A fascinating biography of Joe Meek who was widely recognised as Britain's first real independent pop music producer and hailed as Britain's answer to Phil Spector. He turned out million-copy selling records such as 'Telstar' from his home recording studio and made the first recordings for stars like Rod Stewart, Tom Jones and David Bowie. Legendary for his obsessive secrecy and often bizarre behaviour, his private life was a tortured tangle of violence, sex, drugs, the occult and eventually murder. Includes a full discography and B & W photographs.
Full title: 'Creative Music Production: Joe Meek's Bold Techniques'. Legendary British producer and technical innovator Joe Meek - the man behind the hit 'Telstar' has become a cult figure since his death in 1967, with Meek fan clubs, CD collections and retrospectives growing in popularity everyday. Written by Barry Cleveland.
Outsider musicians can be the product of damaged DNA, alien abduction, drug fry, demonic possession, or simply sheer obliviousness. This book profiles dozens of outsider musicians, both prominent and obscure—figures such as The Shaggs, Syd Barrett, Tiny Tim, Jandek, Captain Beefheart, Daniel Johnston, Harry Partch, and The Legendary Stardust Cowboy—and presents their strange life stories along with photographs, interviews, cartoons, and discographies. About the only things these self-taught artists have in common are an utter lack of conventional tunefulness and an overabundance of earnestness and passion. But, believe it or not, they're worth listening to, often outmatching all contenders for inventiveness and originality. A CD featuring songs by artists profiled in the book is also available.
Telstar is the story of the world's first independent record producer, Joe Meek. He was a maverick genius who enjoyed phenomenal early success with Telstar, the biggest-selling record of its time, before bad luck, depression, heartbreak, and paranoia forced him to murder and suicide. This stranger-than-fiction true story is a brilliantly sharp and beautifully observed satirical comedy.
JO LAROUCHE HAS lived her 13 years in the California desert with her Aunt Lily, ever since she was dropped on Lily’s doorstep with this note: This is Jo. Please take care of her. But beware. This is a dangerous baby. At Lily’s annual Christmas costume party, a variety of strange events take place that lead Jo and Lily out of California forever—and into the mysterious, strange, fantastical world of Eldritch City. There, Jo learns the scandalous truth about who she is, and she and Lily join the Order of Odd-Fish, a collection of knights who research useless information. Glamorous cockroach butlers, pointless quests, obsolete weapons, and bizarre festivals fill their days, but two villains are controlling their fate. Jo is inching closer and closer to the day when her destiny is fulfilled, and no one in Eldritch City will ever be the same.
The perfect read for fans of The Walking Dead, from an award-winning author. Benny Imura and his friends have made it to Sanctuary, and discovered that scientists are on the verge of finding a cure for the zombie plague. It should be time for celebration, but it's not. Benny's best friend, Chong, has been infected by an arrow dipped in the flesh of a zombie, and Dr McReady, a researcher who may have the critical formula for a cure, has gone missing. Benny convinces Captain Ledger to mount a search and rescue mission to find him, but the Reapers are still pursuing their plan to turn all zombies into super-fast shock troops. So even if they can save Chong, can they save themselves? In the fourth book of the thrilling and emotionally charged Rot and Ruinseries, the battle to end all battles is about to begin...
Clem Cattini is the legendary drummer whose career spans over 60 years, beginning in the mid-1950s with Terry Kennedy's Rock and Rollers who played gigs across London, most notably at the 2i's Coffee Bar in Soho, before the band were asked to join up with Terry Dene for a nationwide tour. In 1960 Clem teamed up with Johnny Kidd and The Pirates, resulting in the classic recording of arguably Britain's greatest rock and roll record, Shakin' All Over. Following on from the Johnny Kidd days, Clem became involved with maverick record producer Joe Meek. Needing a band to record demos in his Holloway Road 'studio', in reality the upstairs of a shop, The Tornados were formed, which led to the recording of the worldwide hit Telstar, the first British record to reach the number one spot in the American Billboard charts in 1963. (In the 2008 film of the same name, Clem was played by James Corden.) Tours backing Billy Fury followed, before Clem decided to call a halt to the incessant touring in 1965. When an opportunity arose to play studio sessions, meaning he could still enjoy playing music without the hassles of being constantly out on the road, Clem jumped at the chance. Meeting up and drinking coffee in cafes in Denmark Street with the likes of guitarists Big Jim Sullivan and Jimmy Page, bassist John Paul Jones, and drummers Bobby Graham and Tony Meehan, they were hired to put down the tracks for hundreds of hit records during those crazy days of the 60s and the 70s. Clem's career included a decade as a member of The Top of the Pops Orchestra. He was approached for tours by numerous stars, as well as being headhunted for the band that would become Led Zeppelin, and also for Paul McCartney's Wings, both of whom he decided to politely turn down. During his session days Clem played on recordings for artists as diverse as Cliff Richard, Ike and Tina Turner, Lou Reed, Lulu, Tom Jones, T. Rex and The Who, in the process racking up a mighty 42 No. 1 UK hit singles. Set against the backdrop of cultural and social development of post-war Britain, Through The Eye Of A Tornado is an affectionate look back over an unparalleled career, with Clem and friends recalling the early days of the British rock and roll scene around Soho, the life of a session musician, and revealing the stories behind the some of the best-known music made in the UK over the past 60 years.
(Book). You may not have heard of them, but you have certainly heard their songs! From the lo-fidelity origins of early pioneers to today's dazzling technocrats, the role of the music producer is as murkily undefined as it is wholly essential. Sonic Alchemy: Visionary Music Producers and Their Maverick Recordings is an exploration of the influence of the often colorful, idiosyncratic and visionary music producers through popular music and the fascinatingly crucial role they have played in shaping the way we hear pop music today. Sonic Alchemy is nothing short of the secret history of the music producer.
Simon Jordan doesn't mince his words. After making millions in mobile phones he decided to buy his boyhood football club, Crystal Palace. At 31, he became the youngest chairman ever.
From 43AD, and the building of the (no doubt very straight) Roman Great West Road to Silchester, to 2009, another bout of Carnival Riots and David Cameron getting his bike nicked outside Tescos on the Grove, (retrieved with the help of a friendly / non-class conscious Rasta), long time Portobello Road resident and local historian/psychogeographer Tom Vague takes us on a breathless romp through the peoples history of W10, taking in Roman Coffins on Ladbroke Grove and Civil War skirmishes in Holland Park, Russian occultists at 77 Elgin Crescent, Tory anarchist GK Chesterton and his Napoleon of Notting Hill, Thomas Hardy compering poetry nights at 84 Holland Park Avenue with Wyndham Lewis and Ezra Pound, the pre WW1 Vorticist art HQ on Campden Hill Road ,WW2 bombs on Ladbroke Grove, Halliday Christie moving to 10 Rillington Place, teenage teddy boys rampaging at the Prince of Wales Cinema on Harrow Road, Max Mosely painting fascist Union Movement graffiti around Notting Hill in 1956, Peter Rachman renting properties to the ‘blacks and Irish’ before ruthlessly exploiting them all and ratcheting up local tensions, the infamous race riots of 1959, future Home Secretary Alan Johnsons’ original mod band the Area playing the Pavillion pub on North Pole Road in 1965, Pink Floyd at the Free School, All Saints Church, 1966, Performance, Powis Square 1969, Mick Farrens’ proto-punk Deviants at 56 Chesterton Road in 1970, Strummer, Jones and Simenon’s Clash on the Westway, in the Elgin, at the carnival riots....
