PHIL SPECTOR PRESENTS THE PHILLES ALBUM COLLECTION, with its seven CDs and 87 tracks, now far supercedes the 20-year old 1991 box set, Back To Mono (1958-1969) (ABKCO). The latter housed three compilation CDs, and a reissue of 1963’s A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector. In October 2009, the Philles catalog came to Sony Music as the result of a licensing agreement with EMI Music Publishing. Not long after, a newly-remastered version of A Christmas Gift for You found a permanent home in the new Phil Spector Records/Legacy catalog.
In the golden age of the British R&B revival, few groups created as much excitement and controversy as the Pretty Things. They came up alongside the Rolling Stones in the early 1960s, but were deemed by critics and fans as wilder and bluesier than even Mick Jagger & co. When long-haired Phil May sang and shook his maracas with manic intensity, audiences and record buyers knew they were in for a wild ride.
For anyone in their mid-teens in the mid-5Os, and into music, it had to be rock'n'roll - American rock'n roll. There was no British equivalent to the sound. In the UK, it was Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, The Platters, Alan Freed, Radio Luxembourg, Voice Of America. If the right people get to know about this and hear the quality, this will sell and sell.