The obvious list

These are the songs people know.  When you mention Billy Fury, people expect you to mention Halfway To Paradise.  Many think it was the only song he did.

So when Joe Meek is mentioned, the same sort of thing happens. These are the top six that folks would instantly recognise:

1 - Telstar, Tornados. No brainer there.
2 - Just Like Eddie, Heinz.
3 - Johnny Remember Me, John Leyton.
4 - Tribute To Buddy Holly, Mike Berry. As we know, Joe was obsessed with Buddy.
5 - Angela Jones, Michael Cox.
6 - Have I The Right, The Honeycombs

My list

In these songs, you can hear the Joe Meek sound fighting against the sound it should rightly make - in other words, it's weirder stuff.

1 - Night Of The Vampires, Moontrekkers.  I love this instrumental.  At one Joe Meek tribute night, this was the most-requested tune

2 - Jack The Ripper, Screaming Lord Sutch. What a character! I was told by some witnesses that his band used to turn up with their sound equipment and instruments in a coffin and do a procession in.  I reckon he would make a better MP today than most of the ones we have.

3 - Whatchya Gonna Do Baby -- Jason Eddie and the Centremen, Can't have a list without our Billy connection. This was the song I played down the phone several Mill Hill meets ago, when he Albie couldn't make it as he was feeling ill. For truly weird there is also the version of Jason Eddie's Singing The Blues.  I actually don't like this at all, however the recording shows you an insight into the recording of a Joe Meek-style song. (Is there any record of Jason Eddies account of his days with Joe Meek anywhere?)

4 - There has to be a Tornados track in my list. Globetrotter (sounding like Venus In Blue Jeans) and Robot were OK follow-ups to Telstar.  I could choose Ice Cream Man, the drum sound of Jungle Fever 62 or the silly Blackpool Rock - whistle along everyone - or should it be Love And Fury (a dig at Parnes) but my fav is Riding The Wind.

5 - A really selfish one for me, as this one I had specially recorded as a backing track for me after hearing it on a CD while on a trip to the Billy Fury weekend in Blackpool many moons ago. One of those songs I kept repeating over and over.  It's a John Leyton song, not Wild Wind or Johnny Remember Me but a simple ditty - Lonely City.

6 - The last charting song from the Joe Meek stable, haunting and still produced so well, Please Stay by the Cryin' Shames. In fact, now covered for the end credits of the film Telstar (wisely, I'm not sure) by Duffy.