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"Over a period of years," says a songwriter who has worked closely with him, "Phil developed certain characteristics —reclusiveness, craziness in the studio —and after a while he let them take over." Adds a young record producer who spent a long and disenchanting night watching Spector thrash around with the Dion album: "His records were great, but he's a mean mother." Spector himself admits to a certain amount of struggling during this time. "Working with Leonard Cohen was more of a writing experience," he told TIME'S Robert Goldstein. "He's not a Lennon or McCartney, and I couldn't do the things with him that I could with the Ramones. It's like adopted kids. It's tough to make them look like you." The Ramones had not only raised themselves in Specter's image, but played something he recognized: "Basic, honest, good rock 'n' roll. They get the feeling across." This set them apart from the pop mainstream for Spector, whose opinions about much of today's sound tend to be a tad prickly ("The Bee Gees produce porpoise music. It's interspecies communication").
The End of the Century collaboration brought out the best in band and producer. "You can't expect Phil Spector to go into the studio with Leonard Cohen or Cher and make a great album," says Joey Ramone. "You know, it's ridiculous. But the music we play is kind of like back in the early '60s with the Ronettes." Spector, for his part, was looking for "a marriage that could last. Most of mine don't." Spector challenged the Ramones immediately—"Do you want to make a great album or a good album?" —then spent six months working in the studio, layering and miking guitars so they sound at times almost like chimes, overdubbing the vocals until they glisten like a sonic Simonize.
As for the producer's studio conduct, Johnny Ramone concedes that Spector is "eccentric," but deflects specific questions by saying, "I mean, Phil's going to read this article." At home, Phil's sons Gary and Louis, 13, and Donte, 10, are treated to notes from Dad left on the kitchen table that demand a scrupulous accounting of how they spend their allowances. Says Phil: "They can con me, but put it in writing. Then when the police call about pills or dope, then I'll know. I just want to know." Whatever the disposition of the kids' stipends, Spector can draw comfort from the knowledge that he has tapped back into the true rock spirit. End of the Century is a head start on a new decade, for Spector and the Ramones, a negotiable franchise on the future. —Jay Cocks