Cherry Red [Release date: 29.08.25]

Anyone in anyway familiar with the story of legendary British Music producer, Joe Meek, will know that he cut his electronics’ teeth in the 1950s, operating and maintaining the complexities of the RAF’s radar equipment.

His transition to recording studio maestro led to a groundbreaking series of record releases from the years 1962 to 1966. The fact that his studio was his living room, kitchen, hall and bathroom is well documented online.

Meek took DIY music recording to a new level, inventing techniques that were initially derided, eventually becoming common practice.

This boxset, titled A Curious Mind, is another commendable step by the Cherry Red label in anthologising Joe Meeks’ considerable body of work. Adding weight to previous compilations, From Taboo To Telstar, and I Hear A New World. It features 82 tracks, including 57 previously unreleased recordings, all sourced from Meek’s famed Tea Chest Tapes.

The latter is the fulcrum around which all other Meek releases spin. His focus and fascination with the fledgling Space Race in the fifties was all the motivation he needed.

Some music media critics now place it in broader international context alongside seminal works by other pioneers of electronic music, from Daphne Oram to Edgard Varèse, labelling it a daring and visionary electronic sound exploration.

It’s worth bearing this background in mind on A Curious Mind when encountering tracks on CD1 with titles like ‘Sky Men’, ‘Spacescape #2’, ‘Saturn And Back’, ‘Call Of Outer Space’, ‘Stepping On The Stars’ and so on.
The biggies are there too. ‘Telstar’, ‘Globetrotter’ and ‘Robot’ (all performed by the Tornadoes).

All the result of Meek’s endless musical and technical imagination.

It’s best not being distracted by the lengths he went to in creating his otherworldly production sounds – it’s all well documented elsewhere – and just enjoy the music.

The spacey stuff is interrupted on CD2 by Meek’s musical sidelines: cinematic horror themes, and straight, chart aimed pop . Step forward, ‘Jack The Ripper’ (Screaming Lord Sutch), ‘Night Of The Vampire’ (The Moontrekkers), ‘She’s Fallen In Love With A Monster Man’ (Lord Sutch again), ‘The Spook Walks TV Theme’ (Meek) and more.

No Meek music could be released without including John Leyton’s ‘Johnny Remember Me’, Mike Berry’s ‘Tribute To Buddy Holly’, Houston Wells’ ‘Only The Heartaches’ or Heinz’s ‘Just Like To Eddie’. All UK hit singles.

CD3 is devoted to multiple takes, in stereo, of Meek’s I Hear A New World studio recordings.

Marvel at how Meek, a self made music producer, a divergent thinker, an innovator and perhaps, most of all, a man persistent in overcoming obstacles, brought his imaginative visions to life. ****1/2

Review by Brian McGowan

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