Apart from the occasional 'flashback' - very little of Meek's life in rural Gloucestershire and his early working career (1929 - 1954) was covered.*
The scenes depicting his hands being badly burned by phosphorous (discarded army ordnance) and accidentally discovering sound recording as a child in the 1930s were both true.
*omitted - facts such as: He built (from scratch) the first two working TV sets in the Forest of Dean / He was genuinely - a little like Jimmy Saville - a pioneering local DJ - he built his own massive PA speakers and painted the initials RGM (Robert George Meek) on them - he got the idea from MGM films! / He was fired from his job as an electrical repair man for making his own working amplifiers and tape recorders from unwanted spare parts / The fact that some of his personally produced FX recordings were so realistic that - for example - locals were sometimes convinced that car accidents had occurred / His time as an RAF Radar operative / His rapid rise in the BBC 1955 - 56 because of his obvious brilliance re: live recordings
*omitted - facts such as: Between 1956 and 1959 he worked (as sound recording / balance engineer) on well over 1,000 tracks for Decca / EMI group / Philips / Pye and associated labels (they all wanted to employ Joe Meek). He recorded many major stars - including (to name but a handful) Shirley Bassey, Petula Clark, Lonnie Donegan, Johnny Duncan, Edmund Hockridge, Gary Miller, Harry Secombe, Anne Shelton, Dickie Valentine, Frankie Vaughan, Marty Wilde (and many, many, many more). Along with Denis Preston & Adrian Kerridge (& because money was no object) - Meek was largely responsible for helping to establish & design the then state - of - the art Lansdowne Recording Studios (Meek left after a blazing row in late 1959). Etc., etc., etc.
Thus - in the opening scene of the film (recording "Johnny Remember Me") - Meek is portrayed almost as a manic idiot who comes up with a big hit almost by chance - although elements of how the session went were partly true. BTW. John Leyton NEVER wore his 'Biggles' flying jacket off set. John Leyton did NOT have a chaffeur.
To save money - James Corden as 'Clem Cattini' seems to be the drummer for the 'Outlaws', the 'Tornados' and Heinz's 'Wild Boys' - ditto the bassist & other players. All very confusing and, of course, completely and utterly inaccurate. The guitars and drums used were not always strictly accurate. The amount of swearing - as avowed by Clem in real life - was grossly exaggerated. Considering the genuine evidence that Joe Meek was threatened / attacked by the Kray twins' mob (& considering Nick Moran's emphasis on 'drama') - it's curious that this wasn't mentioned at all.
Clem Cattini did not leave 304 Holloway Road after a blazing row (although he DID have one spectacular row with Joe after telling him that he thought "Globetrotter" - even though it was a #5 hit - was 'rubbish'!). No - Clem left (after giving proper notice) in February 1965 because he was tired of constantly having to rehearse repertoire with ever - changing line - ups of the Tornados.
The recording of Joe Meek's masterpiece "Telstar" as depicted in the film is complete, total and utter nonsense bearing absolutely no relation to the truth whatsoever! Ditto: "Have I The Right". The scene where Joe snarls savagely at Geoff Goddard, angrily throws his gift of a watch onto the floor and crushes it underfoot - is fiction. In reality, Joe accepted the watch - but did express disappointment that Geoff hadn't had it inscribed.
Joe turning down the Beatles and casually tossing Brian Epstein's demo tape into a bin......it never really happened exactly like that. It's true that Joe Meek did decline to record the Beatles & that he genuinely didn't rate them. But......at that point in time....EVERY single record label in the UK tried out by Brian Epstein had turned them down!!!!!!
The one part where I do think that the film got it right is the tragic death of Mrs Shenton. Joe Meek was clearly in the throes of a complete mental breakdown and wielding a shotgun (the make of which, it transpires, had been involved in several shooting accidents as the trigger mechanism was suspect). I truly believe that Violet Shenton's death was a horrible, dreadful accident. Joe Meek did NOT kiss Patrick Pink goodbye. He did not have a sexual relationship with Patrick Pink, but did with one of his previous studio assistants. Etc., etc. I could go on. Joe Meek recorded over 100 different artists (who had commercial releases) and had almost 1,000 RGM productions commercially released. All of this is inevitably glossed over in the film.
The film concentrated on the 'dark' side of Joe's personality. There are hundreds of documented examples of groups / artists testifying as to how friendly, professional, helpful and kind Joe Meek was. He also devoted a lot of time, effort and money raising money for and donating money to charitable causes - none of this, of course, was ever mentioned in the film. I could go on. Let's just say that the film was 'flawed' and a missed opportunity in some respects.
Thanks to everyone who might read all of this!!!!
Rob
PS: "Telstar" only ever came about because Joe Meek was all set to release the Tornados' version of "The Breeze And I". Clem Cattini discovered that the Fentones were about to release their own version of the old Ernesto Lecuona fave. Plus, when Clem mentioned "The Breeze And I" to his old chum......Bruce Welch....he was dismayed to discover that the Shadows had also just recorded their own version too! In the event, the Fentones' version was issued in August, 1962 & was a minor hit. The Shadows version - although taped in June, 1962 - didn't eventually appear until early 1963 - on the flipside of "Foot Tapper". No matter, because of the Shadows / Fentones, Joe Meek told Clem not to worry and that he'd "Come up with something else..." That 'something else' was "Telstar"!!!!
