| I Hear a New World | |
|---|---|
| Studio album by Joe Meek / The Blue Men | |
| Released | May 1960 (EP) 1991 (album) |
| Recorded | Lansdowne Studios 1959 |
| Genre | Pop, Rock, Electronic, Avant-garde |
| Length | 32:56 |
| Label | Triumph TRX-ST9000 (1960) RPM Records (1991) |
| Producer | Joe Meek |
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | [1] |
I Hear a New World - an Outer Space Music Fantasy is a concept album devised and composed by Joe Meek and performed by The Blue Men in 1959. It was partially released in 1960 and completely released in 1991 by RPM Records. It was later released by Barry Cleveland, in a more authentic manner, with his book Creative Music Production: Joe Meek's Bold Techniques.
In its September 1998 issue (175), music magazine The Wire listed the album in the lead article "100 Records that Set the World on Fire (When No One Was Listening)",[2] It was described being a "profound influence on artists as diverse as Steven Stapleton and Saint Etienne".[3]
The title song was covered by Television Personalities, Mark Sultan, and They Might Be Giants[4] (2004)
Contents |
The musicians, "The Blue Men",[5] were originally "The West Five", a skiffle group from Ealing in London. As well as I Hear a New World - an Outer Space Music Fantasy, they also recorded as "Rodd, Ken and the Cavaliers" for Joe Meek. The tracks were recorded at Meek's Holland Park flat and in Lansdowne Studios.
The album was Meek's pet project. He was fascinated by the then-new space programme and proposed that life existed elsewhere in the solar system. This album was his attempt "to create a picture in music of what could be up there in outer space", he explained. "At first I was going to record it with music that was completely out of this world but realized that it would have very little entertainment value so I kept the construction of the music down to earth." He achieved this, as a producer, by blending The Blue Men's skiffle/rock and roll style with a range of sounds and effects, created by such kitchen-sink methods as blowing bubbles in water with a straw, draining water out of the sink, shorting an electrical circuit and even banging partly filled milk bottles with spoons; yet one must listen carefully to detect these prosaic origins in the finished product. Another important feature of the recordings is the very early use of stereophony.
The first, eponymous track on the album is also the only one to feature conventional vocals; most of the others are instrumentals, but some feature high-frequency vocals in the style of The Chipmunks, Pinky and Perky and The Nutty Squirrels.
Meek also wrote sleeve notes for each track so that he might set the scene for each piece. For instance, the notes for "Magnetic Field" read: "This is a stretch of the Moon where there is a strange lack of gravity forcing everything to float three feet above the crust, which with a different magnetic field from the surface sets any article in some sections in vigorous motion, and at times everything is in rhythm."
The L.P. was scheduled to be released by Joe Meek's Triumph Records label in May 1960, but only a 4-track 7-inch-E.P. ("Part 1") was released. Only a few demo/preview-copies of the L.P. are known to exist. The rereleases are dubbed from these discs.
A second E.P. was planned, but never appeared; only the sleeve was printed. This, and the cancellation of the album itself, was due to financial problems at the label. This resulted in Meek leaving the label. The band, too, drifted away and returned to the live circuit.
Producer: Joe Meek
(Running order of original 1960-scheduled L.P.)
Side 1
Side 2
(Track lengths are from the CD reissue.)
Entry of the Globbots, Valley of the Saroos, Orbit around the Moon, Magnetic Field
Globb Waterfall, The Dribcots' Space Boat, Love Dance Of The Saroos, The Bublight
Four compositions from I Hear a New World were also used on the 1961 album Dream of the West by The Outlaws. The songs were retitled to fit to the theme of the album: "Orbit Around the Moon" became "Husky Team"; "Entry of the Globbots" became "Tune for Short Cowboys"; "The Bublight" became "The Outlaws"; and "Valley of the Saroos" became "Spring is Near".