Blood On The Tracks

Phil Spector’s own personal Socrates, Lenny Bruce, reminisces on the unforgettable time he spent with the Tycoon of Teen. Lenny’s tales involve censorship and the long arm of Johnny Law, Frank Zappa and Merv Griffin, and family secrets revealed after late night deli runs. All this and more in the season one premiere of Blood on the Tracks.

Leader of the Ronettes, voice behind “Be My Baby,” and the former wife of Phil Spector, Ronnie Spector peels back the curtain to expose the darker side of one of the most infamous couples of the 1960s. Ronnie’s life with Phil takes a nosedive from rubbing elbows with The Beatles and The Rolling Stones to being held prisoner in her own house.

The Rolling Stones’ bad boy guitarist dishes deep on his love for Ronnie Bennett, as well as the lengths he went to in order to keep it a secret from the jealous Phil Spector. In addition to his stories about secret trysts, Keith talks X-rated recording sessions, American cops with itchy trigger fingers, and the wrath of Phil Spector.

Ike Turner goes deep about getting high, about his myriad marriages and drug busts, and about his tempestuous relationship with ex-wife Tina Turner. Game recognizes game when his path crosses Phil Spector’s, and the two engage in a shady tête-à-tête that ends in arson, narcs, and the SWAT team.

Leonard Cohen recalls his time with Phil Spector as a time of great confusion and soul searching. It’s also a time of bad omens, punctuated by being held against his will and being held at gunpoint. Despite cameos by Bob Dylan and Allen Ginsberg, and trips to islands off the coast of Greece and Zen retreats in California, Leonard’s memories keep coming back to one word: guns.

Debbie Harry, Blondie frontwoman and siren of the ‘70s NYC punk scene, talks about making the jump from the Big Apple to the City of Angels, with stops at The Whisky, KROQ, American Bandstand, and, of course, Phil Spector’s mansion. Her story is also The Ramones’ story, and both the beauty and the beasts share the good, the bad, and the downright weird in their tales of working with pop music’s most reclusive and abusive record producer.

From Let It Be to Imagine to an infamous “lost weekend” in Los Angeles, no Beatle had more face time with Phil Spector than John Lennon. John reminisces on being drunkenly tied to a bed, having a gun fired at him in the studio, and lawyering up simply to get his own session tapes back. Every crazy story has the same crazy common denominator: Phil Spector.

Darlene Love was the anonymous voice behind many of Phil Spector’s earliest chart-topping teenage pop symphonies; songs like “He’s a Rebel” and “He’s the Boy I Love” bear Darlene’s uncredited but unmistakable vocal. Darlene talks about how she struggled to pull herself out of anonymity and into the spotlight, but how every attempt was thwarted by the same person behind the recording console: Phil Spector. Darlene’s story is a story about the battle for legacy in the face of a madman’s oppression.

Actress Lana Clarkson meets Phil Spector for the first and last time on a fateful and fatal night in February 2003. She doesn’t know who he is, but is gradually charmed by the stories he tells about The Beatles, The Righteous Brothers, Tina Turner, The Ramones, Elvis Presley, and more. When they end up at Spector’s Alhambra castle, a tipsy night of good fun quickly devolves into a deadly night of head games and murderous mischief.

As Phil Spector faces the rest of his life in prison for the murder of actress Lana Clarkson, the memories in his head swirl around in a perfect storm of confusion, resentment, misguided anger, and petty entitlement. The words of Lenny Bruce, Ronnie Spector, Keith Richards, Ike Turner, Leonard Cohen, Debbie Harry, John Lennon, Darlene Love, and the late Lana Clarkson continue to haunt him as he pieces together the moments of his life and contemplates the rest of his days.