The Very Strange Story of... The Legendary Joe Meek

'The Strange Story of Joe Meek' might have been more appropriately titled 'The Meek Story of Joe Strange', as the subject of this biographical rockumentary was unprepossessing yet deeply eccentric with it.

Joe Meek is unknown to the general public, but he changed the sound of rock music. After his National Service stint as a radar technician, he worked as a television engineer, then became a sound engineer for IBC recording studios in London in the mid-1950s. He worked with most of the prominent British recording artists of the day, most notably on several early hits for Lonnie Donegan at Lansdowne, an independent record producing firm for which Meek designed a recording studio.

In the late 1950s, Meek began to write songs, and decided to become an independent producer. He created the bootlace-budgeted Triumph label, making recordings in a converted flat above a North London shopfront. With the Outlaws and the Tornadoes as his house bands, Meek miraculously managed to release several top-10 singles in the early 1960s. Meek's greatest influence was the U.S. rocker Buddy Holly, who also influenced several other U.K. music innovators of this time, notably Graham Nash and the Beatles. Meek produced a Buddy Holly tribute album in '61. His greatest triumph at Triumph came a year later: the Tornadoes' instrumental 'Telstar', a #1 hit in the U.S. and Britain, featuring Meek's unique electronic sounds, and named for the communications satellite which excited the public on both sides of the Atlantic at this time. Another transatlantic hit produced by Meek was 'Have I the Right?', recorded by the Honeycombs.

Although Meek was an innovator, for some reason he failed to keep up with his own innovations, and eventually he was left in the dust by other recording producers after showing them the way. Highly introverted and subject to mood swings, almost certainly subject to bipolar disorder, Meek killed his landlady and then committed suicide on 3 February 1967: the anniversary of Buddy Holly's death, now recalled as 'the day the music died'.

This documentary features talking-head footage from members of Meek's family and from artists who worked with him, as well as rival producer Mickie Most. Among the facts on offer, we learn that Meek's forename at birth was Robert: it's surprising that he chose to change this name to Joe by deed poll, yet he kept his off-putting surname Meek. We also learn that his innovative soundtracks included such effects as a toilet flush (electronically enhanced with echo effects) and a magnetic tape played backward (this before rock musicians allegedly included deliberate backwards messages in their recording tracks).

Because Meek worked with house bands rather than stage acts, the concert footage on offer here is in-studio stuff. The entertainment quotient of this film is lower than usual for a typical rockumentary, but those who are interested in the history of U.K. rock will find this film utterly compelling, and required viewing. I'll rate it a full 10 out of 10.

As much as Joe respected and idolised Spector, he would have resented the above remark. Spector worked in up-to-date state-of-the-art multi-million dollar studios in LA while Joe cranked them out from a 3-storey flat above a leather goods shop in a particular downmarketarea of North London. Spector concentrated all his efforts on a handful of numbers to ensure sublime pop perfection. Meek churned them out at virtually a rate of one a week (significantly, he produced few albums - even by his top-selling artists). That Meek thrived in the few pre-Beatles' years of the 60's is also significant. Rock n'roll was an indigenous musical form to the States - evolving out of native forms such as country and western and r n'b. In Britain not only was it a learnt form - so were the musical genres it evolved from. Everyone was trying to emulate America from a standing start and so it was hardly surprising that, with honourable exceptions like Johnny Kidd and the Pirates first few rockers and billy Fury's "Sound of Fury" LP, most of it was a pale shadow of the Yanks. Its main practitioners were callow, inexperienced kids - not the experienced, authoritative Jazz musicians Joe worked with in the 50's - so this was fertile ground for a man of Joe's control freak nature - and unbridled libido. Joe's music - without its roots in African-American musical forms - represents an intriguing dead end in British rock. When the Beatles and Stones burst upon the scene, rock was still a learnt musical form in Britain, but they had learnt it in greater depth and understanding as well as offshoots like Motown. A cursory listen to the 4 CD RGM LEGACY confirms that Joe really needed was a songwriter on the order of Jagger-Richard or Ray Davies - even a Reg Presley. He briefly kept pace with the Honeycombs joyous HAVE I THE RIGHT but - like too many of Joe's acts - they hadn't the staying power to capitalise on its success. The fact that the Tornados were prevented from a lucrative tour of the States by the jealousy of their co-manager Larry Parnes highlights the ramshackle cottage industry state of the British pop scene at that point in time. Who knows if the Yanks would have embraced Heinz, Roger, Clem, Alan and George as they did John, Paul, George and Ringo? Joe's main Achilles heel was his business sense. He had none. For all the hindsight criticism of Brian Epstein, the Beatles were all living in nice big houses in stockbroker belt by the mid-60's with few reported occasions of them sharing plate of egg and chips in a transport café as the Tornados did while Telstar was at its height. Joe's later freak beat recordings have passed into legend - probably because they reflected the increasing turmoil of his mental state. DIGGING FOR GOLD and YOU'RE HOLDING ME DOWN cannot be listened to without an awareness of what was going on in Joe's life (and head) at this juncture. He could have done with Spector's quality control. For every SOMETHING I'VE GOT TO TELL YOU, MY FRIEND BOBBY or EARLY BIRD that should have charted, there were too many that should never have seen the inside of a recording studio. Still, this excellent documentary was a worthy of Joe's life and - having enjoyed Nick Moran's and James Hicks' play - cannot wait for the film version.