Spector on the Beatles, 1969

[Norbert K]

Spector: Well, it's obvious that Paul McCartney and John Lennon may be the greatest rock & roll singers that we've ever had. They may be the greatest singers of the last ten years -- they really may be! I mean there is a reason for the Beatles other than the fact that they're like Rogers and Hart and Hammerstein, Gershwin, all of 'em. They are great, *great* singers, and they can do anything with their voices.

[Snip of comments in which Spector says that most artists merely sing, whereas the Beatles "interpret" their songs.]

Q: What about John Lennon?

Spector: I haven't spoken to Lennon in some time so I don't know where he's at now. But I have a feeling that Yoko may not be the greatest influence on him. I mean, I don't know, but I have a feeling that he's a far greater talent than she is.

-- Excerpted from a November 1, 1969 Rolling Stone interview

[Emma Smulders]

Op zaterdag 22 januari 2022 om 15:08:14 UTC+1 schreef Norbert K:

A snippet from Tony Bramwell's book:

"Phil was a self-confessed ex-control freak, self-confessed ex-schizoid paranoiac, who carried around more baggage than Pan Am. [...]...Lennon thought this was hilarious and the two of them cackled like witches. Yoko had no sense of humour at all and she loathed Phil as much as Phil hated her. Each of them was implacable and paranoid. But if someone else from the outside was going to produce them, she didn’t see why it couldn’t be her. When Yoko and Phil confronted each other, sparks would fly and I fully expected Phil to grab a gun or karate chop Yoko into slices. [...] Marty told me that Phil and Yoko almost shorted out
when they confronted each other again, because they were both control freaks, used to having their own way at whatever the cost. What’s more, they both knew it."

[Norbert K]

Yeah. Why did Lennon opt to live with someone who was cold, manipulatuve, disapproving, even scornful of him? Because it was what he was used to through Mimi.

Why did Lennon choose to work with a psychopathic control freak like Spector? Because it was what he was used to through Yoko.

[Pamela Brown]

I am starting to consider the possibility that Lennon was a victim of trauma-based mind-control and that Mimi and Yoko were his controllers. There is just too much weirdness about all this.

[Norbert K]

John was youthful when Mimi intervened in his life to take him away from Julia and John "Bobby" Dykins. When you're that young you assume your adult caretakers know what they're doing and are trustworthy.

In the case of Yoko, we have to remember that John's life had become (in Pete Shotton's words) a "continuous acid trip," and he had begun to surround himself with shady characters. Indeed, just hours before John summoned Yoko to his house and consummated their relationship, John had wanted to hold a press conference and announce to the world that he was Jesus Christ. He was not in his right mind.

Mimi, fortunately, wasn't able to stifle John's enthusiasm for his music, though it looks to me as if she certainly tried (see the other thread I just started on "The Two Women Who Raised John").

Yoko was more destructive in this regard, derailing John's life and career not once but twice.

[Pamela Brown]

Good thread and info. Thank you.

Let me rephrase -- John could have become vulnerable to being controlled due to Mili's coldness to him and the destabilizing effects of the mother/aunt relationship...and then yoko stepped in...

[Norbert K]

On Saturday, January 22, 2022 at 10:25:17 AM UTC-5, Emma Smulders wrote:

Yoko originally hired Spector to produce her Bloody Glasses album. This supposed collaboration was certainly doomed to fail, but I wonder how things actually played out.

Spector ended up leaving the project.