For those unaware, from Glenda Collins to Diane And The Javelins, during the 1960s Joe Meek worked with countless female artists, many of whom issued just one single, or perhaps never even made it that far. But, until now, the extent of this work, and the volume of material recorded, has remained buried among the Tea Chest Tapes. This unprecedented 3CD set explores that archive in-depth for the first time.

Featuring established names and previously unknown artists (and indeed, at least one artist whose identity is still unknown), ‘Do The Strum!’ shines another spotlight on Meek’s remarkable work with everything from the serene tones of Pat Reader to the gutsy soul of Glenda Collins and the proto girl-punk of The Sharades.

Spanning almost seven years, and mirroring the changing pop scene of the era, from pre-Beatle to powerful, stripped-down hard rock, this set recontextualises both Meek himself and the artists within. Lost classics and shoulda-beens pervade, and the imagination and production quality never drops below Joe Meek’s perfectionist standards. And, most importantly, it’ll all make you want to shake a tail feather!

Includes every known A and B side, material from the abandoned Live It Up! film soundtrack, singles that never were, auditions, demos and alternate versions of familiar recordings.

A must-have for fans and collectors of girl groups, Meek freaks young and old and students and historians of British pop. Don’t settle for the tried and tested story you’ll read in books and magazines – this is the real deal, restored, remastered and as fresh as the day it was recorded!

CD 1: The Singles
1 Eve Boswell – Sur Le Pont D’Avignon 2 Yolanda – With This Kiss 3 Carol Jones – Boy With The Eyes Of Blue (Meek Version) 4 Pat Reader – Cha Cha On The Moon 5 Glenda Collins – I Lost My Heart At The Fairground 6 Jenny Moss – Hobbies 7 The Cameos – Powercut (Alternate Vocal/Original Speed) 8 Pamela Blue – My Friend Bobby 9 Glenda Collins – If You’ve Got To Pick A Baby 10 Gunilla Thorn – Merry Go Round (Original Speed) 11 Jenny Moss – Please Let It Happen To Me (Film Version) 12 The Sharades – Dumb Head 13 Kim Roberts – I’ll Prove It 14 The Cameos – My Baby’s Coming Home 15 Glenda Collins – Baby It Hurts 16 Glenda Collins – Lollipop 17 Flip And The Dateliners – My Johnny Doesn’t Come Around Anymore 18 Valerie Masters – Christmas Calling 19 Glenda Collins – Johnny Loves Me 20 Judy Cannon – The Very First Day I Met You 21 Glenda Collins – Thou Shalt Not Steal 22 The Honeycombs – Something I’ve Got To Tell You (Stereo Mix) 23 Diane And The Javelins – Heart And Soul 24 Glenda Collins – Something I’ve Got To Tell You (Original Speed) 25 Glenda Collins – It’s Hard To Believe It.

Kicking off with Eve Boswell’s magic capturing foot tapper Sur Le Pont D’Avignon and Yolanda’s aching ballad With This Kiss, and they are followed by a track that was eventually released a month after Joe Meek left Triumph, Carol Jones’ vibrant Boy With The Eyes Of Blue (Meek Version), the aptly-titled Cha Cha On The Moon (Pat Reader), a track where Glenda Collins puts her broken heart on the Tilt-A-Whirl within I Lost My Heart At The Fairground and then we get the harmonica-driven Hobbies (Jenny Moss), the frantic Powercut (The Cameos), and both the magically emotive My Friend Bobby (Pamela Blue) and featuring a young Ritchie Blackmore on guitar, we next get Glenda Collins’ vibrant If You’ve Got To Pick A Baby.

We next get Swedish pop singer Gunilla Thorn’s Merry Go Round, the film version of Jenny Moss’ impeccable Please Let It Happen To Me, the rock n roll disco sound of The Sharades’ Dumb Head and then comes Kim Robert’s only single, and quite a Decca rarity I’ll Prove It, the spirited psych rocker My Baby’s Coming Home (The Cameos), then come two from big ballad singer Glenda Collins; the first being the pop-tastic Baby It Hurts the other being the infectious Lollipop.

The first disc then rounds out on the all-embracing Flip And The Dateliners cut My Johnny Doesn’t Come Around Anymore, the delightful holiday classic from Valerie Masters, Christmas Calling, and then we get the fervent shuffler Johnny Loves Me (Glenda Collins), the fab tune The Very First Day I Met You (from Melbourne’s very own Judy Cannon), a track that was ranked at #496 on the Radio London All-Time Top 500 list, Glenda Collins’ Thou Shalt Not Steal, the side rounding out on the languishing Something I’ve Got To Tell You (Stereo Mix) (The Honeycombs), one of Joe Meek’s final dabblings, Diane And The Javelins’ Heart And Soul and finally a double from Glenda Collins; the smooth production of both Something I’ve Got To Tell You (Original Speed) and It’s Hard To Believe It.

CD 2: 1960-1963
1 Eve Boswell – Around The Corner 2 Yolanda – Don’t Tell Me Not To Love You 3 Carol Jones – Cinderella Jones 4 Pat Reader – May Your Heart Stay Young Forever 5 Pat Reader – My Kind Of Love 6 Unknown – Say Baby 7 Unknown – Johnny Oh 8 Geri Harlow – Do The Strum 9 Geri Harlow – Mr Right 10 Billie Davis – Merry Go Round 11 Billie Davis – Don’t You Knock On My Door 12 Billie Davis – It’s Goodbye Then 13 Billie Davis – Mr Right 14 Billie Davis – I Think I’m Falling In Love 15 Glenda Collins – I Feel So Good 16 Glenda Collins – In The First Place (Original Speed) 17 Glenda Collins – Nice Wasn’t It (Original Speed) 18 Glenda Collins – Everybody’s Gotta Fall In Love (Original Speed) 19 Jenny Moss – Big Boys 20 Jenny Moss – Please Let It Happen To Me (Alternate Version) 21 Jenny Moss – Keep Away From My Baby’s Door 22 Jenny Moss – When My Boy Comes Marching Home Again 23 Jenny Moss – Every Little Kiss (Demo) 24 Kim Roberts – For Loving Me This Way 25 Kim Roberts – A Girl In the Crowd 26 Kim Roberts – Mr Right 27 Kim Roberts – Everytime 28 Kim Roberts – Love Can’t Wait 29 The Cameos – High, Low And Lonesomely (Alternate Version) 30 The Cameos – Where E’re You Walk 31 The Cameos – Only In Love 32 Pamela Blue – Hey There Stranger (Alternate Version).

The second disc opens on the Budapest, Hungarian born Eve Boswell and her robust Around The Corner and the flip side to her one-off MOR single, the Ceylon-born singer Yolanda and her soaring ballad Don’t Tell Me Not To Love You and the frenetically charged Cinderella Jones (Carol Jones), before we get two from Pat Reader; the simply divine pairing of both May Your Heart Stay Young Forever and My Kind Of Love, a couple of unknowns are then paraded in the form of the lush Say Baby and the impassioned Johnny Oh, before we are brought forth a duo from Geri Harlow; the robust Do The Strum and the Caribbean-hued Mr Right.

Along next are five from Billie Davis, and which kick off with the free flowing Merry Go Round, the licking Don’t You Knock On My Door, the lusciously orchestrated It’s Goodbye Then, a different, sterner cut entitled Mr Right and the pop-tastic I Think I’m Falling In Love, with a quartet from Glenda Collins along next; the shaking shimmer of I Feel So Good, the thigh slapper In The First Place (Original Speed), and both the foot-tapper Nice Wasn’t It (Original Speed) and the guitar twanging Everybody’s Gotta Fall In Love (Original Speed).

Up next is a quintet from Jennifer Victoria Jenny Moss (an English actress and singer born in Wigan, Lancashire), and which opens on expansive Big Boys, the romantic Please Let It Happen To Me (Alternate Version), the strident Keep Away From My Baby’s Door, the country chug of When My Boy Comes Marching Home Again, and a piano-led Every Little Kiss (Demo), then we get five from Kim Roberts; the pure pop sway of For Loving Me This Way, the luxuriant soul of A Girl In the Crowd, another Mr. Right cut, the production sturdy Everytime, and the unmistakable Joe Meek sound really comes to the fore on her Love Can’t Wait.

The second disc rounds out on the sketchy sounds of The Cameos’ High, Low And Lonesomely (Alternate Version), their cheesetastic Where E’re You Walk, and then we get their free flowingly pop lovely Only In Love and Pamela Blue’s wonderfully double tracked vocals that elegantly flow on her Hey There Stranger (Alternate Version).

CD 3: 1964-1966
1 Gunilla Thorn – Go On Then 2 Gunilla Thorn – Blueberry Hill 3 Gunilla Thorn – Keep Away From My Baby’s Door 4 Gunilla Thorn – Alright I’m In Love With You (Audition) 5 Gunilla Thorn – Come On 6 Gunilla Thorn – Who Started It 7 The Halos – When 8 The Halos – Don’t Ever Change 9 Lea And Chess – Little Star (Shine On us Tonight) 10 Lea And Chess – A Long Time Ago 11 Valerie Masters – He Didn’t Fool Me 12 The Sharades – Boy Trouble (Alternate Version) 13 The Sharades – Aren’t You Glad You’re You 14 The Sharades – Loneliness 15 Flip & The Dateliners – Please Listen To Me 16 Flip & The Dateliners – Bye Bye Baby Bunting 17 Flip & The Dateliners – Mama Didn’t Lie 18 Flip & The Dateliners – The Mod 19 Flip and The Dateliners – From Tomorrow 20 Flip (with Riot Squad) – It’s Hard To Believe It 21 June Harris – Ma I Miss Your Apple Pie 22 June Harris – Remember Your Love Belongs To Me 23 Judy Cannon – Hello Heartache (Alternate Version) 24 Glenda Collins – Been Invited To A Party 25 Glenda Collins – Paradise For Two (Mix Take 4) 26 Glenda Collins – My Heart Didn’t Lie (Original Speed/Pre Backing Vocals) 27 Glenda Collins – Don’t Let It Rain On Sunday 28 Denise Scott and The Soundsmen – Your Love Keeps Me Going 29 Denise Scott and The Soundsmen – Love Me Tonight 30 Diane And The Javelins – Whose The Girl 31 Diane And The Javelins – Cry Baby.

The third and final disc opens on a sextet from Gunilla Thorn, backed by The Outlaws, on the vibrant Go On Then leading the way, being followed by the swarthy Blueberry Hill, the fervent swirls and twirls that flow within Keep Away From My Baby’s Door, the impassioned Alright I’m In Love With You (Audition), and both the Hammond-hued Come On and the spirited Who Started It, and they are backed seamlessly by two from The Halos; the freely enjoyable When and their heartfelt Don’t Ever Change, before we get the closest sounding thing to Phil Spector’s recordings that Joe did, Lea And Chess’ Little Star (Shine On us Tonight) and A Long Time Ago, with the lovely He Didn’t Fool Me from Valerie Masters next.

Along next is there from The Sharades, opening on the dancefloor swirls and twirls off Boy Trouble (Alternate Version), the strident fare of Aren’t You Glad You’re You and the luxuriant Loneliness, and then we get six from Flip & The Dateliners, and which begin with the finger-snapper Please Listen To Me, the guitar-fed Bye Bye Baby Bunting, the swarthy hipsway of Mama Didn’t Lie, the twanging beauty The Mod, the all-embracing melodies of From Tomorrow, before one from Flip (with Riot Squad) and the elegant It’s Hard To Believe It is brought forth.

The third disc, and the collection as a whole, then rounds out with a couple from June Harris in the form of the engrossing Ma I Miss Your Apple Pie and the dutiful hipsway of Remember Your Love Belongs To Me, then we get one from Aussie songstress Judy Cannon, the lush Hello Heartache (Alternate Version), before a quartet from Glenda Collins; beginning with the rambunctious Been Invited To A Party (which was itself originally the b-side to the 1965 single, John D. Loudermilk’s Thou Shalt Not Steal), the lovely Paradise For Two (Mix Take 4), the extremely underrated My Heart Didn’t Lie (Original Speed/Pre Backing Vocals) and the Riot Squad backed Don’t Let It Rain On Sunday, all coming to a close on, quite possibly, pseudo stereo cuts of Denise Scott and The Soundsmen’s Your Love Keeps Me Going and Love Me Tonight, ending on the veritably shimmering rocker Whose The Girl and the animated Cry Baby from Diane And The Javelins.

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