Phil Spector/Crystals/Ronettes/Darlene Love – Very Best of (Phil Spector/Legacy)

In a way, this series of reissues couldn’t be better timed. Producer Phil Spector may be better known to those under 40 as a convicted murderer who was involved in the music industry before they were born. But no matter his faults as a human being (and let’s face it – there are plenty), his work as a producer and songwriter has held up extremely well, even half a century on. Spector had a magic touch when it came to expressing teenage love, lust and heartbreak, as he proved with hit after hit in the early 60s. Only the Beach Boys, the Beatles and Motown posed any serious challenge back in the day.

Legacy salutes Spector with four new anthologies. Da Doo Ron Ron: The Very Best of the Crystals lives up to its title, gathering singles and album cuts from Spector’s best-known clients. All the hits you’d expect are here – the title track, “He’s Sure the Boy I Love,” “Then He Kissed Me,” “Uptown,” the still disturbing “He Hit Me (It Felt Like a Kiss)” (which sounds weirdly prescient now, even though Spector had no hand in its authorship). Not to mention the magnificent “He’s a Rebel,” quite possibly the apex of the entire girl group movement. Deeper LP cuts round out the package, from “I Love You Eddie,” “All Grown Up” and the unsettling “Please Hurt Me” to “I Wonder,” “Little Boy” and the previously unreleased “Woman in Love (With You).” This collection makes a convincing argument for the Crystals being not only the ultimate girl group but Spector’s greatest artistic mouthpiece.

Of course, it wasn’t always the Crystals creating those records with Spector – many of those performances consisted of the overdubbed voice of the great Darlene Love. The Sound of Love: The Very Best of Darlene Love not only highlights her Crystals tunes (“He’s a Rebel,” “He’s Sure the Boy I Love”), but also her excellent work as Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans (“My Heart Beat a Little Faster,” “Not Too Young to Get Married,” the glorious “Why Do Lovers Break Each Other’s Hearts?”), brilliant tunes from the Blossoms (“That’s When the Tears Start,” “Good Good Lovin’,” both produced by Jimmy Bowen) and a string of excellent tracks under her own name, from the shining “A Fine Fine Boy,” “Wait ‘Til My Bobby Gets Home” and “(Today I Met) the Boy I’m Gonna Marry” to the more melancholy “A Long Way to Be Happy,” “Strange Love” and “Lord, If You’re a Woman.” After hearing these songs, you’ll be mystified as to why Love was never a superstar under her own name.

Of course, no Spector collection is complete without the Ronettes – thus Be My Baby: The Very Best of the Ronettes. Alas, the trio’s legacy is complicated by Spector’s infamously troubled marriage to charismatic lead singer Ronnie Spector, which unfortunately casts a pall on the work collected here. It also doesn’t help that, cut for cut, the Crystals’ compilation beats this one by a mile. But music isn’t a competition, and when the Ronettes were good, they were awesome. “Walking in the Rain,” “Baby, I Love You” and “(The Best Part of) Breakin’ Up” still thrill, and the iconic “Be My Baby” proves why it’s a classic with every note. If the lesser-known album cuts don’t grab attention as firmly, they’re still not bad – Ronnie’s distinctive wail can make even the most mediocre material shiver, and when she wraps her voice around brooding tunes like “I Wish I Never Saw the Sunshine” and “Is This What I Get For Loving You?,” magic threatens to happen.

The series wraps with Wall of Sound: The Very Best of Phil Spector 1961-1966, putting brackets around Spector’s most well-known work. Most of the cuts here can be found on the collections mentioned above, but the comp gets kudos for including Bob B. Sox’s bluesy take on “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” and the still-irresistible Righteous Brothers classic “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’.” The disk ends with “River Deep, Mountain High” from Ike & Tina Turner, possibly Spector’s last work of any ambition. The tension between the slick, bombastic production and Tina’s gritty soul remains compelling to this day. The years in the title tell the story – while it would have been nice to have included 1958’s “To Know Him is to Love Him,” from Spector’s vocal group the Teddy Bears, the auteur worked with personalities stronger than his from the mid-60s on, including the Beatles (both on Let It Be and solo records), the Ramones, Leonard Cohen, Dion and, most recently, Starsailor. He arguably contributed little to those LPS on par with his best hits, but that’s actually OK. Phil Spector left enough of a legacy in five years to ensure he deserves to be remembered for more than just his crimes.

http://www.legacyrecordings.com