'Stormy Weather' by THE FIVE SHITS (Chance 1163) shows P. Spector and J. Lemmon as the composers; on the other side, 'My Pretty Little Girl', the label says, 'Produced by P. Spector On A Low Budget'. Both sides list publishing credit as Mother Bertha Music.

'Sherrie's In Love' (Monogram 104), credited to 'THE ROLLING STONES (formerly The Time Tones)', is another joke 45 in the same vein as the Five Shits one. Credit on this side (only) reads, 'Arranged by Mickey Most, Andrew Loog Oldham and Philip Spector'. The artist listed on the flip side is the 'Time Tones (formerly the Rolling Stones)'.

One of the ultimate, and most famous, tributes to Phil was the ad taken out on his behalf by ANDREW LOOG OLDHAM in Melody Maker and other British music papers exhorting Britons to side with the Righteous Brothers rather than with Cilla Black in the chart battle to claim the hit on 'You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin''. Quoth Oldham, 'This advert is not for commercial gain, it is taken as something that must be said about the great new PHIL SPECTOR record, THE RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS singing 'YOU'VE LOST THAT LOVIN' FEELIN''. Already in the American top ten, this is Spector's greatest production, the last word in tomorrow's sound, today, exposing the overall mediocrity of the music industry'.

THE ROLLING STONES' eponymous debut LP (Decca [UK] LK 4605) features an instrumental track entitled 'Now I've Got A Witness (Like Uncle Phil And Uncle Gene)'. (In the USA the album was titled 'England's Newest Hitmakers' and the track was billed as simply 'Now I've Got A Witness'). The same sessions produced the notorious 'Andrew's Blues' and at least one more officially unreleased but widely bootlegged track, 'And Mr. Spector And Mr. Pitney Came Too', another bluesy (but vocal-less) jam in the same vein. (See also Part 1: Honorable Mention)

'FLIP AND NITTY', the title of the B-side of Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans' 'Zip-a-Dee Doo-Dah' (Philles 107) refers, like the titles of most of Phil's, er, 'flip' sides of the era, to people in the Philles orbit: 'Flip' is Phillip and 'Nitty' is Jack Nitzsche.

Label credits on European pressings of 'Sha La La La Lee' by SYMON AND PI (Parlophone [UK] R 5662) read 'Arranged & Produced by Mark P. Wirtz as a tribute to Phil Spector.' Spectropop member Wirtz's admiration for Phil's Wall of Sound is evident in a number of his other productions as well, so it's fitting that he went out of his way to respectfully acknowledge his stylistic debt in print. (See also Part 6: The Sincerest Form Of Flattery)

In the liner notes to the LP he produced for CELIA PAUL, 'Yume De Aetara' ('If I Could See You In A Dream') (original LP: Nippon Columbia [Japan] 7017; CD reissue: Sony [Japan] 3993), Eiichi Ohtaki acknowledges his inspirations by stating (in Japanese), 'Dedicated to the songwriters of Aldon Music who influenced me in boyhood, and the Spector sounds that are still driving me crazy'.

BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD include a 'thank you' to Phil on the back cover of their LP 'Again' (Atco 33-226).

In his liner notes for THE ROLLING STONES' 'Metamorphosis' LP (Decca [UK] SKL 5212) Andrew Loog Oldham includes a 'thank you' to Phil.

THE JINGLE BELLES do a medley of songs from Phil's Christmas album, faithful to that disc's arrangements, on their single 'Christmas Spectre' (Passion [UK] 14). The content on 7" and 12" discs is identical.

The sleeve of THE BRIANS' single 'My Brother's Famous' (DinDisc [UK] 7) lists the group members as Brian Sinatra, Brian Travolta, Brian Costello, Brian Brando, and Brian Stewart; producer credit on the B-side goes to Brian Spector.

Spector is name-checked in the 'special thanks to' credits on the 'A CHRISTMAS PRESENT FOR YOU FROM ZERO HOUR' CD (Zero Hour 1110). (See also Part 2: Quote Unquote and Part 5: You Get The Picture?)

There is a curious sticker on the CD wrapper of MIKE RANDLE's CD 'The Music Loves You (Even If I Don't)' (Eggbert 80029) on which George Harrison is quoted as saying, 'This endorsement is not for commercial gain. It is taken as something that must be said about the new Mike Randle record. It is the last word in tomorrow's sound, today, exposing the overall mediocrity of the music industry'. Note the 'similarity' to the words used by Andrew Loog Oldham in his pro-Righteous Brothers/anti-Cilla Black advertisement from 1965. In this context, it should be noted that, while the Randle album is certainly a good one, it is not, however, a Wall of Sound-type production. Could it be that the sticker itself is a spoof of Harrison's endorsement of Ike and Tina Turner's 'River Deep - Mountain High' LP, which was affixed to early U.S. pressings of that classic? (See also Part 5: You Get The Picture?)

The run-off grooves of CHERI GAGE's cover of Phil's 'Here It Comes (And Here I Go)' (Martian 12" single 108) are engraved with the message 'PHIL SPECTOR FOR PRESIDENT!'

In the liner notes to BEN VAUGHN's CD 'Mono USA' (Bar/None A-HAON-039-2), a collection of covers recorded in his home studio in mono, Brett Milano explains, 'It was good enough for Phil Spector and Brian Wilson...'

RONNIE SPECTOR's performance of 'Happy Birthday Rock 'n' Roll' on her 'Siren' album (Polish 808), is, according to the album jacket, 'Dedicated to Phil'; the song's lyrics leave little doubt as to the honoree's last name. (See also Part 2: Quote Unquote)

'PHIL SPECTOR presents: DON RANDI and his mysterious PIANO' proclaims the sleeve of the Dutch release of Randi's 'Mexican Sunset'/'Baby, You Don't Understand Nothin'' (London [Holland] 3159). Although Jack Nitzsche arranged both sides, Phil's involvement is limited to the 'presentation'. The American release (Palomar 2210) reverses the A and B sides, placing 'Baby...' on the top deck.

The 'Phil Spector Productions' insignia, complete with Phil's 'little man' logo, appears on both sides of the 'Happy Heart'/'If I Only Had Time' single by NICK DeCARO and Orchestra (A&M [Germany] 210 072). However, a few seconds of listening are all that's required to know that Phil was nowhere near the studio when these tracks were recorded. The picture sleeve for the 45 does not bear the emblem seen on the labels.

April 2001 saw the release of issue #98 of BETTY (in the Archie comic book series). The story line has our pen-and-ink heroes attending a yo-yo festival in California where they meet - wait for it - 'legendary record producer Phil Spector'.

In 1976, Playboy magazine's then-regular feature comic LITTLE ANNIE FANNY featured, in a spoof of Donna Summer's 'Love To Love You Baby', the strip's heroine as a would-be disco diva being coached (and bedded) by 'Phil Sphincter...one of the hottest record producers in town'.

The illustrated novel 'Guts' by BYRON PREISS (Grosset & Dunlap, 1979) is about a time-traveling greaser from the future who shows up in Philadelphia in 1976. Phil Spector is mentioned by name several times as the owner of Phillies (sic) Records, one of whose releases bears a clue the protagonist must discern in order to unravel the mystery he came to solve.

Another novel, 'Fuel-Injected Dreams' by JAMES ROBERT BAKER (Signet, 1986), fails to incorporate the word 'Spector' at any point. However, the story line, described as follows on the book jacket, leaves little doubt as to the source of the author's inspiration: 'Rock's greatest legend is Dennis Contrelle, once the greatest composer-producer of all time. Rock's sweetest songbird is Sharlene Contrelle, imprisoned in a cage of silence by the man who created her and then broke her heart. Now she's willing to do anything to escape from a teen dream of love turned into a nightmare of adult perversion.'

Early Dutch pre-release promo copies of punk band U.S. BOMBS' CD 'Covert Action' (Hellcat 0452-1/2) include a track called 'Phil Spector' in the penultimate position. However, later promos and all issue copies replace that title with 'Faith of Marie'. Not a song about Phil as its name suggests, the tune is rather a mariachi-style instrumental, only slightly edgier than the typical Herb Alpert record of the '60s, and uncharacteristic of the group's other output to say the least. The copies of the CD including 'Phil Spector' were not released with cover art.

According to its sleeve, the split 45 'BOOGIE MAN SMASH & THE REVELLERS do The Ronettes' was produced by Phil Spectre. (See details in Part 6, The Sincerest Form of Flattery)