Holiday Rerun: Sacraments from the Church of Rock 'n' Roll

This post originally appeared exactly one year ago today in a slightly different form.

It's hard to imagine now, but at one time Phil Spector was more than a wild-haired convicted murderer serving 19 years to life in prison (heck, at one point, he wasn't even a less-wild-haired guy allegedly pointing guns at John Lennon or the Ramones).

Back in the early days of Rock 'n' Roll, Phil Spector was hailed as a genius who built a dense "wall of sound" by multitracking dozens of instruments and backing vocalists (and mixing it all down to mono).

In 1963, he released A Christmas Gift For You from Phil Spector, which included the Ronettes, the Crystals, and the amazing Darlene Love.

If there was a Church of Rock 'n' Roll, one of its sacraments would have to be Darlene Love singing "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)." U2, Bruce Springsteen, Joey Ramone, and Death Cab for Cutie (among others) have recorded great versions of this song, but no one comes close to Darlene Love. Her voice (which combines strength, hope, and pure joy in a way that angels would envy) soars above sleigh bells, dozens of stringed instruments, and a choir that sounds like it could number in the hundreds.

Since 1986, David Letterman has had Darlene Love sing this song every year on his last broadcast before Christmas. Although Love is now in her 60s, her voice is still strong and powerful and still can soar above dozens of string and horn players (and the choir). Letterman has said that it just doesn't feel like Christmas until Darlene Love sings this song. Sadly, Darlene Love couldn't appear last year (the show was not in production due to the writers strike).

Maybe it's sacrilegious to talk about a Church of Rock 'n' Roll, but if you don't get the chills hearing this song, you may be beyond hope.

And if Darlene Love doesn't sing this song, then it's not really Christmas.

Darlene Love on David Letterman:
1995:


2000:


2004:


And, as a special bonus, here's video from a 1981 New Year's Eve concert where Darlene Love sang this song live for the first time since 1963!

This year, Darlene Love will sing "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" on the Late Show with David Letterman on Wednesday, December 23.

It's the End of the 70s....

Apparently, Los Angeles can convict celebrities of murder.

But only if it's been more than 30 years since they were famous (which explains O.J. Simpson and Robert Blake).

Spector, who dubbed himself the "first teenage millionaire" and invented the "Wall of Sound" with dozens of instruments dubbed down to mono tracks, produced amazing hits for the Ronnettes, Ike and Tina Turner, and others. In a Freudian slip that speaks volumes, he also famously claimed that the title "To Know Him is to Love Him" came from his own tombstone (realizing what he'd said, he said he meant his father's tombstone).

Spector is also the producer brought in by John Lennon to salvage the Let it Be project, which he did by overdubbing strings and pissing off Paul McCartney.

After a bunch of high-profile production work for Lennon and George Harrison in the 1970s, Spector was brought in to produce End of the Century for the Ramones -- an idea that was just crazy enough to work (although, in the end, it didn't).

Over the past 30 years, there have been widespread reports of incidents involving Spector pulling guns on various musicians. So when he was accused of shooting a woman in 2003, many people wondered why it had taken so long for someone to die because of one of Spector's guns. And sadly, he's better known in the past 20 years for his bizarre hairpieces than for anything musical.

It's the end, the end of the 70s
It's the end, the end of the century...

(Link for Gmail subscribers)

A Toot and A Snore (and 2 TV Commercials)

An important part of the mythos of John Lennon is the 18-month "Lost Weekend" he spent in Los Angeles after separating from Yoko Ono. The official account is that Lennon drank, got high, and screwed around with May Pang while getting nothing done. While the drinking, drugging, and screwing are certainly true, Lennon actually got a ton done during that Lost Weekend.

Sure, he was thrown out of the Troubador when he and Harry Nilsson drunkenly heckled the Smothers Brothers (with Lennon wearing a tampon on his forehead), but during that 18 months, Lennon also:

• Produced the Nilsson album Pussy Cats,


• Recorded a bunch of oldies with producer Phil Spector (as part of a settlement of a lawsuit brought by Morris Levy from Roullette Records, who claimed Lennon stole parts of "Come Together" from Chuck Berry's "You Can't Catch Me" -- but agreed to drop the suit if Lennon recorded three songs Levy's publishing company owned),


• Spent time with his song Julian (whose grade-school drawing reportedly inspired the song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"), whom he hadn't seen for years,


• Wrote and Recorded the Walls and Bridges album (which featured Julian drumming on one song),


• Recorded his single to hit #1 in his lifetime (not counting the dozens of Beatle singles), "Whatever Gets You Through the Night" (with Elton John on piano and vocals),


• Performed three songs with Elton John live at Madison Square Garden,


• Co-wrote and sang on David Bowie's song "Fame,"


• Wrote, sang and played on Ringo's "Goodnight Vienna,"


• Hosted a weekly jam session at a rented house in Santa Monica (almost everyone who participated in these jam sessions is now in the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame),


• Fought back against attempts by J. Edgar Hoover and Richard Nixon to have him deported,


• Reunited with Paul McCartney in the studio for a jam session that also included Stevie Wonder, Bobby Keys, and Jesse Ed Davis (widely bootlegged under the title A Toot and A Snore in '74,


• Recorded a radio commercial for Tower Records,


• Appeared on the Grammy Awards and made bad jokes with Paul Simon (when Art Garfunkle accepted the award for Olivia Newton John, who won Record of the Year, the first thing Simon said was "I thought I told you to wait in the car"),


• And made these two TV commercials (links one and two for Gmail subscribers):

Not bad for a "lost weekend."

PS: Ringo, the aliens want their cheap special effects back.

Sacraments in the Church of Rock 'n' Roll

Sacraments in the Church of Rock 'n' Roll

It's hard to imagine now, but at one time Phil Spector was more than a wild-haired guy on trial for murder (or a less-wild haired guy allegedly pointing guns at John Lennon or the Ramones).

Back in the early days of Rock 'n' Roll, Phil Spector was hailed as a genius who built a dense "wall of sound" by multitracking dozens of instruments and backing vocalists (and mixing it all down to mono).

In 1963, he released A Christmas Gift For You from Phil Spector, which included the Ronettes, the Crystals, and the amazing Darlene Love.

If there was a Church of Rock 'n' Roll, one of its sacraments would have to be Darlene Love singing "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)." U2, Bruce Springsteen, Joey Ramone, and Death Cab for Cutie (among others) have recorded great versions of this song, but no one comes close to Darlene Love. Her voice (which combines strength, hope, and pure joy in a way that angels would envy) soars above sleigh bells, dozens of stringed instruments, and a choir that sounds like it could number in the hundreds.

Since 1986, David Letterman has had Darlene Love sing this song every year on his last broadcast before Christmas. Although Love is now in her 60s, her voice is still strong and powerful and still can soar above dozens of string and horn players (and the choir). Letterman has said that it just doesn't feel like Christmas until Darlene Love sings this song. Sadly, Darlene Love couldn't appear last year (the show was not in production due to the writers strike).

Maybe it's sacrilegious to talk about a Church of Rock 'n' Roll, but if you don't get the chills hearing this song, you may be beyond hope.

Darlene Love on David Letterman:
1995:

2000:

2004:

And, as a special bonus, here's video from a 1981 New Year's Eve concert where Darlene Love sang this song live for the first time since 1963!

This year, Darlene Love will sing "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" on the Late Show with David Letterman on Tuesday, December 23.