Cognitive Dissidents

I have always thought that "Telstar" is a seminal piece of "Retro Electronica".

It's not the tune itself, as much as the production and recording techniques, the vibe, the sheer craziness of it all.

Joe Meek managed to capture almost everything in "Telstar" that would make electronic music so popular in the 21st C.

Listen to the intro? What *has* that got to do with what follows? But it kind of fits, and as the beat and the main riff rises up, and up, we are led into this mad-professor "Stylophone" type riff which dominates the rest of the tune.

Except for the guitar break, which sounds like it was drenched in the sixties, and wouldn't remember it had been there. Then that outro, it wouldn't be out of place on any self-respecting "Industrial Ambient" compilation.

So Sixties, so different from the time, yet so much a precursor for what was to follow.

Why?

The standard answers are as follows:

(i) The production techniques used by Joe Meek were way ahead of the time: close miking to instruments and amps, advanced use of compressors and other studio effects being the main elements of his style.

(ii) Joe Meek used backward running tapes (now called "back masking"), tape loops (now called "looping") and "found sounds" (now called "sampling") to create his masterpieces.

(iii) The compressors used by Joe Meek had a legendary "Dark Mode", a feature that can still be found in compressors built by the company that bears his name today.

I don't think that the success of "Telstar" was so much to do with all of those things.

I think the success of "Telstar" was due to that fact that, like so many "pop tunes", "Telstar" was in the right place at the right time, ending up as "Number 1" in both the UK & US.

Technological Optimism, Harold Wilson's "White Heat of Technology", the Space Race, Carnaby St, the "Swinging Sixties" ... I could go on listing the standard cliches forever.

Joe Meek, Gone but not forgotten.

The Joe Meek Appreciation Society remembers "the man, the mystery, the music", while the London West-End theatre production, Telstar closes on the 10th of September 2005. There are also books about Joe Meek's bold studio techniques, and about his life.

You could argue that Joe Meek is probably more famous now than he ever was in the Sixties. But isn't that yet another cliche?

But then I wonder, thinking about Joe Meek and his magical "dark mode" compressor, his bag of studio tricks and cutting edge techniques.

Would "The Beach Boys" have made the legendary "Pet Sounds" in 1964 - without the pioneering work of Joe Meek?

Would "The Beatles" have made "Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band" in 1967 - without "Pet Sounds"

Would "Pink Floyd" have made "Dark Side of the Moon" in 1973 -without "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"

Who knows? But I think the history of pop, rock and electronic music have all benefited from the pioneering work of Joe Meek.