Monday Blues: The Phil Spector Songbook

An earnest 1970 tribute to Phil Spector

Originally released in 1970 on the Vault label, this is the earliest known album tribute to the songs made famous by Phil Spector. Numerous artists had taken a crack at imitating Spector’s Wall of Sound, but this was the first, of what turned out to be many, album tributes to the Tycoon of Teen. The Monday Blues are more of a soft-rock vocal group in the Mamas and Papas vein than a pop group, and the arrangements have more in common with the then-emerging singer-songwriter sound than the Brill Building. But this all works in the record’s favor as it creates a tribute to Spector’s songs rather than his inimitable production technique. The song list is drawn almost entirely from the works of the Ronettes and Crystals, but their best known hits are augmented by a few of their later songs, including “Do I Love You” and “Is This What I Get for Loving You?”  Nothing here substitutes for the original singles, but as the first tribute to Phil Spector, it’s a sweet reminder of his artistic genius. [©2010 hyperbolium dot com]

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