Name: I Hear a New World
Brand: Poppydisc
SKU: 68137603
Price: 28.88 USD
Availability: InStock

I Hear a New World

Rating

Album: I Hear a New World
#	Song Title		Time
1)	I Hear a New World	More Info...
2)	Around the Moon	More Info...
3)	Entry of the Globbots	More Info...
4)	The Bublight	More Info...
5)	March of the Dribcots	More Info...
6)	Love Dance of the Saroos	More Info...
7)	Glob Waterfall	More Info...
8)	Magnetic Field	More Info...
9)	Valley of the Saroos	More Info...
10)	Dribcots Space Boat	More Info...
11)	Disc Dance of the Globbots	More Info...
12)	Valley of No Return	More Info...

Album: I Hear a New World
#	Song Title		Time
1)	I Hear a New World	More Info...
2)	Around the Moon	More Info...
3)	Entry of the Globbots	More Info...
4)	The Bublight	More Info...
5)	March of the Dribcots	More Info...
6)	Love Dance of the Saroos	More Info...
7)	Glob Waterfall	More Info...
8)	Magnetic Field	More Info...
9)	Valley of the Saroos	More Info...
10)	Dribcots Space Boat	More Info...
11)	Disc Dance of the Globbots	More Info...
12)	Valley of No Return	More Info...

Performer Notes

In 1960, Joe Meek -- already thinking in terms that couldn't be constrained by the limits of the day's 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 Python's Flying Circus would say, it all sounds a bit silly, but it's 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 you're enough of a Meek fan to seek out I Hear a New World in the first place, it's likely you'll find this a significant bonus. There's also an enhanced CD track with a three-minute 1964 TV interview clip of Meek, though it's playable only on PCs, not Macs. ~ Richie Unterberger

Professional Reviews

Q (8/01, p.153) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...Eye-poppingly strange....here is the British Phil Spector, forcing tunes home like no-one before or since."

Mojo (Publisher) (p.50) - Ranked #28 in Mojo's "The 50 Most Out There Albums Of All Time" - "Joe seemed to peek beyond the prescribed universe."