Joe Meek - Freak Beat: You’re Holding Me Down

The latterday sound of 304 Holloway Road

Subtitled ‘30 freakbeat, mod & R&B nuggets’, this is the fourth compilation from Castle in 18 months to bear Meek’s name, and nearly half the tracks can be found on those earlier releases. Only one has never seen the light of day before: a demo by The Birds Of Prey, which understandably boasts little of the famous Meek magic. That said, there’s plenty here for fans of both the freaky and the Meeky, not least the title track by The Buzz, who live up to their name by growling into angry overload like a bee with a chainsaw. Elsewhere, Heinz Burt woos the ladies by declaring himself to be a Big Fat Spider, The Cryin’ Shames offer up a preposterous Dylan pastiche, and The Syndicats blast through Crawdaddy Simone, which recently made it into our Top 250 most valuable records at £750+. There’s also much to said for the likes of The Blue Rondos, The Hotrods and Jason Eddie & The Centremen, but few could put it better than the contemporary reviewer of the Charles Kingsley Creation’s Summer Without Sun, whose comments are reproduced in the extensive sleevenotes: ‘Rather pleasant. Tinkling sort of beat ballad with unusual sounds. Nice Song. Three stars.’

4 stars 4 stars 4 stars 4 stars

Castle | CMQCD 1415

Reviewed by Simon Hugo
<< Back to Issue 332

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