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The Beat Boom Hits Home |
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Fortunately for an unknown band named The Sherabons - of whom more will be heard shortly - Joe was not required to be present in court for the "Telstar" trial. Work continued as normal at 304 Holloway Road, and Joe worked harder than ever with The Tornados. The music press was hinting strongly that they would steal the instrumental crown from market leaders The Shadows, and Joe was also becoming very aware that their bass player, Heinz Burt, was receiving a lot of female fan attention. Although Heinz was by no means a singer he had a definite Image and, following a couple more Tornados singles, Joe decided to replace him in The Tornados - which admittedly was no great musical loss - and put him out as a solo artist. Brian Gregg - formerly a member of Johnny Kidd's Pirates, along with fellow Tornados Clem Cattini and Alan Caddy - took Heinz' place and Heinz was on track to become the latest pretty blond bombshell in Joe's - and the Brit pop scene's - life. |
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After a huge miss with his first record, a soppy ballad called "Dreams Do Come True" - and an even worse live tour, in which this nervous young balladeer was pitted against the likes of Jerry Lee Lewis and Gene Vincent - Heinz became a surprise darling of 1963 with "Just Like Eddie", a beat-influenced tribute to dead rocker Eddie Cochran. Another Geoff Goddard composition, it didn't quite make the heady heights of it's predecessor "Johnny Remember Me" but got a respectable No. 4 chart placing in the UK, and various other top ten placings around Europe. Despite a couple of good follow-ups, a bunch of scruffy yobs from Liverpool were about to crush Heinz - and almost everybody else of the era - underfoot like they were, well, beetles. |
Showing off the control room |
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Beatlemania killed off a vast number of formerly successful artists, most notably the male teen idols and the instrumental bands. As they swept the board and inspired a million and one insipid copycat bands, the British music business was left reeling. The days of Joe's innovative sounds and images were over and, although he has been accused of not staying up with the times, he had to change. And change he did. |
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There is a street in Northeast London with the picturesque name of Balls Pond Road, and it is here that one can find The Mildmay Tavern. In early 1964 one could also find The Sherabons here of an evening, cranking out good old rock and roll and covers of the newer hits, along with a few originals from bluesy leader Dennis Dalziel. They were particularly popular locally because of an unusual band member, a female drummer no less - almost unheard of in the business world-wide at that time, let alone in England, where the idea of feminism had pretty much died after the furore of kamikaze suffragette Emily Pankhurst throwing herself under the King's horse had died down. Joe saw a great future for The Sherabons, not least because they were a beat group, and what he was really short of with the sudden musical revolution was a damn good beat group. And of course, that all-important image-come-gimmick was ready made, and as luck would have it, drummer Ann Lantree not only looked good but she could actually play her instrument as well. Renaming them The Honeycombs, after Ann's nickname of Honey, he set off in his new direction. |
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Sadly, in gaining the Honeycombs, he lost Geoff Goddard. Their first single was intended to be "Have I the Right", a bouncy beat song written by their manager "Howard Blaikley" (actually two experienced songwriters masquerading under a false name). However, Goddard claimed that "Have I The Right" bore a more than passing resemblance to a song he and Joe had written some months before called "Give Me The Chance". Geoff also claimed he had a taped demo to prove the date and, for the second time in two years, Joe found himself being sued for plagiarism. |
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Circa 1963 |
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Then Goddard suddenly did an about face and agreed to settle before the case ever went to court. Nobody knows why, and nobody knows if the "settlement" actually even amounted to anything. Whatever, Joe, Howard Blaikley and The Honeycombs were free to have their giant transatlantic hit in peace. Goddard and Meek never worked together again. |
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Geoff Goddard and Dave Adams had been the stalwarts of the studio up until 1964. The same year that Geoff walked out, Adams was nominally in charge of auditioning and selecting musicians to form a new live backing band for Heinz. Somehow, without intending to, he found himself in the band and, taking Ritchie Blackmore and bassist Brian Woods - two more of Joe's musical translators - with him, they hit the road. |
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The Beatles and the Rolling Stones apart, Britain's next biggest beat/R&B band of the time were The Kinks, and they were heard publicly bemoaning the fact that The Honeycombs were posing them some serious popularity threats. Despite this potential rivalry, The Kinks had no problem with the Honeycombs recording a few of their songs, and for a while it looked as if the Honeycombs would happily co-exist with The Kinks as the third-runs of the early British Invasion. Joe had also stumbled across yet another local band, The Blue Rondos, who were not only extremely good but were writing their own material which seemed to be anticipating the immediate direction of the musical trends. Their 1964 release "Little Baby" has been called the greatest No. 1 that never was, and so confident was Joe of their talent, it's one of only half a dozen or so releases he produced which is completely free of gimmicks. Even the widespread trick of slightly speeding the recordings to make them sound more energetic was ditched. American DJ Ed Verschure was desperate to get them to the States on the grounds of hearing only song; he even managed to secure a US release of the 45 on the well respected arkway label. But for some reason, "Little Baby" sunk without trace. The Honeycombs started to bomb out by their third single and all of a sudden, the golden era of Joe's career was over. |
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