Joe Meek and The Blue Men - I Hear A New World Sessions - An Alternative Outer Space Fantasy

Although not as widely recognized, Joe Meek was one of the most influential sound engineers and record producers around and was integral in the development of techniques like overdubbing, sampling and reverberation.  I Hear A New World Sessions - An Alternative Outer Space Fantasy, the new 10" album from Joe Meek and The Blue Men is the third in an outstanding series of releases called Joe Meek’s Tea Chest Tapes. After Meek's death in 1967, Cliff Cooper, who was the bassist with The Millionaires (one of Meek's bands) and founder of Orange Amps (a new company at that time) went to an estate sale and bought 67 wooden tea chests full of Meek's tapes.  Unbeknownst to him, included on those almost 2000 reels of tape were David Bowie's first recordings with The Konrads, Steve Howe with his first band The Syndicats, demos from Alvin Lee, Gene Vincent, Rod Stewart, Steve Marriott, appearances from Ritchie Blackmore on guitar as one of Meek's session guitarists, and much more.  Cherry Red Records acquired these tapes in late 2020 and the label's longtime mastering engineer Alan Wilson has been digitizing them.  The I Hear A New World (Part 1) EP was recorded with The Blue Men, who were originally a skiffle group led by Rod Freeman, and was released in the spring of 1960 on the Triumph label.  It is rumored that ninety-nine test pressings of a full-length album were produced, but most ended up as demonstration records in audio equipment stores.  There was a second EP planned, but Triumph had financial problems and Meek moved on to other things.  Over the following decades the remaining tracks became more in demand and pirated copies made from the test pressings started showing up before a restored copy of the complete album was issued on CD in 1991.  Now with these tracks from the Tea Chest Tapes, which contains takes and versions that were considered the most interesting and listenable (there is a box set in production that will contain others), they can be heard just as they sounded when Meek heard them as they were recorded. Meek’s plans with the release was to take listeners somewhere they’d never been before and do it in stereo (it should be noted that this was also before stereo playback equipment was widely available).  For this eight track LP, they have taken these alternate versions and laid them out as two continuous suites that are combined with sound effects tapes. 

After a short opening of otherworldy sounds of what appears to be bending metal, “Orbit Around The Moon” (take 1) builds on the foundation of the skiffle band with a simple, yet driving drumbeat, plucky guitar under layers of quirky sound effects, early electronic keys and a short section with haunting female vocals.  “Entry Of The Globbots” (take 2) is a quirky little track with a military style drumbeat, some faint guitar, what appears to be kazoo and wordless (mostly just doo doo doo) vocals ending with more sci fi whooshing sound effects.  Rounding out side one is “Love Dance Of The Saroos” (take 1), which starts with more sci fi effects and then shifts into a hypnotic track with another simple drumbeat, keys, faint guitar and plenty more effects giving off an outer space, spaghetti western vibe.  The B-side to this disc opens with an early version of “Glob Waterfall”, which according to the liner notes, was amongst a seventeen minute long sequence of takes found amongst the Tea Chest Tapes.  This early version is much shorter and stripped down to the bare minimum (most notably missing the cymbal crashes) coming off more like an experimental sound collage.   Unlike the three plus minute version on the original EP, the rehearsal version of “Magnetic Field” is just over a minute long and is more of a fun glimpse into Meek experimenting with things with some starting and stopping along with studio chatter and what sounds like a little plunking guitar, squeaking keys, possibly finger cymbals and some effects.  Next up is an extended take of “Valley Of The Saroos”, a somewhat, laid-back track driven by a simple beat, but this time around with a substantial amount of effects added to the mix.  Closing out the disc is the outstanding take IV of “Dribcots Space Boat”.  The bouncy hooks of the version that was on the reissued extended version of the EP are still here, but the tempo is a little faster and the keyboard notes are held a little longer making it less choppy.  There is also a lot more use of echo and the inclusion of explosive effects at the end bring the whole thing to a fitting end.  This record makes for a fascinating listen and really showcases Meek’s before its time production techniques with treated vocals, vari-speed tape, electronic instrumentation and sound effects.  It is the perfect introduction to what is most definitely going to be an interesting box set.  

(Cherry Red Records)