Music Reissues Weekly: John Leyton - Lone Rider The Holloway Road Sessions 1960-1962

For John Leyton, it was third time lucky as far as his singles were concerned. The actor’s manager Robert Stigwood teamed him with producer Joe Meek, but Leyton's first two 45s – August 1960’s “Tell Laura I Love Her” and October 1960's “The Girl on the Floor Above” – didn’t made waves. The next one – July 1961’s “Johnny Remember Me” – was it, the hit, the chart topper.

While its predecessors were underpowered and, in the case of “Tell Laura I Love Her,” a cursory cover of a US hit, “Johnny Remember Me” was something else. Recorded at Meek’s home studio in north London’s Holloway rather than the formal set-up of Olympic Studios (where the first two 45s were made), it was written to order by Meek associate Geoff Goddard, theatrically arranged by Charles Blackwell and promoted by an appearance on the TV drama Harpers West One. The clip survives. Watching it makes it obvious why the single clicked. The record was intense, instantly memorable, Leyton was charismatic - playing a pop star named Johnny St. Cyr (sincere) - and the stage-managed audience hysteria confirmed the record’s status as an event: a death disc sounding as dramatic as its subject matter. Most pop fans first experienced "Johnny Remember Me" through John Leyton playing a role on TV screens. Meta, before meta was codified.

Thought had gone into Leyton’s identity as a pop singer. Side One of The Two Sides of John Leyton, his 1961 debut album, featured (according to its liner notes) “songs with a solid beat pounding out the mood of discontent, rebellion, hope and happiness that many people will find in sympathy with the most exciting and tormented moments of their lives.” Dramatic stuff.

In contrast, on Side Two, “we hear the velvet caressing voice of John Leyton – the John Leyton in the trim dinner suit singing a selection of standards and beautiful new ballads.”

Whatever the casting, using the landmark “Johnny Remember me” as the springing-off point from which to create a recording career required effort. “Johnny Remember Me’s” follow-up was September 1961’s “Wild Wind.” An even more extreme recording, it reached number two rather than “Johnny’s” number one. Despite being Meek’s most intense production to date, it did not set-up Leyton as a chart certainty; a singer whose records would automatically go straight into the Top Ten. While he was selling well into 1964, the pinnacles represented by “Johnny Remember Me” and “Wild Wind” were never-again reached.

Meek’s restless need to sonically push forward after “Johnny Remember me” and “Wild Wind” resulted in The Tornados’ “Telstar.” Released in August 1962, it was Meek’s next commercial peak. As an instrumental credited to a mostly image-free band – bassist Heinz was the only marketable member – it was the music and Meek’s production of it which were the focus. Accordingly, Stigwood, rather than Meek, was credited as John Leyton’s producer from late 1962.

The full story – as never before told – of John Leyton’s time with Meek at the controls is gone into by the fantastic three-CD clamshell set Lone Rider – The Holloway Road Sessions 1960-1962. As with other recent Meek-centred releases, it draws from what were dubbed the “Tea Chest Tapes,” Meek’s cache of master tapes which were in storage since the late Sixties and first dug into in 2022. Everything here – all 98 tracks – is direct from the master tapes, in best-ever sound quality. There is what was released over 1960 and 1962, plus previously unheard stereo versions, alternate takes, rehearsals, early run-throughs, Geoff Goddard’s demos, foreign-language versions, vocal-only recordings, overdubbing sessions. There is also a previously unissued stereo version of The Two Sides Of John Leyton.

Although it initially feels as if what’s collected might be an endless slog, listening flies by. All of it has to be heard. It shows how what was called the “the famous Leyton ‘lonely’ sound” on The Two Sides of John Leyton was painstakingly created. He wasn’t a great singer, but Leyton knew how to emote, exude atmosphere and project. Putting these together with Meek’s studio techniques, the best of Goddard’s songs and Blackwell’s dynamic arrangements results in a form of sound picture unprecedented in British pop. Even a silly song like “Voodoo Woman” is rendered arresting by the application of this audacious triumph of coordination.

Because of this architecture, Lone Rider raises the question of whether Meek and his chosen compatriots could have achieved similar results – and a similar level of commercial accomplishment – with another singer. Could another of Meek’s male singers have become the appropriate studio vehicle for these creations: a Ricky Wayne, an Ian Gregory, a Gerry Temple or even the relatively high-profile Mike Berry? Was John Leyton a cipher? After taking in this box set, the answer to all of these has to be no.

John Leyton was an actor and, as the demos, rehearsals, early takes and vocal-only tracks demonstrate, his bandwidth as a performer made him the right man at the right time in the right place. He was several levels above others who came through Meek’s door. By inhabiting the songs and the performances, he pointed the way towards aspects of pop music’s role-playing future – encompassing, in time, David Bowie and the glam rock era. Also, years before he was managing Cream and The Bee Gees, John Leyton was Robert Stigwood’s first successful foray into pop. Much of the box set’s music is great, but the essential Lone Rider - The Holloway Road Sessions 1960-1962 is about more than John Leyton and Joe Meek.

• Next week: Nine CDs of Vanilla Fudge’s Where Is My Mind – The ATCO Recordings 1967-1969. Heavy.
  
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• Kieron Tyler’s website

@kierontyler.bsky.social