wileypickett
Enlightened Member
Glenn, that's wild! I don't think I've ever heard Telstar before, but that is really cool. Do you know what the keyboard is in The Tornadoes' version? Is it a Moog? I don't know what instruments were available to folks in 1962. That seems very early to me for performance synthesizers.
It's a clavioline -- such a distinctive sound -- otherworldly at the time!
A bit of trivia: the band was the Tornados in the UK and the Tornadoes (as you spell it) in the US. (In the US they shared that name with a few other bands. One of the pics in that clip is of the "wrong" Tornadoes.)
Other things that I find interesting about the song: it starts with electronic noises that Meek produced in his studio -- can't think of any other "hits" that kicked off with pure noise!
I also like how the "4" becomes the "1" in the switch from clavioline to guitar.
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