Joe Meek

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I'll have to dig up the rest of that program. I have a couple of CDs of Meek work. He was a novelty song nut amongst other things. Oh, he was a Buddy Holly freak & had an interesting premonition about him. He didn't deal with guitars all that well if I recall.
Thanks for posting this - i'll be chasing the rest today.
 
All six parts of that documentary are on YouTube. The later parts, 3 - 5 were particularly interesting.

They said that when he started to sell records to teenagers that it was a whole new market (!).

Interesting too, that his big hit "Telstar" was about the satellite that laid the foundation for all of this. The song still has a very eerie sound to it.

In a way he was the ultimate home recording guy.
 
I can't view the link at work- anybody have a summary on the guy?
 
He was an English songwriter/engineer who recorded a number of hits in his apartment in the early 60's. He was a pioneer in special effects... using the recording studio as a musical instrument itself, using everyday sounds like a flushing toilet in a song.

The Beatles use of backwards tapes and such could be considered rooted in Joe Meek. Even sampling, like using a door slam in a track, stuff like that.

For '62 this was not a normal recording:

[video=youtube;eGhxayGDa5Q&feature]video[/video]
 
He recorded hits like "Have I the right" by the Honeycombes (1964). I'd say he was the original homerecorder. He utilised things like the tiles of the bathroom for reverb and stomping feet for extra rhythmic spice.

An interesting piece;


Hey Joe

The sixties' space cadet

Since his death, Joe Meek's reputation as a pioneer of space-age pop and an eccentric English Phil Spector has grown apace. But in the early Sixties the record industry hardly knew what to make of the man who made a series of hits from his home studio at 304 Holloway Road in north London.

Born in 1929 in the Forest of Dean, he developed an early obsession with gadgets which he nurtured while working for the Midlands Electricity Board and which found full rein when he started to make records in 1956. The best-known of these - John Leyton's 'Johnny Remember Me', the Tornados' 'Telstar' - sounded like nothing else and, far ahead of George Martin, Meek used the studio as an instrument, taking mixing desks apart, playing tapes backwards and adding washes of sci-fi inspired effects. The fact that in his studio people played guitar in the bathroom while others sang on the stairs only adds to the fun.

Scorned by the mainstream, Meek launched his own label, so becoming an indie pioneer in yet another field. Members of Meek's house bands became huge stars a decade later - Ritchie Blackmore, who played the guitar solo on Heinz's 'Just Like Eddie', went on to form Deep Purple, along with the Syndicats' Roger Glover, whose guitarist, Steve Howe, joined Yes.
Click to expand...
 
My dad's band actually recorded with him on a couple of occasions. Apparently a very nice man. I've grown up with a lot of his stuff and seen a fair few "Meek bands", so I've got a soft spot for all that stuff. I don't know if anyone has seen the film "Telstar" but it's a good one and worth a watch.
 
That song "Have I the Right" is forever burned in my memory.
Great song.
I watched the tube yesterday, DM.
Some interesting family dynamics there.
 
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