"He [Spector] was given the shittiest load of badly-recorded shit -- and with a lousy feeling to it -- ever. And he made something out of it. When I heard it, I didn't puke."

On Saturday, March 19, 2022 at 7:56:18 AM UTC-4, Norbert K wrote:
> "He [Spector] was given the shittiest load of badly-recorded shit -- and with a lousy feeling to it -- ever. And he made something out of it. When I heard it, I didn't puke."

What do people think about these claims of John's?

I think Lennon was delusional at the time he said these things and that Spector was another of the nuts and grifters (a la "Magic" Alex Mardas, Yoko Ono, and Allen Klein) he was susceptible to through frying his brain on acid.

Glyn Johns later confronted Lennon about these statements; May Pang witnessed it. Lennon said something like: "Forget about it, Glyn. I was stoned and letting off steam."

In article <3c4f1718-bdcd-4288-a145-ed24fd7222b8n@googlegroups.com>,
Norbert K <norbertkosky69@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Saturday, March 19, 2022 at 7:56:18 AM UTC-4, Norbert K wrote:
> > "He [Spector] was given the shittiest load of badly-recorded shit -- and
> > with a lousy feeling to it -- ever. And he made something out of it. When I
> > heard it, I didn't puke."

Sounds like a backhanded compliment to me. <shrug>

> What do people think about these claims of John's?
>
> I think Lennon was delusional at the time he said these things and that
> Spector was another of the nuts and grifters (a la "Magic" Alex Mardas, Yoko
> Ono, and Allen Klein) he was susceptible to through frying his brain on acid.
>
>
> Glyn Johns later confronted Lennon about these statements; May Pang
> witnessed it. Lennon said something like: "Forget about it, Glyn. I was
> stoned and letting off steam."

Lennon had the closest relationship with Spector than any of the other
three so Spector wouldn't have been involved if Lennon didn't want him
or at least objected.

I think he was the best option at the time considering Martin was
disgusted with them at that point and all four didn't have the energy or
interest to work on the tapes themselves (there's no way three of them
would have allowed one of the others to self-produce it).

Glyn Johns could have been a possibility but by 1969 he had only
produced albums for Steve Miller and minor acts like Family and Johnny
Halliday, though he had built quite a resume as an engineer/mixer for
The Rolling Stones and Small Faces. Of course he would go on later in
the '70s to produce excellent material for The Who, The Eagles and Eric
Clapton.

On 20/03/2022 9:51 am, super70s wrote:

>
> Lennon had the closest relationship with Spector than any of the other
> three so Spector wouldn't have been involved if Lennon didn't want him
> or at least objected.

Kind of prophetic, given Spector's thing about guns ;- (

geoff

On Sunday, March 20, 2022 at 6:48:47 AM UTC-4, geoff wrote:
> On 20/03/2022 9:51 am, super70s wrote:
>
> >
> > Lennon had the closest relationship with Spector than any of the other
> > three so Spector wouldn't have been involved if Lennon didn't want him
> > or at least objected.
>
> Kind of prophetic, given Spector's thing about guns ;- (
>
> geoff

Spector fired a gunshot into the studio wall while working with Lennon.. Lennon said, "Phil, if you're going to kill me, kill me. But don't f*ck with my ears. I need them." He was in complete denial as to Spector's dangerousness and assumed Spector had shot a blank. Mal Evans later dislodged the slug from the wall.

May Pang was in no such denial re: Spector. She said in an interview that Spector's murder of Lana Clarkson was not a surprise and that Spector had been a "ticking time-bomb."

Even before work had begun on the Rock'N'Roll album, Spector gave Lennon ample indication of his paranoia, instability, and obsession with "total control" over the project. Why on earth did Lennon agree to such terms? I believe it's because he was used to dealing with such insanity through Yoko.

On 21/03/2022 1:04 am, Norbert K wrote:
> On Sunday, March 20, 2022 at 6:48:47 AM UTC-4, geoff wrote:
>> On 20/03/2022 9:51 am, super70s wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Lennon had the closest relationship with Spector than any of the other
>>> three so Spector wouldn't have been involved if Lennon didn't want him
>>> or at least objected.
>>
>> Kind of prophetic, given Spector's thing about guns ;- (
>>
>> geoff
>
>
> Spector fired a gunshot into the studio wall while working with Lennon. Lennon said, "Phil, if you're going to kill me, kill me. But don't f*ck with my ears. I need them." He was in complete denial as to Spector's dangerousness and assumed Spector had shot a blank. Mal Evans later dislodged the slug from the wall.
>
> May Pang was in no such denial re: Spector. She said in an interview that Spector's murder of Lana Clarkson was not a surprise and that Spector had been a "ticking time-bomb."
>
> Even before work had begun on the Rock'N'Roll album, Spector gave Lennon ample indication of his paranoia, instability, and obsession with "total control" over the project. Why on earth did Lennon agree to such terms? I believe it's because he was used to dealing with such insanity through Yoko.
>
>
>
>

Or that he was usually out of his tree, and decision-making
incapacitated with whatever he was on at the time.

geoff

On Saturday, March 19, 2022 at 7:56:18 AM UTC-4, Norbert K wrote:
> "He [Spector] was given the shittiest load of badly-recorded shit -- and with a lousy feeling to it -- ever. And he made something out of it. When I heard it, I didn't puke."

OK, John liked what Spector did, Paul didn't. What about the other two?

On Sunday, March 20, 2022 at 6:12:44 PM UTC-4, geoff wrote:
> On 21/03/2022 1:04 am, Norbert K wrote:
> > On Sunday, March 20, 2022 at 6:48:47 AM UTC-4, geoff wrote:
> >> On 20/03/2022 9:51 am, super70s wrote:
> >>
> >>>
> >>> Lennon had the closest relationship with Spector than any of the other
> >>> three so Spector wouldn't have been involved if Lennon didn't want him
> >>> or at least objected.
> >>
> >> Kind of prophetic, given Spector's thing about guns ;- (
> >>
> >> geoff
> >
> >
> > Spector fired a gunshot into the studio wall while working with Lennon. Lennon said, "Phil, if you're going to kill me, kill me. But don't f*ck with my ears. I need them." He was in complete denial as to Spector's dangerousness and assumed Spector had shot a blank. Mal Evans later dislodged the slug from the wall.
> >
> > May Pang was in no such denial re: Spector. She said in an interview that Spector's murder of Lana Clarkson was not a surprise and that Spector had been a "ticking time-bomb."
> >
> > Even before work had begun on the Rock'N'Roll album, Spector gave Lennon ample indication of his paranoia, instability, and obsession with "total control" over the project. Why on earth did Lennon agree to such terms? I believe it's because he was used to dealing with such insanity through Yoko.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> Or that he was usually out of his tree, and decision-making
> incapacitated with whatever he was on at the time.
>
> geoff

Good point. I think that, contrary to Lennon's own propaganda, the so-called "Lost Weekend" was the happiest and most productive part of Lennon's post-Beatles (or even post "eating acid like candy" phase) existence. He was off heroin and methodone and used cocaine and acid occasionally. However, even then he managed to have a the Troubadour Incidents and the occasional rampage. Lennon admitted more than once that "I always needed a drug to survive."