Phil Dirt - Reverb Central - PO Box 1609, Felton, CA 95018-1609 USA Collection: Joe Meek Presents: 304 Hollow Way Road
 | Joe Meek was one strange dude, who operated on the lunatic fringe of pop production, which meant sometimes he was brilliant, as with the Tornadoes, and other times he was horrid as with Peter Cook. His trademark compression and layered production paralleled Phil Spector's similar/different Wall of Sound style. Where Specter used more finesse, Joe used a heavy hand. Both layered sound on sound, with every nook and cranny filled. Joe super compressed his work until the VU meters would sit nearly motionless on playback. Sometimes it was great, as with the Tornadoes, and other times it was just odd. |
Picks: The Saints - Wipe Out
Track by Track Review
The Flee Rekkers - Sunday Date Pop (Instrumental)
Over compressed guitar lead exotic Shadows style tune.
The Flee Rekkers - Green Jeans Euro Rock (Instrumental)
An almost mariachi sax version of "Green Sleeves."
The Flee Rekkers - Fireball British Pop (Instrumental)
Pompous organic concoction.
The Joe Meek Orchestra - The Kennedy March Joe Meek Weird (Instrumental)
Strings and trumpets and drums and an almost Herb Alpert approach to Bert Kempfert... jeez, Joe, what were you thinking?
The Packabeats - The Traitors Shadows Tequila (Instrumental)
A "Tequila"-like rhythm section and a slow Shadows style melody. Super compressed big guitar Shadow-sie number that is mysteriously intriguing. Echoplex and Compressors and Surf Wham. Slightly interesting and a little odd.
Euro Pop Surf (Instrumental)
The Brits just never got what surf was all about in the sixties. Even this overplayed standard was messed up by lame guitar tones and horrid drum sounds. Joe Meek's super compression did not help surf, not that this was a surf delivery. The Saints' "Pipeline" is pretty credible. This is just an interesting insight into the UK surf mindset.
The Saints - Midgets Euro (Instrumental)
Plinky pop in a near country vein like Lawrence Welk on aphrodisiacs.