Joe Meek

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Joe Meek
Background information
Birth name	Robert George Meek
Born	April 5, 1929 Newent, Gloucestershire, England
Origin	London, England
Died	February 3, 1967 London, England
Genre(s)	Pop
Occupation(s)	Record producer, Songwriter
Years active	1954 - 1967
Label(s)	Triumph (co-owner), Pye, Decca, Oriole, Columbia, Top Rank USA: Tower, London

Joe Meek (born Robert George Meek; April 5, 1929 in Newent, Gloucestershire — February 3, 1967 in London^[1]) was a pioneering English record producer and songwriter acknowledged as one of the world's first and most imaginative independent producers. His most famous work was The Tornados' hit "Telstar" (1962), which became the first record by a British group to hit #1 in the US Hot 100. It also spent five weeks atop the UK singles chart, with Meek receiving an Ivor Novello Award for this production as the "Best-Selling A-Side" of 1962.

Meek's innovative album "I Hear A New World" is regarded as a watershed in modern music.

In 2005 a stage play, Telstar, based on his life starred Con O'Neill as Meek and Linda Robson as his landlady.^[2]

Contents 1 Pre-London years 2 London 1954-59 3 Joe Meek's legacy 4 Triumph Records 5 304 Holloway Road 6 Feb. 3, 1967: The End 7 Artists Joe Meek recorded 8 Songs about Joe Meek 9 References 10 Books 11 Photographs 12 External links 12.1 Exhibitions 12.2 Film 12.3 Books 12.4 Soundfiles

[edit] Pre-London years

A stint in the Royal Air Force as a radar operator, spurred a life-long interest in electronics and outer space. From 1953 he worked for the Midlands Electricity Board. He used the resources of his company to develop his interest in electronics and music production, including acquiring a disc-cutter and producing his first record.

[edit] London 1954-59

He left the electricity board to work as a sound engineer at Radio Luxembourg. He made his breakthrough with his work on Ivy Benson's Music for Lonely Lovers. His technical ingenuity was first shown on the Humphrey Lyttelton jazz single "Bad Penny Blues" (1956). He then put enormous effort into Denis Preston's Landsdowne studio but tensions between Preston and Meek soon saw Meek forced out.

[edit] Joe Meek's legacy

Despite not being able to play a musical instrument or write notation, Meek displayed a remarkable facility for producing successful commercial recordings. To compose, he was dependent on musicians, who would transcribe his (or: recordings of his) singing. He worked on 245 singles, of which 45 were major hits (top fifty or better).

He pioneered studio tools such as artificial multi-tracking on one- and two-track machines, close miking, direct input of bass guitars, the compressor, and effects like echo and reverb, as well as sampling. Unlike other producers, his search was for the 'right' sound rather than for a catchy musical tune, and throughout his brief career he single-mindedly followed his quest to create a unique "sonic signature" for every record he produced.

At a time when studio engineers were still wearing white coats and assiduously trying to maintain clarity and fidelity, Meek was producing everything on the three floors of his "home" studio and was never afraid to distort or manipulate the sound if it created the effect he was seeking. For John Leyton's hit song "Johnny Remember Me" he placed the violins on the stairs, the drummer almost in the bathroom, and the brass section on a different floor entirely.

Meek was one of the first producers to grasp and fully exploit the possibilities of the modern recording studio. His innovative techniques -- physically separating instruments, treating instruments and voices with echo and reverb, processing the sound through his fabled home-made electronic devices, the combining of separately-recorded performances and segments into a painstakingly constructed composite recording -- comprised a major breakthrough in sound production. Up to that time, the standard technique for pop, jazz and classical recordings alike was to record all the performers in one studio, playing together in real time, a legacy of the days before magnetic tape, when performances were literally cut live, directly onto disc.

Meek's style was also substantially different from that of his contemporary Phil Spector, who typically created his famous "Wall Of Sound" productions by making live recordings of large ensembles that used multiples of major instruments like bass, guitar and piano to create the complex sonic backgrounds for his singers.

[edit] Triumph Records

In January 1960, with the promoter William Barrington-Coupe, Meek founded Triumph Records. Indifferent business results and Meek again proving difficult to work with Barrington-Coupe soon led to Meek leaving.

In 1960 Meek conceived, wrote and produced an "outer space music fantasy" concept album I Hear A New World with a band called Rod Freeman & The Blue Men. The album was shelved for decades apart from some EP tracks taken from it.

[edit] 304 Holloway Road

He went on to produce records for Wilfred Alonzo Banks as RGM Sound (later Meeksville Sound) from his home studio. He built his own home studio at 304 Holloway Road, Islington, a flat above a leathergoods store (now a bicycle shop).

His first hit from his own studio was a UK #1: John Leyton's "Johnny Remember Me" (1961), produced by commission of Leyton's personal manager, expatriate Australian entrepreneur Robert Stigwood. This single was cleverly promoted by Stigwood, who got Leyton to perform the song in several episodes in the popular TV soap opera Harpers West One in which he was making a series of guest appearances. Meek's third UK#1 and last major success was with The Honeycombs' "Have I The Right?" in 1964, which also became a #5 hit on the American Billboard pop charts.

When his landlords, who lived downstairs, felt that the noise was too much, they would indicate so with a broom on the ceiling. Joe would signal his contempt by placing loudspeakers in the stairwell and turning up the volume.

[edit] Feb. 3, 1967: The End

Meek was obsessed with the occult and the idea of "the other side". He would set up tape machines in graveyards in a vain attempt to record voices from beyond the grave. In particular, he had an obsession with Buddy Holly and other dead rock and roll musicians.

His efforts were often hindered by his paranoia (Meek was convinced that Decca Records would put hidden microphones behind his wallpaper in order to steal his ideas), drug use and attacks of rage or depression. His then-illegal homosexuality put him under further pressure; he had been charged with "importuning for immoral purposes" in 1963 and was consequently subjected to blackmail. In January of 1967, police in Tattingstone, Suffolk, discovered a suitcase containing the mutilated body of Bernard Oliver, an alleged rent boy who had previously associated with Meek. According to some accounts, Joe became concerned that he would be involved in the investigation when the London police stated that they would be interviewing all known homosexuals in the city.

On February 3, 1967, the eighth anniversary of Buddy Holly's death, Meek killed his landlady Violet Shenton and then himself with a single barreled shotgun that he had confiscated from his protegé, former Tornados bassist and solo star Heinz Burt at his Holloway Road home/studio (Meek had flown into a rage and taken it from him when he informed Meek that he used it while on tour to shoot animals). Meek had kept it under his bed, along with the shells. As the gun had been registered to Burt, he was questioned intensively by police, before being eliminated from their enquiries. A blue plaque has since been placed at the location of the studio to commemorate Meek's life and work.

[edit] Artists Joe Meek recorded

He passed up the chance to work with David Bowie, The Beatles (the latter he once described as "just another bunch of noise, copying other people's music") and Rod Stewart. John Repsch, in The Legendary Joe Meek recounts that upon hearing Stewart sing, Meek rushed into the studio, put his fingers in his ears and screamed until Stewart had left. He preferred to record instrumentals with the band he sang with - The Moontrekkers.

In 1963 Meek worked with a then little known singer Tom Jones, then the lead vocalist of Tommy Scott & The Senators. Meek recorded seven tracks with Jones and took them to various labels in an attempt to get a record deal, with no success. Two years later after Jones gained popularity with the worldwide hit "It's Not Unusual" in 1965, Meek was able to sell the tapes to Tower (USA) and Columbia (UK)^[3].

Screaming Lord Sutch and The Savages, The Tornados, The Honeycombs, The Syndicats, The Buzz, Mike Berry, The Outlaws, The Moontrekkers, Gene Vincent, Billy Fury, David John and The Mood, John Leyton, Geoff Goddard, Petula Clark, Lonnie Donegan, Humphrey Lyttelton, Diana Dors, The Blue Men, Tom Jones, Tony Dangerfield and the Thrills, Heinz and The Wild Boys, Dave Adams, Joy and Dave, Chico Arnez, Jimmy Miller and the Barbeques, Mike Preston, Emile Ford and the Checkmates, Chris Williams and the Monsters, Lance Fortune, Peter Jay and the Jaywalkers, Yolanda, Big Jim Sullivan, Ricky Wayne, George Chakiris, Michael Cox, Frankie Vaughan, Iain Gregory, Danny Rivers, Gerry Temple, Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers, The Charles Blackwell Orchestra, Don Charles, The Stonehenge Men, Andy Cavell, The Dowlands, Houston Wells and the Marksmen, The Packabeats, Jenny Moss, Burr Bailey and the Six Shooters, The Checkmates, The Saints, The Cameos, Sounds Incorporated, The Puppets, The Beat Boys, Mike Sarne, The Ambassadors, Pamela Blue, Glenda Collins, The Sharades, Roger LaVern and the Microns, Gunilla Thorne, Kim Roberts, Billie Davis, Freddie Starr and the Midnighters, Shade Joey and the Night Owls, Flip and the Dateliners, Valerie Masters, Alan Dean and His Problems, The Blue Rondos, Peter Cook, Jess Conrad, The Saxons, The Shakeouts, Bobby Rio and The Revelles, Peter London, The Four Matadors, The Cryin' Shames, The Riot Squad, The Millionaires, The Impac, Shirley Bassey, Anne Shelton, Kenny Graham and The Satellites, Tommy Steele, Chris Barber, The Fabulous Flee-Rakkers, Carter-Lewis and The Southerners, Brian White & The Magna Jazz Band, The Scorpions, Ray Dexter and The Layabouts, Neil Christian, Kenny Hollywood, Jamie Lee and The Atlantics, Toby Ventura, Wes Sands, The Thunderbolts, Silas Dooley Jr., Bobby Cristo and The Rebels, Malcolm and The Countdowns, The Diamond Twins, The Hotrods, Charles Kingsley Creation, Dannys Passion, The Classics and Joe Meek himself...

[edit] Songs about Joe Meek

British punk Wreckless Eric recounts Meek's biography and recreates some of his studio effects in his song "Joe Meek" from the album Donovan of Trash:

On the second floor of number 304

Above a handbag store and the heavy roar

Of traffic rolling down the Holloway Road

A one time bedroom housed the studio of Joe Meek

Where he conjured with the sound of another world

That Tin Pan Alley thought was too absurd

But miles of wire and recording tape

Brought fortune fame and no escape for Joe Meek

As he stirred up the sound of a hurricane

Joe Meek

Called upon forces from beyond the grave

Joe Meek

Suffered alone for his madness and pain

These were the only rewards that the hit parade

Held in store for Joe Meek

Joe Meek [1]

• According to some, the song "Green Door" alludes to Meek. "When I said, 'Joe sent me,' someone laughed out loud behind the green door".^[4]

• The Marked Men, a Texas punk band, have a song titled "Someday" with lyric: "Joe Meek wanted all the world to know about the news he found."

• The Bleeder Group, a Danish alternative rock group has a song on their second album Sunrise, called "Joe Meek Shall Inherit The Earth"

• Matmos, an Electronic duo, have a song on their 2006 album The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of the Beast called "Solo Buttons for Joe Meek".

• Pluto Monkey, British left field artist, released a three track CD single on Shifty Disco featuring the tracks "Joe Meek" and "Meeksville Sound Is Dead"

• Swing Out Sister include a short instrumental named "Joe Meek's Cat" on their 1994 album Shapes and Patterns, inspired by Joe's 1966 ghost-hunting expeditions to Warley Lea Farm during which he allegedly captured recordings of a talking cat channeling the spirit of a former landowner who committed suicide at the farm

• Graham Parker's 1992 album Burning Questions includes the cryptic "Just Like Joe Meek's Blues"

• Dave Stewart and Barbara Gaskin's "Lucky Star" is a controversial tribute to Joe Meek

• Sheryl Crow claimed that her song "The Change" was inspired by an article she read about Joe Meek

• Jonathan King recorded a song about Meek called "He Stood In The Bath He Stamped On The Floor".[2]

• Johnny Stage, Danish producer and guitarist released an album in tribute of Meek, entitled The Lady With The Crying Eyes featuring various Danish artists, on February 3. 2007

[edit] References

1. ^ http://www.nndb.com/people/592/000114250/
2. ^ http://www.musicomh.com/theatre/telstar.htm
3. ^ Tom Jones' Visual Discography. B.J. Spencer. Retrieved on February 3, 2007.
4. ^ Brian Boyd The truth behind The Green Door The Guardian 8 September 2006

[edit] Books

• John Repsch: The Legendary Joe Meek (UK; 1989, Jul 2003) ISBN 1-901447-20-0
• Barry Cleveland: Creative Music Production - Joe Meek's BOLD Techniques (USA; Jul 2001) ISBN 1-931140-08-1

[edit] Photographs

• Clive Bubley: [3]
• David Peters [4] (enter Joe Meek in search box) These 3 photos are the only genuine colour photos of Joe ever taken

[edit] External links

• BBC Music Profile: Joe Meek
• The Joe Meek Appreciation Society, England
• Discography, literature and other material
• www.retrofuture.com: Telstar: The Satellite and the song
• Danish tributesite
• Biography by John McCready (Mojo Magazine)
• Joe Meek: Portrait of a Genius feature
• Joe Meek's Gravesite

[edit] Exhibitions

• 15th Feb - 25th May 2007 at the Islington Local History Centre - It Happened Here! - Joe Meek's Out Of This World Islington
• In 2006 there was an exhibition at the Gloucester Folk Museum

[edit] Film

• BBC, 11 Nov 2006: Rhys Ifans to play '60s pop mogul Meek (feature film)
• Something I've Got To Tell You: A Life In The Death Of Joe Meek (Documentary by Susan Stahman and Howard S. Berger, 2007)
• "The Very Strange Story of the Legendary Joe Meek" A 1991 UK TV-documentary from the "Arena"-Series
• "Live It Up! (film)" (US title "Sing And Swing") 1963 pop music film starring Heinz Burt, David Hemmings and Steve Marriott, also featuring Gene Vincent, Jenny Moss, The Outlaws, Kim Roberts, Kenny Ball, Patsy Ann Noble and others. Meek wrote most of the songs and incidental music, much of which was recorded by The Saints and produced by Meek.

• Joe Meek at the Internet Movie Database

[edit] Books

• Barry Cleveland: "Joe Meek's Bold Techniques" (book)
• John Repsch: "The Legendary Joe Meek" (A chapter from the book)

[edit] Soundfiles

• Demo tapes of Joe Meek, released on the netlabel Comfort Stand Recordings