Various Artists - The Alchemist Of Pop (Home Made Hits & Rarities 1959-1966) (CD 2002)

Joe Meek, schlockmeister general or visionary renegade? Maverick over-producer or
genious geek icon of early pop culture? All are true, negative & positive mesh here because the simple fact is that Joe had the power to make the blandest of
talents (John Leyton & Heinz, for instance) sound great. Purists beware, this man
preceded Jeff (ELO) Lynne by more than a decade yet succeeded in creating sounds
at least ten years ahead of their time. The Tornado's Telstar is, in this reviewer's opinion, the greatest pop instrumental ever made, even Margaret Thatcher likes it. Joe was the first producer to effectively use sound effects on
recordings, and his tragic early death has ensured that the enigma surrounding the introductary noises on Telstar will remain so at least until his second coming,
This c.d. combines the biggest successes with comparatively rare material, stand-out tracks for me being all four Tornados tracks (a shame that
the excellent Dragonfly was not included), the Heinz tracks Just Like Eddie &
Country Boy, & Houston Welles' Only the Heartaches, a reworking of Streets of
Laredo with yodels worthy of Slim Whitman & Frank Ifield. Mozart it ain't, but
for anyone who loves good old-fashioned unpretentious pop, it is just about the
best anthology of late fifties/early sixties music available.