JOE MEEK "Telstar" Anthology disc 1

In 2005, the story of maverick producer Joe Meek hit the West End stage as Telstar, and a film of the same name premiered in 2009. All this helped introduce a new generation to the sounds that came out of his studio half a century ago at 304 Holloway Road, north London in an era when Britain lagged a long way behind the States in cutting-edge recording.‘Telstar’, credited to house band the Tornados and named after a just-launched communications satellite, changed all that. By making Number 1 on both sides of the Atlantic in December 1962 – the first and only record by a pre-Beatles UK group to top the Billboard chart – it put the UK, and Joe Meek in particular, on the map. Sadly, the royalties would be delayed by a court case alleging plagiarism launched by a French composer. This would be settled in Meek’s favour in February 1967, three weeks after his death...
...Meek created musical magic in his home studio above a shop. Some of the futuristic sounds he was responsible for would not have sounded out of place in the synthesiser-dominated Eighties, and he was undoubtedly years ahead of his time.
He’d served in the Royal Air Force as a radar technician after World War II, then worked as a television engineer before getting a job at IBC, one of only two recording studios in London not attached to a record label. He moved to the other independent studio, Lansdowne, in 1957, working on some of Lonnie Donegan’s skiffle hits.
All this, plus a growing interest in songwriting, set him up nicely to go it alone, which he did in 1960. His first hit, ‘Angela Jones’, by singer Michael Cox, came out on his own Triumph imprint, but he soon decided to concentrate on creating music and leave the marketing to labels he licensed his productions to.
The following year would see him top the UK charts thanks to John Leyton and ‘Johnny Remember Me’. The combination of the singing actor and a song written by young hopeful Geoff Goddard proved irresistible, the arrangement by another young talent Charles Blackwell featuring strings and choir – all recorded in the living room, bathroom and toilet of Meek’s three-floor flat!...to be continued...

trax disc 1:
1. Telstar - The Tornados 2. It's Just A Matter Of Time - Mike Berry 3. Can Can 62 - Peter Jay & The Jaywalkers 4. Sioux Serenade - The Outlaws 5. Lonely Week-End - Ray Dexter 6. My Little Girl's Come Home - Geoff Goddard 7. Stage To Cimarron - The Fleerekkers 8. Poor Joe - Cliff Bennett & The Rebel Rousers 9. You Gave Me The Blues - Alan Klein 10. North Wind - Houston Wells 11. Always On Saturday - Andy Cavell 12. Mr Lovebug - Iain Gregory 13. Jungle Fever - The Tornados 14. Lone Rider - John Leyton 15. It Matters Not - Mark Douglas 16. Black Buffalo - The Fleerekkers 17. The Hermit Of Misty Mountain - Don Charles 18. Honey 'Cause I Love You - Michael Cox 19. Hatashiai - The Moontrekkers 20. Every Little Kiss - Mike Berry 21. The Road To Love - Neil Christian & The Crusaders 22. Fort Knox - The Outlaws 23. Three Coins In The Sewer - Alan Klein 24. Dear One - Tony Vicror 25. Poppin' Part 1 - The Chaps (The Outlaws)
...originally served by Gyro1966...