Philles Records

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Philles Records
Parent company EMI Music Publishing (Sony Music Publishing)
Founded1961
FounderPhil Spector, Lester Sill
Defunct1969
StatusDefunct
Distributor(s) Legacy Recordings
Genre Pop, R&B, Blue-eyed soul
Country of origin United States
Location Los Angeles, California

Philles Records was an American record label formed in 1961 by Phil Spector and Lester Sill, the label taking its name from a hybrid of their first names. Initially, the label was distributed by Jamie/Guyden in Philadelphia. [a] In 1962, Spector purchased Sill's stock to become sole owner at 22 years of age, America's youngest label chief at the time.

Contents

Founding and background

The label issued 12 albums over the course of its existence, but with the exception of A Christmas Gift for You , the focus was always on the single. However, Philles X-125 is a reissue of Philles 119, and X-125 exists with two different B-side tracks, as "Winter Wonderland" (1964) and "Winter Blues" (1965) were substituted for the original flipside, "Harry and Milt Meet Hal B" (1963). "Harry and Milt" and many other flipsides were deliberately undistinguished instrumentals, which were intended to focus attention on the A-sides. [1] These B-sides were originally credited to the A-side artists, but later pieces were credited to the Phil Spector Group. Also, most discographies, including the one in the Back to Mono booklet, list two items with catalogue number Philles 123. "Stumble And Fall" by Darlene Love was released and then withdrawn (both stock and promos exist) in August 1964 (according to Billboard magazine). Its number was replaced with "Walking in the Rain" by The Ronettes, which came out that October. Philles 111 also has two B-sides: "My Heart Beat a Little Bit Faster" and "Playing for Keeps." The last few singles (134, 135, and 136) received much less airplay than their predecessors. Although singles 134 and 135 were "charted" by Billboard, single 136 did not—although both promo and regular stock copies exist. The promotion-only single "(Let's Dance) The Screw" by The Crystals is known only in the form of a handful of promotional copies and one stock copy.

After the chart failures of the last few singles, Phil Spector stopped producing and releasing new records on Philles. In the summer of 1966, he signed Bob Crewe and Jeff Barry to produce The Ronettes and Ike & Tina Turner. [2] [3] The label effectively ceased operations in 1967, and Spector did not return to production work for another two years. [4] [5] There was one more Philles record, The Phil Spector Spectacular. It was released only to radio stations in 1972, along with a letter from Phil. [6] The Philles catalog is now administered by Sony Music Publishing, which acquired the catalogue when it bought EMI Music Publishing, with Sony Music's Legacy Recordings imprint handling distribution rights for the Philles catalog through a new licensing deal which was finalized in September 2009. [7] Prior to this deal, the Philles reissues were handled by ABKCO Records.

Production

The singles were produced by Spector, with five and one half exceptions: Philles 101, 103, and 104 were produced by Lester Sill prior to his departure from the company; Philles 133 by Jeff Barry; Philles 134 by Bob Crewe; and the B-side of Philles 136 was produced by Ike Turner. For years, The Righteous Brothers' Bill Medley has insisted that he produced "Unchained Melody" (Philles 129) but that has never been confirmed: as an album track for Just Once in My Life , Spector delegated production of such tracks to Medley. As the B-side to "Hung On You", early presses did not specify its producer on the label – Spector usually produced throwaway instrumentals on the B-side to focus on the A-side. When the track boomed in popularity, Spector eventually opted to claim credit in later presses.

Of the non-Spector productions, only "I Can Hear Music" charted and it rose no higher than 100th place. Every one of Spector's productions made the charts in the U.S., with the exceptions of Philles 136, one of the two Philles 123's, the withdrawn Philles 105, and the holiday single both times. Eighteen Philles records made the Top 40, the label topping the charts twice with Philles 106 in 1962, and again with Philles 124 in 1965.

Notable artists

Singles discography

CatalogueRelease Date Hot 100

Chart Peak

Song TitleWriter(s)ArtistTime
Philles 10010/61#20 There's No Other (Like My Baby) Phil Spector and Leroy Bates The Crystals 2:31
Philles 1013/62Here I Stand Tony Mottola Joel Scott
Philles 1023/62#13 Uptown Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann The Crystals 2:19
Philles 103/62 Malagueña Ernesto Lecuona Ali Hassan
Philles 1046/62Lt. Colonel Bogey's Parade Lester Sill Steve Douglas and His Merry Men
Philles 1057/62withdrawn He Hit Me (It Felt Like A Kiss) Gerry Goffin and Carole King The Crystals 2:32
Philles 1069/62#1 He's A Rebel Gene Pitney The Crystals 2:25
Philles 10710/62#8 Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah Ray Gilbert and Allie Wrubel Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans 2:49
Philles 1081/63#43Puddin' N' TainGary Pipkin, Alonzo Willis, Brice Coefield The Alley Cats 2:48
Philles 10912/62#11 He's Sure the Boy I Love Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil The Crystals 2:44
Philles 1101/63#38 Why Do Lovers Break Each Others Hearts Ellie Greenwich, Tony Powers, Phil Spector Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans 2:48
Philles 111Early 63special use only (Let's Dance) The Screw, Part 1Spector The Crystals
Philles 1114/63#39(Today I Met) The Boy I'm Gonna MarryGreenwich, Powers, Spector Darlene Love 2:48
Philles 1124/63#3 Da Doo Ron Ron Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Barry, Phil Spector The Crystals 2:17
Philles 1135/63#63 Not Too Young to Get Married Greenwich, Barry, Spector Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans 2:27
Philles 1147/63#26 Wait ‘til My Bobby Gets Home Greenwich, Barry, Spector Darlene Love 2:23
Philles 1158/63#6 Then He Kissed Me Greenwich, Barry, Spector The Crystals 2:37
Philles 1168/63#2 Be My Baby Greenwich, Barry, Spector The Ronettes 2:40
Philles 11710/63#53A Fine Fine BoyGreenwich, Barry, Spector Darlene Love 2:46
Philles 11812/63#24 Baby, I Love You Greenwich, Barry, Spector The Ronettes 2:50
Philles 11911/63 Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) Greenwich, Barry, Spector Darlene Love 2:45
Philles 119x1/64#92Little BoyGreenwich, Barry, Spector The Crystals 2:59
Philles 1204/64#39 The Best Part of Breakin' Up Vini Poncia, Pete Andreoli, Phil Spector The Ronettes 3:02
Philles 1216/64#34 Do I Love You? Poncia, Andreoli, Spector The Ronettes 2:50
Philles 1227/64#98All Grown UpGreenwich, Barry, Spector The Crystals 2:49
Philles 1238/64withdrawnStumble And FallPoncia, Andreoli, Spector Darlene Love 2:22
Philles 12310/17/64#23 Walking in the Rain Weil, Mann, Spector The Ronettes 3:16
Philles 12411/64#1 You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' Weil, Mann, Spector The Righteous Brothers 3:46
Philles X-12512/64 Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) Greenwich, Barry, Spector Darlene Love 2:45
Philles 1262/65#52Born to Be TogetherWeil, Mann, Spector The Ronettes 2:57
Philles 1274/65#9 Just Once in My Life Goffin, King, Spector The Righteous Brothers 3:56
Philles 1285/65#75 Is This What I Get for Loving You? Goffin, King, Spector The Ronettes 3:21
Philles 1297/65#4 Unchained Melody (originally B side to "Hung On You") Hy Zaret and Alex North / "Hung on You" by Gerry Goffin, Carole King and Phil Spector The Righteous Brothers 3:37
Philles 13011/65#5 Ebb Tide Carl Sigman and Robert Maxwell The Righteous Brothers 2:48
Philles 1315/66#88 River Deep – Mountain High Greenwich, Barry, Spector Ike and Tina Turner 3:40
Philles 13210/66#118 White Cliffs of Dover Walter Kent and Nat Burton The Righteous Brothers 2:20
Philles 13310/66#100 I Can Hear Music Greenwich, Barry, Spector The Ronettes 3:00
Philles 13410/66 Two to Tango Dick Manning, Al Hoffman Ike and Tina Turner 2:45
Philles 1355/67#114 I'll Never Need More Than This Greenwich, Barry, Spector Ike and Tina Turner 3:27
Philles 1368/67 A Love Like Yours (Don't Come Knockin' Everyday) Eddie Holland, Lamont Dozier, Brian Holland Ike and Tina Turner 2:57

Albums discography

CatalogueRelease DateChart PeakAlbum TitleArtistTime
PHLP-40008/62 Twist Uptown The Crystals
PHLP-40012/63#131 He's a Rebel The Crystals
PHLP-40022/63Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans
PHLP-40037/63Sing the Greatest Hits, Vol. I The Crystals
PHLP-400410/63Philles Records Present Today's HitsVarious Artists
PHLP-400511/22/63#13 A Christmas Gift for You Various Artists34:12
PHLP-400611/64#96 Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes featuring Veronica The Ronettes
PHLP-40071/65#4You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' The Righteous Brothers
PHLP-40086/65#9 Just Once in My Life The Righteous Brothers
PHLP-400912/65#16Back to Back The Righteous Brothers
PHLP-40101/66Lenny Bruce Is Out Again Lenny Bruce
PHLP-4011 [b] 9/66unissued River Deep - Mountain High Ike and Tina Turner
PHLP-1001972DJ onlyThe Phil Spector Spectacular Various Artists

Albums 4007, 4008, and 4009 were issued simultaneously in stereo with an ST- prefix. The Monarch job number for ST-4006 indicates that the stereo release of this album came in July 1966. Album 4000 was released in mono only in 1962. It was released through the Capitol Record Club in both mono and rechanneled stereo. Based on the catalog number of the record club issue, that release was in late 1966.

See also

Notes

  1. Jamie labels used an unusual and distinctive matrix number system, consisting of a code representing the artist followed by the number of the artist's recording. For example "TCY" was short for "The Crystals" on Philles. "DE" was short for "Duane Eddy" on Jamie. Sometimes Philles matrix numbers had a P or PH prefix.
  2. Only a few copies of the album were pressed, and covers never made, before it was canceled by Philles. This LP was released with slightly different content on A&M Records in 1969. Only a few copies of LP-4011 were pressed, and covers never printed, before it was canceled by Philles. By popular demand, Phil Spector released the album in the United Kingdom, with liner notes written by Decca's promotion man, Tony Hall. Hall included a quote from Spector reading, "We can only assume that England is more appreciative of talent and exciting music than the U.S.."

References

  1. "These B-sides were created to ensure that the focus would be 100 percent top deck." Richard Williams, Phil Spector: Out of His Head, 2009 (unnumbered page).
  2. "Spector Sets Prod. Deals With Jeff Barry & Bob Crewe" (PDF). Cash Box: 7, 48. August 13, 1966.
  3. "Barry, Crewe Ink" (PDF). Record World: 4. August 6, 1966.
  4. Billboard, March 11, 1967, p. 29 -- attributing Spector's leaving the business to the failure of "River Deep, Mountain High"
  5. For Phil's return on A&M, see Billboard, March 11, 1969, p. 30, announcing two new singles.
  6. "VARIOUS ARTISTS - The Phil Spector Spectacular".
  7. "Sony Music Entertainment and EMI Music Publishing Strike Historic New Licensing Deal To... - NEW YORK, Sept. 30 /PRNewswire/". Prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2014-08-01.