Telstar

[Ryan]

Hi All,
Are 'The Tornados', the musicians who did Telstar, the same musicians who played with 'Billy Fury' aswell? Also does anybody know if The Blue Rondos, who made 'Little Baby', made any other songs? I always thought 'Little baby' sounded a bit 'Roy Orbisonny', would have loved to heard him sing it

[JimN]

Hi All,
Are 'The Tornados', the musicians who did Telstar, the same musicians who played with 'Billy Fury' aswell? Also does anybody know if The Blue Rondos, who made 'Little Baby', made any other songs? I always thought 'Little baby' sounded a bit 'Roy Orbisonny', would have loved to heard him sing it

Yes. The Tornados were Billy Fury's backing band at one stage (before they had their own success).

Probably not with exactly the same line-up that they had when Telstar was a hit. That particular line-up (Lavern / Cattini / Caddy / Bellamy / Burt) coalesced around the time that Telstar was released, but I'm sure I've read that it wasn't quite that line-up on the record.

[RayL]

Ryan,

The Tornados recorded what was effectively the backing track for Telstar, but had to leave Joe Meek's studio before the lead line could be recorded because they were needed to back Billy Fury for a show in Great Yarmouth. Geoff Goddard (composer and pianist) played Joe's Clavioline to create that very distinctive melody (during a thunderstorm). A day or so later, Joe asked Peter Knight (keyboard player for The Moontrekkers) to 'thicken' the sound by playing the Clavioline an octave higher and an octave lower.

The Geoff Goddard part of the story is covered well in John Repsch's book The Legendary Joe Meek. The Peter Knight part of the story is included my interview with Peter Knight which can be found on DVD1 of the 1995 Pipeline Convention double-DVD.

If you are interested in The Blue Rondos and other Joe Meek bands then the Joe Meek Society can help you. The Chairman of JMS is also Shadowmusic's very own Rob Bradford (author, archivist and singer)
Ray

[anniv 63]

Regarding the Blue Rondos, they appear to have only ever released two 45 singles both
produced by Joe Meek.
Little Baby/ Baby I Go for you Pye 7n15734 1964
Don't want your lovin no more/ What can I do Pye 7n15833 1965
Some years ago at a Joe Meek Society gig, the late Micky Stubbs, the group singer and the
composer of Little Baby, told me that Joe Meek had wanted them to do Dions The Wanderer
as a possible single release, but the group did not like the idea of this much to Joes dismay!!!
Little Baby indeed should have been a hit, as it was a great Orbison soundalike, received a
lot of airplay on at least Radio Caroline North, and on first hearing I honestly thought it was
a new record from the Big O himself!!!

Mike

[Ryan]

Regarding the Blue Rondos, they appear to have only ever released two 45 singles both
produced by Joe Meek.
Little Baby/ Baby I Go for you Pye 7n15734 1964
Don't want your lovin no more/ What can I do Pye 7n15833 1965
Some years ago at a Joe Meek Society gig, the late Micky Stubbs, the group singer and the
composer of Little Baby, told me that Joe Meek had wanted them to do Dions The Wanderer
as a possible single release, but the group did not like the idea of this much to Joes dismay!!!
Little Baby indeed should have been a hit, as it was a great Orbison soundalike, received a
lot of airplay on at least Radio Caroline North, and on first hearing I honestly thought it was
a new record from the Big O himself!!!

Mike

Hi Mike,
I have only ever heard 'Little baby' by them,on a Joe Meeks compilation i have, think it's a great song. Thanks for the info i'll have a look out for them and would have loved to hear Orbison sing it

Ryan