Joe Meek’s Tea Chest Tapes

Cherry Red Records have acquired legendary producer Joe Meek’s ‘Tea Chest Tapes’ - a near mythical collection of almost 2,000 reels that contain a vast amount of the producer’s work.
In the early 60s, Meek had a string of UK No 1s, including Telstar, which was the first song by a British artist to top the US charts. Meek pioneered numerous recording techniques in his studio flat (304 Holloway Road in North London). Following Meek’s death in 1967 the tapes passed on to Cliff Cooper, who worked with the producer when playing bass with the Millionaires and went on to found Orange Amplification.
The fabled quarter-inch tapes got their name because they were contained and sold in 67 tea chests. Amongst the recordings are previously unheard songs by David Bowie’s first band The Konrads, recordings by Billy Fury, several songs by Tom Jones, and unheard material from The Honeycombs, Heinz and John Leyton (who had a UK No 1 with Meek). Also included are mastered recordings of Mike Berry, Glenda Collins, Michael Cox, The Cryin' Shames, The Outlaws, Screaming Lord Sutch and The Tornados - recordings which have languished in the vaults for five decades and should finally now see the light of day.
Further the tea chests contain demo recordings of (among others) Ray Davies, (who wrote some songs for The Honeycombs), Georgie Fame, Jonathan King, Alvin Lee, Gene Vincent, Rod Stewart, Steve Marriott and an early line-up of the band who became Status Quo. Finally it is said that there is also a demo tape of a certain Mark Feld, who later found fame under the name Marc Bolan with his band T. Rex.
Cherry Red plan to work closely with Alan Wilson at Western Star on the tape digitization and mastering side, as well as Pete Rochford and the Joe Meek Society to bring these amazing sounds to an audience who have been waiting patiently for many years.
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[@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....

[@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 😎👍

[@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

[@Ozmulki]

Amazing! Look forward to hearing these.

[@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.

[@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.

[@Joefigueiredo]

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

[@urasam2]

What a lovely bloke Cliff Cooper seems!

[@christopherth]

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

[@Barry101er]

Fantastic! Cliff Cooper is so great.

[@kelhard5632]

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

[@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

[@davidheafield1436]

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

[@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.

[@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.

[@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

[@lumpyfishgravy]

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

[@rondawson1818]

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

[@dave3159]

Brilliant news, Thanks to all and Cliff too,

[@keithkofron5330]

Thank you Cherry Red!

[@barrydelisle4453]

Great history of popular music

[@Tomlinsky]

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

[@hanselmansell7555]

Fascinating stuff! Cliff is a diamond 💎

[@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! 🍊🍊🍊

[@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 .

[@tinypeas]

unreal. this is an incredible surprise

[@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.

[@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 .

[@Northern-Sounds]

Awesome. GIMME, GIMME, GIMME!!! ❤️

[@jamessisson3703]

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.

[@gazriley624]

Hope there is some unknown Beat groups amongst the tapes

[@tracyyy99]

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

[@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❤😊😊😊😊😊❤

[@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!"

[@headboggle]

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

[@PerAnkh418]

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

[@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!

[@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.

[@chigwellfcdevelopment2307]

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

[@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

[@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.

[@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.

[@wesstarmedia]

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

[@Temu69recordsdotcom]

Okay 2020 ain’t so bad

[@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.

[@erikmolnar6585]

No, the Emitape is actually very interesting

[@zordakAU]

The interviewer looks like Alastair Sim 😀

[@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?

[@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.

[@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

[@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.

[@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.

[@anthonykerr311]

What Billy fury tapes are there ??

[@TylErik777]

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

[@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.

[@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.

[@adrinathegreat3095]

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

[@drtonyhaworth6287]

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

[@vectragt2310]

Just like Edidie - Ritchie Blackmore 🙂

[@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?

[@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?

[@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.

[@1061andy]

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

[@drifter402]

Has anything happened with these yet?

[@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?

[@philippedebasquette5341]

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

[@_SPIRAL_33_]

ORWO-Tape is GDR-tape.

[@freakyfreakboys]

Anything with Phil Seamen, Kenny Graham? Hope so

[@simonirvine1628]

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

[@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 ….😁

[@Liviticuss]

What happened to the tea chests then?

[@simonirvine1628]

Mum, Dad, they have found the Holy Grail.

[@kmdn1]

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

[@mjclark641]

Marc Feld, to become Marc Bolan.

[@brianwheway1933]

I wounder how much was paid for these tapes??

[@sicks6six]

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

[@michaelsandford1015]

If I was Joe meek recording his Telstar demo i would of sang my Farts are better my Farts are better than Trevors my Farts are better than Trevors Trevor's All my Farts are better than Trevors lol lol

[@paulsouthern1604]

Mrs Jones is Bolan.

[@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

[@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?

[@adrinathegreat3095]

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

[@BILLYMORGAN1971]

"Loose Leaf Tapes"

[@goldendawn1999]

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

[@andrewburgess6417]

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

[@keithamandahall8548]

When are they going to be officially released??