Tearing Down the Wall of Sound: The Rise and Fall of Phil Spector Audiobook

" Excellent, balanced insight into a true maver..ick and weirdo. Mick Brown does an amazing job of conveying the "whats", "whys", and "huhs?" that lead to Spector's askew relationship to his world and ours. The chapter about Lenny Bruce was incredibly compassionate and a welcome emotional pause to drive home the point that Spector was more tortured than "evil" (although, he was a big dick). "

" Phil Spector's life is a terrible tragedy. Genius and madness are often separated only by a nanometer thick wall. "

" Makes you wonder how someone who exhibited signs of insanity so early on in life, got so far. Brilliant, multi-faceted look at the rise and fall of Phil Spector- with lots of famous names thrown in. "

" Phil Spector is a very disturbed/disturbing person but the book is interesting & worth reading if you are into his music. "

" Really fascinating read, almost the whole way through. I loved the chapters about the creation of the Wall of Sound and Phil's big hits and famous failures, and the anecdotes detailing the music culture of the '60s and '70s. (The book is worth reading alone for the chapter about Phil's crazy adventures with John Lennon while working on "Rock 'n' Roll.") My interest waned a little as the book moved past the music and onto Phil's descent into almost total lunacy, though I can certainly understand why Mick Brown felt the need to delve into it as much as he did. "

" I could not put this book down. An engaging description of genius gone very very wrong. This book makes a good argument for the thin line between genius and insanity. "

" magnificent book about the most misunderstood character in pop music...a must read for anybody that likes pop music. "

" phil spector: genius or crazy? crazy-genius? i'm still not sure. "

" Great book. Loved reading about Spector and his insanity. "

" Brown has the advantage of being the last journalist to interview the reclusive Spector before he killed Lana Clarkson, though this is no rush-job. Not as good as Ribowsky's as "He's A Rebel." "

" Kind of frustrating that this book was finished before the trial. I was not following the case and still don't know what happened! "

" I really liked this. It was a weird mix of the history of rock 'n roll, a study of someone's struggle with mental illness and how that illness manifests itself in a lifestyle where almost anything goes, and a little Court TV thrown in at the end. "

" A fascinating and in-depth look into the mind and workings of a genius whose tribulations and self-doubt were never eclipsed by his successes in life. "

" I went from reading about the coolest guy in music (Keith Richards) to maybe the un-coolest. "

" Not perfect and rather obviously ripe for revision, but the best Spector biography so far by a writer who not only covers every aspect of his subject's life but also understands his music. "

" Indispensable rock and roll history, rich in detail about song making and song makers. Fun scandalous detail, tho the legal royalty battles and sidetracks on other people stretch it out a little. Good Book! "

" Second warm-up for the 52 musician biographies I plan to read in 2012. Good account of the life of this genius/sociopath, but suffers from repetition. "

" Excellent, objective biography of Phil Spector and an amazing 'review' of rock-n-roll history. "

" A man supervises the recording of some of the greatest songs of all time, tries to hire the banjo kid from "Deliverance" to play at his birthday party, and then (allegedly) becomes a wig-wearing crazy person. When he is accused of shooting somebody, no one is surprised. "

" Most of this book shows the evolution of a boy-genius in the music industy in the 50's-60's-70's. It dwells only briefly on his current circumstances(accused of murder). Its a bit of a "downer" at the end bust fascinating non the less. Watch him meet Sonny, Cher, The Beatles and many more. "

" "mr. spector, tear down this wall of sound!" competently written, kinda sucky. "

" Oh, Phil Spector... This book was a little slow, but every bit of information was essential to the understanding of Spector's character. I found it especially interesting, having read Ronnie Spector's autobiography ("Be My Baby") in the past, which paints a pretty different picture. "

" I was hooked quickly and couldn't get enough.Fascinating look into behind the scenes. "

" Dense, incredibly detailed book about the history of insane genius Phil Spector, from his first record with the Teddy Bears all the way up to the end of the Lana Clarkson trial. Excellent. "

" Excellent, objective biography of Phil Spector and an amazing 'review' of rock-n-roll history. "

" Dense, incredibly detailed book about the history of insane genius Phil Spector, from his first record with the Teddy Bears all the way up to the end of the Lana Clarkson trial. Excellent. "

" Phil Spector's life is a terrible tragedy. Genius and madness are often separated only by a nanometer thick wall. "

" Phil Spector is a very disturbed/disturbing person but the book is interesting & worth reading if you are into his music. "

" A well-researched tale of a truly bizarre personality "

" should have been a page-turner, actually it was slow "

" magnificent book about the most misunderstood character in pop music...a must read for anybody that likes pop music. "

" I really liked this. It was a weird mix of the history of rock 'n roll, a study of someone's struggle with mental illness and how that illness manifests itself in a lifestyle where almost anything goes, and a little Court TV thrown in at the end. "

" I could not put this book down. An engaging description of genius gone very very wrong. This book makes a good argument for the thin line between genius and insanity. "

" Oh, Phil Spector... This book was a little slow, but every bit of information was essential to the understanding of Spector's character. I found it especially interesting, having read Ronnie Spector's autobiography ("Be My Baby") in the past, which paints a pretty different picture. "