the genius of joe meek

[bungo the mungo]

Jun 25, 2021 12:20:50 GMT rayge said:

the production, like every record not made by Joe Meek in Britain in the early 1960s, is total pants.

i think ray went quite bold here, but i tend to agree with him which is something of a preludin rarity.

i've been playing some meek this morning, just to make sure.

apologies for the savile intro, but this track, although obvious, still sounds like nothing else.

[oh oooh]

That's such an odd-sounding record, but I suppose that's what you might expect from Meek. The tremolo on those guitar bits in the verses! Take away the production and it's just standard chirpy 60s beat-pop.


I watched and enjoyed this a few weeks ago



Con O'Neill was very good. I wonder how much was exaggerated for the film...

[bungo the mungo]

Jun 26, 2021 10:33:10 GMT oh oooh said:

The tremolo on those guitar bits in the verses!

yes!

one hell of a chorus, too.

[rayge]

And considering his 'studio' was a flat above a shop in the Holloway Road, he was already giving the American studio auteurs a run for their money in 1961 by making a number one star out of a pretty-boy actor by dressing up some basic pop songs with some absurdly atmospheric productions that owed a lot to contemporary Western movies and soprano warbling


The number one

[rayge]

He was great with sound affects, making use of tape loops and pushing the technolgy that existed as far as it would go, as well as found sounds on tape. I'm sure everyone knows Telstar and maybe some of the other Tornados hits and near-misses, but here's one from 1963 that was never anywhere near a hit, but in my view the finest British girl-pop single in the early 60s.

[bungo the mungo]

Jun 26, 2021 12:17:44 GMT rayge said:

And considering his 'studio' was a flat above a shop in the Holloway Road

when i lived in highgate, i would often take a bus and make a detour to holloway rd tube station rather than take the northern line, just to pass his flat.

these oft posted tracks are my two favourite meek productions. they are mind-bending.

[Deleted]

I've never heard any of Joe Meek even if I have heard OF him.

Not too sure about the first track but those last two by the Buzz and the Syndicats are class.

I can hear where bands like Reigning Sound and perhaps (dare I say) even The Hives are coming from.

Thanks for that.

[oh oooh]

'Crawdaddy Simone' could cause civilisations to collapse. Absolute MONSTER track

[bungo the mungo]

Jun 26, 2021 18:17:49 GMT @dante85 said:

I've never heard any of Joe Meek even if I have heard OF him.

Not too sure about the first track but those last two by the Buzz and the Syndicats are class.

I can hear where bands like Reigning Sound and perhaps (dare I say) even The Hives are coming from.

Thanks for that.

cheers, dante!

preludin is going through a difficult time at the moment. there has been a lot of simmering tension of late, but please don't let that put you off.

we're a good bunch of lads on the whole. music mad and always willing to share our discoveries.