Friday, December 11, 2009

Joe Meek- I Hear A New World

Joe Meek photographed by David Peters, copyright David Peters (sorry for not posting the copyright originally).
While writing last week's post on Heinz Burt, lazy fuck that I am, I clicked on my Itunes (I run my computer's earphone jack through a Cayin T-50 Tube amp with some old ADS speakers a friend spotted on Ebay for me) and let the 91 song Joe Meek playlist play all day (normally I keep the thing on shuffle so the 22,587 songs can come up in the strangest order) and after a day or so lost in Meekdom I decided I really should hip those who have never heard it to what most of his fans agree to be as close to a masterpiece as Joe Meek ever created-- I Hear A New World. I Hear A New World was originally issued as a promo only EP under the name of the Blue Men, and later restored in 1991 by the folks at RPM to the twelve song album that Meek originally envisioned (and then re-restored and inserted into the book Joe Meek's Bold Techniques by Barry Cleveland (Mix Books, 2001).
If you're gonna buy the thing, look for the book version w/the CD, it's a better buy, since you also get the book (which is an excellent book if you like to read about reverb and tape echo), and I prefer the "warts and all" version, taken from the original test pressing to the digitally fixed up version RPM issued. Where was I? I think I started out with a point here...
Right, Joe Meek, and I Hear A New World. Meek, who was Britain's first independent rock'n'roll producer recorded this thing in 1959 and originally thought it might be marketed as a stereo test record. A four song EP was pressed in extremely limited quantities (probably less than one hundred copies), a second EP was planned but never issued and a test pressing of the 12 song LP exists although there's probably only a couple of copies in existence.
The EP, I Hear A New World Part 1 (Triumph), was issued under the name of The Blue Men, while the re-issue credited The Blue Men with Rod Freeman (the group's leader, who also served as Meek's musical transcriber, since Meek didn't play an instrument and couldn't sing in key, Freeman had the unenviable job of turning Meek's off key humming into musical riffs and melodies). What it is, is an outer space pop music concept album, long before LSD, Pink Floyd, laser light shows, and all that made such things a common place part of American suburban growing up which came in the wake of Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon in the early 70's. Meek's idea was to create a recording of what he imagined music would sound like on the moon. And he recorded it in stereo, although he was using his home studio at Arundel Gardens (pre-Holloway Road), which was outfitted with three mono recording machines. No one has been able to figure out how he recorded the thing in stereo, although many theories are bandied about in Cleveland's book.
It's not a rock'n'roll record, I guess it would fit closer into the category of electronic exotica
of the Dick Hyman (of Moon Gas infamy) sort. Much use is made of the clavioline, an early electronic keyboard (much like the Solovox Sun Ra played), as well as steel guitar, and what we now called sampled sounds-- dripping water, toilets flushing, etc. all manipulated with Meek's array of homemade echo, reverb, delay boxes and oscillators. On top of this the voices are all overdubbed and run at various speeds, giving it a definite "other worldly" feel. Kinda like the Ran-Dells' Martian Hop. In fact, it sounds sort of what I'd imagine the Teletubbies would sound like if they were a band (long time readers know I loved the Teletubbies and me and my wife watched them every morning for years). Anyway, I.H.A.N. W. was a bit ahead of its time, as Meek would top the charts worldwide with another outer space themed disc-- Telstar by the Tornadoes, three years later. No matter, It's a lot of fun to listen to, especially if you're a pot head. So here it is:
I Hear A New World, Glob Waterfall, Entry Of the Globbots*, Valley Of The Saroos*, Magnetic Field*, Orbit Around The Moon*, The Bulblight, March Of The Dribcots, Love Dance Of The Saroos, Dribcot's Space Boat, Disc Dance Of the Globbots, Valley Of No Return, I Hear A New World (alternate mix). As I said in the Heinz post (below), Joe Meek's music may be an acquired taste, but I Hear A New World is some of his best, all that's missing is the rock'n'roll part. While I'm on the subject of Joe Meek, you garage band lovers should invest in a copy of RPM's Joe Meek's Groups- Crawdaddy Simone which includes the amazing title track from the Syndicats (Meek's answer to the Yardbirds/Stones/Pretty Things), and Diamond's Intergalactic Instro's, 31 instrumental tracks including the Moontrekkers' Night Of The Vampire, some live Tornadoes tracks and Meek humming the demo for Telstar.
* These four tunes were on the original I Hear A New World Part. 1 EP.

17 comments:

J.D. King said...

I love Joe Meek! What a guy!

When I was a kid, I knew nothing about the role of "producer," but I knew this: "Telstar" and "Have I the Right" leapt out of the radio and hit me in the head!

The Hound said...

" leapt out of the radio and hit me in the head!"

Just like that, eh? Likely story....you didn't provoke them at all? They just jumped out of the speaker and hit you? I assume you sued...how much did the jury award you?

Benjamin said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Benjamin said...

Here's a link to an article with a trailer for the movie about Meek/Telstar/etc: http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/film/review-23709771-musical-monster-played-for-laughs-in-telstar.do

The Hound said...

"Here's a link to an article with a trailer for the movie about Meek/Telstar/etc: "

I can't say that trailer makes me want to see the movie, I guess I'll wait and see if it turns up on IFC/Sundance/Ovation/BBC-America which eventually I'm sure it will. Has there ever been a really great bio pic of a musician? As I think about it, the best is probably The Gene Krupa Story with Sal Mineo (which has some really dumb moments, like changing his withdrawal from dope to pot) gets my vote as the best.

Paul said...

The movie's pretty atrocious, sadly - we had to take it off after half an hour of Carry On-style mugging. Apparently it worked better as a stage play. The lead does look like Meek. You'd be better off looking for the excellent BBC doco that went out a couple of years ago and featured some of Meek's occult recordings, like the talking cat he taped in a local cemetery - he claimed it was saying "HELLLP MEEEEE!" to him. Joe, you were a one-off.

J.D. King said...

"...you didn't provoke them at all? They just jumped out of the speaker and hit you?"

I wasn't doin' nuthin'. They started it.

The Hound said...

"You'd be better off looking for the excellent BBC doco that went out a couple of years ago and featured some of Meek's occult recordings, like the talking cat he taped in a local cemetery - he claimed it was saying "HELLLP MEEEEE!" to him."

I've had a copy of that on VHS for years, it's truly a wonderful documentary. The bottom clip over the Heinz posting is part 4 of 6 ten minutes segments
that are posted at youtube, those who don't own a copy of The Legendary Joe Meek can watch it that way (find it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTrkQeIyeZU&feature=PlayList&p=158CD5BB2DD566E6&index=0), or you can by a copy from www.thevideobeat.com who have packaged it on one DVD along with a fairly amusing doc. about Larry Parnes.

Donna Lethal said...

When I lived in London I lived right off Holloway Road, not far from "The Joe Meek House" as it's known. There's a plaque on it, which I guess caused some controversy, considering. One of my favorite Joe tunes is John Leyton's "Johnny Remember Me."

I began watching the Teletubbies after having a double root canal.

The Hound said...

"I began watching the Teletubbies after having a double root canal."

I began watching when I noticed that it was the only time my cat ever reacted to something on the tv screen. The tv just happened to be on and the Teletubbies came on and the kitty, who in eighteen years had never paid any mind to the tv before planted herself in front of the screen and watched the whole thing. When ever they came on she'd do the same thing (my wife had a similar reaction). Oddly enough, the only music Ruby, the cat, ever reacted to was Gene Pitney's Town Without Pity. When I'd put the record on she'd park herself in front of the speaker and stare into the speaker cone and meow all the way through, but especially when Gene Pitney sang "b-a-a-a-d". I think, having come from a dumpster, she identified with it.

jneilnyc said...

We're off on a tangent, but hey ... the only time my cat reacted to the TV was once when I was watching some old Dean Martin shows (featuring the Gold-Diggers!) on PBS. The cat was dozing on the bed and I was reading, half-listening, and I notice that every time Dino would slide into one of those boozy "buh-buh-boooo" vocal things that were his trademark the cat's tail would wag several times. For the rest of the show I kept track, and he did it every single time.

Donna Lethal said...

That's funny. I'm a big Gene Pitney fan ... I wonder if it's related. I was all doped up and Teletubbies made perfect sense. I was also helping raise my friends' twins (I'm their godmother) so I happily watched it with them from then on. I could see how those kids on ecstacy would have Teletubbie viewings. If I was still doing it, I would.

Donna Lethal said...

I mean, the kids who would party on ecstacy, not the kids I was babysitting.

The Hound said...

"I mean, the kids who would party on ecstasy, not the kids I was babysitting."

You never know, prozac and ecstasy are basically the same drug, no? There's plenty of little kids running around with their seritonan jets blasting away like a fire hose.

Donna Lethal said...

Are Teletubbies still on? I looked and didn't find any listed. Now I want some Tubby toast.

Tornado304 said...

Was intrested in your notes and photographs of Joe, the Colour Photo is my copyright,(to confirm this go to the website listed below) I am happy for you to continue to use it, but, ask the you include that it is "Copyright David Peters".
I knew Joe in 65/66 and also managed a group that recorded with him. (see www.dannyspassion.webeden.co.uk) he was a great guy, and far ahead of his time.

The Hound said...

" the Colour Photo is my copyright,(to confirm this go to the website listed below) I am happy for you to continue to use it, but, ask the you include that it is "Copyright David Peters"."

I've added your copyright info, my apologies for not running the credit when I first posted it, I downloaded the photo off the web and didn't know who took it.

Let's Hear It For The Orchestra

Let's Hear It For The Orchestra
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