Joe Meek was a pioneering music producer and composer that was active from the late 1950’s until the mid-late 1960’s. Like other notable producers of the time such as Phil Spector, his productions have a very distinct shaped sound that was unique at the time. His recordings have a modern, artificial signature that could only exist in the studio. “Telstar” was his biggest hit, but he was a very prolific producer that created many other great recordings, such as “Have I the Right” by the Honeycombs. It is easy to spot music produced by him. One of his many innovations was the idea of purposely using distortion to shape sound – a technique that would be taken up by many other producers and musicians. An electronics engineer by vocation, he designed a lot of his own gear. He jealously guarded his recording secrets.
“I Hear A New World” was a concept album that Joe Meek composed and produced in the early 1960’s, but wasn’t released until many years later. He designed it to showcase high fidelity stereo equipment. It was intended as a kind of experience of someone exploring outer space and encountering strange worlds and occupants. He went into his grab bag of studio tricks and equipment to create something new and interesting. Admittedly, it sounds a little dated today, but at the time there wasn’t anything quite like it.