{"id":41552,"date":"2009-06-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-06-11T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/the-last-of-the-rock-stars\/"},"modified":"2009-06-11T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-06-11T00:00:00","slug":"the-last-of-the-rock-stars","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/the-last-of-the-rock-stars\/","title":{"rendered":"The Last Of The Rock Stars"},"content":{"rendered":"

Way back in the ’60s, Phil Spector was considered to be a musical genius and a nutty eccentric who had a knack for taking almost any act he desired and producing hit records for them.\u00a0 Among his stable of wannabes and hangers on was a very talented group of singers, The Ronettes, consisting of sisters Veronica \u201cRonnie\u201d and Estelle Bennet and their cousin Nedra Talley.\u00a0 Sometime in the early part of the decade, the line between singer and manager was crossed, and the developing relationship between Phil and Ronnie culminated in a strange marriage supposedly marred by Phil\u2019s jealousy, paranoia and downright insanity.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

At the height of their success, The Ronettes had a string of hit singles, including one of the greatest pop songs of all time, \u201cBe My Baby.\u201d\u00a0 That song made Ronnie Spector a star, and while the title of her latest album is slightly boastful, at one time she was undoubtedly one of the most popular and original female performers going around.\u00a0 However, with the likes of The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, and Tina Turner (among others) still going strong and having long ago surpassed Spector\u2019s flagging career, in my opinion, the title lacks a certain credibility.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

All that aside, The Last Of The Rock Stars <\/i>is an awesome sounding record that is both a throwback to her glory days and a contemporary slow-burning rocker.\u00a0 She enlisted the help of Keith Richards and Patti Smith as well as assembled a stellar group of session players to bring these songs to life.\u00a0 The album is mainly made up of covers with a few new songs thrown into the mix and was recorded over a period of several years leading up to its release in 2006.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The album opens with the surprisingly heavy rocker \u201cNever Gonna Be Your Baby\u201d in which Ronnie snarls her way through a caustic lyric of a past relationship that \u201csmells of crime\u201d and \u201csmacks of sin.\u201d\u00a0 The majestic duo of \u201cOde To L.A.\u201d and \u201cAll I Want\u201d are a direct throwback to her glory days.\u00a0 The former features The Ravonettes and is the closest we get to the famous Wall Of Sound.\u00a0 The latter is one of my favorite tracks to be found here. It again has the \u201860s vibe running through it, no doubt due plenty of tambourine and reverb, and Ronnie channels her younger self for a great reading of the carefree lyric.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cHey Sah lo Ney\u201d (originally recorded by the cult mod outfit The Action) is covered with equal parts vigor and rock star cool.\u00a0 The retro sounds of \u201cThere Is An End\u201d \u00a0provide another highlight. This track features Patti Smith, who along with garage rockers The Greenhornes, deliver a wonderfully haunting track that Ronnie and Patti bring to life with breezy, soulful vocals.\u00a0 The Ike and Tina classic \u201cWork Out Fine\u201d is here presented as a duet with Keith Richards, and while it\u2019s no match for the original, it is fun to hear their nicotine-laced voices intertwined as the misguided lovers.\u00a0 <\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cHere Today Gone Tomorrow\u201d is the most experimental moment of the record.\u00a0 Its low-key approach harbors a serious groove and Ronnie\u2019s mature, throaty delivery matches it lick for lick.\u00a0 The most curious inclusion here is the original version of \u201cYou Can\u2019t Put Your Arms Around A Memory\u201d from her previous album, 1999\u2019s She Talks To Rainbows<\/i>, produced by Joey Ramone. The decision to include the exact same version is odd indeed, but it doesn\u2019t take away from the fact that it\u2019s a fantastic song and Ramone\u2019s voice backing Ronnie\u2019s is a wonderful sound.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cGirl From The Ghetto\u201d finds Ronnie reflecting on her past glories over a poppy track complete with some blissful horns that\u2019s in stark contrast to the rather fiery lyric \u201cI hope your hell is filled with magazines \/ And on every page you see a big picture of me.\u201d\u00a0 Next up is another highlight in the cosmic tones of \u201cWon\u2019t Stop Saying Goodbye.\u201d\u00a0 The backing vocals are reminiscent of The Ronettes, and once again Ronnie offers a delightfully sweet reading of the lovey-dovey lyric.\u00a0 <\/o:p><\/p>\n

The disc closes in style with Ronnie\u2019s take on the Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers classic \u201cOut In The Cold Again.\u201d\u00a0 Although originally a Tin Pan Alley ballad, Lymon and the boys recorded the definitive version way back in 1957.\u00a0 Frankie Lymon was the young Veronica Bennet\u2019s idol, and to this day she credits him with inspiring her to become a singer.\u00a0 Ronnie gives a beautiful reading of the song, and based on this track, I would certainly love to see her record a jazz album.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

These days, Ronnie\u2019s voice barely resembles that of the soaring vocals that enhanced songs like \u201cBe My Baby\u201d and \u201cBaby I Love You,\u201d but it\u2019s still an effective weapon when matched with the right material. The Last Of The Rock Stars <\/i>is a wonderful collection of songs by an expert interpreter, and I hope there\u2019ll be more to come from Ronnie Spector in the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":29929,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[8410],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-41552","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-ronnie-spector","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41552\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=41552"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=41552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}