The Wall of Sound production technique created by Phil Spector in the 1960s continues to impact modern music. Spector assembled countless musicians in the studio back then, doubling and tripling instruments playing the same notes and recording the resulting layers of sound in an echo chamber. That’s quite a simplification, of course; a great deal of time, effort, and money was spent to make what the Tycoon of Teen called “little symphonies for the kids.”

If I (or anyone else) had to submit one Spector production to best represent the Wall of Sound, the choice is easy: The Ronettes’ “Be My Baby.” Their 1962 debut single reached #2, where lead singer Ronnie Bennett “Wha-oh-oh-oh-oh”-ed for three weeks. While the song’s signature drum beat (courtesy of Hal Blaine) was copied countless times in the decades that followed, America fell in love with the original all over again in 1987, thanks to the inclusion of “Be My Baby” on the monster-selling Dirty Dancing soundtrack. Just like Ronnie sang a year earlier, echoing the “Be My Baby” hook on Eddie Money’s #4 hit, “Take Me Home Tonight.” Not too shabby for a song then celebrating its silver anniversary.

Two decades past that, the Wall of Sound continues to reverberate loudly as we’re experiencing a mini-’60s pop/soul revival. The movement is particularly strong across the pond, with Amy Winehouse the most successful example. But she’s not the only Brit in love with sounds shaped long before she was born.

Mutya Buena – “B Boy Baby”
In Britain, where girl groups have continued to rule the pop scene (certainly not the case here in the States), Sugababes has the honor of being the most successful all-female act of the 21st century. Founding member Mutya Buena left the group in December 2005 for personal reasons, embarking on a solo career soon after.

Nodding to Buena’s own girl-group past, the single “B Boy Baby” is descended directly from The Ronettes’ “Be My Baby.” Adding some cred to her pared-down Wall of Sound, Buena enlists background help from Ms. Winehouse, a woman who knows from black eyeliner and beehives. While the result is more novelty than not (a throwback of an entirely different stripe), “B Boy Baby” is still worth a listen. Hear here:

The Pipettes – “Sex”
Monster Bobby, a British musician and club promoter, took note of the positive response when he’d play songs from ’60s girl groups like The Ronettes in his DJ sets. Inspired, he called upon some Brighton friends to apply the girl-group sound in a modern context, creating The Pipettes. The lab-instrument name was chosen as a nod to the group’s experimentation (recording studio as chemistry lab).

The Pipettes are RiotBecki, Gwenno, and Rosay, a trio seemingly time-warped from the early Sixties (often with matching outfits). While the girls provide the vocals, an all-male band called The Cassette (featuring Monster Bobby on guitar) handles the instruments. The Pipettes’ debut album, We Are The Pipettes, hit UK streets in 2006. A year later, after the group signed with Cherrytree Records and performed to an enthusiastic audience at SXSW, The Pipettes issued a stateside EP, Your Kisses Are Wasted On Me. In October, an expanded We Are The Pipettes was released here, albeit in a different mix than the original UK release.

If you’ve heard only a peep from The Pipettes, it’s likely the peppy “Pull Shapes.” And while that’s quite representative of the “simple, practical music making” to which the group aspires (according to their website), We Are The Pipettes features a Spector-inspired song worth pointing out. Take a listen to “Sex,” which opens with the much-beloved “Be My Baby” drum beat. Hear here:

 

Science hasn’t made time-travel to the Sixties possible yet, but if you’ve got dreams of being a modern-day Pipette, the girls have created a helpful how-to video.