>Spector influenced The Beatles, Beach Boys, etc.
>
>so maybe Spector is actually a prime candidate
>
>but then again, you can't blame any of these 60s cats,
>because they still had solid songs that they just enhanced
>with production.

I put the blame squarely on the technological advances in recording and making music. It has really dumbed down the whole creative process. I was in Sam Ash the other day checking out some of the patches on Roland's Fantom-S and I got so disgusted with how many of the sounds can easily be used to create a "hot" track. Any Joe Shmoe can come up with a pattern using on two or three keys, a drum track, and a simple bass line using these patches. I spent days, hours, and years developing my keyboard skills and now you don't even really have to "know how to play" in order to play keys these days.

All the great producers and songwriters say it over an over again...If a song can be felt when it's stripped down to just piano or guitar, etc then you know you have a solid song. The industry is track driven. How many cats are actually creating songs in that manner anymore? If I work with an artist I have to come to them with a bag full of tracks rather than coming together, talking about what we want to write about, then working out ideas at the piano or presenting my ideas at the keyboard. I love working like that!!

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http://www.soundclick.com/gregsoundz

"As much as your imagination
allows always put yourself
in the other person's shoes
before making any judgement--
and even then know that your
conclusion is merely an opinion"

Jesus said to them, "...
when you make male and
female into a single one, so
that the male will not be
male nor the female be
female...then you will enter
the kingdom."
Gospel of Thomas 22b