Death never takes a day off. People die before being born again, or so it seems. Here's a tale of two people, connected by music and redeemed by death.
Phil Spector, with his back to mono wall of sound is well known. Beginning with the Teddy Bears' To Know Is To Love Him, the b side Don't You Worry My Little Pet, showed what Phil could do with a simple song, he added tons of backing vocals to make the song one of the first songs that I have connected in my life. The Do Woppa Wanna over the female vocals, this wasn't your throwaway song and it would figured into the production of Spector's hits later on.
Spector was a producer as well, producing Johnny Nash' World Of Tears for ABC Paramount, The Spectors Three I Know Why for 3 Trey but also Spanish Harlem by Ben E King for Atlantic and a few others before starting up Phillies with Lester Sill. The Wall of Sound was born from the Ronettes with Be My Baby, and Spector using the finest musicians in LA known as the Wrecking Crew. An Orchestra within the studio and just about any instrument that Phil could use all the way down to the caskenets (sic). Spector could arrange the hell out of a song and make it sound for the ages. Best producer ever in the era of mono recordings.
Nevertheless, he viewed himself as a genius and he could be ruthless. John Lennon called him the best producer ever, but Spector didn't do The Beatles any favors by adding way too much Orchestra on The Long And Winding Road, to which Paul McCartney revisited that album by editing out Spector's over the top arrangements for Let It Be Naked. Spector hooked up with Leonard Cohen for 1977's Death Of A Ladies Man, an album that Cohen hated so much, he never bothered to used those songs for his live performances (note: Cohen did sing Memories but he called that album Grotesque . Spector went all the way out to make Ike and Tina Turner's River Deep Mountain High into an album for the ages and when it bombed, Spector was never quite the same. Perhaps the strangest album was him producing End Of The Century for the Ramones. Contrary to rumor Spector never did hold the Ramones as hostage as any time to complete the record.
His weird behavior got the best of him and he could never finish an album. Starsailor made him co producer but he only produced two songs from the Silence Is Easy album. When he shot Lana Clarkson, he went to jail for her murder in 2009 and would remain in jail, till COVID took him out Saturday. He was 81.
In my view, Phil Spector is the best producer due to the hits of the 60s and his profound influence on Brian Wilson. He may have been in complete control of the artist, but he knew what sound to get, plus with a great array of L A musicians, he was mostly hands off to them. Tho Leonard Cohen hated the album he was working with Spector, Death Of A Ladies Man is still a listenable record, likewise End Of The Century. Spector may have missed the mark on the Cohen, Ramones albums but you might want to take a listen to Yoko Ono's Season Of Glass to which he worked on. He did make Yoko sound fairly good.
Mark Myers (Keds) was the singer for Senseless Things, a 1990s UK band that made three albums, the best was The First Of Too Many, a CD that I found for a dollar twenty five at Only Deals. Part shoe gaze and part UK oddity (like Ned's Atomic Dustbin) both NAD and ST shared Jessica Corcoran as producer. The First Of Too Many was all over the place and at 16 songs may have gone on a bit too long, but Senseless Things had some decent background singer. They had a minor hit with Best Friend and Got It At The Delmar could have fit in on alternative radio back in 1991. The followup record Empire Of The Senseless tried to rock harder and didn't convince anybody and Sony UK gave Senseless Things the heave ho. Mark Keds passed on January 10 at age 50 from an undisclosed causes. He may have overdosed. Below a great tribute to Mark from this link.
Ben Harding (From Facebook)
Dear Friends,
It is with the heaviest of hearts that we have to tell you that, sadly, Mark - our singer, friend and main songwriter - is no longer with us. We understand that he passed away at his home during the early hours of this morning. As yet, the cause of death is unconfirmed.
It’s no secret that he had struggled on and off with drug abuse and a pretty chaotic lifestyle for a long while, and his health suffered substantially over the years due to this. While this had sometimes created friction within the on-off workings of Senseless Things and his other projects, we choose to remember the friend, the brother and the talent we’ve lost today.
Mark was truly passionate about his musical calling and he used it with a fierce determination - from establishing a way of touring and playing gigs - one where nobody felt excluded - to including explicit, outspoken political content in our songs (and insisting on releasing them, even at the cost of commercial suicide and record company dismay).
His greatest talent, though, was in exploring the everyday fucked-upness and absolute, unbounded joy of one-to-one relationships; of love, lust, loss, anger, grief and the ecstasy of the ordinary. That particular talent remained undimmed.
He was a remarkably prolific songwriter - and remained so through every incarnation - with an amazing ear for melody, churning out punk-pop hit-after-hit at his peak. Senseless Things would frequently work up three new songs per rehearsal and chuck them into the next gig, usually the following night. He carried that talent on through Jolt, the Lams, Trip Fontaine and, most recently, Deadcuts - all of whom will be feeling his loss at least as keenly as we do now.
Mark, particularly as a young man, had a virulent thirst and passion for culture and knowledge. He devoured books, film and other people’s music and passed them on to us and others, and referenced so much of it in his own work. It was Mark who took charge of our fan communications in the early years, spending days and days writing to people and organising gigs (and places to crash afterwards), making friends for life in the process.
He was beloved across the country, from Inverness to Plymouth, from Ipswich to Aberystwyth, and across the world, from Tokyo to California. It’s his passion and lust for life that will stick with us, and we’re truly thankful (we know Mark was, too) that we all got to do it properly one last time at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire in 2017.
We love you, Mark. It seems cliched to say ‘gone too soon’, but damn, it’s true. He was only 50. It’s no fucking age to die. Our love and thoughts go out to his friends, his family, his loved ones and the ones who loved him.
We’ll be in touch with any further information/details as and when we receive it.
Mark Keds / Myers / Hammerton - Rest In Peace. Burn Bright, Ponyboy.
Love Ben, Cass and Morgan x
Also, Don Miller, vocalist for the Vogues passed away on Jan 10,2021 from natural causes. He was 80. The Vogues are best known for Five O Clock World and the lush harmonies of Turn Around Look At Me, and Hey That's No Way To Say Goodbye.
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