Joe Meek & the Bluemen- I Hear a New World: An Outer Space Fantasy

I’m disappointed in this album.

I LOVE weird music, eccentric artists, the whole genre of outsider music. So when I found out I could listen to a record by one of the most eccentric record producers of all time on Spotify, I got excited. I prepared to have my mind blown by the innovative production that could only come from the mind of a madman.

Imagine the tune a child might pick out on a piano played as if it were a soundtrack to the Twilight Zone. That’s what I heard. It was more annoying than interesting.

So, the thing about innovation is that its time sensitive. What was innovative over time becomes commonplace. As such the techniques Meek used, while interesting at the time, have not aged well. It just sounds like a sixties or fifties space opera, with more Alvin and the Chipmunks style sped up vocals.

There is effort to create a world, but its a world we’ve seen before on the cover of Amazing Sci Fi or Flash Gordon. There are three alien races, the Globbots, the Saroos, and the Dribcots. Besides their names we don’t learn anything about them besides their music. It is interesting to try and deduce what kind of beings these are based on their music, but the game fell flat for me. There was a wall past which my imagination couldn’t pass, or couldn’t be bothered to pass. That’s a critical part of all this: this album does not invite relistening. It actually sounds worse once you realize that none of the songs have a melody in the typical use of the word.

That might be its cardinal sin. After I’ve finished this review I don’t think I’ll listen to this album again. I’ll remember it, it’s plenty memorable, but I don’t foresee it sticking with me in the way other albums have. That’s a shame because the man who made it was such an interesting figure.

2/5 I’d say go research Joe Meek first and then look at this album as a context or a supplement to your understanding. If you like weird music there’s better weird music out there, though there might not be more historically significant.