  Foreword
by Frank M. Young
Joe Meek's story is that of a man who triumphed over
obstacles. Whether these obstacles were the repressive,
conformist record labels and studios of pre-Beatles
Britain, or not being able to sing in key, read music,
or play an instrument, the producer/songwriter's apparent
motto was "never say never."
As these, er, remarkable songwriting demos show,
Meek had a definite ear for a catchy tune. He could
also create simple, clever turns of pop-song phrase.
Unlike, say, Carole King or Burt Bacharach, Joe couldn't
convey his songs in a clean, clear, easy-to-get manner.
He could wail like a banshee, bang on pots and pans,
stomp the floorboards and turn up the reverb to 11.
Meek did all this, and more, whenever he got the notion
to create a new popular song for one of his recording
acts.
It was up to his associates with more conventional
musical talent--David Adams, Geoff Goddard, arranger
Charles Blackwell, and future heavy-metal icon Ritchie
Blackmore--to translate Joe's caterwauling into structured,
AABA hit material.
Meek can be a winning vocalist, as evinced here by
his bouncy-creepy demo of "He's All Mine."
His was the talent of just missing the note, sometimes
by a hair. What he lacked in accuracy, he made up
for--in spades--in over-the-top vocal dramatics. At
times, he sounds like a tent-revival preacher about
to talk in tongues.
Given Meek's hair-trigger temper, and his increasing
tendency to fly into rages, I don't imagine it was
any Sunday picnic for Adams, Goddard, et al to be
handed off a typical Joe Meek demo. Just getting at
what Joe heard in his head, in the first place, would
have been a challenge.
Meek was fond of singing along to totally inappropriate
backing tracks to other records. Sometimes he'd slow
them down, sometimes he'd play them Chipmunk-fast,
jamming wrong chord sequences and phrasings over the
pre-fab backgrounds he fished out of the chaos at
his home studio.
Meek did work with Adams and Goddard, and you can
hear him working with Adams on the song "As Time
Goes By" here, apparently in a good mood and
receptive to his partner's ideas. For every peaceful
moment such as this, there may have been 20 Yosemite
Sam-esque flipouts. Meek was an unpredictable soul,
to say the least.
Though Meek's otherworldly wailings would've never
seen release back in the day, to modern ears his vocal
stylings are pretty amazing. There is passion in his
singing, lots of passion--a hint of madness, a soupcon
of pathos and an unmistakable pride and sense of humor.
To enjoy Joe Meek's demos does require a sense of
humor, and an appreciation of the absurd. Out of these
moans and groans came the likes of "Telstar,"
a global chart-topper that also made a pre-Beatles
hit in the US. A producer of daring, innovation and
sometimes surprising grace, Joe Meek the singer was
a different beast entirely. To this Mr. Hyde of pop,
I respectfully bow my head, tip my hat, and brace
myself for the music we are all about to hear. - Frank
M. Young
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Credits:
01 Joe Meek's Secretary
04 with Geoff Goddard
08 with Geoff Goddard
11 with Geoff Goddard
20 with Dave Adams on Old Man River
20 with Geoff Goddard on Rockabye & Everybody's
Got The Blues
21 with Dave Adams
22 with Geoff Goddard
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A Space Man in the Music Industry
by Blair Sterrett
I can almost guarantee, that a film will made
about the life of Joe Meek! The elements are
all there! - An unlikely misfit with all the
odds against him, yet possessing a very unique
vision, and an unrestrained passion for his
art, followed by innovation, paranoia, schizophrenia,
ghosts, singing aliens, oddball affiliations,
strange inventions, alternative life styles,
rock & roll, success, fame, recognition,
utter failure, and later a life which led to
murder and suicide! Joe Meek represents a very
extreme human existence on all levels! And the
more I read and learn about it, the more bizarre
and amazing it gets!!! Just the fact alone that
a tone deaf, musically un-inclined, eccentric,
recording producer was churning out hit records
from his bedroom, and making significant waves
on the music charts, is a “tall tale”
in itself! Andy Partridge of XTC, pretty much
summed up the phenomenon with the statement:
“Meek spoke to the dead and heard music
from other planets, making #1 hit records in
his kitchen.”
Joe was one of the most unique, and unusual
characters in rock music history! And no matter
what is said or believed about the legend of
Meek, it’s true that we owe much of how
music is recorded and produced today because
of his example. He seemed to break every known
convention and rule of the record engineering
profession, with his compulsive experimentation,
and unusual “control freak” ideas.
Most of his innovations are probably taken for
granted today, now that most of his techniques
and recording strategies are “built in”
options on current recording devices.
If you’re familiar with the music of
Joe Meek, and in particular his hit composition
“Telstar”, then listening to these
demos is a very surreal and amazing experience
by comparison! This collection could almost
be titled, "The History of Telstar",
with several different composition demos of
the track, including one with actual lyrics!!!
DIY musician Joe Tepperman of the band GST Mugwump,
and member of Ego Plum’ s Ebola Music
Orchestra, once recalled “crying”
when listening to “Telstar” (after
comparing it to a demo of the recording). -
“It reminded me of how magical music really
is, and the power that it can possess! Joe Meek
probably had no idea of how beautiful “it”
was going to be!” Tepperman mused during
a phone conversation. “He was probably
just trying to make something that sounded spooky
and outerspacey (like many of his other recordings),
and ended up with something accidentally beautiful
and even majestic! Telstar is really weird,
yet very beautiful by conventional standards,
and it’s extremely rare that something
so unique and bizarre would become such a huge
hit!” Tepperman ended by concluding that
the success of Telstar is due to the fact that
it’s “Everything to Everyone!”
At long last these rare recordings (void of
copyright) are more carefully documented and
accessible to fans and collectors! After all,
what good is music if most people aren’t
even going to get a chance to hear it during
their existence? May this release add more intrigue
and insight to the unfathomable mind and mystery
of the legend that is Meek!
For more info and more detailed documentation
on Joe Meek please check out the very recommended
"Songs
in The Key of Z: The Curious World of Outsider
Music" by Irwin Chusid and "Creative
Music Production: Joe Meek's Bold Techniques"
by Barry Cleveland.
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