Joe Meek’s Tea Chest Tapes

[@GhostOfATotalStranger]

It's an amazing thing that these tapes survived and weren't destroyed way back when. It's wonderful that they have found the absolutely correct home and the mass of Joe Meek fans will one day be fortunate to hear them, it's a great feeling to have that specific anticipation

[@julianciahaconsulting8663]

amazing they didnt get thrown out in the immediate chaos after his death....

[@internationalicon]

We owe so much to unknown fans and archivists who preserve older material while the rest of us just get on with our lives. The hoarders, the collect-aholics and yardsale junkies all matter so much, even though others don’t appreciate their efforts.

[@Tordyboy]

Brilliant news! This will be a huge RGM box set when it comes out and as a big Joe Meek fan, I will be one of the first in line to buy it 😎👍

[@julianciahaconsulting8663]

has any of it come out yet?

[@picknick3591]

My old mate Dennis D'Ell (Dalziel) RIP - former front man with The Honeycombs, used to recount the stories of recording in Joe Meek's place in Holloway Road . . . Fascinating stuff ! Good luck with this project . . .

[@DeanoEssex]

I met Honey Lantree many years ago and Dave Clark gave me a set of drum sticks when i was about 15 years old :-)

[@picknick3591]

@@DeanoEssex I met Anne (Honey) a few times with Den - but knew.her brother John better - Not seen him since Den died 15 years ago.

[@Ozmulki]

Amazing! Look forward to hearing these.

[@OAK77uk]

Brilliant.... Joe Meek truly was the beginning inspiration to much in our musical history - a very different person of his time who encouraged and introduced so many of UK's early stars. JoeMeek was my late friend Sir Dr Alan Clemens friend & Alan told me much of those days. Some recorded prior to Alans death esp of how he had to watch the Decca Man from spying on Joe's inventions etc.We were lucky to have lived through these times, the beginning far more inspirational than these days I feel especially in my musical times. Thank you so much for posting

[@johncavanagh]

Fascinating stuff! Wonderful to see Cliff Cooper talk at length and a far remove from when he was regularly accosted by well-meaning folks who didn't know what was going on behind the scenes trying to persuade him to give up the tapes. One note of caution I'd place here. The thought that ALL old tapes need baked is somewhat wide of the mark. The old EMITAPE, BASF etc. compounds are very stable and do not suffer from sticky shed. That was a problem that arose later with Ampex, Zonal etc. more in the '70s/'80s era. I don't know about the Russian tape, but given the age of it I'd suspect it may well be stable too. My cautious feeling here is that baking some of these will be most likely to dry out the splices on them (I'm sure there'll be many!), rather than improve their stability. Another thought: perhaps Alan Wilson's comment about Dolby use on old tapes was a general one, but Joe Meek had no Dolby noise reduction equipment in his kit at Holloway Road, so he won't be needing to align for that!

[@highpath4776]

I had some Tandy tape in the 1970s that fell off when I tried to play it in the late 90s. My Emitape is ok, but some Zonal has been dried out and is brittle rather than tape shed.

[@EdSullivan101]

You are correct, sir. Baking tape that old will ruin it. And of course there was no NR employed at that time.

[@nickmoloney9820]

Apparently older tape was bound with whale oil this stopped in the 70's when whaling was outlawed

[@Barry101er]

Fantastic! Cliff Cooper is so great.

[@Joefigueiredo]

Really brilliant stuff. I'm a big Joe Meek fan and I have featured him several times in my daily Facebook music blog.

[@cyclesgoff9768]

What a treasure trove 😍Cliff (Mr Orange 🍊 and the premier music industry landlord 🤭) really deserves a medal 🎖 for keeping this wonderful archive in such good condition.

[@goodiesguy]

I believe they're rumoured to be Stereo versions of many of Meek's tracks tucked away on these tapes. It would be wonderful to hear these eventually, even if they're incomplete or missing overdubs, I just love hearing how his recordings come together.

[@JustinEdwords]

They are supposedly tracks that were intermediate working 2 tracks meant to be flattened to mono - not true stereo but still interesting

[@kelhard5632]

Wow....amazing re-discovery!!! I hope that the tapes for "I Hear A New World" still exist!

[@davidheafield1436]

Well done on the purchase Mr. Cherry Red , now the wait for the releases....

[@karlbarlow]

Brilliant news indeed. I'm looking forward to hearing some of that wonderful archive material

[@PerAnkh418]

This is amazing! Being in my mid 50's and a Ted in my youth. Lv Joe's work 👍🏻

[@ceecoursian]

Same here . We are the same age and this music is fascinating to me also . It’s timeless and to me almost haunting . It’s like a time capsule.

[@christopherth]

Fantastic, if one thing this interview proves what a sham the film of Moran’s is and how it portrayed Joe.

[@garycrant4511]

The best news I've read in this entire really shite year.. But please sell any resulting Box Sets and CDs as affordable budget price releases.

[@highpath4776]

Well costs will have to be covered, anything under 60 years old remains the copyright of the artists unless other legal contracts overrule, but with Joe's death a number of the legal trails were a dogs breakfast then, though some trails can now be extinguished. Many artists themselves have died so the control passes to their family, but Joe had a tendency to pay some (the outlaws) on the MU day rates so the copyright would be Joe's.

[@Psychedelicxylophone]

Being someone who has been hugely influenced by 1960's & 70's culture since a child of the 80's and having a fascination for record players and music of the eras, and although i bought the many 45rpm singles that were produced by joe meek in the 90's without knowing who he really was for years unti fairly recently. I was highly surprised how joe had very closely the same interests as myself. This is incredible that these unknown joe meek recordings have been well looked after and kept safely in storage. I really cannot wait to hear so much more of joes history. How fascinating. Very well done to you cliff for saving some of our music history heritage. I think it would be a good idea to release some of these recordings the way joe would of liked onto gramophone records!🙂

[@urasam2]

What a lovely bloke Cliff Cooper seems!

[@GuildfordGhost]

Cliff comes across as a really nice chap. I was a member of the JMAS 30 years ago and met loads of his artists. I got to go inside 304 as well.

[@lumpyfishgravy]

Not often a treasure trove like this comes to light. I look forward to the next update.

[@keithkofron5330]

Thank you Cherry Red!

[@rondawson1818]

A mighty thumbs up on this and the best of success in your preservation efforts.

[@hanselmansell7555]

Fascinating stuff! Cliff is a diamond 💎

[@dave3159]

Brilliant news, Thanks to all and Cliff too,

[@Tomlinsky]

Holy shit! Can't wait to hear what gems are amongst this treasure trove.

[@ceecoursian]

These tapes a such a find . It must feel strange holding the actual tapes Joe held in his hands all those years ago . I’m glad they will finally be heard and preserved .

[@gazriley624]

Hope there is some unknown Beat groups amongst the tapes

[@colinpurssey9875]

Cliff Cooper's reminisces are priceless . He impresses me mightily with his unalloyed and selfless reflections on his professional and social involvement with Joe Meek . A trustworthy testimony .

[@spazkong]

I like this version. His greatest legacy after the music was the valve compressors and channel strips. Nice gear! I watched a video with Bob Power using this gear on many classic recordings.

[@tracyyy99]

28.52...It doesn't bare thinking about...This is so exciting...Looking forward to what is released in the future.

[@barrydelisle4453]

Great history of popular music

[@harveysvintageaudio]

Joe Meek was the forerunner of most modern recording techniques, he was a true genius and hero of mine. ps. Any chance of buying just one of you, would love to have just one. Would have to be cheap as I'm broke at the moment.

[@tinypeas]

unreal. this is an incredible surprise

[@mikeyp2810]

Well done Cherry Red for taking this adventure on and may I wish Alan a very happy 18 months. You can see his excitement for doing this while he's sitting there. Also well done to Cliff for keeping them in such good condition.

[@draxlerchronicles5851]

Big thanks to Cliff for starting Orange amps. My first starter amp was an Orange and too many years later I'm still playing through an Orange! 🍊🍊🍊

[@brettlowden1222]

Delighted that we may finally get to hear some of the unreleased stuff. I regret that my good friend Dave Adams wasn't around to see this day come. We talked about these tapes a lot.

[@brettlowden7073]

Mrs. Jones is a recording by Mark Bolan who was called Mark Feld back then. We weren't sure if Joe recorded it or it was done elsewhere and given to him. Would be neat to hear it in its best quality. The one we have is on a really beat acetate, and hard to really hear well.

[@headboggle]

Paging Shaun Brennan ... what an amazing turn of events for these to be transferred! Kudos

[@chigwellfcdevelopment2307]

Any News On What's Happening I'm A Big Fan

[@JollyGraham]

Very interesting. Hope to hear the music someday.

[@sidecarcn]

Actually ORWO was an East Germany company that provided tape across the Eastern Bloc and he Soviet Union. The were East German not Russian. ORWO's product line also included photographic film and, 35, 15 and Super 8 movie film. Most of their tape formulas are based on BASF and AGFA tape. The company is still around today, one of the few to survive after the GDR fell apart. Today focussing on film. ORWO Tapes also made their way to China, Vietnam, North Korea, Cuba a number of African and Latin American states that were close to East Germany. Finding ORWO tape in the UK, Canada and a few other western countries was also possible as it was their only way to make hard currency

[@Neal_Schier]

Thank you for that explanation. Very interesting!

[@lizdoyle7158]

Joe meek was a Genius he gave pop music a sound which is still being used by recording artists in 2020

[@thomashunter5707]

Joe meek was mental unstable such a sad end to his life and his land lady well. Pam ferris played a good part❤😊😊😊😊😊❤

[@baldhippy7204]

i wonder what will happens to the tapes? hopfully and should open a joe meek museum in is studio

[@JoeMeekSociety]

I suggested this to the meek society, who owns his old studio?

[@thomasmaxwellshore]

Never knew the guy from The Millionaires was the man behind Orange Amps.

[@draxlerchronicles5851]

I thought that as soon as i saw the photo flash up. "Hey that's the Orange guy!"

[@sdhannant]

Hi @Cherry Red Records - is there a timeline for when any of these will be released? I'm interested in learning more about any recordings from 1963/64 as I know someone who worked for Joe around that time.

[@PerAnkh418]

0h! We've all sung like this after a few! Brill! 👍🏻 😂

[@magicmike19]

anyone know How many songs of Tom Jones was recorded with Joe Meek and what were the names if known? I also read prior to JM in late 62 4 songs were recorded by TJ then known as Tommy Scott with band the senators which was Dont pretend, Thats what love can do, time alone will tell, and what about me. I have the 4 released on Columbia records, i was a fool, little lonely one, lonely joe, thats what we'll all do, would the other 2 be chills and fever and baby i'm in love on tower records? leaving It's You Who Needs Me Now the 7th which i believe is still unreleased aprt from a small clip?

[@Northern-Sounds]

Awesome. GIMME, GIMME, GIMME!!! ❤️

[@jonjuliecat]

My friend's uncle was one of Joe Meek's stable of artists. His stage name was Don Charles and he had an interesting if somewhat unsuccessful career. His real name was Donald Scuffham. Some of his stuff is on youtube.

[@michaelohagan6546]

Walk with me my angel and hermit of misty mountain are my favourite recordings! I also love the drifter as well!

[@jonjuliecat]

Walk with me was about his only chart botherer. @@michaelohagan6546

[@AA-nt5qw]

Just come across this! Someone removed the rock! Telling that at the time nobody was interested in the tea chests, but all the equipment was already gone. Wheredit go? Anyone have any knowledge on that?

[@1061andy]

Fascinating - Joe Meek was the British Phil Spector, or was Phil Spector the American Joe Meek ?

[@TylErik777]

Does anyone know where we can find any of the digitized material from these tapes?…if anything has been completed yet.

[@wesstarmedia]

A great and exciting story. Did the studio u47 ever get located?

[@julianciahaconsulting8663]

i wonder if the full recordings of the talking cat in the graveyard are in there somewhere? Regardless; Joe Meek is smiling now with his tapes in the right hands.

[@QUASI_EBEND_SOZUSAGEN]

ORWO-Tape is GDR-tape.

[@pebey]

“Let’s ‘ave a look - what’s it say on this box - ‘Crap Tape’. Blimey! Could this be the famous Crap Tape that’s been rumoured about for fifty years?”

[@booth2710]

That crap tape might have been the Beatles demo tape lol

[@ceecoursian]

Did this ever come out

[@TheBudgie29]

What a collection of wonderful tracks that will be on these tapes. What Gems they are going to fine?. I say, to hell with Tom Jones, Marc Bolan, and the Ilk. Just give me the same sound or better, of the Original 45's I already own. Tell when there are out, and take my money.

[@drtonyhaworth6287]

Anyone have the date of release for the box set ??????

[@anthonykerr311]

What Billy fury tapes are there ??

[@drifter402]

Has anything happened with these yet?

[@phonotical]

And then? It's a shame there wasn't an update video

[@TheGrandmasterMan]

Get saving up guys.....can see some cracking boxed sets emerging from this ! Hoping for a good recording of Shane Spencer & The Casuals myself. A long shot but you never know.

[@Buzzer365]

"My Heart Didn't Lie" I've heard, what other ones were recorded ?

[@TheGrandmasterMan]

@@Buzzer365 No idea I'm afraid

[@wjekat]

Orwo tapes and films were the absolutely cheapest material available in the UK in the early sixties. Obviously Meeks was hard up, otherwise he would have bought the good stuff. The ORWO tapes were not Russian made. Actually, ORWO tapes were made in East Germany. ORiginal WOlfen refers to the former Agfa works in Wolfen, East Germany, which were seized by the Russians and run by German communists, but were owned by the Soviet Union as a so-called Soviet PLC. Originally they simply used the Agfa trademark, much to the chagrin of Agfa in West Germany. After losing some court cases the East Germans had to come up with a new trademark for exports to the West, hence ORWO. The profits from Agfa Soviet PLC were repatriated to the USSR as war reparations. At some point in the fifties the Soviets handed ORWO over to the East German government.

[@philippedebasquette5341]

Maybe some of the tracks only available on copies like Mike Berry & The Outlaws “Set Me Free” will emerge in greater fidelity

[@RGM501]

Haha You put a picture up of American surf rock band Tornados Not the Uk Joe Meeks Tornados.....

[@Buzzer365]

I noticed that too, TornadoEs with an 'E'

[@mndandy]

Not to mention a pic of the US Newbeats identified as Tony Dangerfield?

[@Liviticuss]

What happened to the tea chests then?

[@vidheadrum]

Okay 2020 ain’t so bad

[@kmdn1]

Could anyone tell me which artist is shown at the 0:44 second mark?

[@mjclark641]

Marc Feld, to become Marc Bolan.

[@fastcakes]

At last! Now, make. sure. you. don't. accidentally. wipe. them.

[@booth2710]

or do a Frank Spencer and let the tape roll of the desk and into the mop bucket !

[@lavaita9709]

Sometimes on archive tape machines they remove or disable the record head, so you physically couldn't.

[@brianwheway1933]

I wounder how much was paid for these tapes??

[@Buzzer365]

Were there any acetates in there?

[@highpath4776]

Acetate tend to be done by the record companies once they have 'agreed' lease terms, and would be held with them , large collection of them from a music publisher have been acquired recently and are being sold off, see Shakesomeaction ? user on 45cat for listings and YT snippets. they are mainly from the mid 1960s onwards. No need really for an acetate if you have the tapes. One could ponder if Joe had retained the tapes they may have been less likely to survive - I could see a personallity burning them in a bonfire in a rage in the early 70s quite easily, Was it Chess where once the record had sold the label owner was not interested in the masters etc and would re-use?

[@metatron007]

And i cried when i lost one of my hard drives through stupidity

[@vectragt2310]

Just like Edidie - Ritchie Blackmore 🙂

[@adrinathegreat3095]

Laaaaa daaaaa da day do, dooby do do da da da. Laaa laaa Laaaaa laaa la laa la

[@metatron007]

Mum, Dad, they have found the Holy Grail.

[@garyfrancis6193]

So it’s all talk but you don’t get to hear the tapes.

[@paulsouthern1604]

Mrs Jones is Bolan.

[@newforestpixie5297]

Fans of Joe must have seen the hilarious tv documentary from 1992 which is uploaded on here somewhere. All of the interviewees are so much larger than life & could have come straight from a Harry Enfield or Paul Whitehouse production ….😁

[@zordakAU]

The interviewer looks like Alastair Sim 😀

[@BILLYMORGAN1971]

"Loose Leaf Tapes"

[@andrewburgess6417]

I thought the interview sounded good- two raspy older guys and you could hear every word.

[@jeffreyokeefe3694]

I believe Joe indulged in recalibrate statistics, and gave some recording singles away at half price from old fashioned cafes in London, I was still at school aged 15+ and we were offered singles for nearly nothing and it happend again with John Leytons, "Johnny remember me" maybe the idea was for people to hear the songs all around and then purchase a single. I thought Telstar was a great track, and JRMee, so have no axe to grind, may I say it was Meekola before Rockola. Ps Wee Willie Harris was in the organisation, too. He rocked the Troxy, Commercial rd.

[@sicks6six]

First time I heard telstar I thought I was at Jodrell Bank or Goonhilly listening to the Russian satalite.

[@goldendawn1999]

Bowie never even met Joe Meek let alone recorded with him. The Konrads Mockingbird doesn’t feature Bowie..

[@adrinathegreat3095]

What he paid back in 1967 is equivalent to around £5000 today..

[@BILLYMORGAN1971]

To think his song Telstar, which was hijacked by some guy in France who thought it sounded like his composition, could have prevented his premature death had he been able to reap it's rewards. They don't sound alike. In fact, Meek's Telstar sounds like a melody, Jean Ledrut sounds like a guy scoring a film. For the most part film scores are not real compositions but companions for moving pictures, they don't stand on their own very often. If anything they often sound like someone else's previous work, like a classical composer and or someone scoring films because similar techniques are used. John Williams Star Wars compared with Holst's the Planets comes to mind. Of course Telestar is just a pill to cure a lot of ails. I was listening to some of the ways he recorded guitar, he didn't just employ effects he dictated techniques. The Beatles Audition with George Martin almost didn't happen because Paul's later to be stolen bass was sounding like a bee farting in a mason's jar. How ironic, ( if indeed it was the same bass that was stolen)they popped out to a pub or something for a bite and drink, the same kind of place where Paul's bass was sold off for some pints ha! Joe didn't sound like he got so perplexed. He didn't wait around till after he was dead for Electro Harmonix to come out with the "Landlord's Backwards Flushing Toilet Optical Compressor Spring Reverb Pedal". He just did it. Adapted and overcame.

[@erikmolnar6585]

No, the Emitape is actually very interesting

[@keithamandahall8548]

When are they going to be officially released??