I Hear A New World

In 1960, Joe Meek -- already thinking in terms that couldnt be constrained by the limits of the days technologies and marketing strategies -- devised a concept LP of sorts that speculated about the nature of life on the moon (this was almost ten years before Apollo 11). Working with a group of musicians he dubbed the Blue Men, this outer space music fantasy tried to conjure the mood of the cosmos with the clavioline, a Hawaiian guitar, a rinky-dink piano, and then-futuristic electronic noises and sound effects. Listening today, the largely instrumental work sounds futuristic in a very dated way, especially the Chipmunks-like, electronically sped-up voices that were meant to simulate those little green men. As Monty Pythons Flying Circus would say, it all sounds a bit silly, but its an interesting insight into his unique production techniques -- the sounds he sculpted for Magnetic Field, for instance, are a clear forerunner of the electronic pulses that open and close Telstar. Only four tracks from the opus were released at the time, on a super-rare EP; 30 years later, the RPM CD I Hear a New World presented the full work to the public for the first time. The 2001 RPM Special Edition release of I Hear a New World adds a 35-minute spoken monologue from 1962 in which Meek talks about his life, career, recording equipment, and production/working methods. The fidelity is hissy and scratchy (although quite comprehensible) and it gets dull as Meek takes a detailed tour of his studio sans visuals, but if youre enough of a Meek fan to seek out I Hear a New World in the first place, its likely youll find this a significant bonus. Theres also an enhanced CD track with a three-minute 1964 TV interview clip of Meek, though its playable only on PCs, not Macs. ~ Richie Unterberger