I was planning on never reviewing a compilation, or reviewing an album that was released in 1996. However, this album is one of the rare exceptions I have found. The album itself was released in 1996, but it contains decades and decades of songs that British producer Joe Meek put out with different (somewhat unknown) female artists.
Joe Meek, himself is one of the most fascinating people I have read about in the music biz for some time. I think apart of me wanted to review this album, in the event that someone else would dive as deeply into his life as I have and learn about his remarkable story.
He was a pioneer in the England as a producer and songwriter,and his career began in 1954 when he moved to London and began working as an audio engineer for an independent radio station. He then went on to become the founder of Triumph Records and then eventually went on to set up his own recording studio in his three floor home above a leather goods store in 1960.
His style of recording, the techniques and methods of manipulation to get the 'perfect sound' has become groundbreaking for producers all the way up to current day. He was a legend. A lot of the articles I read about him explain that while other audio techs were still wearing white lab coats and pocket protectors, Joe Meek stood out as being eccentric as he worked out of his home, and used almost anything to distort sounds, using reverb and echo effects on voices for the first time.
Another funny side story, taken from his biography written by Joe Repsch called 'The Legendary Joe Meek'.. He passed up the chance to work with the then unknown David Bowie, the Beatles (the latter he once described as "just another bunch of noise, copying other people's music") and Rod Stewart. Repsch recounts that upon hearing Stewart sing, Meek rushed into the studio, put his fingers in his hears and screamed until Stewart had left.
While he was carrying out his career, he recorded 245 singles including the 29 on this track. I love this album, and when you listen you can see the theme that someone was going for when they put it together. All of the female singers are reminiscent of the 1950's-1960's girl doo-wop bands. However, the reason why this album stands out is because the music in the background definitely has a unique sound than anything else going on at that time. There are echos, weird synthesizers, and the some of the vocals have an eerie effect. He uses samples and other techniques that were unheard of at the time. I find this album intriguing and a great overall representation of his life's work, wrapped in a neat little package (Some of his other albums are very strange and hard to listen to on a regular basis).
However, although I love this album I think his life is more interesting. In 1967 after battling depression and paranoia and having to conceal his homosexuality (illegal in the U.K at the time) Joe Meek grabbed a shotgun and in a crazy/blind rage killed his landlady and then himself. Today, there are documentaries/movies and plays about his life. Specifically, one film came out after a play called Telstar: The Joe Meek Story in 2009 and starred Kevin Spacey. He is definitely worth looking to. I though instead of posting the album information, I will post a link to one of his many docs. (Its an hour long..) and also post one of the songs on his album Let's Go!
Documentary
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tcS91fL8jQ&feature=related
Song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdV7GKzrqjU
nice choice
ReplyDelete