90s thin-sounding CD quality, not exactly what I'd call a wall of sound. Also the book has the lyrics to all the songs except the ones on the Christmas album. So if you can get past the fact that Spector may have killed someone 40 years after these recordings (if he did,how could he? He produced John Lennon's "Imagine" for goodness sake!)this is still some of the 60s greatest music.

Cruisin' Music Extraordinaire.......2007-05-15

When I saw the "Back to Mono" box for 20 bucks, I first thought of the barrage of criticism that greeted this set when first released more than 15 years ago and, in particular, the near universal condemnation of the absolutely horrendous digital remastering that marred what should have been an unbeatable compilation. Then I thought, "So what? I LOVED this music 45 years - AUGH! - ago! This is the background music of my life! And a great collection! And I don't have much of it, vinyl or otherwise." So I bought it.

And yes, the remastering is indeed horrible, particularly when listened to through earphones. But if you can pump this music through a tinny 5-inch speaker, perhaps boosted from a '57 Chevy, it all sounds pretty damn fine. So: don't play it on your audiophile equipment: my vintage boom box does the music all the honor it requires.

And what music. A lot of this stuff didn't chart in the New York metropolitan area, so I'd never heard several tracks, but it's all vintage, no filler, hits and non-hits, lots of Ronnie Spector and the Ronnettes, the Crystals, and fewer, but important, sides from Curtis Lee), Ben E. King, Bob B. Soxx, the Righteous Brothers, the majestic Tina Turner and that sidekick of hers, and, of course, the patented Spector Wall of Sound, complete with timpani, maracas, glockenspiels, strings, horns, full brass section, yackety sax, everything INCLUDING the kitchen sink. On the tree of rock, Phil Spector is a taproot (and Bruce Springsteen the most celebrated emulator/branch).

But let's be serious: these are very basic sentiments, harking back to a very different, much simpler time, before Vietnam, Watergate, and universal irony really invaded our consciousness (the first 29 tracks before the Kennedy assassination). The Spector chronology tracks along through LBJ's "Great Society" and civil rights legislation, Nixon, and the onset of cynicism, skepticism, and the beginning of a much more complicated social and political fabric. Through all this, we underestimate the role this and other top-forty music played in shaping our imaginations: it played, constantly, to GROUPS of people in packed cars, at parties and dances, not to one solitary listener through iPod earphones, shaped romantic vocabularies, taught kids how to say "I love you" and how to rebel against parents who screamed "that guy's no good!" My wife's parents.

In short, this music and its peer recordings helped fill in pieces of our emotional identities. In this set we hear lots of 16 year olds pouring out their hearts into diaries via girl-group doo-wop. From the Righteous Brothers, a more mature, wistful kind of heartbreak with full choirs of strings. And from Ike and Tina, my god - River Deep, Mountain High has enough emotional energy to blow a bank of Marshalls, a clear high-point on a collection of high points.

The 96-page booklet is almost worth the price of the box. I didn't need the lyrics - many of them, goofy, saccharine, maudlin, trite as can be, are grafted into my brain, courtesy of that Chevy speaker - but the photos of those wonderful, innocent, vibrant faces, the essays (one by Tom Wolfe), and the discography are all splendid.

So: if you've ever loved this music - that's a significant qualifier: my kids (all in 20s and 30s) think it's virtually unadulterated corn (with the exception of River Deep, Loving Feeling, and a few other tracks) - forget about the atrocious remastering. (I'll bet Rhino will take care of that, sooner or later, and we'll hear these in gorgeous, layered monaural.) Just buy this now while you can get all four discs, the big booklet, and the huge box for 20 dollars or less. Then boogaloo or slow-dance your baby to these legendary tunes.

Essential Musical History.......2007-05-13

With his name in the news, it is easy to dismiss Phil Spector for current accusations, but you can never deny his place is Rock'N'Roll pantheon of musical touchstones.

This collection is an absolute must have for all those who love great rock and roll and the extras in this box are phenomenal. The booklet documenting these historic recordings is amazing, as are the collection musicians that sat in on these sessions (Sonny Bono, Brian Wilson, Leon Russell, etc.).

Just having the classic recordings of The Ronettes (Be My Baby, Walkin' In The Rain, Baby I Love You), The Crystals, Darlene Love -- along with Ike and Tina Turner's "River Deep, Mountain High" (referred to by George Harrison as the greatest single ever made) and the complete "Phil Spector's Christmas Album" -- makes this collection indispensable!!!

$15 is about right.......2007-04-08

I have no idea whether Mr. Spector is guilty of the serious charges against him, but he stands convicted of allowing his retrospective box to be released with some of the muddiest, dullest mastering in memory. Sound-wise, a total mess. Of course, many of the tracks are indispensable.

60 classic "Spector" produced tunes + His Christmas Album You'll get your "Phil" here with this awesome 4 CD Set!!!.......2007-03-25

Absolute classic rock and roll!!! With that awesome "Wall Of Sound"!!! Phil Spector produced some of the greatest classic tunes in history,nuff said,forget about his recent problems with the law,it's the songs that matter,like the 60 ones(on the first three CD's) contained on this 4 CD set which also includes His classic: "A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector" (on the 4th CD)!!! Classic sides from The Teddy Bears,Ray Peterson,Ben E. King,Curtis Lee,The Crystals,Bob B. Soxx and The Blue Jeans,The Alley Cats,Darlene Love,Veronica,The Ronettes,The Treasures,The Righteous Brothers,The Modern Folk Quartet,Ike & Tina Turner,and Sonny Chareles and The Checkmates!!! Absolute essential listening!!! A delight for the ear!!! They just don't make great music like this anymore!!! Includes a beautiful full-color 96 page book and even a red and white "Back To Mono" button,just like the one Spector wore himself in his Santa Claus garb!!! Way to cool!!! Over 3 hours of the finest music ever waxed!!! I can't believe I found this superlative box set for less than 20 bucks,quite a bargain!!! Two thumbs up!!! Way up!!! Five stars!!! A+

Average customer rating:

its not music, its art
Songs to the Frog king
rating would be higher if album was more consistent
ex-girl ... amazing live, but great recorded, too.
Pop Muzik? Nay.

Back to the Mono Kero
Ex-Girl
Manufacturer: Ipecac Recordings
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music
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ASIN: B00005IBHK
Release Date: 2001-05-15

Tracks:

Waving Scientist @ Frog King
Tozka
Aji Fry (Fried Horse Mackerel)
Pop Muzik
Gween-Kong-Zee
Cucumber Surrender
Wipe Out #3
Solid States Kerok'N'Roll
Zero Gravity
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Susuke

Customer Reviews:

its not music, its art.......2007-07-13

.. its not music, its art, is one of the first things i thought after listening to the cd completely. The way they use sounds, opera and punk/rock is just great. If youre looking for music thats just not the same as every other group or singer this is definetly worth listening to.

Songs to the Frog king.......2005-10-09

when this first came out, i listened to it like crazy. nowadays i don't pull it out too much; but i still love the zany goofy rock of these unique and talented (and frog-obsessed) girls. the songs on Back To The Mono Kero are full of spirit and pop stylings of bands like Devo or The Jesters Of Destiny. wild synths jump out inbetween the squiggles of bass and strange guitar; as the wild vocals just simply go off in any direction available. it's a mess at times, but a highly enjoyable one.

rating would be higher if album was more consistent.......2003-04-25

I saw eX-Girl in concert and they put on a goofy, techno, spacey stage show. After that show, I bought this CD at the shwag table.

Unfortunately, when I got it home and popped it in tht player, it didn't quite hit the mark. There are some very stellar moments but they are few and far between. Also, if their live show was any indication, it seems that they've drifted more towards a harder, edgier, punkier, alien spacewoman synth sound than is present on this albumn.

My rating is heavy handed with 2 stars, but would have had 3 stars if the quality was consistently good, or 4 even if it was consistently good as the best tracks.

ex-girl ... amazing live, but great recorded, too........2002-05-08

ex-Girl have a masterful grip on their own peculiar blend of punk rock, girl harmonies, new wave, 1970s sci-fi, and noise pop. This inspired trio of Japanese women have learned to play their instruments since their debut release, and Back to the Mono Kero proves that they've recently perfected the art of composing their strange style of songs - with some help from producer Hoppy Kamiyama.

"Solid States Kerok'n'Roll" is a bouncy yet hard-rockin' wonder of the classic retro-retro variety, the 2001 version of one of those 1982 retro-1960s songs... or maybe Nena Hagen swirling around with Les Claypool in the blender at a B-52's beach party. The dubiously-titled "Cucumber Surrender" and the irresistable "Gween Kong-Zee" hit the same rich vein of golden Pop Rock nuggets.

The girls lighten up for the beautifully droning "Crime of the Century," which builds a spatial atmosphere of repetitive melodies, then breaks into noise moments and crunchy guitars in a Sonic Youth moment. And oh man, "Zero Gravity" aims for the stratosphere while plunging its feet through the ground and into the magma under the earth's core -- thanks primarily to Fuzuki's relentlessly kick[ing] percussion.

If you already know and love ex-Girl, you're undoubtedly hoping for some shouting and silliness along with the clear advancement of their musical skills: have no fear! The goofiness and from-the-gut originality are still in place on Back to Mono Kero, layered among the dense walls of guitar noise and mad samples.

Tunes like the jaw-dropping first track, "Waving Scientist," the girl vocal fest of "Sasuke," and their cover of the classic New Wave crossover tune "Pop Musik" show off just how brilliantly ex-Girl can balance happily familiar elements with truly strange ones.

Pop Muzik? Nay........2002-04-11

John Zorn takes Cibbo Matto under his wing, and viola! Yeah, it's really that good. Hard rock, glam rock, noise rock, space rock, prog rock, acid jazz, punk, and so on, and so on. Mike Patton only wishes he could be this feminine.

I'd like to say that's it's three Japanese transsexuals from Finnland, but I could be wrong. I'd still like to say it, though. It's three Japanese transsexuals from Finnland. There. Gonna TELL ON ME, now? Huh??

This is music that doesn't take itself seriously in the most offensively amusing way.

Back to the Mono Kero (+1 Bonus Track)
Average customer rating:
Back to the Mono Kero (+1 Bonus Track)
Ex-Girl
Manufacturer: Hi
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B00005L8J2
Release Date: 2001-06-29

Album Details

Japanese Version featuring a Bonus Track: 'let My Name Be Swallow'.

Average customer rating:

The County Hell Project

Manufacturer: Back to Mono Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B000F953IA

Pop Music:

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