Box Sets Suck 6: Phil Spector: Back To Mono (1958-1969) (Abkco 1991)

This one was extremely easy to construct. Basically, most of disc one and very little of the awful discs two and three. In short, it apes the vinyl era standard of Phil Spector's Greatest Hits from 1977 with Phil as parade balloon on the cover (not to be confused with Phil Spector's 20 Greatest Hits from 1976 with the ice cream cone in the kisser cover).

Of course, I'm cheating as usual by excluding anything from disc four which is A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector. But as Rolling Stone will tell you, it's its own entity. And besides, what needs to happen is an elegant two-disc set that fits in the space of one with MY track listing below comprising disc one and the Xmas album on disc two leaving space for the apparent faves I rejected: "Spanish Harlem" (doesn't really count), "Under The Moon of Love," "Just Once in My Life" (never much liked The Righteous Brothers because by the time Spector got to them, he was crushing good songs under his Wall of Sound and forgetting to motorvate them with anything beyond funeral tympani), maybe "Do The Screw" or even a grotesquerie like "I Wish I Never Saw the Sunshine" (which makes "River Deep - Mountain High" sound like something off of Colossal Youth).

And Christ, shit else. The man was/is obnoxious (to be nice) and his box followed suit. Not just too damn long but too damn big - a 12" vinyl-sized elephant (it's gray too) with each song lyric getting its own page in the ho-hum booklet. Plus the CDs are hard to get out of (and back into) the cheap plastic tray. I look forward to getting it out of my apartment.

Phil Spector: Back To Basics (1958-1969) (Bozelkablog 2007)

1. The Teddy Bears: " To Know Him Is to Love Him"
2. Curtis Lee: "Pretty Little Angel Eyes"
3. Gene Pitney: "Every Breath I Take"
4. The Paris Sisters: "I Love How You Love Me "
5. The Crystals: "There's No Other Like My Baby"
6. The Crystals: "Uptown"
7. The Crystals: "He Hit Me (It Felt Like A Kiss)"
8. The Crystals: "He's a Rebel"
9. Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans: "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah"
10. The Crystals: "He's Sure the Boy I Love"
11. Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans: "Why Do Lovers Break Each Others Hearts"
12. Darlene Love: "(Today I Met) The Boy I'm Gonna Marry"
13. The Crystals: "Da Doo Ron Ron"
14. Veronica: "Why Don’t They Let Us Fall in Love"
15. Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans: "Not Too Young to Get Married"
16. Darlene Love : "Wait 'Till My Bobby Gets Home"
17. The Ronettes: "Be My Baby"
18. The Crystals: "Then He Kissed Me"
19. Darlene Love: "A Fine, Fine Boy"
20. The Ronettes: "Baby, I Love You"
21. The Ronettes: "(The Best Part Of) Breakin’ Up"
22. The Ronettes: "Woman In Love (With You)"
23. The Ronettes: "Walking In the Rain"
24. The Righteous Brothers: "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'"
25. The Righteous Brothers: "Unchained Melody"
26. The Righteous Brothers: "Ebb Tide"
27. Ike and Tina Turner: "River Deep - Mountain High"
28. Sonny Charles and the Checkmates: "Black Pearl"