Joe Meek Freakbeat: You're Holding Me Down

Here's a new compilation of obscure freakbeat and rhythm-n-blues 45s recorded by the one-and-only sonic innovator Joe Meek in 1965 and 66 in his home-made studio famously located high above the traffic roar of London's Holloway Road. I think most of these singles are collected together here for the first time. Admittedly some of the material and playing, by largely unknown UK bands, is less than stellar on occasion, BUT most of the productions are nothing short of magical and on a Joe Meek comp thats what matters. Vocals weave in and out of the mix; drums are compressed within an inch of their lives; strange sound effects are layered on top of each other; guitars have more fuzz than ever before (check the rabid solos on "Crawdaddy Simone") and there's enough echo and reverb on EVERYTHING to cause a world shortage. And all this was done on a pair of two-track machines. Nobody else was making records like this at the time, and nobody can do it now either. Jaw-dropping.

My favourite Joe compilation. Hard to imagine that none of these tracks ever charted but they open to ridicule the notion that Joe did not adapt to changing times or that he produced nothing of worth after 1964. The man who produced Telstar was always the John the Baptist of the forthcoming musical explosion in Britain. His problem was spreading his recources too thinly and on unworthy acts. Also, unlike George Martin - who was content to complement the Beatles but never dominate them - Joe was the ultimate control freak. The lack of a composer in tune with the times like Pete Townsend or Ray Davis was a major drawback. But unlike other compilations, there are plenty of tracks on this CD that can be enjoyed for more than their rarity. You're Holding Me Down gets things off to a dynamic start with a rave-up the Yardbirds would be proud of. Like Diggin' For Gold, one can imagine the lyrics reflected Joe's frustrated mental state of the time - and the discordant music echoed his deepening psychosis. Crawdaddy Simone remains a timeless neglected masterpiece and it is incredible to believe Joe threw it away as a B-side. Golden boy Heinz gets in on the act with the annoyingly catchy Big Fat Spider but it is the Cryin' Shames who remain the major discovery. Tracks like Let Me In hint at their potential and one can only hope that a trawl through the notorious tea-chest tapes uncovers the material they laid down for a promised album that can now be released. Rest in peace, Joe.

Joe Meek was the quiet yet brilliant Englishman whose attempts to innovate music led to the creation of a whole new genre known as "Freakbeat", this in the same year in which fellow innovators, The Beatles, were merely releasing A Hard Days Night. The term "Freakbeat" was christened on the music in later year after Meek's death, so there was no movement as such, but there was a driving force behind this form of rock n roll, that force was Joe Meek, who produced music seemingly merging Beat and R&B whilst at the same pre-empting elements of Psychedelia by a good few years.

Meek learnt his craft at IBC, and was instantly swimming against the tide and creating his own current, working with the likes of Lonnie Donegan and Petula Clark, he was developing techniques and methods that moved away from the post 1945 BBC script of what an Engineer/Producer can attempt, let alone accomplish, in the studio. His first major impact on music was with The Tornadoes and their big hit, Telstar, incidentally the first British group to go number one in the US. The song now you can probably take for granted but imagine hearing that in 1962 when all you have are The Shadows for company. But this was only the beginning for Meek; between 1964 and 1966, he took a genre being played to death by all British groups at the time and put his own unique mark on it.

With You're Holding Me Down, released in 2008 on Sanctuary, you can hear in all its glory what a trailblazer and maverick Joe Meek was between 64 and 66. Britain's first ever prominent independent producer, Meek took bands who had embraced Beat and early forms of R&B and encouraged them to experiment and explore, and if they weren't able to do that, he would do it for them, later the sound produced from his shed come studio on Holloway Road, London, would be labelled as "Freakbeat".

The album begins with You're Holding Me Down by Edinburgh group The Buzz from 1966; it's a fine garage like start, certainly not groundbreaking internationally for 1966 but still rather punky coming from a British band for this period. The real gems for me though are the ones from 1964 and early 1965 on this release, take for example the three songs by a 17 year old band from North London, The Blue Rondos, these songs by this band just sound so fresh, invigorating and interesting even now, and with the song Little Baby, they almost sound like the sound of tomorrow.

And The Blue Rondos are by no means alone; let's take Preston Band, David John & The Mood with their stomper from 1965 as an example, I Love To See You Strut, from the opening wolf whistle this song just rolls and rolls, just another fabulous example of the Freakbeat genre, with elements being taking from all kinds of places to create something quite wonderful. The same feelings come from the material provided from Merseyside band The Cryin' Shames, especially with Let Me In, perhaps the best song on this compilation, yet never actually released until now.

The incredible thing about the songs on this compilation is that despite their age, none of these songs have dated in the slightest, quite an achievement when you compare them to the rest of the Beat era. To be fair the whole album is just staggering.

This album was a complete revelation for me, if these songs were recorded in 66 - 67 I would mark this down as an excellent underground sixties compilation, but it is much more than that. This compilation is a voyage of discovery, not one song is a dud, not one song can be labelled as plain, everything on this compilation is a rewriting of what popular culture tells us, The Beatles were innovative yes, but they weren't the only trailblazers, they were the popular face of British music, under the surface there was Joe Meek in his shed rewriting the rule book for what could be done with music, something he more than did.