Now nick morans telstar unearths a gem of story that puts the gifted but. Meek is considered one of the most influential sound engineers of all time, being one of the first to develop ideas. For a little history lesson, joe meek was a man id never heard of until i saw this film, and history seems to have little time for him either. He also assisted the development of recording practices like overdubbing, sampling and reverb. An enormously talented but quirky maverick who blazed a unique path as the worlds first independent music producer, meek changed the industry forever and earned adulation as a pioneer of. So many new songs to discover and full of interesting facts. The joe meek story the essential matter of telstar is noise. Within its opening ten minutes, our eardrums are subjected to, in no particular order, traffic and torrential rain on the holloway road, pam ferris raising a fuss as the proprietress of a leather goods shop, kevin spacey testing out his english gentlemans. Meeksville production, but no contribution of meek himself. Telstar, the new movie released this month, could well be subtitled the joe meek story or even, there is an excellent, lengthy reallife documentary of this name doing the rounds of film festivals and art house cinemas a life in the death of joe meek meeks incredibly turbulent and manic lifestyle personifies the old adage truth is stranger than fiction.
On the one hand, repschs book is the most thoroughly researched and complete biography of joe meek. Joe meek was a gay producer and songwriter, who wrote the hit telstar. A musicinfused drama about joe meek, the flamboyantly gay, tone deaf, songwriterproducer behind the 60s hits have i the right, just like eddie, johnny, remember me and telstar. Set against the backdrop of hedonistic, swinging, early 60s london, telstar shares the strangerthanfiction true story of joe meek tony awardwinner con.
A couple of months after telstar had become a smash hit, the french composer jean ledrut 19031982 supposed that meeks bestseller had four bars which were lifted from a film score he had written for the movie austerlitz, directed by abel gance 1960. 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 into murder and suicide. Billboard hot 100 in december 1962 the second british recording to reach number 1 on that chart in the year, after stranger on the shore in may, and was also a number one hit in the uk singles chart. In the film there is a scene were joe meek is shagging heinz even the produces of the film i read in a magazine article at the time,admit this is not true,but they said they part this in the film. The joe meek story is a 2008 film adaptation of james hicks and nick morans play telstar, about record producer joe meek, which opened at the new ambassadors theatre in londons west end in june 2005. Original soundtrack to the 2009 motion picture containing 20 joe meek classics. A maverick genius who enjoyed phenomenal success with telstar the biggest selling record of its time before bad luck, depression, heartbreak and paranoia led to his downfall. The film tells of his successes producing songs such as worldwide hits telstar the tornados and have i the right the honeycombs and british hits such as john leytons johnny remember me. The joe meek story is a 2008 film adaptation of james hicks and nick morans play telstar, about record producer joe meek, which. A music producer in the very early 60s, joe meek managed to produce a no. With con oneill, kevin spacey, pam ferris, jj feild. His comment left me wondering if he watched the entire movie.
No need to waste time endlessly browsingheres the entire lineup of new movies and. Story of joe meeks, genius behind telstar this film is the story of record producer, joe meek and his rise and fall in the british recording industry. However, a french composer by the name of jean ledrut claimed that meek had pinched the tune from a score hed written for the napoleonic film, austerlitz. Telstar has its roots in the theatre, as it was first a 2005 stage play, written by nick moran and james hicks, with oneill playing meek. A musicinfused drama about joe meek, the flamboyantly gay, tone deaf. The following year, the music producers guild introduced the joe meek award for innovation in production as. His biggest success is the instrumental telstar but accusations of plagiarism delay royalties. The life and death of influential 1960s record producer joe meek britains unsung answer to phil spector is brought efficiently to the screen in. The story is told in an excellent way and the end is shocking. He was a genius in many ways yet as many genius people are, a bit crazy. Someone finally thought that americans would pay to see the joe meek story on the small. The turbulent life and times of tortured telstar producer joe meek make.
Telstar is still an oddly compulsive story of an exuberant mess of a man who played a key role in british pop history. Set against a backdrop or early 60s london, telstar is the story of the worlds first. The telstar man, meeks story inspired the 1994 bbc 4 radio play lonely joe and the 2005 stage play telstar, which was adapted into the 2008 film telstar. In the early 1960s selftaught electronics whizz joe meek amazingly produces a string of home made hit singles from his studio in his flat above a leather shop in london. Joes mercurial temper causes his artists to forsake him for other labels, in particular his young lover heinz burt. Set in the homophobic 60s britain, where to be gay was still illegal, the film delivers a power marker to how far the gay movement has come. Telstar is an incredible journey of success and depression, of sexual exploration and exploitation, of madness and paranoia with a hint of the paranormal thrown in. Excellent insights into joe meeks life that the film telstar does not cover. Along with john repschs 2001 biography the legendary joe meek. A maverick genius who enjoyed phenomenal success with telstar the biggest selling record of its time before bad luck, depression, heartbreak and.
Set against the backdrop of hedonistic, swinging, early 60s london, telstar shares the strangerthanfiction true story of joe meek tony awardwinner con oneill, who originated the role on london stage. The joe meek story the energy, craziness and often downright shabbiness of londons early 60s, prebeatles pop biz are vividly brought to life in telstar. Telstar video 1min 40sec, biopic of british pop pioneer joe meek, whose groundbreaking recording techniques and otherworldly records made him the premier independent pop producer. Joes life and lifestyle were different to undertate the case. The film is directed by nick moran and stars con oneill, who also played joe meek in the original play, while kevin spacey plays meek s business partner, major wilfred banks. Most tracks here qualify as interesting at least, and attentiongetting and haunting at the other end of the scale.
The story of joe meek, the pioneering british record producer and songwriter who recorded a string of earlytomid 1960s chart hits in a threefloor flat at 304 holloway road in north london. Nick morans film, based on the stageplay he wrote with james hicks, is an. Robert george joe meek 5 april 1929 3 february 1967 was an english record producer, musician, sound engineer and songwriter who pioneered space age and experimental pop music. The joe meek story is a 2008 film adaptation of james hicks and nick morans play telstar, about record producer joe meek a musicinfused drama about joe meek tone deaf songwriterproducer behind the 60s hits have i the right just like eddie johnny remember me and telstar. Drama based on the life of joe meek, the songwriterproducer behind the 60s hits have i the right, just like eddie.
It was the second instrumental single to hit number 1. Meek was balance engineer, but not producer of the recording. Telstar is now considered to be joe meeks masterpiece it can be heard at the end of this article and such was its popularity that it should have set him up financially for life. Meek was tone deaf, amphetamine addicted, paranoid, infatuated with black magic, and gay at a time. Set against the backdrop of hedonistic, swinging, early 60s london, telstar shares the strangerthanfiction true story of joe meek tony awardwinner con oneill, who originated the role on. The joe meek story 2008 cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. The joe meek story is a reasonable movie created by aspiration films, by using a description of the movie is set against a backdrop of early 60s london, telstar is the story of the worlds first independent record producer, joe meek. Telstar is the true story of the legendary record producer and maverick musical genius joe meek, creator of a string of number one hits including telstarthe biggest selling record of its time and the first british single ever to top the us charts. A gay, amphetamine addicted, talented but deeply troubled soul.
This film has so much energy, helped in part by a towering central performance. Telstar is a 1962 instrumental written and produced by joe meek for the english band the tornados. The life and death of influential 1960s record producer joe meek. But i have to admit to a certain fascination with much of his musical invention. Moran helms the film version, and though he seems eager for the material to shed its staged roots, much of the movie is still set in meeks flat, which doubled as his recording studio no doubt this was the primary set used in the play. The cases telstar, heinz, madras place, howardblaikley the telstar case.
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