The Tornadoes — Telstar
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Ok, Telstar is not on any of yours or theirs Amazon links except by the Ventures, so where can I get this?
I never liked this song.. don't undersatnd what the charm is..I just feel like it creates a void in my chest...aarrrggghhh
Why do I feel like I'm in a roller rink? aimless wrote:
No, stop the tracers!! No, stop the tracers!! No, stop the tracers!! No, stop the tracers!! No, stop the tracers!! No, stop the tracers!!
This track sounds like something from a David Lynch film; maybe the scene from Blue Velvet when Frank is pummeling Jeffrey. I love it!
Flashback! No, stop the tracers!! No, stop the tracers!! No, stop the tracers!! No, stop the tracers!! No, stop the tracers!! No, stop the tracers!! No, stop the tracers!!
Is it me or it sounds like when I played Kirby on the old Nintendo ! :propeller.gif: :propeller.gif:
llazare wrote:
Hearing this song in the mix is one of the reasons I *love* Radio Paradise.
YES!!!!
daveesh wrote:
sounds like its coming out of a drive-in movie speaker!
Part of its charm.
Arghhhh why do I like it
aimless wrote: 
This track sounds like something from a David Lynch film; maybe the scene from Blue Velvet when Frank is pummeling Jeffrey. I love it!
For me it makes me think of those movies that MST3k would snipe at... only without them there to make us laugh!
This track sounds like something from a David Lynch film; maybe the scene from Blue Velvet when Frank is pummeling Jeffrey. I love it!
vanjulio wrote:
nice to hear the original of a far superior Ventures cover
I originally clicked here to say "Nice to hear the original" - I remember when it was on the radio. It really triggers warm memories of hearing it on the radio. I was a "space geek" in those days, and this was cool! And the fact that it had a unique sound was cool too. In those days, AM radio seemed to have some vitality and freshness - you could still hear stuff like those "flying saucer" songs, and "The Old Philosopher" ("Is that what's troublin' you, bunky?"), and the Yardbirds playing electric violin on "Over Under Sideways Down"... Nice to read Johray63's post about Joe Meeks' story - sad, though, of course.
Johray63 wrote:
But a French copyright infringement suit kept all royalties tied up for six years, and the Tornados were kept from touring the United States behind their international hit due to a contract employing them as a backup group to U.K. pretty boy Billy Fury. By the time the dust settled, the Tornados had gone hitless for several years, and so had Joe Meek.
Darn French copyright.
Written as an homage to the first telephone satellite. Kinda interesting, in light of how many satellites there are now floating above the earth...
Remember that at the time this came out, it was broadcast on AM radio - lots of highs and compression there, too. This song just IS the sound of AM in my brain.
Hearing this song in the mix is one of the reasons I *love* Radio Paradise.
alanb wrote:
Wow, quite the story behind this!
It sounds like someone cut the brakes on a pink Caddy with fuzzy dice, then hit the gas and let the monsterous car careen down the strip in Las Vegas, ending by driving at 80mph right through a casino and floor show...
Wow, quite the story behind this!
It sounds like someone cut the brakes on a pink Caddy with fuzzy dice, then hit the gas and let the monsterous car careen down the strip in Las Vegas, ending by driving at 80mph right through a casino and floor show...
Everybody - all-skate. Everyone can go out on the floor and rollerskate.
one of the first melodies I learned on the keyboard. Actually, it's pretty good melody when you get past the cheeziness sp?
sounds like its coming out of a drive-in movie speaker!
This makes me wish "Mr. Mike's Mondo Video" was available on DVD...
Talking about One Hit Wonders! Margaret Thatcher's favourite song (really). 
There's an interesting story behind this song:
One of the saddest stories in rock & roll history surrounds the Tornados, an instrumental group from Britain. Although there were other groups with the same name (see listing for their surf-band American counterparts), this batch of Tornados were the creation of British producer Joe Meek. Meek was England's first independent producer, being equal parts Thomas Edison, Phil Spector and Ed Wood. An inveterate tinkerer, he designed his own compression units and microphone preamps, giving his productions their own distinct sound. Setting up a homemade studio in a three-story flat on Holloway Road in London, Meek pioneered such recording techniques as close miking of instruments, distortion, his aforementioned trademark compression, loud drums fortified by percussion from pocket combs, milk bottles and stomping the floorboards himself. He put together the original Tornados in late 1961 as a studio session group, its original lineup consisting of Alan Caddy and George Bellamy on guitars, Roger LaVern on organ, Heinz Burt on bass and Clem Cattini on drums. After one single flopped, Meek had the group do one of his compositions, an instrumental called "Telstar." Utilizing willful distortion, cheap tape echo, beeping satellite sound effects, a cheesy-sounding Clavioline (a two-octave keyboard powered by a battery) and massive amounts of tube compression, the resulting production sounded like nothing else at the time, or since. It became the first number one record on the American charts by a British rock group and ended up selling five million copies worldwide. It should have made Meek a millionaire and the Tornados a household name. But a French copyright infringement suit kept all royalties tied up for six years, and the Tornados were kept from touring the United States behind their international hit due to a contract employing them as a backup group to U.K. pretty boy Billy Fury. By the time the dust settled, the Tornados had gone hitless for several years, and so had Joe Meek. After numerous personnel changes, the original members had scattered to various groups, Heinz Burt starting his own solo career and Cattini becoming a British session mainstay of producer Shel Talmy. The copyright infringement suit was ruled in Meek's favor six years later, a year after he had blown his face off with a hunting rifle after murdering his landlady, ending his life in his beloved but debt-ridden studio.
There's an interesting story behind this song:
One of the saddest stories in rock & roll history surrounds the Tornados, an instrumental group from Britain. Although there were other groups with the same name (see listing for their surf-band American counterparts), this batch of Tornados were the creation of British producer Joe Meek. Meek was England's first independent producer, being equal parts Thomas Edison, Phil Spector and Ed Wood. An inveterate tinkerer, he designed his own compression units and microphone preamps, giving his productions their own distinct sound. Setting up a homemade studio in a three-story flat on Holloway Road in London, Meek pioneered such recording techniques as close miking of instruments, distortion, his aforementioned trademark compression, loud drums fortified by percussion from pocket combs, milk bottles and stomping the floorboards himself. He put together the original Tornados in late 1961 as a studio session group, its original lineup consisting of Alan Caddy and George Bellamy on guitars, Roger LaVern on organ, Heinz Burt on bass and Clem Cattini on drums. After one single flopped, Meek had the group do one of his compositions, an instrumental called "Telstar." Utilizing willful distortion, cheap tape echo, beeping satellite sound effects, a cheesy-sounding Clavioline (a two-octave keyboard powered by a battery) and massive amounts of tube compression, the resulting production sounded like nothing else at the time, or since. It became the first number one record on the American charts by a British rock group and ended up selling five million copies worldwide. It should have made Meek a millionaire and the Tornados a household name. But a French copyright infringement suit kept all royalties tied up for six years, and the Tornados were kept from touring the United States behind their international hit due to a contract employing them as a backup group to U.K. pretty boy Billy Fury. By the time the dust settled, the Tornados had gone hitless for several years, and so had Joe Meek. After numerous personnel changes, the original members had scattered to various groups, Heinz Burt starting his own solo career and Cattini becoming a British session mainstay of producer Shel Talmy. The copyright infringement suit was ruled in Meek's favor six years later, a year after he had blown his face off with a hunting rifle after murdering his landlady, ending his life in his beloved but debt-ridden studio.
You'd get no complaints from me if this was heard a little more often...
My older sister had this 45 and played it all the time, so I had to like it!
She also was quite adamant that we get the new "Telstar" christmas ornaments that year.
pbm
8^)
Kinda sounds like the muzak you hear in old folks homes. Cheessssssy!
BC_Night_Heron wrote:
THis was a first experience with an "instrumental" hit. I didn't like it then, but have to admit it caught my attention enough to make this comment, now. At least worth a "3".
Worth more than that. It's the first rock song from a British band to hit No. 1 in the US. Also features swindles, bad contracts, suits and lawsuits, and tragic death. It's 100% rock & roll, baby!
Note that the spelling should just be "Tornados." It doesn't come up right away in the AMG link, so here's the link.
nice to hear the original of a far superior Ventures cover
THis was a first experience with an "instrumental" hit. I didn't like it then, but have to admit it caught my attention enough to make this comment, now. At least worth a "3".
V*E*R*Y COOL !*!*! I remember hearing this when I was about 10 years old .... driving down to Riverside from the Bay Area to visit my Grandparents .... this was about as high tech as it got in \'63 !*!*!* 
Gosh! 