The Crystals [The Blossoms] - Hes A Rebel [1963] [MP4]

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He's A Rebel
"He's A Rebel" is a pop/rock song credited to the Girl Group The Crystals (although actually recorded by The Blossoms), reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in November 1962. Written by Gene Pitney and produced by Phil Spector, it is an example of the Spector-produced girl group sound.
In 2004, the song was ranked No. 263 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
History
The song is about a girl in love with a young man who spurns society's conventions. Despite his being misunderstood by others, the singer claims he is sweet and faithful and vows to be the same towards him. Steve Douglas performs a saxophone solo during the song's bridge. The piano riff at the beginning was contributed by Al DeLory. Unusually for Spector productions, no strings played on the track.
Pitney wrote "He's a Rebel" for The Shirelles, but they declined. Spector learned Vikki Carr was to record it for Liberty Records as her debut, and wanted his own version on sale first. The Crystals were touring on the east coast of the USA at the time, so Spector had The Blossoms, a Los Angeles group, record the track. He credited The Crystals on the record; Mary Thomas recalled that "our mouths fell open" when she and her group mates heard a disc jockey announce "the new Crystals song." The quintet was then obliged to add "He's a Rebel" to their live repertoire, even though lead singer Barbara Alston could not mimic Blossoms lead singer Darlene Love. For this reason, 15-year-old Dolores "LaLa" Brooks became the lead singer the following year with the follow-up "Then He Kissed Me".
"He's a Rebel" was released in late August 1962, with the B-side "I Love You Eddie." By November 3, "He's a Rebel" had reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The number two song was Pitney's "Only Love Can Break a Heart", giving him (as a songwriter or performer) the two top-selling singles in the U.S. (Pitney never hit the U.S. No. 1 spot as a performer). In the United Kingdom, "He's a Rebel" peaked at 19.
Personnel
• Lead Vocals - Darlene Love, Edna Wright (co-lead during chorus)
• Backing Vocals - Edna Wright, Fanita James, Gracia Nitzsche, Gloria Jones, Jean King and Bobby Sheen
• Instrumentation - The Wrecking Crew
• The July 1962 session was arranged by Jack Nitzsche and engineered by Larry Levine
Producer Phil Spector had had a fair amount of success already in the early '60s before the Crystals issued "He's A Rebel" in 1962. "He's A Rebel," though, was the record that elevated Spector from one of many middling hit makers into an industry phenomenon, also blueprinting the "Wall of Sound" for which he's been lauded. The record, oddly enough for a girl-group classic that was (naturally) sung by women, was written by a male star, Gene Pitney, who himself was not noted as a prolific composer. Spector heard the song on a demo and went to town on the production, making an already-strong pop/rock song into an anthem. The track begins with a dramatic drum roll, the brief instrumental intro establishing an almost martial beat, embellished by layers of percussion and tinkling piano. As has since been revealed, as on many Crystal’s tracks, the vocalists were not the Crystals, and the lead singer was non-Crystal Darlene Love. On "He's a Rebel," Love sang a tough, soulful, streetwise lyric guaranteed for youth appeal: the guy who marches to his own beat, and the girl who loves him all the more for it. Her low vocals were seconded by strong, full soul backup vocals by the Blossoms. The arrangement was unusually dense for the period, with two bass players and two guitarists. The song really took off, though, when it dramatically jumped to a higher key for the chorus, remaining in that key, in fact, for the rest of the track. The chorus, with its loving defiance, was instantly memorable, particularly when the backup largely dropped out for Love to sing, largely on her own, stirring lines in which she asserted that just because he didn't do what everyone else did, that wasn't any reason why the couple couldn't share love. That was the cue for the band to re-enter full-on for a stirring ensemble vocal finish to the chorus, and then for Steve Douglas to take over with a sax solo. "He's a Rebel" actually doesn't have the strings that were found in many a Spector production, but the sound was rich and full and the single an enormous success, reaching number one. There was brief concern that sales of the Crystals' "He's a Rebel" single might suffer from a simultaneous cover version by Vicki Carr, whose arrangement was actually not dissimilar, though it was stiffer and employed strings.
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