Jump to content

Joe Meek

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other people named Joe Meek, see Joe Meek (disambiguation).

Joe Meek
Meek at his home recording studio, c. 1960s
Meek at his home recording studio, c. 1960s
Background information
Birth nameRobert George Meek
Also known asRobert Duke, Peter Jacobs
Born(1929-04-05)5 April 1929
Newent, Gloucestershire, England
Died3 February 1967(1967-02-03) (aged 37)
Holloway Road, London, England
Genres
Occupation(s)Record producer, sound engineer, songwriter
Years active1954–1967
LabelsUK: Triumph (co-owner), Pye Nixa, Piccadilly, Decca, Ember, Oriole, Columbia, Top Rank, HMV, Parlophone
USA: Tower, London, Coral

Robert George "Joe" Meek (5 April 1929 – 3 February 1967)[5] was an English record producer and songwriter considered one of the most influential sound engineers of all time, being one of the first to develop ideas such as the recording studio as an instrument, and becoming one of the first producers to be recognised for his individual identity as an artist.[6][7] Meek pioneered space age and experimental pop music, and assisted in the development of recording practices like overdubbing, sampling and reverberation.[8]

Charting singles Meek produced for other artists include "Johnny Remember Me" (John Leyton, 1961), "Just Like Eddie" (Heinz, 1963), "Angela Jones" (Michael Cox, 1960), "Have I the Right?" (the Honeycombs, 1964), and "Tribute to Buddy Holly" (Mike Berry, 1961).

The Tornados' instrumental "Telstar" (1962), written and produced by Meek, became the first record by a British rock group to reach number one in the US Hot 100.[9] It also spent five weeks at number one in the UK singles chart, with Meek receiving an Ivor Novello Award for this production as the "Best-Selling A-Side" of 1962.

He also produced music for films such as Live It Up! (US title Sing and Swing, 1963), a pop music film. Meek's concept album I Hear a New World (1960), which contains innovative use of electronic sounds, was not fully released in his lifetime.

Meek was affected by bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. His commercial success as a producer was short-lived, and he gradually sank into debt and depression. On 3 February 1967, using a shotgun owned by musician Heinz Burt, Meek killed his landlady, Violet Shenton, with whom he had argued over the loudness of his studio, which he rented from her, and then shot himself.

At the time of his death, Meek possessed thousands of unreleased recordings later dubbed "The Tea Chest Tapes". His reputation for experiments in recording music was acknowledged by the Music Producers Guild who in 2009 created "The Joe Meek Award for Innovation in Production" as a "homage to [the] remarkable producer's pioneering spirit".[10] In 2014, Meek was ranked the greatest producer of all time by NME, elaborating: "Meek was a complete trailblazer, attempting endless new ideas in his search for the perfect sound. ... The legacy of his endless experimentation is writ large over most of your favourite music today."[11]


Childhood and early interests

[edit]

Meek was born at 1 Market Square, Newent, Gloucestershire,[12] and developed an interest in electronics and performance art at a very early age, filling his parents' garden shed with begged and borrowed electronic components, building circuits, radios and what is believed to be the region's first working television. During his national service in the Royal Air Force,[13] he worked as a radar technician which increased his interest in electronics and outer space. From 1953 he worked for the Midlands Electricity Board. He used the resources of the company to develop his interest in electronics and music production, including acquiring a disc cutter and producing his first record.[14]

Music career

[edit]

He left the electricity board to work as an audio engineer for a leading independent radio production company which made programmes for Radio Luxembourg,[15] and made his breakthrough with his work on Ivy Benson's Music for Lonely Lovers.[16]

His technical ingenuity was first shown on the Humphrey Lyttelton jazz single "Bad Penny Blues" (Parlophone Records, 1956) when, contrary to Lyttelton's wishes, Meek modified the sound of the piano and compressed the sound to a greater than normal extent.[17] The record became a hit.

Landsowne Studios

[edit]

He then put enormous effort into Denis Preston's Landsdowne Studio but tensions between Preston and Meek soon saw Meek leaving. During his time he recorded US actor George Chakiris for SAGA Records and it was this that led him to Major Wilfred Alonzo Banks and an independent career. He also engineered many jazz and calypso records including vocalist and percussionist Frank Holder and band leader Kenny Graham.[18]

Meek was also working as a songwriter at this time, using the name "Robert Duke". After being initially released by Eddie Silver and later by Tommy Steele, the Duke composition "Put A Ring On My Finger" was recorded by Les Paul & Mary Ford in 1958, and reached #32 on the US charts.

Triumph Records

[edit]

In January 1960, together with William Barrington-Coupe, Meek founded Triumph Records. At the time Barrington-Coupe was working at SAGA records in Empire Yard, Holloway Road for Major Wilfred Alonzo Banks and it was the Major who provided the finance. The label very nearly had a No.1 hit with Meek's production of "Angela Jones" by Michael Cox. Cox was one of the featured singers on Jack Good's TV music show Boy Meets Girls and the song was given massive promotion. As an independent label, Triumph was dependent on small pressing plants, which were unable to meet the demand for product. The record made a respectable appearance in the Top Ten,[19] but it demonstrated that Meek needed the distribution network of the major companies for his records to reach retail outlets.

Its indifferent business results and Meek's temperament eventually led to the label's demise. Meek later licensed many Triumph recordings to labels such as Top Rank and Pye. That year Meek conceived, wrote and produced an "Outer Space Music Fantasy" album titled I Hear a New World with a band called Rod Freeman & the Blue Men. The album was shelved for decades, apart from the release of some EP tracks taken from it.[20]

304 Holloway Road Studio

[edit]
The Tornadoes – "Telstar" (1962)
"Telstar" featured a clavioline, a keyboard instrument with a distinctive electronic sound. The piece won an Ivor Novello Award and sold over five million copies worldwide.
Problems playing this file? See media help.

Meek went on to set up his own production company known as RGM Sound Ltd (later Meeksville Sound Ltd) with toy importer Major Wilfred Alonzo Banks as his financial backer. He operated from his home studio which he constructed at 304 Holloway Road, Islington, a three-floor flat above a leather-goods store.

His first hit from Holloway Road reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart: John Leyton's "Johnny Remember Me" (1961) written by Geoff Goddard. This "death ditty" was cleverly promoted by Leyton's manager, expatriate Australian entrepreneur Robert Stigwood. Stigwood was able to gain Leyton a booking to perform the song several times in an episode of Harpers West One, a short-lived ITV soap opera[21] in which he was making a guest appearance.

The instrumental "Telstar", written and produced by Meek,[22] was recorded at the Holloway Road studio in July 1962. It was released in August 1962 and reached No. 1 in the UK and on the US Billboard Hot 100 in December 1962.

Meek's third UK No. 1 and last major success was with the Honeycombs' "Have I the Right?" in 1964, written by Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley. The Meek-produced track also became a number 5 hit on the American Billboard pop charts. The success of these recordings was instrumental in establishing Stigwood and Meek as two of Britain's first independent record producers.

When his landlady, Violet Shenton, who lived downstairs, felt that the noise was too much, she would bang on the ceiling with a broom. Meek would signal his contempt by placing loudspeakers in the stairwell and turning up the volume.

A privately manufactured "black plaque" (designed to resemble the official blue plaque) has since been placed at the location of the studio to commemorate Meek's life and work.[23]

Artistry

[edit]

Meek was one of the first producers to grasp and fully exploit the possibilities of the modern recording studio. Up to that time, pop recordings sought to "capture a live performance" by recording all the performers "live in a studio", often situated around just a few microphones. [24] Instead, Meek pioneered multiple over-dubbing on one- and two-track machines to combine separately recorded performances, segments, and even samples, into a painstakingly constructed composite recording, long before the Beatles made some of these techniques famous with the Sgt. Pepper's album, or Pink Floyd extended them with Dark Side of the Moon.

By physically separating instruments, and using close miking, he could avoid "bleed", such as drum sounds appearing in vocal tracks, which freed him up to combine signals from different "takes", and allowed him to manipulate their individual signals.

He pioneered signal processing by using direct input units on bass guitars, and treating instruments and voices with echo, reverb and compression, or his fabled home-made electronic devices. At a time when studio engineers limited themselves to maintaining clarity and fidelity, Meek was never afraid to distort or manipulate the sound if it created the effect he was seeking.[25]

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.[26]

Personal life

[edit]

Meek became fascinated with the idea of communicating with the dead, after reading the works about EVP of Friedrich Jurgenson (1903–1987) and Konstantins Raudive (1909–1974). He would set up tape machines in graveyards in an attempt to record voices from beyond the grave, in one instance capturing the meows of a cat he believed was speaking in human tones, asking for help. In particular, he had an obsession with Buddy Holly (saying the late American rocker had communicated with him in dreams).[27][28] By the end of his career, Meek's fascination with these topics had taken over his life following the deterioration in his mental health, and he started to believe that his flat contained poltergeists, that aliens were substituting his speech by controlling his mind, and that photographs in his studio were trying to communicate with him.[29]

Mental health

[edit]

Meek was affected by bipolar disorder[30] and schizophrenia,[31] and, upon receiving an apparently innocent phone call from American record producer Phil Spector, Meek immediately accused Spector of stealing his ideas before hanging up angrily.[32] His professional efforts were often hindered by his paranoia (Meek was convinced that Decca Records would put hidden microphones behind his wallpaper to steal his ideas), depression, and extreme mood swings.[33] In later years, Meek started experiencing psychotic delusions, culminating in his refusal to use the studio telephone for important communications due to his belief that his landlady was eavesdropping on his calls through the chimney, that he could control the minds of others with his recording equipment, and that he could monitor his acts while away from the studio through supernatural means.[29]

Meek was also a frequent recreational drug user, with his barbiturate abuse further worsening his depressive episodes.[30][34] In addition, his heavy consumption of amphetamines caused him to fly into volatile rages with little or no provocation,[29][35][36] at one point leading him to hold a gun to the head of drummer Mitch Mitchell to 'inspire' a high-quality performance.[34]

Sexual orientation

[edit]

Meek's homosexuality – at a time when homosexual acts were illegal in the UK – put him under further pressure and he was particularly afraid that his mother would find out about his sexual orientation.[33] In 1963 he was convicted and fined £15 (equivalent to £397 in 2023)[37] for "importuning for immoral purposes" in a London public toilet, and was consequently subject to blackmail.[38] In January 1967, police in Tattingstone, Suffolk, discovered two suitcases containing the remains of Bernard Oliver. According to some accounts, Meek was afraid of being questioned by the Metropolitan Police,[39] as it was known they were intending to interview all of the gay men in London.[40] This was enough for him to lose his self-control.[2]

Decline

[edit]

Meek always walked everywhere outside the studio wearing sunglasses, fearing recognition by local gangsters such as the Kray twins, whom he feared would attempt to steal his acts or blackmail him regarding his homosexuality.[29]

Meek's depression deepened as his financial position became increasingly desperate. French composer Jean Ledrut accused him of plagiarism, claiming that the melody of "Telstar" had been copied from "La Marche d'Austerlitz", a piece from a score Ledrut had written for the film Austerlitz (1960). The lawsuit meant that Meek did not receive royalties from the record during his lifetime, and the issue was not resolved in his favour until three weeks after his death in 1967.[41][42]

Murder and suicide

[edit]

On 3 February 1967 (the eighth anniversary of Buddy Holly's death), Meek killed his landlady Violet Shenton and then himself, at his Holloway Road residence.[43][44] The weapon used was a single-barrelled shotgun which he had confiscated from his protégé, former Tornados bassist Heinz Burt. Meek and Shenton had argued over his noise levels and the rent that he still owed, before Meek picked up the gun.[45] Burt had informed Meek that he had used the gun to shoot birds while on tour, at which point Meek had taken it. Meek had kept the gun under his bed, along with some cartridges. As the gun owner, Burt was questioned intensively by police before being eliminated from their enquiries.[46] Meek was buried at Newent Cemetery, Newent, Gloucestershire.[47]

Legacy

[edit]

Recording

[edit]
A Joemeek VC3 pre-amp / compressor / exciter

Meek's inability to play a musical instrument or write notation did not prevent him writing and producing successful commercial recordings. For songwriting, he was reliant on musicians such as Dave Adams, Geoff Goddard or Charles Blackwell to transcribe melodies from his vocal demos. He worked on 245 singles, 45 of which reached the top fifty.[48]

In 1993, former session singer Ted Fletcher introduced the "Joemeek" line of audio processing equipment. The tribute to Meek was due to his influence in the early stages of audio compression. The name and product line were sold to the American company PMI Audio Group in 2003. The current product line includes a microphone series called "Telstar", named after Meek's biggest hit.[49][50]

"The Tea Chest Tapes"

[edit]
The Joe Meek black plaque at his studio at 304 Holloway Road

After Meek's suicide, Cliff Cooper of the Millionaires is said to have purchased the thousands of recordings Meek had hidden at his studio, for £300 (equivalent to £6,878 in 2023).[37].[51] These recordings were called the "Tea Chest Tapes" among fans, as they had been stored in tea chests in Meek's flat.[52] Alan Blackburn, former president of the Joe Meek Appreciation Society, catalogued all of them in the mid-1980s, but they remained unreleased.[51]

On 4 September 2008, these unreleased recordings were auctioned in Fame Bureau's "It's More Than Rock 'N' Roll" auction. They were reportedly sold for £200,000[53] but, in a 2021 interview for the BBC, Cooper states that they had failed to sell on that occasion.[54] They contained over 4,000 hours of music on approximately 1,850 tapes, including recordings by David Bowie as singer and sax player with the Konrads, Gene Vincent, Denny Laine, Billy Fury, Tom Jones, Jimmy Page, Mike Berry, John Leyton, Ritchie Blackmore, Jess Conrad, Mitch Mitchell and Screaming Lord Sutch. The tapes also contained many examples of Meek composing songs and experimental sound techniques. Tape 418 has Meek composing songs for the film Live It Up![55]

On 2 September 2020, Cherry Red Records announced that they had purchased the tapes from Cooper and would begin the process of digitising the archive with a view to releasing the material, subject to rights clearance.[56] The first release was The Telstar Story in 2022,[57] and the series has since run to a dozen volumes.

Artists produced by Meek

[edit]

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' worldwide hit "It's Not Unusual" in 1965, Meek was able to sell the tapes he had recorded with Jones to Tower (USA) and Columbia (UK).[58]

Charted singles

[edit]

The following Meek productions appeared on the British charts.[59][60]

Artist Title No. Date Note(s)
Gary Miller "The Garden of Eden" 14 January 1957
Gary Miller "The Story of My Life" 14 January 1958
Emile Ford and the Checkmates "What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For?" 1 October 1959
David MacBeth "Mr. Blue" 18 October 1959
Lance Fortune "Be Mine" 4 February 1960
Lance Fortune "This Love I Have for You" 26 May 1960
John Leyton "Johnny Remember Me" 1 August 1961
Mike Berry "Tribute to Buddy Holly" 24 October 1961 backed by the Outlaws[59]
John Leyton "Wild Wind" 2 October 1961 backed by the Outlaws[61]
John Leyton "Son This Is She" 15 December 1961
Iain Gregory "Can't You Hear the Beat of a Broken Heart" 39 January 1962
John Leyton "Lonely City" 14 May 1962
The Tornados "Telstar" 1 September 1962 also writer
Mike Berry "Don't You Think It's Time" 6 January 1963
The Tornados "Globetrotter" 5 January 1963 also writer
The Tornados "Robot" 17 March 1963 also writer
The Tornados "The Ice Cream Man" 18 June 1963 also writer
Heinz "Just Like Eddie" 5 August 1963
The Honeycombs "Have I the Right?" 1 July 1964
Heinz "Diggin' My Potatoes" 49 March 1965
The Honeycombs "That's the Way" 12 July 1965
The Cryin' Shames "Please Stay" 26 April 1966
[edit]

Biographies

[edit]

In later years, the interest in Meek's life as well as influence on the music industry, has spawned at least two documentary films, a radio play, a stage play and a feature film.

Tributes and references

[edit]

A number of artists have made tributes to Meek in various ways:

  • Franco-English pop singer-songwriter MeeK chose his stage name as a homage to the British producer.
  • British punk Wreckless Eric recounts Meek's life and recreates some of his studio effects in his song "Joe Meek" from the album Donovan of Trash.
  • 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 Frank Black song "White Noise Maker" deals with Meek's suicide by shotgun, the white noise maker of the title. "It's been so long since my Telstar."
  • 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".
  • In 1995, the record label Razor & Tie released the compilation album It's Hard to Believe It: The Amazing World of Joe Meek, consisting of twenty songs Meek had produced.
  • Swing Out Sister include a short instrumental named "Joe Meek's Cat" on their 1997 album Shapes and Patterns, inspired by Meek's 1966 ghost-hunting expeditions to Warley Lea Farm during which he allegedly captured recordings of a talking cat channelling 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"
  • Sheryl Crow claimed that her song "A Change Would Do You Good" was inspired by an article she read about Meek.
  • Jonathan King recorded a song in 2007 about Meek Titled "He Stood in the Bath He Stamped on the Floor".[68][69]
  • 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 3 February 2007.[70]
  • Dave Stewart (the keyboardist) and Barbara Gaskin recorded the song "Your Lucky Star" dealing with the life and death of Meek, released on the 1991 album "Spin". Dave Stewart also recorded a version of "Telstar" on the occasion of its 40th anniversary in 2002. This was later released on the Dave Stewart and Barbara Gaskin 2009 mini-album "Hour Moon". The album also features the duo's previously released Meek tribute "Your Lucky Star" from their 1991 album "Spin".
  • The Spanish label Spicnic released in 2001 a tribute CD, "Oigo un nuevo no mundo. Homenaje a Joe Meek", featuring various Spanish bands.[71]
  • Trey Spruance, from the band Mr. Bungle, has stated that the ten-part song/instrumental "The Bends" from their album Disco Volante is inspired by Joe Meek's music. Specifically "I Hear a New World".
  • The Coral's British Top 10 hit "Don't Think You're the One" (2003) is a musical homage to Meek.[72][73]
  • Thomas Truax regularly performed his Meek tribute "Joe Meek Warns Buddy Holly" on his 2008 tours, a song apparently about Meek's supposed warning via spirit-writing predicting Buddy Holly's death. A single and accompanying video was scheduled for release on 3 February 2009, the 50th anniversary of Holly's demise, also the date of Meek's suicide.[43]
  • Robb Shenton released "Lonely Joe" as a tribute to the producer on 28 October 2008. Shenton was one of Meek's artists and was with five Meek bands between 1963 and early 1966: The Bobcats, David John and the Mood, the Prestons, the Nashpool and Flip and the Dateliners. He also sang backing vocals with many others.
  • In 2004 and 2006 respectively, UK record label Western Star records put together and released two volumes of Meek tributes on CD. These compilations were made up of Western Star artists all paying tribute by recording songs originally recorded or written by Meek. Then in 2012, producer, label boss and long time Meek enthusiast Alan Wilson released "Holloway Road", a song about Meek. This featured on the album Infamy, by his own band The Sharks.
  • In 2005, Cane 141 released a B-Side called "Joe Meek Shall Inherit The Earth". The name is a pun on Joe Meek's name and the Bible verse Matthew 5:5 where Jesus (during the Sermon on the Mount) is quoted as saying "Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth."
  • Deadbeat Poets recorded "Staircase Stomp" in 2010; the title is a reference to the Honeycombs song "Have I the Right?", and the song has many references to Meek.
  • Jasper Marsalis, of the music performance piece Slauson Malone 1, performed a cover of Meek's "I Hear a New World" on his 2023 album EXCELSIOR and at live performances preceding its release. Marsalis credits the original song with inspiring him to continue his music career during the making of EXCELSIOR, stating the following during a Bandcamp online listening party: "Originally this album was only supposed to be two songs and after that I was going to stop making music then my friend Rahill played me the song ‘I Hear A New World’ by Joe Meek. I just felt so inspired by listening to it. I wanted to do a cover to learn how the song was made and it inspired me to develop an entire album around this one song."

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Brend 2005, p. 55.
  2. ^ a b Savage, Jon (12 November 2006). "Meek by name, wild by nature". The Observer. Archived from the original on 9 March 2016. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
  3. ^ "Joe Meek and Telstar's tragic tale". The Independent. 18 April 2009. Archived from the original on 20 February 2018. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
  4. ^ Chusid, Irwin (2000). Songs in the Key of Z: The Curious Universe of Outsider Music. Chicago Review Press. ISBN 978-1-55652-372-4. Archived from the original on 17 February 2017. Retrieved 30 October 2016.
  5. ^ "Joe Meek". Nndb.com. 3 February 1967. Archived from the original on 20 October 2011. Retrieved 27 October 2011.
  6. ^ Patrick, Jonathan (8 March 2013). "Joe Meek's pop masterpiece I Hear a New World gets the chance to haunt a whole new generation of audiophile geeks". Tiny Mix Tapes. Archived from the original on 2 December 2016. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  7. ^ "Approfondimenti - Joe Meek - Joe Meek - Suoni da un altro mondo :: Gli Speciali di OndaRock". Ondarock.it. Archived from the original on 30 August 2019. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  8. ^ Fact (28 February 2013). "Joe Meek's experimental pop classic I Hear A New World gets expanded reissue". Fact. Archived from the original on 6 October 2016. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
  9. ^ James E. Perone (2009). Mods, Rockers, and the Music of the British Invasion. ABC-CLIO. p. 72. ISBN 978-0-275-99860-8.
  10. ^ "Brian Eno wins the first Joe Meek award". Audioprointernational.com. Archived from the original on 31 January 2009. Retrieved 27 October 2009.
  11. ^ Joe Meek (23 July 2014). "The 50 Greatest Producers Ever | No. 1 Joe Meek". Nme.Com. Archived from the original on 12 March 2016. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
  12. ^ "Market House". Newent Town Council. Archived from the original on 17 May 2017. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  13. ^ "Joe Meek: Mayhem & Murder On The Holloway Road". The Daily Constitutional. Archived from the original on 21 August 2020. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  14. ^ Bennett, Wayne. "Welcome to Meeksville: The Incredible World of Joe Meek". Traxploitation. Archived from the original on 21 August 2020. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  15. ^ Irwin, Mark (2007). "Take The Last Train From Meeksville: Joe Meeks's Holloway Road Recording Studio 1963-7". Journal on the Art of Record Production (2). Archived from the original on 18 July 2020. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  16. ^ "Joe Meek". Music History Archive. Howl from the Embers. Archived from the original on 21 August 2020. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  17. ^ "Humphrey Lyttelton And His Band – Close Your Eyes / Bad Penny Blues". Discogs. Archived from the original on 21 August 2020. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  18. ^ "Moondag and Suncat Suites". Trunk Records. Archived from the original on 22 June 2013. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  19. ^ "Angela Jones - Michael Cox". Officialcharts.com. Archived from the original on 11 July 2020. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  20. ^ "Joe Meek I Hear a New World". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on 31 July 2020. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  21. ^ "Harpers West One (TV Series 1961–1963), IMDb, Undated". IMDb.com. Archived from the original on 15 July 2014. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
  22. ^ Rice, Jo (1982). The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits (1st ed.). Enfield, Middlesex: Guinness Superlatives Ltd. p. 67. ISBN 0-85112-250-7.
  23. ^ Plaque #1755 on Open Plaques
  24. ^ Cliffe, Laurence. "Joe Meek's Telstar: Progressive Creativity and Imagination in Independent Music Production". Laurence Cliffe. Archived from the original on 1 July 2019. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  25. ^ Cleveland, Barry. "Joe Meek primer for audio enthusiasts" (PDF). Full Compass. Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 August 2020. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  26. ^ Shade, Colette (10 April 2015). "I Hear a New World: Joe Meek Took Music to Space and Changed Production Forever". Vice. Archived from the original on 1 August 2020. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  27. ^ WowtownTV (1 February 2016), Joe Meek Warns Buddy Holly - Thomas Truax, archived from the original on 21 August 2020, retrieved 5 December 2017
  28. ^ "The Day the Music Died and The Curse of Buddy Holly". 97X. 3 February 2016. Archived from the original on 6 December 2017. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
  29. ^ a b c d (Steven), Tucker, S. D. (2015). Great British eccentrics. Stroud, Gloucestershire. ISBN 9781445647708. OCLC 920852005.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  30. ^ a b "Not a meek and mild story..." Manchester Evening News. 25 June 2009. Archived from the original on 14 October 2018. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  31. ^ "Moran's Meek tale set go large". Manchester Evening News. 30 June 2005. Archived from the original on 14 October 2018. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  32. ^ BBC Music Moguls, part 2, Melody Makers
  33. ^ a b Barry., Cleveland (2001). Joe Meek's Bold Techniques. BookBaby. ISBN 9780692368589. OCLC 958506647.
  34. ^ a b Repsch, John (1989). The legendary Joe Meek : the Telstar man. London: Woodford House. ISBN 0951473808. OCLC 60093592.
  35. ^ Petridis, Alexis (7 February 2007). "Alexis Petridis on the original crazed record producer Joe Meek". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 25 January 2019. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  36. ^ Gritten, David (1 October 2016). "Joe Meek and the tragic demise of the maverick who revolutionised British pop". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on 1 August 2018. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  37. ^ a b UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  38. ^ Chris Mikul (1999). Bizarrism. Critical Vision. p. 111. ISBN 1-900486-06-7.
  39. ^ Fry, Colin (2011). The Krays: A Violent Business. Edinburgh: Mainstream. p. 93. ISBN 9781845968076. Archived from the original on 10 March 2016. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
  40. ^ Bondeson, Jan (2014). Murder Houses of London. Stroud, Gloucs: Amberley Publishing. p. 362. ISBN 9781445614915. Archived from the original on 10 March 2016. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
  41. ^ "Roger LaVern". The Daily Telegraph. London. 28 June 2013. Archived from the original on 27 December 2017. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  42. ^ "Telstar - The Sound of the Future". BBC Radio 2. Archived from the original on 15 March 2016. Retrieved 3 January 2016.
  43. ^ a b "Joe Meek: Tragic demise of a gifted musical maverick". Sunday Express. London. 7 June 2009. Archived from the original on 4 February 2017. Retrieved 4 February 2017. He blasted a hole in Violet Shenton's back before turning the shotgun on himself and blowing off his face.
  44. ^ "BBC Radio 2 - Sounds of the 60s with Tony Blackburn - Joe Meek". BBC. Retrieved 18 September 2024.
  45. ^ "Joe Meek (1929–1967)". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
  46. ^ "Part 11: I'm Going Now". Joe Meek Info. Archived from the original on 16 February 2020. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  47. ^ Pearce, Pam (12 May 2017). "Sixties pop pioneer Joe Meek paved the way for music production techniques used today". Gloucestershire Live. Archived from the original on 14 November 2017. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  48. ^ Utton, Dominic (3 February 2017). "Joe Meek: The tortured life of Telstar genius". Express. Archived from the original on 2 August 2019. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  49. ^ "Joemeek.com". Joemeek.com. Archived from the original on 9 November 2011. Retrieved 27 October 2011.
  50. ^ "PMI Audio Group". Pmiaudio.com. Archived from the original on 4 November 2011. Retrieved 27 October 2011.
  51. ^ a b Cottingham, Chris (4 September 2008). "What's on Joe Meek's master tapes?". The Guardian – via www.theguardian.com.
  52. ^ "Joe Meek and the Legendary Tea Chest Tapes". Record Collector. Archived from the original on 7 December 2019. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  53. ^ Elson, Mark (6 September 2017). "Meek tribute show boosts town charity". Forest of Dean and Wye Valley Review. Archived from the original on 21 August 2020. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  54. ^ Haider, Arwa (2 June 2021). "The greatest 'lost tapes' ever found?". BBC Culture. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  55. ^ "Joe Meek Archive The entire collection of Joe". Liveauctioneers.com. Archived from the original on 24 December 2009. Retrieved 26 May 2009.
  56. ^ "Cherry Red Records acquire Tea Chest Tapes". Cherry Red Records. 2 September 2020. Archived from the original on 3 September 2020. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  57. ^ "The Telstar Story - Joe Meek's Tea Chest Tapes, 10" Vinyl Edition".
  58. ^ "Tom Jones' Visual Discography, B.J. Spencer, Undated". Txhighlands.com. Archived from the original on 28 April 2012. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
  59. ^ a b Brown, Tony, Jon Kutner & Neil Warwick, The Complete Book of the British Charts: Singles and Albums, Omnibus Press, London, 2002
  60. ^ Telstar: The Hits of Joe Meek, Sanctuary Records Group Ltd., London, 2006
  61. ^ "John Leyton". BBC. Archived from the original on 5 July 2019. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  62. ^ "IMDb: "Arena" The Very Strange Story of... The Legendary Joe Meek (1991)". IMDb.com. Archived from the original on 21 August 2020. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
  63. ^ "BBC R4 - Janie Prager and Peter Kavanagh's 'Lonely Joe'". BBC. Archived from the original on 6 May 2013. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  64. ^ "Telstar - the Joe Meek Story". British Theatre Guide. Archived from the original on 20 January 2012. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  65. ^ ""Telstar" by Nick Moran at the New Ambassadors from 21 June 2005". LOndon Theatre. 8 June 2016. Archived from the original on 21 August 2020. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  66. ^ "Sensoria 2008: A Life in the Death of Joe Meek". 2009.sensoria.org.uk. Archived from the original on 21 May 2014. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
  67. ^ Telstar: The Joe Meek Story at IMDb
  68. ^ "Video: "He Stood In The Bath He Stamped On The Floor"". Youtube.com. 6 January 2007. Archived from the original on 24 August 2014. Retrieved 27 October 2011.
  69. ^ He Stood In the Bath and He Stamped On the Floor by Jonathan King on Apple Music, 22 January 2007, retrieved 18 September 2024
  70. ^ "Myspace: Joe Meek Tribute". Myspace.com. Archived from the original on 26 May 2014. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
  71. ^ "Spicnic label website". Spicnic.com. Archived from the original on 8 October 2011. Retrieved 27 October 2011.
  72. ^ The Coral [@thecoralband] (22 May 2020). "Don't Think You're the First We loved Joe Meek. He wrote about piers, love, haunted funfairs, the occult and murder. This is the trademark Joe Meek rhythm" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 22 May 2020. Retrieved 15 November 2022 – via Twitter.
  73. ^ The Coral [@thecoralband] (22 May 2020). "Lee using odd parts of his guitar to make strange Mekon percussion sounds" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 22 May 2020. Retrieved 15 November 2022 – via Twitter.

Bibliography

[edit]

Further reading

[edit]
  • John Repsch: The Legendary Joe Meek (UK; 1989, July 2003) ISBN 1-901447-20-0
  • Barry Cleveland: Creative Music Production – Joe Meek's BOLD Techniques (USA; July 2001) ISBN 1-931140-08-1
  • Barry Cleveland: Joe Meek's BOLD Techniques, 2nd Edition (USA; December 2013) ISBN 978-0-615-73600-6
  • The penultimate chapter of Alan Moore's spoken word piece "The Highbury Working" concerns Meek's last moments.
  • Mallory Curley: Beatle Pete, Time Traveller (Randy Press, 2005) * Jon Savage: "Meek by name, wild by nature" (The Guardian, UK, 12 November 2006.)
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Joe_Meek&oldid=1260315987"