Four years after their defining smash ‘Telstar’, the Tornados were all but finished when ‘Is That A Ship I Hear’ emerged in 1966. Bereft of original members and out of favour, their brilliant but troubled in-the-closet producer Joe Meek pressed every novelty sound effect imaginable in a doomed quest to get pirate stations back onside. While that failed, something far more radical lurked on its B-side. ‘Do You Come Here Often?’ was the first overt reference to homosexuality in pop, although you had to be a patient to catch it. A full 2:25 minutes pass, as guitarist Robb Huxley and keyboardist Dave Watts let loose their jazzy side, before a camp spoken word exchange cuts in, with two seemingly club-bound queens cattily assessing their possible conquests before promising to meet “down the Dilly” (a barely coded ref to the gents at Piccadilly Circus – a bold move since Meek had been convicted for cottaging three years earlier). And while it possibly flew over most listeners’ heads, it can also be read as a veiled suicide note from its creator – Meek’s declining mental state and mounting drug/money troubles culminated in him shooting his landlady before turning the gun on himself in February 1967.