In the 1960’s when Phil Spector ruled American pop music, we Brits crowned Joe Meek as our king. They were both very similar people. Flamboyant eccentrics bordering on insane monsters and complete control freaks dependent on heavy drug use and exploiting young unknown talents, they were geniuses nonetheless.We learn in this intriguing bio-pic of his life, that Meek was an unhappy gay man … tone deaf too … and a very cocky songwriter who ran a small recording studio from a North London apartment incongruously situated over a handbag store. He was one of the first producers to record instrumental and vocal tracks separately and merge them together, and his experimentation with different sounds gave him his biggest hit ever (and the first Brit to top the US charts ever) with the space travel influenced ‘Telstar’ for the group The Tornadoes.
Meek was a real manic mess who spent far more money than he made especially on his gay male protégés who had limited musical talents, and this soon became a breaking point for his Financial Backer Major Banks (uncomfortably played by Kevin Spacey). His success in the Hit Parade with artists like Jess Conrad and John Leighton fueled his over-sized ego and made him pass up on opportunities to record The Beatles, The Kinks & Tom Jones.
Like Mr Spector he eventually spiraled totally out of control but went one further and murdered his long suffering landlady before killing himself.
This fascinating insight into this talented but tortured soul who played such a major part on developing British pop music when I was a kid (!) was originally produced as a play in London’s West End. Actor/writer Nick Moran has deftly directed this movie adaption using the rather brilliant Con O’Neill to repeat his award winning stage performance as Meek.
I love dipping into recent history especially when it is done as well as it is here. And if you do too, then this movie that was made in 2008, is now available on DVD most places. One of Meek’s biggest successes was ‘Johnny Remember Me’ .. and I think we will.
P.S. Scary thought. When ‘Telstar’ was top of the Charts both sides of the Atlantic in 1962 is was played on all the airwaves all the time. There was no escaping it. So much so that Margaret Thatcher chose it as one of the 10 Desert Island Discs!
