Philip Inspector

Thanks to a ghostly reminder in a coffee shop/bar (Fuel in Withington) earlier in the week and managed to dial a memo chip in my brains and remembered to watch the Phil Spector documentary last night on BBC2 (Arena).  Fascinating programme and serves to remind us that the 'beeb' can produce fine television when it wants to.  Directed by Vikram Jayanti (who has won more than a few Bafta's and was behind the docu-flick Rumble in the Jungle) this was an highly entertaining insight into the life of Phil Spector.  The backdrop, inevitably (given the murder charge pushed him back into the limelight) was his murder trial from last year.  With no verdict reached Spector is currently awaiting a retrial.

Whatever you feel about this little wall of genius he's undoubtedly a fascinating character.  He started writing and performing (with the teddy bears) when he was 18 releasing the hit record 'To know him is to love him'.  The programme pounded the chops with song after song – a host of classic records were directed the eccentric Spector, with the odd surprise flashed once in a while:  I'd never knew he wrote 'Spanish Harlem' for example.  A text of history was placed over the court footage, reminding me of the wording they used for Top of The Pops 2.  His work with the Ronettes, Tina Turner, the Beatles and John Lennon was lovingly inserted into this 90 odd minute documentary.  I'm not quite sure he was much of a fan of Paul McCartney – that was made quite clear in his discussions on the ex beatle.

Less was mentioned about his more erratic (and dark) behaviour which have oiled the rumour mills for many years.  Much less (apart from the court scenes) was talked about the night in question when a girlfriend of his, actress Lana Clarkson, was either murdered or committed suicide (I'm still none the wiser to be fair).

It was good to hear the music he produced for Lennon in the early seventies (including, of course, Imagine – the piano incidentally appeared behind him in the interview scenes), although it might have been nice to include a bit of Dion's 'Born to be with you' and maybe a dash of the Ramones, but I guess time was against the producers of this documentary such was, I can only guess, the amount of footage they had to constrict.

Christmas will hit us all in the face like a cold piece of gammon soon enough.  Now's the time to make sure you have a copy of 'A Christmas Gift for you from Phil Spector'.