Christmas music #4 — Phil Spector

One of the all-time great Christmas albums is A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector. It fits into that rare sub-genre of Christmas music by a convicted murderer.

Featuring his regular artists, the album showcases Spector’s famous “wall of sound” production technique. Designed to reproduce effectively on AM wireless (in mono), it was an innovative attempt to make the most of the limited quality of the equipment that was typically used to play pop music in the early 1960s. To modern ears it can sound dense and heavily compressed, but the arrangements and production set standards that have been much copied since.

And it is quite Christmassy.

http://open.spotify.com/album/4usxfUImNER8bHZANHcd0J

Christmas music #4 — Phil Spector

One of the all-time great Christmas albums is A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector. It fits into that rare sub-genre of Christmas music by a convicted murderer.

Featuring his regular artists, the album showcases Spector’s famous “wall of sound” production technique. Designed to reproduce effectively on AM wireless (in mono), it was an innovative attempt to make the most of the limited quality of the equipment that was typically used to play pop music in the early 1960s. To modern ears it can sound dense and heavily compressed, but the arrangements and production set standards that have been much copied since.

And it is quite Christmassy.

http://open.spotify.com/album/4usxfUImNER8bHZANHcd0J

This entry was originally posted at http://tobyaw.dreamwidth.org/168800.html.

Christmas music #4 — Phil Spector

One of the all-time great Christmas albums is A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector. It fits into that rare sub-genre of Christmas music by a convicted murderer.

Featuring his regular artists, the album showcases Spector’s famous “wall of sound” production technique. Designed to reproduce effectively on AM wireless (in mono), it was an innovative attempt to make the most of the limited quality of the equipment that was typically used to play pop music in the early 1960s. To modern ears it can sound dense and heavily compressed, but the arrangements and production set standards that have been much copied since.

And it is quite Christmassy.

http://open.spotify.com/album/4usxfUImNER8bHZANHcd0J

This entry was originally posted at http://tobyaw.dreamwidth.org/168800.html.

The Dam Busters

With the news of the death of Richard Todd, we took the opportunity to re-watch his finest film this evening: The Dam Busters.

It is a film that is always a pleasure to watch; the performances are uniformly excellent, its connection with history (and the resources provided for the filming) could never be repeated, and the emotional power of the sense of loss expressed in the final scenes is astonishing. There is no celebration of victory; only an acknowledgement of the importance and sadness of sacrifice.

The Dam Busters

With the news of the death of Richard Todd, we took the opportunity to re-watch his finest film this evening: The Dam Busters.

It is a film that is always a pleasure to watch; the performances are uniformly excellent, its connection with history (and the resources provided for the filming) could never be repeated, and the emotional power of the sense of loss expressed in the final scenes is astonishing. There is no celebration of victory; only an acknowledgement of the importance and sadness of sacrifice.

This entry was originally posted at http://tobyaw.dreamwidth.org/169079.html.