In the trail of Telstar

There’s a special place in the constellations for the brilliant British pop producer and innovator Joe Meek and his 1962 instrumental hit “Telstar.”

Britain’s musical eccentrics and studio experimentalists did not enjoy the same host of independent labels that America’s did in the 1950s and ‘60s. Joe Meek’s sparkling vision of pop sonics was so strong and so utterly distinct - and his production techniques so eccentric - that he chose to, or had to, work outside the conservative studio system which then dominated the British music scene. And so, after a few fairly constrained years as an engineer in London's IBC studios, Meek set up shop in his own London flat, recording on his home-made equipment and recording very much on his own terms, leasing the masters he made to the big British labels. His maverick studio shop was a bold move, but the Joe Meek sound proved not only immediately identifiable but also quite successful. Many of his recordings were British hits, and some, like the Honeycombs' “Have I the Right,” charted in America as well.

Though his sound ultimately fell out of favor with the advent of ‘60s psychedelia, Joe Meek has earned a fair amount of renewed attention in the past decade or so. It’s not really the prodigious body of work or the bizarre, dramatic arc of his personal life that this week’s Office Naps is devoted to, however. Rather, it’s the one song which was far and away his biggest international hit, and the song for which Meek is best remembered: “Telstar.” (Listen to an excerpt of “Telstar” here.)

“Telstar,” performed by Meek’s house band the Tornados, topped the American pop charts for five weeks in 1962, and occasionally you’ll see it described as the first hit of the British Invasion. That’s a bit misleading, though, as “Telstar” is wholly dissimilar from the groups of the British Invasion - the song truly belongs to the preceding years of space age pop and guitar instrumentals. And though it’s pretty singular to that era as well, “Telstar” was typical of the Joe Meek sound: multi-tracked musical parts, echo, a shrill and “compressed” production, electronic gadgetry and home-made sound effects, an outer space aesthetic, and weird, exotic instruments (like the clavioline keyboard heard so prominently).

The Space Race, that ominous amalgam of astrophysics and Cold War ideology, may have spooked some. Meek, though, saw the Space Race not for its undercurrent of nuclear annihilation but rather for what it really was: pure, exhilarating pageantry.

Three, then, of the many lesser meteorites spawned in “Telstar”’s vapor trail this week on Office Naps.

(I do not even begin to describe the Joe Meek saga. John McCready’s excellent Mojo article is a good place to start for that.)

1. The Vulcanes, Twilight City (Capitol)
The Vulcanes were a popular surf and instrumental band in early '60s Los Angeles; they released a few big-production instrumentals on Capitol Records with help from industry producers and players like H.B. Barnum and Joe Saraceno.

“Twilight City,” from 1964 (along with the excellent “Moon Probe,” its flipside) is the most interesting of the lot. It doesn’t exactly copy the “Telstar” riff, but the anthemic thrust and the reverbed guitars are there, and, eventually, so is the effect: the cold majesty of outer space. Of course, you could have named this track “Wave Rider” or “Surf Whip” and it would have made a great surfing paean, too. That’s what’s endearing about a lot of ‘60s guitar instrumentals: so much depends upon the title.

Sharp-eyed readers may have spotted the name David Axelrod for his producer credit. It’s not the sublime orchestrated funk for which he later earned the lasting support of DJs and funk collectors, but “Twilight City”’s expert use echo and crystalline production style are quintessential Axelrod.

Thank to former Vulcanes saxophonist Don Roberts for the information on the Vulcanes.

2. The Astronomers, Relay - Son of Telstar (Ember)
“Telstar” done Shadows-style. “Telstar” done, that is, in the style of the definitive ‘60s British guitar instrumental group the Shadows, those polite glasses-wearing counterparts to the Ventures.

“Relay - Son of Telstar,” while released on New York City’s Ember label around 1963, was recorded in Britain. This may be the Shadows themselves, actually, playing here under an assumed name. Not only does “Relay” sound exactly like the Shadows’ impeccable handiwork, but the songwriters involved - Ray Adams, Elaine Murtagh, and Valerie Murtagh - also penned songs for the group (including “Dance On,” a big hit).

There are whole compilations dedicated to such iterations of “Telstar,” and as an obsessive collector, I find myself dealing the urge to track down all of them. But where did they all go, exactly? Were they sent rocketing into the firmament? Have they all been squirreled away, Roswell-style, in some top-secret bunker?

Maybe, I’m thinking, maybe they don’t want me to find them.

On final note, “Relay”’s producer, Gerry Bron, is perhaps best known today for his dubious legacy of producing and wrangling British hard rock dinosaurs Uriah Heep

3. The Double IV, Magic Star (Capitol)
Overwhelmingly Aryan vocals, electronic flourishes, and trebly, glass-shattering production - “Magic Star” is pretty much the way you’d imagine Joe Meek’s fantasy vocal vision of his biggest hit to sound. Except, of course, there might not be quite so many ladies heard in the mix; Meek had a habit of grooming the fellows he fancied - regardless of their vocal abilities - as singers.

Of course, the Double IV were not a Joe Meek vehicle, but rather a Los Angeles studio group assembled by Jimmie Haskell. Haskell, in addition to a long, ongoing career in the Los Angeles studio world as a for-hire pop arranger, composer, and conductor, himself cut a fascinating album of knob-turning pop-electronica in 1957 entitled Count Down.

Haskell and company’s “Magic Star” was released around 1963.