The Buzz

by Richie UnterbergerThe Buzz made just one single in 1966. However, it excites collectors both because of its wild guitar sounds — the epitome of the mod/R&B/proto-psychedelic collision collectors have retroactively dubbed freakbeat — and because it was produced by Joe Meek. Youre Holding Me Down was a beehive orgy of frenzied guitars and typically compressed Meek production, and one of the relatively few examples of Meek managing to adapt to the changing trends of the British Invasion (the Syndicats Crawdaddy Simone being another one). Singer Tam White recalled that Meek flooded the song with echo, and that the B-side, Ive Gotta Buzz, was one of the worst songs he (White) had heard. Youre Holding Me Down was reissued on the compilation Freak Beat Fantoms in 1989. The Buzz had evolved from an Edinburgh band called the Boston Dexters, and Meek had originally planned to record them covering the Drifters song Please Stay, which he instead produced with the Cryin Shames (who had a small hit with it in Britain). The Buzz broke up just a few months after their single, with Tam White going on to a few singles for Decca, and an album for Middle Earth. The Buzz that did Youre Holding Me Down, incidentally, are totally unrelated to the group called the Buzz that backed David Bowie in 1966.