Finally, a recent '60s favourite is JOE MEEK, the first successful, fully independent record producer in the U.K. He was barely known in this country, but was an unseen hand in ruling and shaping pop music pre-Beatles in England on a scale the size of Phil Spector ‚ except that his taste was wierder. As a producer, not only did he not play any instruments, but apparently he couldn't sing very well either...yet he was very exacting in getting the sounds he wanted out of musicians. He not only sang the notes to a keyboard person, but was very specific as to how he wanted the keyboard to sound. He was fascinated with Outer Space, and one of his songs which is best-known in the U.S. was the TORNADOS' "Telstar" instrumental; it has an organ sound like no other. And as soon as he found a skiffle band with Hawaiian guitar, there was no stopping him. Remember, "Exotica" was an America-only phenomenon. The only English Martin Denny release I've seen had a generic ocean photo, probably xeroxed off a Mantovani album. Yet here was someone persuing the same outer reaches, but from a completely different angle!
His fascination with sci-fi and ethereal sounds and other-worldly female voices and Outer Space is so unique ‚ you can tell a Joe Meek record a mile away. He recorded the instruments way into the red so that even drums distorted; he used all kinds of wild echo and reverb. I read that not only did he use everything but the kitchen sink ‚ he even recorded in the kitchen sink the sound of running water, blowing bubbles, drinking straws, and half filled milk bottles played by spoons! He also used the teeth of a comb across an ashtray, electrical circuits shorted together, etc. He had problems getting along with mainstream music industrial powers, but eventually got his own studio together above a leather store. It was on three floors, so some instrumentalists would literally be playing on different floors, with the console on the third floor.
Joe Meek also recorded a full-on electronic exotica album called I Hear a New World, credited to THE BLUE MEN, and he also recorded SCREAMING LORD SUTCH (whose autobiography Life As Sutch was published in 1991). The British equivalant of early Alice Cooper, Sutch ran for parliament as a candidate for the National Teenage Party in 1963, and has done numerous pranks, outrageous live shows and records-well worth reading about.
There's a book out, The Legendary Joe Meek, by John Repsch. Meek was obsessed with Buddy Holly ‚ to the point of trying to communicate with him on a ouija board, asking for guidance when he recorded. Apparently he got caught in a mini-version of the Michael Jackson Scandal; in those days it was scandalous to be gay. He became very paranoid, and near the end of his life he was even questioned about the dismemberment murder of a boy he apparently knew, which led him to believe the cops were out to frame him. In '66 he shot his landlady to death and then turned the gun on himself-on Buddy Holly's birthday. There was a BBC documentary on him, and now a number of his CD's have been re-released. A favourite is "Have I The Right?" by THE HONEYCOMBS, which sounds like no other record. A later record by The BUZZ is absolutely stunning for its sinister atmosphere.
[from Incredibly Strange Music Volume Two, 1994, Re/Search Publications, San Francisco. ISBN: 0-940642-21-2]
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