Back To Mono (1958-1969)
by Phil Spector

From ffudnebbuh TOP 100 COMMENTER 08/27/2010 19:48 | #13085 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

Best cuts: "Black Pearl", " Da Doo Ron Ron" and "Marshmallow World", although it is hard to pick one best. These first two songs would be in my all time top 10 tracks. "Black Pearl" is the perfect R/B song and it could be the best record ever made IMO,... everything on this song has direction.. focus is the production, the vocals, an unearthly arrangement with choir, strings, about a guy putting his girlfriend on a pedestal despite her place in life. "To know him is to love him", was the first song that I remember being conscious of hearing it on the radio, so it had a big impact on my later musical taste. to me, it sounded like a dirge that was also a love song...but the flip side of the single,"don't you worry my little pet", is better but unfortunately, not on this collection. If you like Phil Spector, you must check out this song( only on the flip side of the single "To know him is to love him"

From slatsheit 09/19/2026 05:39 | #316127 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

I'm still debating whether or not to put this in my "greatest of all-time" list, since I have generally eschewed collections. That's just the consequence of the pre-Beatles era - it's not about albums, so if you want to honor those artists and their achievements with singles properly, you have to include collections. Little RIchard, Chuck Berry, the early Motown artists, Sam Cooke, Roy Orbison, and The Everly Brothers come to mind. The color of the box here is key - this is a freaking monument. And you get the classic Christmas (to which of course I listen every year). But the real prize here are the great singles from disc 2, and most of all the tremendously decadent, fin-de-siecle romantic bombast of the first half of disc 3 - all those record-played-too-slow Righteous Brothers masterpieces (the underrated gem of which is "For Once in My Life"), but also The Ronettes' "Is This What I Get for Loving You," and especially "Born to Be Together," which is one of my 100 favorite tracks of all time, and Darlene Love's "Strange Love" and "Long Way to Be Happy." It isn't all consistently great as its best stuff, but what 3-disc box set is? Despicable man, luminous records.

From swhaze TOP 100 COMMENTER 05/14/2014 03:28 | #111714 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

This is a greatest hits album of all of Spector's doo-wop hits from the 1960's. My mom listened to this stuff while I was growing up so it brings back a lot of good memories for me.

From planetneutral 03/04/2021 02:18 | #266936 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

Really an absurdly strong testament to Spector's genius, not only as a producer, but also as a songwriter.

A fantastic compilation of Mr. Spector's greatest work.