SPECTOR & MEEK

In reply to Ray Wadham (Letters, RC 334), it was probably inevitable that when the RC team came up with a catchy title - ‘Joe Meek - The Phil Spector of Britpop’, that Spector devotees might take exception to such a juxtaposition of legendary producers. In reality such a comparison is meaningless. Undoubtedly Phil Spector is one of the great producers, but Ray is rather missing the point and simply comparing a mere handful of tracks is just too simplistic. Johnny Remember Me” is widely acknowledged as being one of the greatest recordings of the Death Disc genre -and that was only one of many outstanding recordings made with John Leyton. Most people only recall The Honeycombs (in the UK) for one or two hits – but delve into their albums and you will find many hidden gems. Finally, Telstar simply cannot be dismissed as a ‘novelty’ record. It is one of the finest instrumentals ever recorded and still has the power to sweep you away ‘to infinity and beyond’, 45 years after it was released.

Suppose Joe Meek was at Goldstar Studios with everyone (engineers included) under his absolute direction; the entire studio facilities at his disposal, a full orchestra and as many top session players as he liked. Would he still be able to produce great recordings? Undoubtedly - yes. Now picture Phil Spector at 304 Holloway Road. The main ‘studio’ is no bigger than a domestic living room. Phil has to set everything up himself. There are no technicians and no recording engineer. The control room is a kitchen and you can’t communicate directly by microphone. He only has a small pop group and two violinists. He has to make his own echo chamber and build amplifiers and tape machines from scratch. He has to do all of the technical recording work completely by himself. Can he still produce a great recording? Quite frankly, I doubt it.

That’s why the comparison is irrelevant. To paraphrase the Bible: ‘Render unto Spector those things which are Spector’s and render unto Meek those things which are Meek’s’. RC is not exaggerating Joe Meek’s importance. His importance has for far too long been vastly underrated. He shouldn’t be compared to Phil Spector. Joe Meek is equally important in his own right.

by Rob Bradford
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