Halloween is now over and it’s November. Obviously this sparks furious debate – some people get into the festive spirit already, some wait to December. No, I won’t be reviewing Christmas music yet. However, I am looking at an artist directly related to some Christmas music I will review in December.

One of the defining sounds (and my favourite) of Christmas music is the production work of Phil Spector and the many groups he worked with. Now, he was a murderer and I am not excusing that. However, his music and production work is so phenomenal that I think I must separate the art from the artist!

Spector developed the famous “Wall of Sound” production technique. He crammed large numbers of session musicians – known as “The Wrecking Crew” – into a small studio space. These featured strings, glockenspiel, a booming drum sound, percussion such as castanets. He also had multiple instruments play the same parts simultaneously, such as twin pianos. He utilised acoustic bleed and reverb to make this expansive, otherworldly sound.

He used this technique to make many famous Christmas classics played every year. However, he also of course worked on a lot of non-Christmas music. Some of his greatest work was with The Ronettes.

Like many of the other groups Spector collaborated with, The Ronettes were a girl group, consisting of two sisters and a cousin. They interestingly only released one album, 1964’s Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes.

It features that trademark sound – layers of harmonies and that “kick kick kick snare” drum pattern that I love. It contains some of their biggest hits – “Do I Love You?,” “Be My Baby” and “Baby, I Love You.”

*the “Wrecking Crew”

I would play the start of “Walking In The Rain” after tracks four and eight (the rain sound effect). That’s because these upbeat tracks don’t lead up to that release of energy a crash cymbal hit gives, in my opinion. Whereas, the explosion of the rain sound effect gives the same effect as a crash cymbal hit. I would put track 10 as six and 11 as nine for the flow of the album.

The music of Phil Spector has been a big inspiration to many disparate genres. The ethereal and blurry soundscapes of dream pop, The Beach Boys (whose Wall of Sound methods and Christmas music I will be reviewing) and even punk. The short and melodic songs inspired bands like Ramones and they covered “Baby, I Love You” on the Spector-produced End of the Century album in 1980. Joey Ramone also collaborated with lead singer Ronnie Spector (not her real name, with the stage name being an inspiration for The Ramones too). “How Does It Feel” is one of my favourites on the Ronettes album, with its fast drumbeat sounding like punk many years before.

Overall, that’s why I think the work of Spector and The Ronettes is still mind-blowing to this day. It can be seen as pop, rock n roll, work in the context of Christmas music etc. He also worked with many other famous artists such as The Beatles and their solo careers over the years.

A unique sound for sure.