The Judge
RAVES!
Date: 19/02/11
The Tornados - "Telstar" (1962)
I was just over two months old when this all-time classic was released, and I probably wouldn't have remembered hearing it at that time, but from the first time I do remember hearing it - many years later - it seemed to be familiar to me already.
It was the work of mad genius producer Robert George ('Joe') Meek, and was put together in his home studio in London in one day. A science-fiction buff, Meek had sat watching the first pictures from AT&T's Telstar communications satellite and - suitably inspired - came up with an instrumental which he then got his protégés The Tornados in to record.
Even after the band had left the studio, Meek recognised that more was needed. He dubbed a clavioline on to play the main melody line and added sound effects at the beginning and end to simulate a rocket taking off (rumours vary as to whether this was the sound of a vacuum cleaner or a lavatory flush played backwards). He rushed the finished cut to Decca records, who were impressed enough to rush-release it whilst people were still talking about the satellite.
It went on to become a huge hit both in the UK (where it topped the charts for five weeks) and in the US, where The Tornados became the first British group to top the Billboard listings, being their Christmas #1 for 1962.
Listen and marvel at what could be achieved before all this technology.
