The Legendary Joe Meek
by John Repsch

Definitive, despite a missed opportunity for an update

Reissued to tie in with the forthcoming biopic, this remains probably as exhaustive an account as there will ever be of a tragic and triumphant life, though there’s no fresh information. There’s not even anything on the latest in an uncanny number of relatively early deaths among entertainers whose recording careers began in Joe’s Holloway Road complex, including, over the past 18 months, Tony Dangerfield and Jenny Moss (Coronation Street’s Lucille Hewitt). There’s also no mention of, for example, Mitch Mitchell’s refutation in 1990 that an episode involving him, Meek and a shotgun ever happened.

Carping aside, this otherwise thorough biography will transport you back to a Gothic era of studio technology almost as successfully as 2006’s acclaimed and emotionally-draining West End play Telstar (which, like the movie, was based on this book). There is also, within its limits, a comprehensive discography by an author who has delighted us with Joe Meek for long enough. To avoid becoming a one-tick pony his skills as a researcher and his chatty, energetic way with words should soon be channelled into a new project.

4 stars 4 stars 4 stars 4 stars

ISBN 1901447200

Reviewed by Alan Clayson
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