Joe Meek
Joe Meek (born Robert George Meek;
April 5,
1929 in
Newent,
Gloucestershire,
Englandâ€"
February 3,
1967) was a pioneering
British record producer and
songwriter acknowledged as one of the world's first independent producers. His most famous work was
The Tornados' hit
"Telstar" (
1962), which would become the first record by a British group to hit #1 in the
US charts. Meek received the
Ivor Novello Award for his composition of this "Best-Selling A-Side"
1962.
Despite not being able to play a musical instrument or write
notation, he 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 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.
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.
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 built his own home studio at 304 Holloway Road,
Islington, above a leathergoods store (now a bicycle shop). He then put enormous effort into Denis Preston's Landsdowne studio but tensions between Preston and Meek soon saw Meek forced out.
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 indisputably one of the first producers to grasp and fully exploit the possibilities of the modern recording studio. His innovative techniques 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 close 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.
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.
In January
1960, with the promoter William Barrington-Coupe, Meek founded
Triumph Records. Indifferent business results and Meek again proving difficult to work with soon led to Meek leaving. He went on to produce records for Wilfred Alonzo Banks as RGM Sound from his home studio. His first hit from his own studio was
John Leyton's "Johnny Remember Me" (
1961), produced by commission of his personal manager, expatriate Australian entrepreneur
Robert Stigwood. This single was cleverly promoted by Stigwood, who managed to get Leyton to perform the song several times in the popular TV
soap opera Harpers West One in which he was making a series of guest appearances. Meek's last big success was with
The Honeycombs' "Have I The Right" in
1964.
Joe Meek produced in 1960 an "outer space music fantasy"
concept album I Hear a New World with a band called The Blue Men, which was shelved for decades except for some EP tracks taken from it.
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, previously 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 hit
It's Not Unusual, Meek was able to sell the tapes to Tower (USA) and
Columbia (UK).
Singles
*"Chills & Fever" b/w "Baby, I'm In Love" (April 1965, Tower 190, USA only, sung by Tom Jones)
*"Little Lonely One" b/w "That's We'll All Do" (May 1965, sung by Tom Jones)
*"Lonely Joe" b/w "I Was A Fool" (October 1965, sung by Tom Jones)
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 obssession 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. He had been charged with "importuning for immoral purposes" in
1963 and his then-illegal
homosexuality put him under further pressure.
On
February 3,
1967, the eighth anniversary of
Buddy Holly's death, Meek killed his landlady and then himself with a single barreled shotgun that he had confiscated from
Heinz Burt at his Holloway Road home/studio. Meek had flown into a rage and taken it from Burt 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.
|
J.Repsch: The Legendary Joe Meek Published 2003 |
* John Repsch:
The Legendary Joe Meek (UK; 1989, Jul 2003) ISBN 1901447200
* Barry Cleveland:
Creative Music Production - Joe Meek's BOLD Techniques (USA; Jul 2001) ISBN 1931140081
* Clive Bubley: [
1]
*
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*
Biography by John McCready (Mojo Magazine)*
Joe Meek: Portrait of a Genius feature*
Joe Meek's GravesiteExhibition
*
"Joe Meek - The Telstar Man" current (2006) exhibition at the Gloucester Folk Museum Film
*
Something I've Got To Tell You: A Life In The Death Of Joe Meek (Documentary by Susan Stahman and Howard S. Berger, 2006)
*
The Strange Story of the Legendary Joe Meek 1991 UK TV-documentary from "Arena"-Series
Books
*
Barry Cleveland: "Joe Meek's Bold Techniques" (book)*
John Repsch: "The Legendary Joe Meek" (A chapter from the book)Soundfiles
*
Demo tapes of Joe Meek, released on the
netlabel Comfort Stand Recordings
