BY JUD COST

"I always dreamed the boy I loved would come along,

And he'd be tall and handsome, rich and strong,

Now that boy I love has come to me,

But he sure ain't the way I thought he'd be..."

If Darlene Love's breathlessly spoken intro to the Crystals' 1962 hit single "He's Sure The Boy I Love," followed by a pounding, caveman drum line played with tree trunks by percussion maestro Hal Blaine, doesn't make the hair on the back of your neck stand up straight, you were never really a Phil Spector worshipper in the first place. When Love, the girl who sang lead on just about every Phil Spector-produced classic that didn't feature Ronnie Spector, kicked off the final show of her 10-day run at San Francisco's intimate Rrazz Room with my favorite rock 'n' roll single of all time, the earth started spinning crazily off its axis and all the air was suddenly sucked out of the room.

It was a crazy move, playing your best song right out of the chute. But when you can follow it up with another Crystals knee-buckler like "Da Doo Ron Ron," who's complaining? Looking positively radiant, Love burned the house down with most of the early-'60s gems by the Crystals-the name Spector gave to Love's original vocal combo, the Blossoms, for recording purposes-as well as a pair of singles recorded under Love's own name: "(Today I Met) The Boy I'm Gonna Marry" and "Wait Til My Bobby Gets Home," both rollicking hits in the summer of 1963.

It must have seemed a Herculean task to the quintet (piano, tenor sax, guitar, bass and drums) and a pair of female backup singers assigned to recreate those gargantuan Wall of Sound arrangements (originally cut with multiple clusters of guitars, keyboards, reeds and percussion), but the band passed with flying colors, even perfectly replicating the revered sax lead break for each number.

Love was full of juicy, between-songs anecdotes, reveling in the tale of Spector's fellow producer Snuff Garrett playing his new demo of Vikki Carr singing the Gene Pitney-penned song "He's A Rebel" for anyone who would listen in 1962. Spector stole Garrett's thunder by rushing Love and the Blossoms into Los Angeles' Gold Star Studios to cut the number, which immediately shot to the top of Billboard's pop charts. "Hey, I don't hate the guy," said Love of the sometimes maligned production genius. "Where would I be today without Phil Spector?"

"The last time I played San Francisco was in 1963. Is the Cow Palace still standing?" asked Love of the F.D.R. New Deal-era venue, once home to early performances by the Beatles, as well as rock spectaculars where the Crystals and the Ronettes sang, backed by a full-blown orchestra, conducted by Phil Spector.

Love's thrilling version of Etta James' signature ballad, "At Last," followed by a thermometer-bursting medley of Martha & The Vandellas' "Heat Wave" and "Dancing In The Street" made the grizzled warriors in the crowd feel like the United Confederate Veterans when they ended their final convention with a rousing rendition of "Dixie."

Love's best story was saved for last. "Phil called me up one day in 1966 and said he had a great song, and he wanted me to bring the Blossoms into the studio tomorrow. So I get down there, ready to sing lead like I always did, I'm looking around, and I say, 'Hey, isn't that Tina Turner over there?'" It was, of course, ready, willing and able to churn out the rousing vocal lead on the last great Wall of Sound Spector-produced single, "River Deep Mountain High." For some unfathomable reason, the single flopped, much to Spector's chagrin. As belted out by Darlene Love tonight for the set's grand finale, however, it sounded powerful enough to touch off the second great San Francisco Earthquake, all by itself.

[Photo Credit: Dan Demetriad]