Flower Child

This is such an amazing thread. I dont even feel worthy enough to read it. But I will.

TheCellarTapes

Various Artists - Joe Meek Freak Beat: You're Holding Me Down
(2008)



Tracks

1. You're Holding Me Down - The Buzz
2. Come On Back - Paul & Ritchie/ The Cryin' Shames
3. Baby I Go For You - The Blue Rondos
4. Crawdaddy Simone - The Syndicats
5. She Comforts My Sorrow - The Bystanders
6. Love Gone Again - Birds Of Prey
7. Little Baby - The Blue Rondos
8. I Love To See You Strut - David John & The Mood
9. What'cha Gonna Do Baby - Jason Eddie & The Centremen
10. It Ain't Right - The Saxons
11. Let Me In - The Cryin' Shames
12. I Take It That We're Through - The Riot Squad
13. Diggin' For Gold - David John & The Mood
14. Summer Without Sun - Charles Kingsley Creation
15. Walking On Ice - The Riot Squad
16. Big Fat Spider - Heinz & The Wild Boys
17. Come On Baby - Jason Eddie & The Centremen
18. What's News Pussycat - The Crying Shames
19. What Can I Do - The Blue Rondos
20. City Lights - Birds Of Prey
21. No More You And Me - The Tornados
22. Too Far Out - Impac
23. Shake With Me - The Puppets
24. Leave My Kitten Alone - The Syndicats
25. Bluebirds Over The Mountain - Shade Joey & The Night Owls
26. Bring It To Jerome - David John & The Mood
27. I Gotta Buzz - The Buzz
28. I Don't Love Her No More - The Hotrods
29. I'm Not A Bad Guy - Heinz & The Wild Boys
30. Singing The Blues - Jason Eddie & The Centremen

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.