We ran our metal detector over this week’s rugged rock and roll terrain and dug deep when it beeped. Among those prime locations …&nbsp;… the secret of Top Gear’s golden age.&nbsp;… is Bob Dylan a “cold weather concept”?&nbsp;… why Holger Czukay’s ‘Movies’ is a pivotal record.&nbsp;… Daryl Hall’s restraining order on John Oates: inter-band fall-out scales brave new heights.&nbsp;… the ground-breaking ingredient in ‘He’s Gonna Step On You Again’ by John Kongos.&nbsp;… why Joni Mitchell, Lee Perry and Pink Floyd were early pioneers of sampling.&nbsp;… the night some loon climbed the scaffolding above the E Street Band.&nbsp;… pre-McLaren theft of the Burundi Beat.&nbsp;… the irksome mob rule of the internet: “all bands are now sacred and anyone who says different is a heretic”.&nbsp;… when an album cover is a “lifestyle statement”.&nbsp;</p

The week’s rock and roll luggage was put through the scanner by our sharp-eyed security chiefs and the following items kept back for scrutiny …… 82 year-old jazzer in lucrative samples windfall!… is there a more excruciating ‘mum’ moment than the 12 year-old Elijah Blue Allman’s in the Cher video If I Could Turn Back Time?…. the staggering sum total of what the Beatles did on 30 July 1963.… “Mailbox money”: how Phil Manzanera made more from a hip hop record than from 15 years of Roxy Music… why would anyone be a pop star these days?… further proof that in the world of the internet nothing is forgotten.… why the quantity of cash Kanye West pulled from the “athleisure” shoe market makes the music business look like toytown. And are “vintage trainers” the new rare vinyl?… when was the first sample?… and Christmas with David’s Uncle Stan.Tickets for Word In Your Ear live

As if by some magical alignment of the planets, the &nbsp;Specials, Madness and the Beat were all listening to the same music and developing the same look at precisely the same time, though completely unaware of each other. And when they started releasing records, the 10 year-old Daniel Rachel was transfixed. What happen next is recorded in his hectic and engrossing book, Too Much Too Young: the 2-Tone Records Story, the huge characters, the daily dramas, “the dance sensation that’s sweeping the nation”, a period whose white heat really only lasted 18 months but had a massive cultural impact at the time (indeed its crucible, Coventry, now has a 2-Tone Village!). And the movement’s main architect, Jerry Dammers, was a middle-class, ex-hippie art student raised in the church. All sorts of points come up in this engaging pod, among them …… the pivotal meeting between Suggs and Dammers at the Hope &amp; Anchor.… the significance of Walt Jabsco and the 2-Tone merchandis

Jude Rogers – writer, broadcaster, old pal of the pod - first heard Kirsty MacColl when she was nine and felt a connection ever since. She’s just written the sleevenotes for ‘See That Girl’, the best, most diverse and exquisitely packaged compilation of her music ever assembled, an eight CD box-set of singles, rarities, unheard songs, live and Glastonbury appearances, demos, BBC sessions and collaborations, along with an entire unreleased album.&nbsp;As Jude points out she wasn’t overlooked, but all the things you applauded about her made her very hard to market. She wouldn’t play the game. She refused to be fashionable. She was funny and honest and wrote about an unvarnished, real world which robbed her of a sense of mystery, and a lot of her songs were about fallibility and failure. Among the highlights here …&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;… a long-running lyric thread that began with There’s a Guy Works Down The Chip Shop Swears He’s Elvis.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

This week’s winning hand from the rock and roll card deck includes …&nbsp;… a silver salute to musicians who don’t dye their hair.&nbsp;… did Al Pacino play Phil Spector? Roger Daltrey as Franz Liszt? Was Gary Oldman Joe Strummer?&nbsp;… rock stars you’d swap lives with.&nbsp;… the “theme-park-ification” of pop music.&nbsp;… the mysteries of rock and roll are slowly evaporating. As Tom Waits said: “before the internet, we used to wonder. I miss the wondering.”&nbsp;… the immortality of the Florida salesman who appears on the cover of Abbey Road (and had obituaries when he died).&nbsp;…&nbsp;why Leonard Cohen thought his romance with Joni Mitchell was “like living with Beethoven”.&nbsp;… how a split-second made and destroyed the lives of two photographers covering Lee Harvey Oswald at the Dallas Police Headquarters.&nbsp;… musicians who look even better older.

Slade were as revolutionary as T. Rex or Roxy Music, Daryl Easlea points out. At one stage they were outselling Bowie and Bolan. They were the band that hauled the sedentary early ‘70s audience to its feet. The sound of the Ramones was built around ‘Slade Alive!’ and you can feel them in the bones of the Pistols and Oasis. We talk here to Daryl about his funny, energetic, nostalgic and affectionate new book, ‘Whatever Happened to Slade?: When The Whole World Went Crazee’, stopping off at various stations on the route, among them … … why there are “two tiers of Slade”. … the drunken conversation that turned them into a skinhead band overnight. … a key moment involving Crispian St Peters, Kim Fowley and the Tiles Club. … what made them football terrace heroes. … how these “smashers and grabbers” tore up the live circuit. … the very ‘70s way they dealt with Don Powell’s accident. … why Ame

John Higgs' brilliant and wide-ranging book 'The KLF: Chaos, Magic and the Band Who Burned A Million Pounds' came out ten years ago and just keeps on selling. It sold initially to the fans who bought their records. Then to those absorbed by the fringe figures in their mythology - Ken Campbell, Alan Moore, Robert Anton Wilson, the Discordians. And then to people who just wanted a staggering and barely believable story about the attacks by two free-wheeling cultural terrorists on the worlds of art and music at the end of the 20th century. It sold so well in fact that it's just been republished in a 10th Anniversary edition with additional material.John Higgs is an exceptional speaker as this pod demonstrates and talks here about the outer reaches of their extravagantly lunatic strategies - the ABBA court case, the dead sheep, the pagan rituals on Jura, the collaboration with Tammy Wynette - and how many backfired on them and why Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty have barely see

"The Beatles gave us a continuing soundtrack of unparalleled charm and reassurance", Derek Taylor said. "As long as they kept on delivering fresh songs along with the morning milk, everything was right in our optimistic world". It happened again on Thursday. Is the old magic still there?Also on the menu in this week's podcast...... Fact or fiction? The extravagant adventures of Bill Drummond and why burning £1m still haunts the KLF.... does it matter if musicians falsify their past? Paging Buffy St. Marie, Sixto Rodriguez, Seasick Steve...... why calling the Beatles "the original boy band" is so ridiculous and wrong and how their story fires our desire to believe.... how Lucinda Williams beat the autocue system.... Crowded House, the strange tale of 'Woodface' and the track that kept them off American radio for two years.... why Peter Jackson's 'Now And Then' video is like "fan fiction".... Gile

There are broadly three Ian Broudies in the public imagination. One is the songwriter with a catalogue of softly psychedelic left-field pop tunes. The second is the record producer behind Echo &amp; the Bunnymen, the Fall, the Coral and Terry Hall. The third is the co-composer of our new national anthem. He talks here about early life in Liverpool and the records that enthralled him (See Emily Play, Autobahn), what he learned from his mentor Roger Eagle (who ran Eric's Club), a life-shifting moment with Steve Wright, what matters most in production, the disastrous time he introduced the Spice Girls on Top of the Pops and why the FA rejected the original version of Three Lions, wanted a new title and asked him to drop Skinner and Baddiel. He's funny, outspoken, candid, modest and affectionate and movingly philosophical on the rigours of composition: "as soon as you finish a song it becomes something - but it loses 90% of what it could have become".This pod

Billy Sloan, Glaswegian broadcaster and music columnist, has written his memoir, ‘One Love, One Life’, about a career that’s allowed him to point his microphone at an astonishing array of musicians and started back in the old analogue world of tight-deadline newspaper journalism where you hammered out your Chuck Berry interview as the rolls of film were biked back to the office to be processed. This covers a lot of ground including …&nbsp;… the moment that changed his life.&nbsp;… why the London Press Corps were “a pack of hyenas”.&nbsp;… Rod Stewart v Michelle Mone – a classic revenge saga that ticked every box.&nbsp;… interviewing a naked Grace Jones (and how Dame Edna got involved).&nbsp;… the exquisitely “horrible” Chuck Berry.&nbsp;… queuing all night for 85p Who tickets, aged 15.&nbsp;… the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, “boo-ed onstage, roared off”.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

We spin the reels of the rock and roll fruit machine this week and get the following pay-outs …&nbsp;… the preposterous present they gave Bobby Charlton when he retired.&nbsp;... “the leaning man from Alabam”.&nbsp;… ‘Skinny Minnie Shimmy’ by Lattie Moore And The Emperors and other apparently fictitious rock and roll hits.&nbsp;… a Radio One DJ who was also an actor, erotic sculptor, travel writer, sheep farmer, flamenco guitarist and ballet dancer. Why has no-one made a film of the life of Mike Raven?&nbsp;… why Born To Run was “a quantum leap”, the record where Springsteen wanted “to sing like Roy Orbison and write like Bob Dylan on an album that sounded like it was produced by Phil Spector”.&nbsp;… a leaked 1982 Radio One memo of ground rules for DJs! “Don’t resort to ‘common talk’ in a pathetic attempt at humour.” “You can say Cornflakes but not Shredded Wheat …”&nbsp;… how rock is

Toothsome hors d’ouvres, mains and ‘items from the trolley’ on the rock and roll menu this week include …&nbsp;… Bowie’s Pin-Ups v Ferry’s These Foolish Things: who won?… the worst band name in history and why.&nbsp;… the fan who hired a plane to fly a message past Morrissey’s record label.&nbsp;… the Stones’ Hackney Diamonds: best album since Black And Blue or tedious riff-less dirge?&nbsp;… why only solo acts can tell stories onstage.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;… why the Dutch love the Byrds.&nbsp;… things we never imagined 50 years ago.&nbsp;…&nbsp;Spanky McFarlane, Gloria Salt … country music siren or twinkle-eyed PG Wodehouse dame?&nbsp;… the two main topics the Stones write songs about.&nbsp;… how modern fandom is expressed.&nbsp;… who ever thought they’d hear Dylan say the word ‘Wikipedia’ onstage?&nbsp;… and has anyone got a

The godfather of British independent labels, Immediate, was started in 1965 by the Stones’ manager Andrew Oldham and Tony Calder, its winning slogan: “happy to be part of the industry of human happiness”. As Simon Spence correctly puts it, “it all got very messy”. Oldham tended to fall out with people and then threaten to kill them. Simon’s excellent book, ‘Immediate: the Rise And Fall of the UK’s First Independent Record Label’ has the details (he also co-authored Oldham’s two memoirs, ‘Stoned’ and ‘2Stoned’). Immediate has been a touchstone ever since and their roster included the Small Faces, PP Arnold, the Nice, the Who, Fleetwood Mac, Twinkle, Scott Walker and various others discussed here. Also includes …&nbsp;… “no Andrew Oldham, no Rolling Stones.”&nbsp;… the part played by Tony Hancock’s doctor.&nbsp;… “if you didn’t want to be ripped off, why are you in the music business?”&nbsp;… the range of Immediate’s catalogue fr

As it emerges from the upheaval of Cross Rail, music historian Peter Watts looks at this densely-packed thoroughfare between Charing Cross Road and Covent Garden, which started off selling sheet music, grew into the place where many writers sold their tunes for a few quid while a wise minority hung on and made fortunes, a street that continues to provide a home for music businesses to this day. Includes.......the Victorian "rookeries" of St Giles...how a coal mining accident made the street's first big hit...the true meaning of the Old Grey Whistle Test...when every office boy played the piano...how the Beatles changed music publishing&nbsp;...how the Rolling Stones made their first (and best ?) album...how the Sex Pistols and the Stones made their first music yards from each other...what exactly are they doing with Denmark Street today?Buy Denmark Street - London's

picy and nutritious items in the rock and roll bouillabaisse this week include …&nbsp;… Roger Waters at the Palladium: a masterclass in how to insult an audience.&nbsp;… “without Andrew Loog Oldham, the Stones would have been Manfred Mann.”&nbsp;… the only rock star who can tell a story onstage.&nbsp;… Nempnett Thrubwell, Hinton Blewett, Glaister Fagan … Leafy Somerset hamlet or venerable reggae dubmeister?&nbsp;… the money Dave Grohl made from Nirvana (and it’s less than you’d imagine).&nbsp;… why Barry McGuire’s Eve Of Destruction was so terrifying.&nbsp;… please, someone, stage an exhibition of original paintings used on album sleeves!&nbsp;… the rise and rise of the rock spectacle.&nbsp;… Hogg, Fat Grapple, Makin’ Bacon? Real or fictitious pork-related acts from the Melody Maker Club Calendar 1971.&nbsp;… has social media taken the place of

Nick Banks - nephew of the great Gordon Banks – saw a note pinned by his favourite band to a wall in 1986, his Sliding Doors moment: ‘Pulp Want Drummer. Call Russell or Jarvis’. What happened next he records in his memoir ‘It Started There: From Punk To Pulp’. We talk to him about life in Sheffield in the ‘70s and ‘80 and why it took 15 long years for Pulp to crack it. Among the highlights …&nbsp;… why punk rock was like “Harry Potter’s Sorting Hat”.&nbsp;… what drummers bring to groups.&nbsp;… Pulp’s stage act in 1982 – “trombones, backing singers, orange paper fish”.&nbsp;… being denied a Number One by Robson &amp; Jerome.&nbsp;… the band’s response to Jarvis Cocker’s brave new direction – “Barry White meets the Pet Shop Boys”.&nbsp;… what happened at the BRITS and who’s to blame.&nbsp;… real life in what promised to be “the gilded palace of stardom with limousines and dancing girls”.

Engaging blips on the rock and roll radar this week include:-&nbsp;… Iron Maiden album title or novel by Jeffrey Archer?&nbsp;… selling Ringo’s ashtray.&nbsp;… the Blood Doner: the Hancock script that keeps on giving.&nbsp;… “Terrible album title. Terrible album cover, too.” The start of Rolling Stone’s review of which immortal record?&nbsp;… how come acting runs in families but writing and music don’t?&nbsp;… Smash Hits: the Musical - you heard it here first. And why the Live Aid musical will work.&nbsp;… A Salty Dog, Shades, Smokin’ OP’s – album sleeves based on fag packets.&nbsp;… the curious tale of the Equinox and the imposters on their album cover.&nbsp;… which pop stars are in the Barbie doll range?&nbsp;… why smoking is part of the DNA of rock and roll. And who smoked what? Bob Hope (Chesterfield), Lennon (Woodbines), Bowie (Gauloises) …

Will Sergeant’s just put out the second volume of his memoirs, both of them Sunday Times best-sellers, Echoes and the first edition, Bunnyman. Here he revisits the Liverpool of the ‘60s and ‘70s in extraordinary detail - the clothes, the records, the gangs, the school days, the early shows he saw - and the many reasons he wanted to form a band. On the agenda …&nbsp;… ‘rockist’ cliches the Bunnymen detested.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;… why America loved early ‘80s British groups.&nbsp;… the powerful appeal of Jethro Tull, Status Quo, Slade, Roxy Music, the Sensational Alex Harvey Band and rock and roll theatre.&nbsp;… clothes bought from NME small ads in the ‘70s.&nbsp;… absurd rivalries with Simple Minds and the Jesus &amp; Mary Chain.&nbsp;… fond memories of David Thomas of Pere Ubu smashing a pig iron spike with a lump hammer.&nbsp;… the ‘Porcupine’ cover shoot in Iceland.&nbsp;&nbsp;&n

Crime novelist Cathi Unsworth turned Goth in her teens in rural Norfolk fired by a cocktail of Dennis Wheatley, the Damned on the Peel show and the dark arts of the York Festival “Gothtopia” bill in 1984. She devoted long hours to trying to construct Robert Smith’s “tarantula hair” and acquiring black lace garmentry. Something about its music and folklore chimed with a life marooned in the middle of an East Anglian beanfield pondering tales of Shuck, the fabled fire-eyed ghostly hound alleged to roam the neighbourhood at night. We talked to her about her marvellous ‘Season of the Witch: the Book of Goth’ for a live podcast recorded at London’s 21Soho on 25 September, a very funny and wide-ranging exchange that included …&nbsp;… why Goth is like no other tribe: you never make a full recovery – or ever want to.&nbsp;… the part played in its family tree by Aleister Crowley, Aubrey Beardsley, the Brontes, Joy Division, Magazine, the Cramps, Jim Morrison and B

Richard Morton Jack interviewed over 200 people when assembling what’s unquestionably the best, most colourful, comprehensive, revealing and accurate portrait of Nick Drake ever published. We talked to him about ‘Nick Drake: The Life’ at a live podcast recording at 21Soho on September 25 and explored various remote corners of this sad, surprising and eternally gripping story, among them ….&nbsp;… the fate of the tape of the 20-year old Drake playing for the Stones in Morocco in 1969.&nbsp;… what the press and public made of Five Leaves Left, Bryter Layer and Pink Moon when released and Joe Boyd’s reaction to their eventual success.&nbsp;… the early school days of the head boy who won a cup for “General Efficiency”.&nbsp;… his obsession with Francoise Hardy and the disastrous day he met her.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;… the peaks and troughs of his live performances including the time he played an event for a Birmingham rugb

Spice-filled items tossed into the conversational cooking-pot this week include:-&nbsp;… our charming encounter with Gary Numan, possibly the world’s most contented man.&nbsp;… the next step in the age of spectacle: the sensory bombardment of U2’s shows at the Las Vegas Sphere and the crippling cost of experiencing it.&nbsp;&nbsp;… Taylor Swift’s genius for publicity and the subtle art of connecting with “Joe Six-Pack”.&nbsp;… the shockingly unwise and unfathomable pronouncements of Roger Waters and how his fall-out with David Gilmour makes Lennon’s ‘How Do You Sleep?’ seem like a love letter.&nbsp;&nbsp;… pop stars and their hair transplants.&nbsp;&nbsp;… what do bands think of their tribute acts?&nbsp;.. the ‘Austin Powers’ albums of David McCallum, a star so huge he needed a police motorcade.&nbsp;… Hugh Laurie, James Gandolfini, Carrie Fisher, Colin Firth, Felicity Ken

Gary Numan is about to set out on a UK acoustic tour, some of it in churches and one date in a cathedral. He talks here - from the Scottish estate house he’s just bought – about some of the first shows he saw and what he’s learnt about live performance. This includes ...&nbsp;… the peculiar effect of seeing Nazareth at the Rainbow in 1973.&nbsp;… the fate of the £5 note he’d asked Queen to autograph.&nbsp;… why he doesn’t talk onstage, and why that’s about to change.&nbsp;… what musicians take for granted.&nbsp;… the church that insisted on his lyrics before they let him perform there.&nbsp;… what happened when he dodged the security for Bowie at Wembley Arena.&nbsp;.. what’s involved in creating a “relentless” live act.&nbsp;… a fondness for the Monkees and Marc Bolan and the secret of his 1981 Bogart hat.&nbsp;Gary Numan’s tour dates here ..<a href="

Neil Storey is an old pal from our magazine days who worked in the press office at Island. He looked after U2, Bob Marley, Steel Pulse, the B-52’s and many others. About 15 years ago he began the mammoth task of compiling a series of books telling the story of virtually every record the label released in its pioneering history, tracking down and talking to all those involved - musicians, producers, designers, photographers, label staff – and collecting old music press ads and ephemera from the time. The book’s almost a foot square so LP sleeves can be reproduced ‘actual size’. The first volume is just out, The Island Book Of Records 1959-1968, a thing of very great beauty. As David says, “it’s like entering the record shop of your dreams.” We talked to Neil at his home in France about this and much else besides …&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;… Chris Blackwell’s involvement in the making of Dr No and the single Jamaican beach shot that told them they had a hit movie.&nbsp;</

Both of us were involved in the launch of Mojo 30 years ago in the autumn of 1993 and we dug out our copies of the first issue. As editor Paul Du Noyer said on page 3, it was “our confirmed intention to pitch a wang-dang-doodle – all night long, if necessary.” The cover story was about a sequence from Eat The Document, the film by DA Pennebaker of Bob Dylan’s ’66 tour that was never released and could only be seen on bootleg VHS cassettes. And this bit was so rare and controversial it had even been deleted from most of the bootlegs - none more niche! – and featured Dylan and John Lennon’s stoned ramblings in a black cab after Bob had played the Albert Hall in May ‘66. The piece by Richard Williams also focused on 10 days in the life of Dylan and the Beatles at the time, the kind of specific, deep-end trawl that helped start a whole new wing of rock book publishing. You can see the seeds of the emerging ‘heritage rock’ in that first edition too. Mojo have a wonderful 30th anniversary

This week’s pod was recorded just after we saw ‘Paul McCartney Photographs 1963-64: Eyes of the Storm’ at London’s National Portrait Gallery, a warm and winning show that starts with him as a wide-eyed fan trying to take pictures of his heroes and soon switches to his shots of the whole world trying to photograph him. We talk about his pictures of French jazzers, Paris boulevards, backstage rooms at TV shows, models, paparazzi, light entertainment stars, screaming fans, American police guns, Miami beaches, billboards, views from plane windows, hotel rooms, cocktails and a New York theatre showing “Christine Keeler Goes Nudist plus Playgirls”. And wonder how it feels to discover 60 years later you had your photo taken by a Beatle.&nbsp;PLUS …&nbsp;… the top-flight rock and roll star we passed in Soho.&nbsp;… the record David tries every year to force himself to like.&nbsp;… the wonderful Geoff Davies of Probe Records, the much-l

David Remnick got his Pulitzer for his reporting on Russia. These days he edits The New Yorker, in which capacity he has had close encounters with some of music’s legends during their final acts, some of which is gathered in “Holding The Note”, a collection of his writings on music. From his ill-lit Manhattan eyrie he talks to David Hepworth of many matters, including:….what was in the handbag which remained on the piano during Aretha Franklin shows….what it was like being on the receiving end of an almighty dressing-down from the elderly Leonard Cohen….how Bruce Springsteen learned nothing at school but has picked up a great deal since….how Bob Dylan reckons he’s in a “post-interview” phase of life - or is he?….how his father took him to see Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald and he has taken his own kids to see Radiohead….how Keith Richards found a ghost writer who could throw his voice….what was really

Recorded together in Mark Ellen’s attic! Among the conversational footballs booted round the park this week you’ll find:-&nbsp;… Freddie’s “exquisite clutter”: would YOU buy one of his bonzai plant-holders, his catsuit with ballet shoes and a $0.5m silver bangle?&nbsp;… when did the story change from “the Stones are old, knackered and ought to give up!” to “the Stones are old, brilliant and should carry on forever!”?&nbsp;... do all enduring legacies need an element of tragedy?&nbsp;… who calls the Ezra Collective “a jazz band”?&nbsp;… who’s been married the longest … Bono, Alice Cooper or Peter Noone from Herman’s Hermits?&nbsp;… 1984 was the annus mirabilis of the album? Birthday guest Matthew North has the records to prove it.&nbsp;… the perils of celebrities chairing press conferences (QED Jimmy Fallon).&nbsp;... how they’ve only gone and wrecked the Rugby World Cup anthe

Fired by the rock and roll revival of 1970 and a post-Easy Rider taste for American music, a circuit of some 35 London pubs filled with bands playing fizzing, small-scale shows that never sounded quite the same on record, bands whose moment in the sun was ultimately wrecked by the arrival of punk rock. This pod – and Simon’s book ‘Before It Went Rotten: the Music That Rocked London Pubs 1972-1976’ – raises a dimple jug to some of its forgotten heroes including Meal Ticket, Roogalator, Ducks Deluxe, the Winkies and the Kursaal Flyers. Be honest, when did YOU last hear mention of the Count Bishops or GT Moore &amp; the Reggae Guitars? So what was it about Southend? How did Eggs Over Easy play such a pivotal role in it all? And Creedence Clearwater Revival? And Dave Edmunds? Why was this the perfect launchpad for Ian Dury? And what was the final nail in the pub rock coffin?&nbsp;Order ‘Before It Went Rotten: the Music That Rocked London Pubs 1972-1976’ here: <a href="http

Kevin Armstrong was the guitarist in the band David Bowie asked him to assemble for Live Aid and toured and recorded with him many times. Playing the guitar intro to Rebel Rebel in a stadium, he says, is “like lighting a match”. Start the Passenger with Iggy Pop and you’re greeted with “a great mass of love”. His memoir, Absolute Beginner, is “a window onto the high table of rock and roll” and full of insights into life in studios and on the road and the fathomless levels of diplomacy often required to collaborate. This entertaining pod expands upon …&nbsp;… why he turned down the offer to join the Smiths.&nbsp;… how Jim Osterberg transforms himself into Iggy Pop.&nbsp;… the Sinead O’Connor’s tour manager’s trick to speed the band through security.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;… the song Bowie dropped from the Live Aid set.&nbsp;… why Michael Hutchence is “terrified of small crowds”.&nbsp;… Bowie’s ex-Navy Seal

We dipped the shrimping net of curiosity in the rock and roll rockpool this week and transferred the following items to the podcast bucket …&nbsp;… who now regrets being the “little tyrant” that broke up their band 30 years ago?&nbsp;… who was the real Bungalow Bill and how did the song about him change his life?&nbsp;… Bing Crosby and Paul Whiteman are almost forgotten. Are the Doors and the Kinks heading the same way?&nbsp;… the unique and extraordinary Bill Wyman, “more a witness to the Rolling Stones than a member”, plus Nellcôte and the Birds’ Custard.&nbsp;… is the ice finally melting in the Talking Heads camp?&nbsp;… an everyday tale of Culture’s “Two Sevens Clash” on the mean streets of North London’s garden suburbs.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;… was Lennon v the Maharishi an early example of “career cancelling”?&nbsp;… is Life During Wartime from Stop Making Sense the greate

Ray Padgett lives in Vermont, first discovered Dylan when he was 16 in the 21st Century and was fascinated and besotted, later launching the newsletter ‘Flagging Down the Double E’s’ and now publishing the enthralling ‘Pledging My Time’, a collection of his interviews with over 40 people who’ve worked, performed and recorded with the inscrutable old rogue. Both the book and this fast-moving, whip-smart and very funny conversation are revelatory and highly recommended, the podcast shedding light on …&nbsp;… the daily life of Bob Dylan – eg the piles of gifts he routinely receives and the security men who scour his vacated hotel rooms to remove anything that could be nicked and put on eBay.&nbsp;… the only friend who seemed to co-exist with him on “an equal footing”.&nbsp;... an eye-witness account of his first performance (aged 13) at a Jewish summer camp in Minnesota.&nbsp;… the childhood friend who owned a fish business in Dul

Its tyres pumped, its engine tuned, its air-con still on the blink, the rock and roll charabanc trundles off on its circuit which, this week, makes the following stops …&nbsp;… the singer who sold vials of her tears as part of a merchandise range.&nbsp;…&nbsp;when Billy Bragg entered a Paul Simon lyric in his school poetry contest and only got 7 out of 10.&nbsp;… why our favourite music still tends to be the stuff we heard in our teens.&nbsp;… how Bill Graham’s “Electric Ballroom Experience” changed the landscape – “we were out there with no compass”.&nbsp;… former Kursaal Flyers drummer Will Birch re-watches their ’76 TV film documentary: “There are only two good things about Scotland - the whisky and the road out of there.” “Five autographs? Wasn’t like this at the Carnegie Hall!”&nbsp;… “creamy mousse with ripe stone fruits, bright citrus and a biscuity length”: home-brewing with Alex James.&nbsp;

Even podcasts take “annual leave” but we’re back and once again propelling the two-man Pedalo of Enquiry down the rock and roll seafront stopping off at sundry wave-rippled spots, among them …&nbsp;… what Chuck Berry said about the Clash.&nbsp;… a band whose keyboard player is the King’s second cousin.&nbsp;… the song Art Garfunkel sang for years without realising it was about him.&nbsp;… Billy Connolly’s bicycle gag and other things you couldn’t get away with now.&nbsp;… Ian Hunter remembering “that little bloke from Beckenham”.&nbsp;… why Punk was like a religious movement. Guest Paul Burke claims it was a “passing fad and its over-cooked legacy was fashioned by the middle-class media”.&nbsp;… the Shakespearian echoes of ‘The Boxer’.&nbsp;… what Bowie would have done if the Laughing Gnome had been a hit.&nbsp;… how Robbie Robertson lived the life Bob Dylan

&nbsp;The mellifluous melody and soaring counterpoint of this week’s podcast were comprised of the following notes …&nbsp;… Morrissey’s broadside on the treatment of Sinead O’Connor – and her electrifying moment at Dylan’s 30th Anniversary tribute two weeks after she’d torn up a picture of the Pope on Saturday Night Live.&nbsp;… two unsettling events in the later life of Randy Meisner.&nbsp;… Adele revives the old Las Vegas business model (at about £8m a night).&nbsp;… the eternal mystery of Bob Dylan’s motorcycle crash and his Shea Stadium and Russian shows that never happened.&nbsp;… how long news took to travel: the Battle of Waterloo (three days), the death of Jim Morrison (two weeks).&nbsp;… Oppenheimer and why so many films are so long.&nbsp;… Things It’s Almost Impossible To Accept, No 97: Mick Jagger is 80!&nbsp;… in 2006 BBC viewers voted Morrissey second i

Blips on the rock and roll radar this week include …&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;… Things You No Longer See, No 97: the celebrity airport arrival shot.&nbsp;.. do we, in all honesty, need Roger Waters’ re-interpretation of the Dark Side Of The Moon for it is upon us on October 6?&nbsp;&nbsp;… is there really an Edinburgh Fringe show called ‘Bald Man Sings Rihanna”, ‘A Shark Ate My Penis’ or ‘In The Court Of The Crimson Ting: Prog Rock in A Reggae Style’?&nbsp;… a 1976 clip of Elton John as the jobbing pianist on the Morecambe &amp; Wise Show. “Elton John? Sounds like an exit on the motorway.&nbsp;&nbsp;… the poignant story of 1968’s lost psych-rock voyagers the Mike Stuart Span and what happened when they became Leviathan.&nbsp;… the time Hipgnosis put a sheep on a psychiatrists’ couch in the Hawaiian surf and landed a chopper in the Alps to photograph a statue.&nbsp;… the Scottish stately pile Bo

Pat “PP” Arnold was hired as an Ikette by Ike &amp; Tina’s Revue in 1965 and set off a 2,000 mile tour of America, coming to London a year later to support the Rolling Stones. Offered a record deal by Andrew Oldham, she lived in England for many years becoming “the First Lady Of Immediate” with a wide circle of friends and collaborators including the Small Faces, Cat Stevens, Hendrix, Rod Stewart, Nick Drake and the Bee Gees, all recorded in her memoir 'Soul Survivor'. Here she looks back at:-&nbsp;… the rigours of the Ike &amp; Tina tours where she was once fined $50 for crying onstage.&nbsp;… the contrast between “the Chiltin’ Circuit and the Albert Hall.&nbsp;... supporting the Stones in ’66 and her romance with Mick Jagger “who wanted to walk and talk like a black man”. She taught him how to do the Pony and the Mashed Potato.&nbsp;… the success of The First Cut Is The Deepest.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;… her unique Ame

As Mark Ellen had taken his shrimping net to the coast Alex Gold steps into the breach to talk to David Hepworth about….how solo acts like Bing Crosby and Bruce Springsteen get to play the common man in a way they never could if they were in a band….the extraordinary sight and sound of the band called Punch trying to make their name on “Opportunity Knocks” in the vanished land of 1976….what to do with your wedding ring if you find yourself on the world’s largest cruise liner….Cat Stevens’ “Father And Son” and a few less exalted things that Dads say.Don’t miss the amazing Punch dochttp://youtu.be/_DxLtuK3pD4Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for early - and ad-free! - access to all of our content!: <a href="https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_b

In his new biography “Nick Drake: The Life”, Richard Morton Jack set out to correct the misconceptions spread by magazines and former biographies, some ending up on Wikipedia. This involved talking to as many people as he could track down who’d met and remembered him, from key players like Joe Boyd, Francoise Hardy and Drake’s sister Gabrielle to the girl who played the cello on ‘Cello Song and a childhood friend who wrote a poem about him in the school magazine. The result is, by some margin, the clearest and most comprehensive picture of him to date, far more accelerated and self-promotional in the early days than we’d been lead to believe – “not just sitting in his ivory tower singing to the moon” – though it’s still hard to think of a musician worse equipped for the rigours of the music business and having, as Richard perfectly puts it, “a personality fundamentally ill-suited to display”. This covers a wide landscape from his lack of support (no real manager, no agent, no proper

Growing up in remote rural Norfolk, crime writer Cathi Unsworth had a Goth conversion, a condition from which, she happily admits, you never fully recover. And never want to. She discovered Dennis Wheatley’s ‘To The Devil A Daughter’, heard Siouxsie &amp; the Banshees on the Peel Show and saw a picture of Robert Smith in a magazine which she stuck by her bedroom mirror to help her construct his spectacular dishevelment. She’s just published ‘Season Of The Witch: the Book of Goth’, a highly entertaining account of the dark side of rock starting out with the Brontes, Edgar Allan Poe and Aubrey Beardsley and heading, via Jim Morrison, Jacques Brel and Nico, to Joy Division, the Cure and the Sisters of Mercy. This is a very funny and self-mocking pod in which you’ll find the following …&nbsp;… why Yorkshire is “Goth’s Own Country”.&nbsp;… the secret ingredient in Mac McCulloch’s vertical hair.&nbsp;… Nick Cave - “the Dark Lord of Goth Music” (©️

Filling the spinnaker of enquiry on the careering, two-mast schooner of rock and roll this week you will find …&nbsp;… the prog drummer who made a fortune.&nbsp;... did Brian Wilson bring a horse into a recording studio? Or write a symphony for drums? Or have an idea involving a hen in tennis shoes?&nbsp;… why the New York Times review of the new Wham! documentary is ridiculous and wrong.&nbsp;... the eternal allure of The Larry Sanders Show – “Madam, I killed a man like you in Korea!”&nbsp;… the curse of identity journalism.&nbsp;… the most influential British DJ of all time.&nbsp;… Kenneth Tynan’s exquisite profile of Johnny Carson in the New Yorker and the dark art of being a TV chat show producer.&nbsp;… the mathematical certainty that every review you ever write will eventually resurface. “Nothing will be forgotten - the afterlife is always longer than the first flush

This week we paddle the two-man kayak of curiosity across the rock and roll seafront and make a few stops on the way, among them …&nbsp;… “the future is always in the past”.&nbsp;… the pure theatre of the E Street Band and its cast of characters – “our lives are repaired by the fact that they’re still together”.&nbsp;… the growing appeal of Country &amp; Western - and even “shronking” jazz – as you get older.&nbsp;… Bless the Barn, Featherwash and Franny Wisp, Portlandia’s low-volume crowd-pleasers.&nbsp;… the ‘Barry’ TV series (starring Bill Hader): that rare beast, a contract killer who’s a nice bloke.&nbsp;… the 60th anniversary of the recording of She Loves You, why engineer Norman Smith predicted a flop and the fan break-in at Abbey Road that energised the session.&nbsp;… is the success of Nick Drake partly an antidote to the age of technology?&nbsp;… how our concept

Sizzling hot topics patted back and forth across the ping-pong net of conversation this week include …… the republishing of Giles Smith’s Lost In Music, one of the funniest books ever written about our real life relationship with pop stars, records and being in bands. Giles – and Nick Hornby – kick-started a whole new literary vogue.&nbsp;… has Cate Blanchett won Glastonbury?&nbsp;… why do we update book jackets but never change a record cover?&nbsp;… how the Stones’ Steel Wheels tour changed the gig economy.&nbsp;… the Stackwaddy game: song titles - George Formby or Frank Zappa?&nbsp;… how gigs became a status symbol and tickets a statement purchase.&nbsp;... did a record sleeve ever put you off buying the album?&nbsp;… what are YOU going to do with your vinyl collection? Original new “estate plans” considered.&nbsp;… amusing things said by George Melly (and wh

Aged 21 in 1963, Harvey Lisberg wanted to be the next Brian Epstein and ended up managing Herman’s Hermits and 10cc, among others, before relaunching the snooker stars Jimmy White and Hurricane Higgins. We thoroughly recommend his just-published memoir ‘I’m Into Something Good’ and this wide-ranging encounter takes in …&nbsp;... the unique division of labour in 10cc and the magnificently doomed invention of ‘the Gizmo’.&nbsp;… the perils of $100,000’s credit in Las Vegas casinos.&nbsp;… life for the wives of rock stars “in love with music”.&nbsp;… his friendship with Colonel Tom Parker and a day spent with Elvis in Honolulu.&nbsp;… a prickly relationship with Mickie Most.&nbsp;… why America fell in love with Peter Noone.&nbsp;… Herman’s Hermits’ US tours with the Stones and the Who.&nbsp;… and how he changed the snooker world by remodelling the “Artful Dodger” Jimmy White.

This week’s pod veers off the conversational highway to break out its picnic hamper at the following leafy locations ….&nbsp;… the Stackwaddy game: metal band or clawed demon from Dante’s Inferno?&nbsp;… when bands stopped being good-looking.&nbsp;… Paul Simon’s Seven Psalms: how long can you give a record before it clicks?&nbsp;… Tony ‘TS’ McPhee of the Groundhogs (RIP) and the great British blues underground: cue the scent of damp greatcoats.&nbsp;… does anything capture the time better than a record shop in a movie?&nbsp;… the hard-fought life of Glenda Jackson plus “All men are fools and what makes them so is having beauty like what I have got”.&nbsp;… eternally recommended: the crestfallen, poignant, melancholy world of the Fountains of Wayne.&nbsp;… the moment in A Clockwork Orange that gave us Heaven 17 and Fuzzy Warbles.&nbsp;… streaming services are

The super-trouper of gentle enquiry alights this week upon …&nbsp;… why bands are at their biggest when they’re over the hill.&nbsp;… Fats Waller v Morrissey song titles: can YOU tell your Waller from your Wallower?&nbsp;… how could Dylan have written Queen Jane Approximately aged only 24?&nbsp;… why you should hear Pieces Of Treasure by Rickie Lee Jones, particularly the track All The Way.&nbsp;… the social media bin-fire that’s shredding the reputation of Bobby Gillespie and how Twitter loves a character assassination - “Pound shop Mick Jagger! Always a charlatan!”&nbsp;… was anyone worse equipped for the rigours of the pop circus than Nick Drake?&nbsp;… “big” 20-album record collections, board games and no telly: fond memories of real life in late ‘60s London.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;… Richard Thompson and Nick Drake’s painfully awkward tube journey.&nbsp;… what

Forty years ago Clare Grogan was on the cover of Smash Hits yet again and was the fourth guest at our garden party on June 3. Here she remembers the key events that have happened since which include meeting Bill Forsyth and the success of Gregory’s Girl (and why she only saw it for the first time recently), touring with Siouxsie &amp; the Banshees when still at school, life as a pop star in the golden age, being Kristine Kochanski in Red Dwarf and its obsessive fans, her time in Father Ted, Kim Wilde’s call to get her to join the Here And Now ‘80s pop package tour and a great story about Nik Kershaw and John Taylor. Listen to what happened when she told the audience how she loves and needs applause – and loves “loud cheering” even more. Spoiler alert: contains both laughter and tears.&nbsp;Order the new Altered Images CD here …<a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mascara-Streakz-Altered-Images/dp/B0B29LG9B3/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=altered+images+mascara+streakz+cd&amp;

The first record by the Beatles came out on the same day as the first James Bond film. Over sixty years later they still send their differing forms of Britishness out into the world. John Higgs has written a book, “Love And Let Die”, about how closely they have been intertwined over the years, about how they stood for very different sorts of masculinity, how they changed the way we wanted to dress and behave&nbsp;and how they have, between them, shaped the British psyche of today.Love And Let Die: https://www.waterstones.com/book/love-and-let-die/john-higgs/9781399600163Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for early - and ad-free! - access to all of our content!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear</p

Author, DJ, member of St Etienne and a regular on our podcasts, Bob Stanley was the second guest at our sun-baked garden party in the auditorium of Opera Holland Park on June 3 talking about his new book “Bee Gees: Children Of the World”. He feels – and very rightly – that in some quarters they’re still the punchline to a heartless joke and deserve infinitely more critical respect. This illuminating conversation touches on the “teenage delinquent” years in Manchester, their struggles in Australia, signing with Robert Stigwood, success and how badly they handled it, what the press made of them, how they invented the sound of Jive Talkin’ and Night Fever, the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, why they were known as “Pilly, Potty and Boozy” and the various people who’ve loudly sung their praises – Diana Ross, Pet Shop Boys, Take That and Noel Gallagher among them.&nbsp;Order Bob's book ‘Bee Gees: Children of the World’ here …<a href="&nbsp;https://www.amazon.co.uk/B

It’s a barely believable sixty years since the Rolling Stones put out their first single, “Come On”, so we asked Lesley-Ann Jones, the author of “The Stone Age", along to talk about them and how they have related to the women in their lives, from Brian Jones’s strange relationships with his Cheltenham girlfriends, Mick Jagger’s powerful attraction to women who look like him, the sexual competition that raged between him and Keith Richards and the mid-life crises of Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman. As they say on the disclaimers this podcast contains adult themes.Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon to receive early - and ad-free! - access to all of our content!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon<

This week’s rock and roll gumbo includes the following spicy and nutritious ingredients …&nbsp;… “the internet is designed to let middle-aged men think they’ve had the last word”.&nbsp;… will the Royal Blood storm-in-a-teacup do them more good than harm?&nbsp;… Barry Gibbs’ beard.&nbsp;… what ‘Three Lions’ did to the Lightning Seeds’ Scottish, Welsh and Irish fanbase.&nbsp;… old memories of Kevin Coyne and Marjory Razorblade.&nbsp;… why no band is ever “forgotten”.&nbsp;… what’s so sacred about Love Will Tear Us Apart?&nbsp;… can AI music ever work if you don’t feel a connection with the person making it?&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;… why are the Doors fading from view?&nbsp;… there are only two degrees of adulation: too little or too much.&nbsp;Plus Birthdays guests Ray Roscoe and Paul Thompson.Subscribe to Word In Your Ea

Fond and appraising enquiry of recent events, this week featuring …&nbsp;… we now feel we have to approve of artists/musicians/writers before we can say we like what they do. When did all this start?&nbsp;… a new Stackwaddy game – Hari-Krishna Stomp Wagon? Starchelle Chicago Bear? Flaming Lips song title or exotically named winner of Crufts’ Best In Show?&nbsp;… in defence of men with bad reputations eg Evelyn Waugh, Martin Amis, John Lennon …&nbsp;… re-pressed versions of albums that were 70p in the late ‘60s now sell for £29.99. What fresh madness is this?&nbsp;… Liam Gallagher’s son Lennon and Paul Weller’s daughter Dylan ‘toast the 20th anniversary of an iconic Mulberry bag’: an ‘It’s like punk never happened’ special!&nbsp;.. how the Silicon Valley TV series tells the truth.&nbsp;… Noel Gallagher’s magnificent use of the word ‘disingenuous’ (possibly to wrong-foot and baffle his broth

A special extra podcast recorded just after hearing the news. We can barely remember a time when we weren’t aware of her. This looks back at the Ike &amp; Tina R&amp;B hits of the ‘60s, the Ikettes dance routines and how he copyrighted her stage name, the story of the recording of River Deep Mountain High with Phil Spector, Proud Mary on the Ed Sullivan Show, supporting the Rolling Stones, her unique vocal style and the way she sold the drama of the songs … and then the greatest comeback imaginable: the arrival of manager Roger Davies, the B.E.F.’s recording of Ball Of Confusion at Abbey Road (and the impossible demands of James Brown), Mad Max: Beyond the Thunderdome, Private Dancer (and Bowie’s 1984) and the record-breaking 180,000-crowd show at Brazil’s Maracana Stadium in 1988. And the fine art of dancing in high heels.Tickets for Word In The Park in London on June 3rd here!: <a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/576193870377" rel="noopener noreferrer

Put through the boil-wash of enquiry and hung upon the washing line of truth this week you’ll find the following one-size-fits-all garments …&nbsp;… which acts are fading from memory and who’ll be remembered in 50 years’ time?&nbsp;… how Paul Simon, Leonard Cohen and Warren Zevon addressed mortality – (‘My Ride’s Here', ‘Enjoy Every Sandwich’ ...).&nbsp;… actors who’ve made albums.&nbsp;… the photo that changed the perception of Johnny Cash.&nbsp;… why you should watch the Pet Shop Boys’ new BBC interview, Reel Stories.&nbsp;… the prog star who stage-invaded Jacob Rees Mogg’s speech at the Conservative conference.&nbsp;… “Nothing will ever beat the first time you hear yourself on the radio”: Sting and the law of diminishing returns.&nbsp;.. how Will Self capsized his own career.&nbsp;… how Shakespeare and Robert Johnson’s reputations were both made by a ‘Grea

Further nutritious items on the pod’s tasting menu this week include …&nbsp;… the story of Tubular Bells and how the Exorcist sent its sales through the roof.&nbsp;… beneath the surface of every band is a drama waiting to kick off: the View’s reunion gig was “a brotherly bust-up that went too far”.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;… one of the following didn’t endorse a credit card, but which? – Beyoncé, Michael Jackson, Kiss, the Wu-Tang Clan, U2 and the Sex Pistols.&nbsp;… crimes in rhyme perpetrated by Tom Waits, Bruce Springsteen and Boney M - plus do YOU know a better one than ‘You told me love was too plebeian/ Told me you were through with me an’ …”?&nbsp;… Beyoncé’s tour is “a celebration of black queer dance music” but that didn’t stop her playing a private gig in Dubai for $24m.&nbsp;… plus stadium tour profits, singing bassists and 2001: A Space Odyssey and the Blue Danube.Tickets for W

Where the Gold Bracelets of Sincerity and Wisdom and the Rod of Equity and Mercy meet the piping hot music news agenda in a weekly podcast and alight upon the following ….&nbsp;… the greatest singer of sad songs we’ve ever heard.&nbsp;… the extraordinary tale of the B-side of ‘13 Women And Only One Man’.&nbsp;… songs you couldn’t record these days.&nbsp;… Rufus Wainwright’s re-recording of Neil Young’s Harvest – but CAN modern technology possibly make it sound any better?&nbsp;… Noel Coward in the Italian Job.&nbsp;&nbsp;... the mystifying UK pop charts at the time of the last Coronation.&nbsp;… old records we’ve re-discovered: this week, Bonnie Raitt’s magnificent Give It Up (and especially Love Has No Pride).&nbsp;… John Prine’s Angel From Montgomery.&nbsp;… Gordon Lightfoot: why Dylan adored him and the tale of The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald.&nb

Encountering the cheerful ping-pong bats of conversation this week you’ll find …&nbsp;… the most unprepossessing rock band on God’s green earth.&nbsp;… Ed Sheeran v Marvin Gaye – “the case continues”. But does anybody genuinely copy anyone else these days?&nbsp;… Springsteen and Michelle Obama and their irresistible thirst for publicity.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;… the return of the Stack Waddy game: Spencer Birtwistle? Wilfred Mott? … Bernard Cribbins sitcom character or former member of the Fall?&nbsp;… Santana’s Caravanserai still sounds like it was made yesterday.&nbsp;… what Paul McCartney and Coldplay were paid to play Glastonbury.&nbsp;… if you tell people they’ll like things they tend to look for reasons to disagree but can we (cautiously) recommend the Australian comedy Colin From Accounts?&nbsp;… Happy 70th, Bill Drummond. We remember his deafening ‘retirement’ exit at th

Items run up the flagpole this week include …&nbsp;… our memories of the exquisite agony of teenage dances, especially Dave’s at the Mecca Ballroom in Wakefield, 1965.&nbsp;... unforgettable things said and done by Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson.&nbsp;… rock stars with Brian Jones’s hair.&nbsp;… do we care more about the people who make music than the music itself?… a point from Massive Attack – “is the discussion ‘should AI recreate music?’ or is it ‘Why is contemporary music so homogenised &amp; formulaic that it’s really easy to copy?’”&nbsp;… songs that never fail to fill dancefloors.&nbsp;… a “Ladies’ Prosecco Afternoon” with a Robbie Williams impersonator.&nbsp;… what’ll be the next music revival?&nbsp;… when did you last see a Teddy Boy?&nbsp;… Dave’s story about why Take It Easy by the Eagles meant so much to him.&nbsp;…

Dipping our shrimping nets this week into the ever-bountiful rock and roll rock pool we find …&nbsp;… Dylan, Madonna, Pharrell Williams, Michael Jackson, Nick Cave and Keith Richards – which one didn’t write a children’s book?&nbsp;… S Club 7, Miles Davis’s sessionmen and others apparently ripped off by the heartless, skinflint music industry.&nbsp;… the unsung story of Jack Nitzsche, “the man with the golden touch”, his part in the Stones’ baroque period and the recordings he made in Barking Town Hall and St Giles Cripplegate.&nbsp;… when Sly Stone got married onstage and the couple who got hitched at a Taylor Swift show.&nbsp;… a “short-fingered vulgarian” and a “beaky, crow-coiffed, pleat-faced” guitarist.&nbsp;… the Gershwin score to Woody Allen’s Manhattan.&nbsp;… how two thirds of NBA players are bankrupt in 10 years.&nbsp;... Jimmy Page’s Shirley Bassey session.&nbs

The “bargain basement Baudelaire” is setting out on a UK tour in April and tells Mark Ellen here about the earliest shows he saw and played, memories which happily include …&nbsp;… the subtle art of crowd control.&nbsp;… seeing Bob Hope when he was 9 and the strange impression of the adult world that suggested.&nbsp;… the dress code that barred him from a Hendrix gig.&nbsp;… auditioning for Bernard Manning at the Embassy Club and what he learnt from him.&nbsp;&nbsp;… “I was Little Richard’s gear carrier (aged 11)”.&nbsp;… why he based his look on Ronnie Wood.&nbsp;… the perfect song for the hopeless bass player.&nbsp;… the deathless advice his Dad gave him.&nbsp;… why punk rock audiences were a breeze.&nbsp;… the desperate fashion-chasing changes of tack of the Mafia, the band he formed in the ’60s. Who became the Vendettas. Who became the Lovely Flow

This week’s trawl of the rock and roll outer limits alights, among others, on the following sizzling hot topics …&nbsp;... a lost Beatles tape and the night they played Stowe School 60 years ago.&nbsp;… the return of the Stackwaddy game: were there really ‘60s New Zealand pop groups called the Chapta, Hi-Revving Tongues and the Kal-Q-Lated Risk?&nbsp;… Todd Haynes’ brilliant Velvet Underground documentary and how the band spawned pop’s greatest look- and sound-alike movement. And could Lou Reed have made it without Andy Warhol, John Cale or Nico?&nbsp;… Tracie, Bowie, Bonnie Tyler, Tracey Ullman, the JoBoxers, Kenny Everett and other top-notch components of the singles chart in April ‘83.&nbsp;… did A Hard Day’s Night invent the word “grotty” and Steely Dan the word “scam”?&nbsp;… who was the mysterious “Fred Flange”? The story of the Goons, George Martin , Peter Sellers and Matt Monro.&nbsp;&nbsp;</

“Being on tour with King Crimson,” in the words of their film director, “is like being with the school rugby team and, at the last minute, the games teacher falls ill so they send them out with the maths master. But the team starts winning ...” Is there another band remotely like them? Their leader believes in discipline and cold showers in the morning. He practices four hours a day. Life in the group was “wretched” from 1969 to 2013. Adrian Belew says it made his hair fall out. The running gag among its 22 one-time members is “you’re irreplaceable, just like the last bloke”. With great bravery and patience, Toby Amies has made a documentary about them, ‘In The Court Of The Crimson King: King Crimson at 50’, and talks to us here about what he discovered. There’s much to be enjoyed, not least… … the fact that Robert Fripp commissioned the film and for months refused to take part in it. … the encounter with Sister Dana, the prog rock nun from

Paul Weller’s been writing songs for 50 years now and he’s chosen over 100 of his lyrics for the new and gorgeous, picture-packed publication ‘Paul Weller: Magic – A Journal Of Song’, each accompanied by his memories of how and why he wrote it compiled from interviews with long-time admirer, multiple author and old pal of the podcast, Dylan Jones. No-one was better qualified for the job. The teenage Dylan saw the Jam countless times in London pubs and has followed Weller closely ever since, a songwriter, he says, “who’s proved he’s beyond reproach and, in some senses, possibly without equal”. This is full of stories and insights, among them …&nbsp;… “you don’t tell Paul Weller what to do”.&nbsp;… his unease about the sentimentality of English Rose.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;… “the Style Council were a better group than the Jam”.&nbsp;… the teenage Weller travelling to London to make cassette recordings of the traffic.&nbsp;<p

The Manfreds start their 60th Anniversary Tour in September with Paul, Mike D’Abo and Tom McGuinnness in the line-up. He talks to us here about the first and best shows he’s seen and …&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;… being told “there’s a soul/R&amp;B singer in Birmingham and if he ever comes to London you’re finished”.&nbsp;… how Brian Jones “opened up a secret door”.&nbsp;... “stealing from Tennyson” for the lyrics of 5-4-3-2-1.&nbsp;… being with Mick Jagger and Long John Baldry watching Alexis Korner calling up guest “shouters” and all thinking “pick me!”&nbsp;… what T-Bone Walker taught him.&nbsp;… seeing Lonnie Donegan at the Kings Theatre, Southampton, and the absurdity of doing ‘It Takes A Worried Man’ in your skiffle band when you’re only 15.&nbsp;… Bob Dylan at Earl’s Court.&nbsp;… the earth-shifting impact of the Modern Jazz Quartet.&nbsp;… and the early adventu

In which we cast a warm but appraising glance in the direction of the week’s news and alight upon the following sizzling topics …&nbsp;… the best media job in the world.&nbsp;… the most played record in the history of the BBC.&nbsp;… the Avengers franchise “is just a giant ATM for Marvel and produces argument-proof movies”.&nbsp;… the most influential thing about John Peel wasn’t the music he liked.&nbsp;… found: the owner of the VW van on the cover of The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan.&nbsp;… Seymour Stein, the man who signed the Ramones, Talking Heads and Madonna - and met Buddy Holly. And only signed musicians if they had enough drive - “Ambition is basically dissatisfaction with where and who you are. You’re born with demons that you have to harness before they kill you.”&nbsp;… Ben Sidran’s 34 albums and how Spotify saves everyone from disappearing.&nbsp;… the return of the

Andrew Lauder started the Radar, F-Beat and Demon labels, worked at Liberty, Stiff and United Artists and signed (or licensed) and helped shape the careers of countess acts we’ve loved over the years, among them the Bonzos, Hawkwind, Captain Beefheart, JJ Cale, Nick Lowe, Creedence Clearwater, Elvis Costello, Can, Dr Feelgood, Stranglers and the Stone Roses. He was one of the main architects of the whole world of independent labels. Mick Houghton has written his memoir – Happy Trails – and talked to us here about …&nbsp;… the Denmark Street days when the music business was just a village.&nbsp;… the complete list of journalists on Brinsley Schwarz’s famously catastrophic press trip to the Fillmore East in 1970.&nbsp;… why ‘the Beat Merchants’ album was the UK Nuggets.&nbsp;… the old world of the ‘70s rock and roll when the record industry was part of the packaged goods business and gigs got stopped for 20 minutes because of a p

Whistling, clicking our heels, swinging round lampposts and lobbing the odd shiny florin to a flaxen-haired child, this week’s free-wheeling navigation of the rock and roll boulevard alights upon the following hot topics …&nbsp;… why Indie music is like student drama.&nbsp;… what the Beatles achieved in “the 585 most productive minutes in the history of recorded music" (aka the recording of Please Please Me) and the albums released the same day every decade after.&nbsp;&nbsp;… Death &amp; Vanilla, Frightened Rabbit and – to deafening applause – the welcome return of the Stackwaddy game.&nbsp;… albums performed as ‘plays’ (by musicians who didn’t make them). A band featuring Clem Burke and Glen Matlock has just toured playing Lust For Life in its entirety. What others would work as well? The Band’s second album? Liege &amp; Lief? The Ramones? Hot Rats?&nbsp;… unappetising song titles.&nbsp;… what Bob Dyl

Teenage Fanclub are touring the UK in November. Norman tells us here about some of the first and best shows he’s seen and played and life in the group's early days. Which involves …&nbsp;… the band that made him want to start a band.&nbsp;… the Wombles at a YMCA when he was 12.&nbsp;… selling a fridge and a washing machine to buy recording time.&nbsp;… the bouncing balcony of the Glasgow Apollo when the Clash played in ‘78.&nbsp;… having a wee next to Steve Cropper.&nbsp;… the age at which audiences “appreciate having a seat”.&nbsp;… busking etiquette.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;... his mum taking him to see the Kinks and Tom Jones.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;… serving John Martyn at McCormack’s Music Shop – “Thanks, wee man!"&nbsp;… a sweet story about a trombone, Terry Hall and the Specials.&nbsp;… Neil Young with Booker T &amp; the MGs.&nbsp;</

Whistling, clicking our heels, swinging round lampposts and lobbing the odd shiny florin to a flaxen-haired child, this week’s free-wheeling navigation of the rock and roll boulevard alights upon the following hot topics …&nbsp;… why Indie music is like student drama.&nbsp;… what the Beatles achieved in “the 585 most productive minutes in the history of recorded music" (aka the recording of Please Please Me) and the albums released the same day every decade after.&nbsp;&nbsp;… Death &amp; Vanilla, Frightened Rabbit and – to deafening applause – the welcome return of the Stackwaddy game.&nbsp;… albums performed as ‘plays’ (by musicians who didn’t make them). A band featuring Clem Burke and Glen Matlock has just toured playing Lust For Life in its entirety. What others would work as well? The Band’s second album? Liege &amp; Lief? The Ramones? Hot Rats?&nbsp;… unappetising song titles.&nbsp;… what Bob Dyl

Sauntering in carefree, conversational mode down the rock and roll bridleway this week, pausing briefly to lean against a tree and tootle upon a mouth-organ, we came across the following …&nbsp;… bands with no original members left - Lynyrd Skynyrd, Motorhead, the Crickets, the Ramones, the Jimi Hendrix Experience, the Drifters … any more?&nbsp;… things musicians are obsessed with.&nbsp;… albums by acts we love without a single redeeming feature – Blondie’s The Hunter? Bob Dylan’s Saved? The Dead’s Built To Last? It’s Hard by The Who?&nbsp;… the night – exactly 20 years ago – we saw the Dixie Chicks make their career-capsizing comment about George Bush.&nbsp;… the hilarious left-right shift in Russell Brand’s brand values.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;… the main reason some people go to Glastonbury.&nbsp;… can you love an act as much if you don’t own their records or CDs and just stream them?<p

Things in the crosshairs this week include …&nbsp;… why it took 34 years to get De La Soul on a streaming service.&nbsp;… Radio 2’s ham-fisted handling of the departure of Ken Bruce – and are R2 and Greatest Hits Radio two bald men fighting over a comb if music radio seems doomed to die?&nbsp;… the new fun-sized Axl Rose.&nbsp;… U2’s stand-in drummer Bram van den Berg is like “Jimmie Nicol on stilts”.&nbsp;… the BBC and Glastonbury re John Peel: never name anything after a celebrity!&nbsp;... “Jackson Browne would never have been anything without David Lindley”.&nbsp;… what made the Spice Girls successful?&nbsp;… Steely Dan’s Aja, Joni Mitchell’s Paprika Plains and other places to hear Wayne Shorter’s divine embroideries.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;… comedy skits on records.&nbsp;…&nbsp;plus David Lindley’s effortless fashion statements – “Jackson Browne

Karen Carpenter died 40 years ago at the age of 32, a life mapped out in a new biography by Lucy O’Brien called Lead Sister. It’s a chilling, cautionary tale of how she and her brother became international stars and the devastating personal repercussions that were the consequence. Our conversation with Lucy covers the waterfront and includes …&nbsp;… the perils of “helicopter parents”.&nbsp;&nbsp;… why Richard was “The Chosen One”.&nbsp;… a disastrous association with Nixon.&nbsp;… destabilising press comments about weight issues and her “milksop presence”.&nbsp;… what Hal Blaine said about her mother.... the night she met Elvis.&nbsp;… what singers need to survive.&nbsp;… the private bebop language she invented.&nbsp;… “Drummers are like hockey goalies. No-one knows how to talk to them apart from another drummer.”… the howling disaster of her solo album

The teenage Michael Cragg was obsessed with the “glorious shiny ludicrous pop” of the period that began with the Spice Girls, included Hear’Say, Five, Steps, Atomic Kitten, Blue and countless others and ended with the closure of Popworld and Smash Hits ten years later, a tale less about music than the media that covered it and the machinations of the industry. All the key leading players – bands, managers, songwriters, critics – are interviewed in his sparkling and soon-to-be-published account of it all, Reach For the Stars, and our conversation with him includes …&nbsp;….. why Chris Morris should make a film about it.&nbsp;… why there are no groups anymore.&nbsp;… Russell Brand auditioning for Five.&nbsp;… the secret of the Spice Girls’ success.&nbsp;… which is more cynical, the worlds of TV or music.&nbsp;… why pop stars needed “bullet-proof exteriors”.&nbsp;... the band that couldn’t

This week’s crackling logs on the conversational fire include …&nbsp;… the attractively unchanging sound of Joe Henry’s 15 albums (the man PRs still sell as “Madonna’s brother-in-law”).&nbsp;… the 45th anniversary of David and Mark’s first meeting – at an Earth Quake gig at Salford University on February 10 1978.&nbsp;… Neil Tennant’s letter to Janice Long.&nbsp;… the recommended TV tribulations of Kleo, East German intelligence operative.&nbsp;… “Is it a nut? Is it a boy? Is it a wino? No, just Wreckless Eric!” A flick through an old Record Mirror from 1978.&nbsp;… where live music costs £3 a minute.&nbsp;… did the Beatles and Stones ever sound remotely similar even when playing the same song?&nbsp;… the Beatles on Juke Box Jury (and what they said about Elvis).&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;… Levon Helm’s drum kit.&nbsp;… plus birthday guest David Messer o

Of all the figures who built rock and roll back in the 1950s, Chuck Berry was arguably the most influential and certainly the strangest. In a new biography, which could never have been written when he was alive, R.J. Smith tells a story which is still hard to believe. His conversation with David Hepworth includes:* how the nerd Charles Berry discovered the key to impressing women* How a reckless streak a mile wide saw him put away as a teenager* How a comic turn developed into the greatest act in rock and roll* How he never listened to what his daddy told him about white women* How his record company’s landlord ended up co-writing “Maybelline”* His Mann Act conviction and imprisonment* His rebirth in Britain with the help of the Beatles and Stones* Why he needed a copy of the FT every day* Why he never said thank-you* The part played in his life by Lanchester Poly* His last and most tawdry court case</p

Eels are touring the UK in March/April and E talks here about what he’s learnt about live performance from being onstage or in the audience. And this includes …&nbsp;… a valuable lesson from watching Leon Russell’s deserted matinee at a racetrack in Maryland.&nbsp;… his mum’s reaction to him singing Plastic Ono Band songs in the car when he was 10.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;…&nbsp;seeing George Harrison (aged 11) with his sister.&nbsp;… the fascination of formerly big bands now quietly on the way back down (like Steppenwolf).&nbsp;… playing drums at his son’s school concert.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;… the “crazy and theatrical spectacle” of Neil Young’s Rust Never Sleeps tour.&nbsp;… and what fan footage on YouTube can tell you.&nbsp;Eels tour dates …https://www.ents24.com/uk/tour-dates/eel

Given the once-over this week in vigorous pursuit of edification and amusement …&nbsp;… should a Fawlty Towers sequel be illegal?&nbsp;… over-refreshed audiences wrecking Jukebox Musicals.&nbsp;… our hunt for the elusive album sleeve with the long-haired girl/Afghan hound.&nbsp;… how acts signal their popularity now the charts no longer matter.&nbsp;… critics who attacked people who attacked back.&nbsp;… the Beatles and ‘the genius of personality’.&nbsp;… how the parental credit card fuels the Springsteen ticket price inflation.&nbsp;… U2 about to play the new Las Vegas venue with an LED screen the size of three football pitches.&nbsp;… what’s the best age to be?&nbsp;… when are we in our prime and when are we at our most stupid?&nbsp;Plus birthday guest Nick Foreman and Danny Baker’s rare album hand-out.Subscrib

The dazzling super-trouper of gentle enquiry is trained this week upon:-&nbsp;… Sam Smith’s inflatable suit.&nbsp;… “TV kills everything”.&nbsp;… What do producers actually do? Old pal Kate Mossman joins us to talk about the inscrutable working methods of Rick Rubin, “the golden ratio”, the significance of his beard, the concept of being “Rubinised” and his transformation of Johnny Cash (and how the same thing worked later for Loretta Lynn, Glen Campbell and Willie Nelson).&nbsp;… Lawyers will be the only winners in the Roger Waters v Gilmour/Samson spat – “bands tend to start on a whim in a scout hut with a bunch of 16 year-olds and generally end with someone wearing a wig”.&nbsp;… Burt Bacharach’s magical eight-year run of hits from Three Wheels On My Wagon to Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head.&nbsp;… the mystifying story of the re-recording of The Dark Side Of The Moon.&nbsp;… if the

Midge Ure starts a UK tour in April (with Band Electronica) and talks here about bands that left an impression and what he’s learnt about live performance. This includes …&nbsp;… audiences “wanting their pound of flesh”.&nbsp;… lessons learned from watching Derek Nimmo in panto.&nbsp;… “cheesy” stage effects - eg Bowie’s mirrorball in Space Oddity.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;… Stan Webb of Chicken Shack charging offstage at Green’s Playhouse in Glasgow with a 100 foot guitar lead.&nbsp;… being “a human jukebox” at Clouds discos playing Jo Jo Gunne and Sparks covers.&nbsp;… seeing “The Marmalade” at a Radio 1 roadshow when he was 14.&nbsp;… memories of Taj Mahal, Skid Row, Colosseum and the Sensational Alex Harvey Band.&nbsp;… 10,000 people blocking Sauchiehall Street to get tickets for Deep Purple.&nbsp;… and headliners who didn’t turn up.&nbsp;Midge’s to

Conversational footballs punted about the park this week include …&nbsp;… why George Harrison’s trip to Benton, Illinois, in 1963 would make a great Netflix drama – the $400 Rickenbacker, the local gig billed as “the English Elvis”, the roller-skating waitresses. “I’m in a band called the Beatles back home and we’re doing quite well.”&nbsp;… buskers being allowed to use amplification is a monstrous invasion of our private space: discuss.&nbsp;… is Deliveroo the new generation gap?&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;… we asked some AI software to write lyrics in the style of certain bands. You need to hear the results.&nbsp;… musicians and the positions they should play on the football pitch.&nbsp;… a deathless picture of McCartney and all-girl crowd at the Cavern.&nbsp;… plus birthday guest Keith Adsley flies the flag for ‘Jaguar Sound’ by Adrian Quesada.Subscribe to Word In Your Ear o

Ron Sexsmith starts a UK tour at the end of April and talks about what he’s learnt about live performance, which includes:-&nbsp;… “notes from girls” after winning the High School Variety Show.&nbsp;… playing for drunks in his local bar when he was underage and being hidden when the police arrived.&nbsp;&nbsp;… Elton John at the Rich Stadium in Buffalo (and being a member of the Fan Club).&nbsp;… his first performance, singing ‘Ben’ by Michael Jackson.&nbsp;… the influential low-key stagecraft of Gordon Lightfoot and Leonard Cohen, “people who just stood there”.&nbsp;… the rigours of long tours.&nbsp;… being “on Cloud Nine for a year” after seeing the Who.&nbsp;… and watching Cat Stevens from the best seat in the house.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;All details about Ron’s upcoming tour here …<a href="https://ronsexsmith.com/tours/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target

Joel worked for various labels - Mushroom, Atlantic and Sony among them - and was the man who signed the Darkness. Training to become a psychotherapist, he began trading in rare records, travelling all over the country to buy collections and, during Lockdown, starting a special “mystery vinyl” service where he’d send people albums he thought they’d like based on their musical taste.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;He talks here in fascinating detail about what an emotionally charged world this is, seeing people’s entire life stories mapped out in records, becoming a “temporary custodian” of their past, learning about whole new areas of music and obscure genres that suddenly come into vogue and every aspect of what makes a record valuable. And the thrill of finding the odd “holy grail” (Vashti Bunyan’s Just Another Diamond Day, rare Bowie first pressings etc), a process that involves “kissing an awful lot of frogs”. He even pulled out an album by a band neither of us knew, the 1970 ps

Peter Asher started out as a child actor in films with John Mills, Alastair Sim and Boris Karloff. He was in the Adventures of Robin Hood with his sister Jane but they were eventually “demoted to peasant children”. He then formed Peter &amp; Gordon, had a global number one with A World Without Love (written by his sister’s boyfriend who was living in the family home) and then began a career in production and management that’s still thriving today. This is full of wonderful stories and features …&nbsp;… playing the London club circuit in 1964.&nbsp;… Paul McCartney adding the missing bridge to A World Without Love in eight minutes – “I have the handwritten lyrics and chords in a fireproof safe in case I ever need to run to Sotheby’s and Paul can save the day again!”).&nbsp;… assembling the band for a Paul Jones session – Nicky Hopkins piano, Jeff Beck guitar, Paul Samwell-Smith bass, McCartney drums).&nbsp;&nbsp;… appalling ‘60s

Things featured this week in hot pursuit of entertainment and enlightenment …&nbsp;… seeing Television in 1975 for £1.50 - support act, Blondie.&nbsp;… Kaleidoscope, Country Joe &amp; the Fish, Fairport Convention and other origins of the Tom Verlaine guitar sound.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;… the mystery voices on The Dark Side Of The Moon, the Clare Torry story and how Pink Floyd used Abbey Road as an instrument.&nbsp;… “It’s Not You It’s Me”: more classic records that leave us cold – eg Pet Sounds and Humble Pie’s Performance: Rockin' the Fillmore.&nbsp;… “If Loving You Is Wrong I Don’t Wanna Be Right”: rotten records we’re devoted to – paging Jobriath, Oasis, Hello …… how the Ashers became Paul McCartney’s adopted family.&nbsp;… that Nick Kent review of Marque Moon – “Cut the crap, junior, he sez, and put the hyperbole on ice. I concur thus. Sometimes it takes but one record – one cocksure magic

The Long Ryders are touring in May and our old pal Sid Griffin tells us what to expect and looks back here at …&nbsp;… Herman’s Hermits and the Dave Clark Five playing on a steamboat.&nbsp;… his first live performance aged 16 in a glam-rock red dress at a barbecue in Kentucky (fee a colossal $100) playing Paul Revere, Kinks and Byrds covers.&nbsp;… seeing Big Joe Turner with the Lee Allen Orchestra (11-piece horn section!).&nbsp;… the Everly Brothers’ first reunion.&nbsp;… a barely known Carole King onstage in The City in 1968.&nbsp;… his local bluegrass sessions at the Landseer Arms in Archway (“very Greenwich Village 1961”).&nbsp;… and the benefits of touring when you’re older – “the pressure’s off”.&nbsp;&nbsp;Details and tickets here:https://w

David Crosby was famous for nearly 60 years, a celebrity sustained by records, tours, brushes with the law and serial disagreements with old pals and collaborators (he was the very definition of a non-team player). We look back fondly at various stops along the way - his upscale background, his role in the Byrds, his ‘Will Scarlet in Robin Hood’ haircut and unsexy cape ensemble, CS&amp;N as the soundtrack to a West Coast American fantasy, the time the Beatles played him the unreleased A Day In The Life, a public fallout with Neil Young and a tuxedoed Graham Nash’s last show with the Hollies with the piss-taking Crosby in the dressing-room.&nbsp;Plus “It’s Not You It’s Me” – classic records that leave us cold: fight-starting suggestions include albums by Patti Smith (“that bawling harridan with her jive muse”), Nirvana, Love, Neil Young, Cat Stevens, Arctic Monkeys and the Beatles. Did the Who start to decline from the moment John Entwistle began growing facial hair? Di

Suzannne Vega is touring throughout the UK in February. Here she talks to David Hepworth about what she’s learned about live in the course of:….starting off on stage with Pete Seeger at Carnegie Hall….taking her sister to see Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden…learning about communication from the jazz bassist Richard Davis…laying in sufficient snacks for the rehearsal period….playing your old hits again and again….saying your prayers before going on stage….watching Stan Ridgway do the best show she ever saw.Full dates and tickets here.https://www.suzannevega.com/tourSubscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for a whole world of extra and exclusive content, benefits and rewards!: <stron

Our old pal from Word magazine Kate Mossman adored Jeff Beck and the whole range of his recordings and interviewed him recently for the New Statesman. This pod features the outlandish techniques he developed, his cars and Afghan hounds, his “six wives”, his unchanging look (with occasion detours into “satin leggings and boxing boots”), the “Clapton is God” myth, his job offer from the Stones, falling out with the Yardbirds and the Jeff Beck Group, great musical ventures and occasional lapses of taste (like the recent tour with Johnny Depp). And our love of Hi Ho Silver Lining which he hated so much he said it was like “having a pink toilet seat hung around your neck for the rest of your life”.&nbsp;Plus …… the chillingly strange life of Lisa Marie Presley - “opulent neglect” - and her four marriages.… best-ever B-sides (suggested by birthday patron Roger Millington who went for ‘Paris France’ by the Red Guitars). The greatest B-sides never appeared an

Tony King was there when it all started, working for Decca in the late ‘50s, plugging records on Housewives’ Choice and Family Favourites and looking after visiting Americans like the Ronettes, Roy Orbison and Phil Spector. He went on to become a close friend of many of the acts he worked with and his memoir ‘The Tastemaker’ is full of wonderful tales and revelations about all of them. As is this podcast which includes …&nbsp;… the day Reg Dwight changed his name (and getting him session work with the Barron Knights).&nbsp;… wearing “lime green trousers, blue moccasins and a kaftan” at the Beatles’ One World broadcast.&nbsp;… the weekend with George and Pattie Harrison in Esher when the Daily Express turned up to tell them McCartney had admitted he’d taken acid.&nbsp;… taking Brenda Lee to the pictures.&nbsp;… holidays with Charlie Watts in France and memories of his wake.&nbsp;… why he used to ring

… in which we amble fearlessly into the New Year in tireless pursuit of amusement, stopping off at various stations along the way, among them …&nbsp;&nbsp;… can any song be completely original?&nbsp;… meeting Sun Ra.&nbsp;… the time Gianluca Vialli kissed David’s wife’s hand.&nbsp;… does streaming make us more adventurous?&nbsp;… did Frank Zappa ever appear in Miami Vice?&nbsp;… tortuous puns in music memoir titles.&nbsp;... singers we’ve had enough of.... Sam Cooke humming.&nbsp;&nbsp;… some rare and rewarding records – eg Billie Joe Armstrong &amp; Norah Jones’ Foreverly and Mellow Candle’s Swaddling Songs plus Jorma Kaukonen, Jimmy Webb, the Pursuit of Happiness …&nbsp;… powerful feelings of envy provoked by John McLaughlin.&nbsp;.. the diminishing appeal of Jeff Buckley.&nbsp;… why you have to hear Van Dyke Parks’ ‘S

Things explored this week in pursuit of entertainment and diversion …&nbsp;… Neil Tennant interviews Malcolm McLaren and other delights in Smash Hits, January 1983.&nbsp;… “there’s no such thing as a finished record!”&nbsp;… the link between Cliff &amp; the Shadows and the Merry Pranksters.&nbsp;… a touching interview with Jim Morrison’s father and sister about the son/brother who cut them off completely - plus would Jim Morrison have made it in the age of social media?&nbsp;… pop stars’ school reports.&nbsp;… when did the ‘60s turn from black and white to colour?&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;… and when did people start talking about old records as if they were like old books - “first pressings”, “imprints”?&nbsp;… Muriel’s Wedding, Priscilla Queen Of the Desert, Strictly Ballroom and the return of Abba.&nbsp;… the pure unalloyed joy of rubbing a shrink-wrapped box-set agai

The full and extraordinary story of “the Zelig-like” Cutler – poet, performer, broadcaster, playwright, surrealist, humorist – is mapped out in Bruce Lindsay’s exceptional new book, ‘Ivor Cutler: A Life Outside the Living Room’. Most of us discovered him through the patronage of fans like John Peel – or first saw him as part of the Magical Mystery Tour cast – but this fascinating conversation covers the early years too, his time as a progressive schoolteacher, the formative influence of Kafka and the Goons, his big break into TV via Ned Sherrin and his immediate adoption by the counter-culture. Has there ever been anyone remotely like him before or since? At one point Bruce reads a section of Life In A Scotch Sitting Room - with its echoes of Under Milk Wood and Sir Henry At Rawlinson End - and there are tales of gruts for tea, his fear of noise, the time he left an overheated hotel room to sleep on a station platform and a Denmark Street agent weeing in a sink.&nbsp;O

Army greatcoats, plastic trousers, cowboy boots, scoop-neck t-shirts with bell sleeves … the list of laughable clobber and accessories we briefly thought were acceptable because rock stars wore them is delightfully long and shameful.Also in the crosshairs this week …… the rudest line the Beatles ever wrote.&nbsp;… Randy Newman – ‘the poet of the unworthy thought’.… do bands with comic lyrics get the credit they deserve?… a double Stackwaddy: real or invented Christmas singles.… falling though a wormhole in time into a copy of the NME&nbsp;from February 1969: “The age of Supergroups! – set band members will be a thing of the past” – Klaus Voormann.… “These days no two of us are on the same stream.” What we learn from discovering music separately.&nbsp;&nbsp;… Dead Eyes: the Tom Hanks’ comment that sparked a three-series podcast.… why scat-singing brings us out in hives.… the

Gordon Raphael was the sonic architect of arguably the two most important and influential albums of the noughties - The Strokes' 'Is This It' and its follow-up 'Room On Fire', and in this special Word In Your Ear chat with 'Magic' Alex Gold he talks about the creation of those seminal records alongside other key moments in his life as told in his memoir 'The World Is Going To Love This: Up From The Basement With The Strokes', including working with Regina Spektor and the impact of seeing her perform at their first meeting, grunge-era Seattle and its legendary music store The Trading Musician, and his time with the pre-fame Libertines.Buy 'The World Is Going To Love This: Up From The Basement With The Strokes' here: https://www.wordville.net/product-page/the-world-is-going-to-love-thisGordon's website: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/re

In which we boldly tackle the burning issues des nos jours in our restless forage for entertainment. Nutritious items on the tasting menu this week include …&nbsp;… albums whose cover was over half the sell.&nbsp;… was Jet Black older than all the Beatles and Stones? Dave Greenfield and Edgar Allan Poe – separated at birth.&nbsp;… that brief moment when Creedence Clearwater were the biggest thing on the planet.&nbsp;… what people paid for the wooden balls on the Rumours cover and one of Christine McVie’s dresses.&nbsp;&nbsp;… Stackwaddy: Abba v Zappa song titles - spot the ringer!&nbsp;… a Marshall Crenshaw 40th anniversary covers album? The race to find the next bizarre obscurity.&nbsp;… Little Feat, Fragonard and a cake on a swing.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;… plus Anthony Blunt, Elton John will never retire and new Patreon supporters (and their fictional jobs).

Danny’s done two hysterically funny, cartwheeling canters round the UK in the last few years and sets out again in February for 49 nights with ‘At Last …The Sausage Sandwich Tour’, another ‘panjandrum of unstoppable anecdote’. His memories of old rock and roll and theatre shows are high in the mix in this crackling exchange. Among the highlights …&nbsp;… Anita Harris at the ABC in Yarmouth.&nbsp;… appearing with the Millwall squad and Jimmy Tarbuck singing ‘New York New York’ in top hat and tails.&nbsp;… the joy of Keef Hartley’s Half-Breed.&nbsp;… arriving to see Frank Zappa to discover he’d been thrown offstage in the afternoon show “but Cochise were still appearing!”&nbsp;… his dad Spud’s amateur doctor who did a good sideline in racing tips.&nbsp;… why selling his 14,000 albums is like being “unchained from a lunatic”.&nbsp;… Black Sabbath playing ‘unplugged’ in a powercut at the Al

In which the piercing searchlight of conversational scrutiny points in the direction of …&nbsp;… Christine McVie’s early adventures, our burning love for Chicken Shack’s ‘40 Blue Fingers’, her Sliding Doors moment in a Dickins &amp; Jones window display, supporting the Shadows at the 2I’s coffee bar in ‘59, writing Songbird, the forgotten years of Kiln House and two film clips that point up Fleetwood Mac’s luckless mid-‘70s slog with the bank-breaking success to come.&nbsp;… records you never connected with that suddenly make sense 50 years later.&nbsp;… the deep-seated, underrated pleasure of ‘Electric Arguments’ by the Fireman (aka Youth and McCartney).&nbsp;… what your InstaFest line-up reveals about your listening habits.&nbsp;… and a rare mention of ‘Deed I Do’ by Blossom Dearie!Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon and receive every future Word Podcast before the rest of the world alongside a w

Phil and his brother Steven started a market stall in Cheltenham in the mid-‘80s and made enough money selling rare records to open the world-famous Badlands (now occupying three floors of an old coach house). It’s been thriving ever since specialising in Springsteen and Dylan, collectible vinyl, books and box-sets and branching out into concert package tours all over Europe. Here he talks about the first records he ever bought, XTC at Cheltenham Town Hall, the cassette and CD booms, the return of vinyl, new threats to the record shop world, taking Steve Van Zandt round Cheltenham (in full Little Steven attire) and the Greatest Record Ever Made.&nbsp;https://badlands.co.uk/&nbsp;@BadlandsUKSubscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for a whole host of extra and exclusive content, benefits and rewards!: <a href="https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear" r

… in which we remember watching and talking to the magnificent Wilko Johnson and look back at extraordinary moments in his life – the hippie trail to India, his appearance on Question Time, the three albums the Feelgoods made in a year, how they discovered what made them unique and the effect on everyone from Television to the Clash, Gang of Four, Blur and Franz Ferdinand of the band “who could start a fight in an empty room”.&nbsp;Plus … Pet Shop Boys on the Archers.&nbsp;… the 40th anniversary of Thriller and Quincy Jones’ speech about how “we’re here to save the music business”.&nbsp;… the extraordinary - possiby incendiary - story of Bob Dylan and the faked autographs.&nbsp;… Lil Peep, Lil Flip, Lil Plum, Lil Dicky … spot the fictional rapper!&nbsp;... and birthday guest Kevin Walsh on why everyone should hear ‘Electric Arguments’ by the Fireman (aka McCartney and Youth).&nbsp;And here’s our Word po

Ken’s a world authority and he’s been on the pod twice before, talking about his books about George Martin and the last days of John Lennon. He’s just revised and updated the one he wrote in 2007, ‘Long And Winding Roads’, partly to add new observations and material, especially in the light of Peter Jackson’s Get Back, and partly because the beleaguered world now needs the Beatles more than ever. It’s written like a literary biography, as much about the art as the story. This covers the waterfront - thoughts about their deal with EMI, pivotal events in their trajectory, the recent re-evaluation of McCartney (“the convenor”), the gorgeous “guitar embroideries in the margins of their music”, the key role of Mal Evans (“found crying in McCartney’s garden when he heard it was all over”), the artistic touchstones of I Am The Walrus and the sheer and comforting delight in hearing the Beatles’ music - “returning to the font” - when the world finds itself in times of trouble. As well as bei

Further free-wheeling conversational detours include …&nbsp;… “like the consequences of mating Patti Smith with a Hoover vacuum cleaner”: barbed reviews in the Rolling Stone Record Guide.… ‘Bowie and Bing in a bauble’? The Taylor Swift ‘Merry Swiftmas’ t-shirt? Real or fictional Christmas accessories.… the four tracks by women - and there are only four! – among the 66 records Bob Dylan considers in The Philosophy Of Modern Song. &nbsp;&nbsp;… “and any eye for detail caught a little lace along the seams”: exquisite descriptions of clothes in Joni Mitchell songs.&nbsp;… the NME Encyclopedia Of Rock revisited, that well-thumbed, much-loved and indispensable bible from the world before the internet.&nbsp;… who were Sons of Champlin, the Butts Band and Michael Fennelly?… magnificent rock books, Nik Cohn’s A Wop Bop A Loo Bop A Lop Bam Boom and Barney Hoskyns’ Hotel California among them.&nbsp;

Things run up the flagpole this week in pursuit of entertainment …&nbsp;… Irish/American punk rock group or 19th Century criminal gang?&nbsp;… the eternal dependability of the first Stones album.&nbsp;… does ANYONE not like ska?&nbsp;…. seven “legends” you can still see for under £30.&nbsp;... the now-for-sale cache of ‘50s love letters by a besotted Bob Dylan (and would you want anyone reading your teenage correspondence?).&nbsp;… the story of Bill Wyman trying to leave the Stones 30 years ago and the rest of them refusing to take him seriously.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;… do audio books with a stellar cast really work?&nbsp;… why Elvis and the Beatles never did encores.&nbsp;… butt-dialling Boo Hewerdine.&nbsp;… and if you want to know why rock stars keep in touring read ‘No More Champagne: Winston Churchill And His Money’.&nbsp;… plus bi

On the radar this week in an enquiring, celebratory or goat-getting capacity …&nbsp;… has the World Cup balloon already been unmendably punctured?&nbsp;… and is the same thing happening to Twitter?&nbsp;… “if social media had come along earlier would Sergeant Pepper exist?”&nbsp;… Richard Osman-created fictional sleuth or rock stars’ real names: you decide.&nbsp;… a chance meeting with Jaco Pastorius.&nbsp;… speaker-testing moments of bass guitar brilliance.&nbsp;… the general public armed with a mouse are infinitely crueller and more aggressive than the very worst journalists: discuss.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;… plus two thousand years of gruesome mortal combat.Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon and receive every future Word Podcast before the rest of the world - and with full visuals!: <a href="https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear" rel="noopene

The teenage Trevor Horn could be found playing bass in dance bands on the Top Rank circuit supporting acts like Tommy Cooper (and singing Long-Haired Lover From Liverpool and Hi-Ho Silver Lining). He began writing songs for Tina Charles, had a worldwide hit with Buggles and went on to produce Dollar, ABC, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Malcolm McLaren, Grace Jones, Pet Shop Boys and countless others. In this terrific exchange he talks about life in covers bands (“big money, £150 a week”), how the Fairlight changed the landscape, the diplomacy all producers require, his “pictorial sense” of how ABC should sound, his regrets about Frankie, bands’ paranoia about their record companies, Rod Stewart and the “farting post”, why he’d like to work with Bob Dylan and the drama of making Owner Of A Lonely Heart. Worth it for his uncanny impersonations of Dylan and Rod Stewart alone, and further stories from his just-out memoir ‘Adventures in Modern Recording: From ABC to ZTT’.&nbsp;

… in which we remember the luminous music and diabolical life of the last of the old rock and roll guard standing. And this includes … the weird old America he came from (backwoods country, religious sects with their transporting songs), the career-cancelling British tour in 1958, the electrifying Live at The Star Club album, the Steve Allen Show breakthrough and the Seven Wives of Jerry Lee Lewis. Much to applaud, much to deplore.&nbsp;… and some of his deathless lyrics eg ‘39 And Holding’ – ‘Dim lights hide the mileage line/ Clairol hides the grey/ And he won't mention anything to give his old age away’.&nbsp;Stevie Wonder’s ‘Talking Book’ was released 50 years ago this week. How did it change the landscape of electronic music forever?&nbsp;Jockstrap, First Aid Kit, Dry Cleaning, Small Feet, Thermos and Diarrhea Planet. One of these is not a real band. But which?&nbsp;The new ‘Revolver’ remix. A technological masterpiece but

Sheila’s portraits of ‘80s musicians and the club circuit filled the pages of magazines like the Face and Smash Hits at the time and now feature in her book ‘80s: Sound And Vision’. You’ll know a few from album sleeves too. She talks here about some favourites – Nick Logan in the Face office, Bryan Ferry, Bowie with Marc Bolan, Martin Fry in the famous gold lamé suit, Siouxsie in ‘Japanese chic’, Steve Strange and the day Frankie Goes To Hollywood turned up dressed as cowboys and swinging a lasso. The description of Leigh Bowery bursting out of a cab, festooned with piercings and painted blue, is worth the price of admission alone.&nbsp;&nbsp;‘80s: Sound and Vision’ by Sheila Rock …https://www.amazon.co.uk/80s-Sound-Vision-Nilgin-Yusuf/dp/0711278776Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon and receive every future Word Po

In the crosshairs this week …&nbsp;Sampha, Skepta? Mercury Prize winner or Italian sports-shoe brand?&nbsp;Was Revolver really the Beatles’ most “consequential” album?&nbsp;James Corden v Balthazar: fame in the age of social media.&nbsp;Liz Truss, Steven Gerrard, Bruce Springsteen and knowing “what it’s like to have failed with the whole world looking on”.&nbsp;Danny Baker’s selling 12,000 records: unsettling life-stage moments when you put your foot on the ball and look around the pitch.&nbsp;The joy of old books and finding pencil marks in the margin by other readers.&nbsp;Noel Coward in ‘In Which We Serve’ and were the Mountbattens “the orginal hot couple”?&nbsp;… and Simon Sebag Montefiore’s brilliant 213-song playlist of songs to accompany his new book “The World: A Family History” …<a href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0bXOS1k3hGKmfQCmbg21W4?si=CbdtROxeQi

Craig was on the pod last year talking about his glorious Beatles book ‘One Two Three Four’ and he’s just published a collection of his writing called ‘Haywire: the Best of Craig Brown’ – Private Eye diaries, columns, reviews, essays and other assorted comic gems. It’s very good indeed. “Satirists,” he reminds you, “are on the side of things going wrong.” Here are just a few of the topics that stumble into view in this very funny and illuminating ramble – John Stonehouse, the strange life of Arthur Lowe, “all entertainers are disturbed”, Bruce Springsteen as dictatorial bandleader, Liz Truss’s speech patterns, meeting people he’s lampooned in print, Kenneth Williams, Bruce Robinson’s preposterous Jack the Ripper book and how Lieutenant Pigeon is anagram (but of what?).&nbsp;Buy ‘Haywire: the Best Of Craig Brown’ and his other wonderful books here … <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Craig-Brown/e/B001HCVLIU%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share " rel="noopener noreferrer" targ

One of them is Sympathy For The Devil. The Stranglers are in the Top Five too, as are the Strawbs. The best-selling historian and documentary-maker has spent the last three years working on his monumental, all-encompassing new book, ‘The World: A Family History’, much of it hammered out to the sound of very loud music. And he’s made a playlist to accompany it that connects with this vast human drama – Billie Holiday, Billy Bragg, Ava Max and Elvis Costello all in the mix.&nbsp;He talks here about songwriters who are obsessed with history (Mick Jagger, Leonard Cohen, Dylan, Elton John), global events immortalised in song (“he got an ice pick that made his ears burn”) and about hangmen and papists, murderous 15th Century Moroccan pirate-queens, the “underrated” Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark and the mystery of “the great Elmyra”. It’s well worth a listen. And do send suggestions for any other great pop songs about history he could include.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p

In which we waspishly suggest the odd nip and tuck is now standard practice - and name a few obvious suspects. And alight upon …&nbsp;… Nick Hornby’s new book and the connections he’s found between Dickens and Prince.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;… support acts we’ve seen who became household names.&nbsp;… David’s dinner with Jess Phillips MP and what happened the day JK Rowling got a tour of the House of Commons.&nbsp;… the former hospital orderly who walked into Muscle Shoals studios and had a worldwide hit with his first recording.&nbsp;… the real identities of S. Flavius Mercurius and Bijou Drains.&nbsp;… the all-round wonderfulness of the London Palladium.&nbsp;… extracts from Bob Dylan’s new book and some of the songs he’ll be exploring.… and a query from birthday guest Cathal Chu.&nbsp;Grab your EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal by going to&nbsp;<a href="https:

Things picked up by the ankles this week and given a light shaking to see what falls out of their pockets …&nbsp;… why King Crimson is like no other band on God’s green earth.&nbsp;... a sweet story about a Let It Rock writer David's just met at a book event.&nbsp;… a McCartney Stackwaddy game.&nbsp;… when did rock souvenir posters become a thing?&nbsp;... why Robert Crumb didn’t apologise.&nbsp;... how we scored on the new life Questionnaire.&nbsp;… “the longer I practice, the luckier I get”.&nbsp;… Burke Shelley, poet laureate.&nbsp;… and an almost encounter with Colin Firth.&nbsp;Plus birthday guests Paul Cook and Steve Cadman.&nbsp;These are Paul Cook’s excellent Furlough Fashion posts and videos …&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;https://furlough

Things given a grilling this week in hot pursuit of revelation and entertainment …&nbsp;.. would YOU pay £45 to see Ian Brown and some backing tracks?&nbsp;… the life of the late Joe Bussard, collector of 25,000 78s “who partied like it was 1929”. Joe thought real jazz ended in 1933 and the last great country record was Jimmy Murphy’s I’m Looking For A Mustard Patch. We love this man.&nbsp;... career-shrinking band names.&nbsp;… Chunkz, Pieface and the Beast: new adventures in stadium-filling entertainment.&nbsp;… is Nuggets the most famous and influential compilation ever released?&nbsp;… best albums of cover versions – among them Moondog Matinee, the Seeger Sessions, Irish Heartbeat, McCartney’s Back In The USSR, Pin-Ups, These Foolish Things.&nbsp;… Paul Scholes meets Gary Neville.&nbsp;… rock stars separated by a single letter.&nbsp;… and more songs about

In powerful pursuit of amusement and distraction we aim the piercing supertrouper of scrutiny this week in the direction of …&nbsp;… why Ry Cooder MUST write a memoir.&nbsp;… records that sounded like nothing you’d ever heard before, eg the Message by Grandmaster Flash and Donna Summer’s I Feel Love.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;... nighttime footage of the State Funeral rehearsal.&nbsp;… why ‘Delhi Crime’ on TV makes the Wire’s Baltimore look like Stoke Poges.&nbsp;… dinner with the “fantastically indiscreet” Tony King.&nbsp;… why Hilary Mantel was such a phenomenal writer – and an extract that demonstrates it.&nbsp;… the return of the Stackwaddy game: James Brown/Frank Zappa track or advertising slogan?&nbsp;… Beefheart selling Aldous Huxley a vacuum cleaner.&nbsp;Plus … birthday patron Ed Newman beams in from his shift at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary with thoughts abou

The Eiffel Tower dimmed its lights, the radio played “music for a solemn occasion” and this week’s pod is a reflection about the woman who’s been Queen all our lives (and we’re old enough to remember the national anthem being played in cinemas), why she looked so heroically bored, her diplomatic approach to clapping, whether she viewed life “through binoculars held the wrong way round” and how hard it will be – and how long it will take - to adjust to a world without her. And the wonderful tale of Dave’s personal wave.Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for a whole world of extra and exclusive content and benefits: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See <a sty

Among the thoughts, theories and assorted old hokey in the firing line this week you will happily find …&nbsp;… rock biopics someone ought to be making&nbsp;… memories of Drummie Zeb and Aswad at Nottingham Boat Club&nbsp;… the time British Forces radio turned down Whitney Houston&nbsp;… the “awful fat man that spoilt Lady Di’s memorial for everyone”&nbsp;… the slight return of the Stackwaddy game - Prince’s pseudonyms!&nbsp;… Louis Armstrong at Batley Variety Club&nbsp;… Pete Drummond’s hilariously goofy intro to Tim Buckley’s Dream Letter live album&nbsp;... Townes Van Zandt reissued on 8-track: bizarre technology twist or inspired-but-fictional PR stunt?&nbsp;... ‘70s festivals that made the tent-torching Reading of 2022 look like a picnic&nbsp;… why even Pitbull, U2 and Usher are playing residencies in Las Vegas&nbsp;… the extr

Welcome to this week’s pod in which various white-hot topics are brought in for questioning, among them …&nbsp;… Whatever happened to Dando Shaft?&nbsp;… Alastair Sim, Terry-Thomas and flowsy saxophones in The Belles of St Trinian’s&nbsp;… Does it matter if music-making acts are fictitious or that rappers are artificial and produced by computer graphics and AI?&nbsp;… how many people were in Keith Tippett’s Centipede (the clue’s in the name)?&nbsp;… Titus Groan and Demon Fuzz&nbsp;… is there anything the lily-livered music business is prepared to defend?&nbsp;… puddings delivered by Deliveroo&nbsp;… Jann Wenner and the caviar spoons&nbsp;… the ‘greening’ of Reading Festival&nbsp;… and what kind of sane world allows pop music at hotel breakfasts?----------Grab your EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal by going to&nbsp;<a

In bold and vigorous pursuit of entertainment we steer via the following topics …&nbsp;… Thora Hird with a rifle.&nbsp;… acts who wrote rejected songs for Bond movies.&nbsp;… the legend of Van Duren.&nbsp;… hilariously awful revelations about the private plane use of Taylor Swift, Tom Cruise, Steven Spielberg etc on @CelebJets.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;… is pop music now largely about an old thing re-discovered?&nbsp;… the late Judith Durham of the Seekers and other great ‘stirring’ voices of our time.&nbsp;… a record we haven’t played for 44 years.&nbsp;… Beyoncé and her re-written lyric (and can it really need 25 people to write a song?).&nbsp;… exploding gas cylinders, toppled lighting towers, mass arson and looting, State troopers … the new Netflix three-part doc ‘Trainwreck: Woodstock 99’, the gripping – genuinely shocking – chronicle of one of the lowest points

Our weekly stroll through the sunlit uplands of rock and roll visits the following topics …… Bob Dylan’s worst lyrics… musicians in movies, actors who made albums (Judi Dench?) and the slight return of the Stackwaddy game… why Hole in The Ground is the greatest comedy record ever made, plus the staggering versatility of Bernard Cribbins… the contents of the basket at the beginning of Two-Way Stretch… the incomparable comic genius of Clive James… the achingly self-conscious Barack Obama summer reading and playlist. Kendrick Lamar? Bad Bunny &amp; Bomba Estéreo? You sure?… the night at the Railway Tavern in 1964 that Pete Townshend accidently invented “auto-destruction”… and live consumption of fruity summer ale from&nbsp;the Ink Spot micropub in Newbiggin by the Sea (thanks to Simon and Ange).&nbsp;&nbsp;‘Hole In The Ground’ by Bernard Cribbins …<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-JVnlB7Onk" re

While Mark Ellen is away in his French chateau, David Hepworth goes off on one about Bruce Springsteen tours and why you can't use "dynamic pricing" in the world of live music and why the concert-going audience can always be divided into the bringer and the brung.Plus Alex Gold explains why he chose to go to southern Italy in the middle of an unprecedented heat wave with not one but two pairs of Doc Martens while also throwing light on the eternal mystery of why young men will put up with discomfort and privation on a medieval scale as long as they're in a band.Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon to receive every future Word Podcast before the rest of the world - and with full visuals!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreo

In which we paddle our conversational canoe through the rock and roll backwaters, stopping off this week at …&nbsp;… the closure of Word magazine ten years ago and what we miss – and don’t miss - about it.&nbsp;… who in their right mind in this day and age would possibly want to be famous?&nbsp;… Bruce Findlay, the country’s only famous record store owner.&nbsp;… the energetic sexual activities of Dave Davies in his new memoir and the uniquely mid-‘60s British concept of ‘kinkiness’.&nbsp;… Dave Grohl reaches ‘the Meldrew Point’ – as old as Richard Wilson when he first played Victor Meldrew (who was a year older than Wilfred Brambell when he played Paul’s grandad).&nbsp;.. the documentary someone should make about the Rubettes.&nbsp;… Manny Charlton of Nazareth RIP and the bizarre pop fact that one of their biggest hits was a Joni Mitchell cover.&nbsp;… handcuffed men in c

High in the conversational mix this week …&nbsp;&nbsp;… the return the Stackwaddy game! - do Ben &amp; Jerry’s do a Bohemian Raspberry? Are there really Apple Music genres called Pillow Talk and Countrypolitan?&nbsp;… Errol Flynn and his dachshund water-skiing.&nbsp;… James Caan’s opening scene in Misery.… is Nick Kyrgios the first ‘rap’ tennis star?&nbsp;… why ‘Indie’ doesn’t tolerate non-conformity (or success) – plus Razorlight and other bands who let you down.&nbsp;… bizarre combinations of celebrities we’ve bumped into at the BBC – eg Ronnie Corbett and Ladysmith Black Mambazo.&nbsp;.. the vital importance of communal suffering at rock festivals.&nbsp;… and can you get your money’s worth from a £1.5m one-off original Bob Dylan musical ‘artwork’?--------Grab your EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal by going to&nbsp;<a href="http://nordvpn.com/yourear" r

Nearly every Island act seemed impossibly hip, characterful and charismatic and much of that was down to the vision and long-term belief of the man who founded the label and ran it for 30 years. Chris Blackwell beams in from Goldeneye, the Ian Fleming estate he bought in Jamaica, to remember Errol Flynn and his dachshund waterskiing, the wit and charm of Noel Coward, record-buying trips for the local jukeboxes and sound-systems and the story of Millie’s My Boy Lollipop, and talks about his relationship with Free, Traffic, Tom Waits, U2 and Roxy Music (also the ones that got away like Madonna). At one point he explains how he and Bob Marley modified Jamaican reggae to give it international appeal and there’s a great moment where he relives the overpowering effect of first hearing Trevor Horn’s production of Two Tribes. Chris’s memoir The Islander is published by Bonnier Books.&nbsp;The Islander by Chris Blackwell …&nbsp;<a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Islander-

On June 18, along with four guests, we held a party for Paul McCartney on his 80th in front of a big crowd in the magical tented arena at Opera Holland Park in West London. This was a lot of fun from start to finish, fond memories, forgotten songs, new angles, personal meetings, fresh theories and fascinating unknown tales.In this second part of the show Danny Baker talks about a lost masterpiece, does the McCartney walk, fights the corner for some of his least loved songs, puts him in perspective, sings impressively and tells the Besame Mucho/TFI Friday story.And our last guest is Graham Gouldman who was writing big hits for the Hollies, the Yardbirds and many others in the ‘60s before he co-founded 10cc. How did songwriters react to a new Beatles single? What did he nick from Things We Said Today? What are the McCartney signatures? How is it humanly possible to play those bass parts and sing at the same time?This episode comes rammed with revelatio

On June 18 we laid on a celebration of all things McCartney on his 80th in the magical tented arena at Opera Holland Park in West London. People came from all corners of the globe. It turned out to be a feast of fond memories, forgotten songs, fresh perspectives, personal encounters, original theories and fascinating unknown tales.&nbsp;In this first half, David and Mark talk to the broadcaster Geoff Lloyd – who once had him on his radio show and gave him random instruments to see if he could get a tune out of them and part-written songs to finish off. Geoff was born in ‘73 and pieced together the McCartney story via an interesting route. His account of meeting him is electrifying.&nbsp;&nbsp;Our second guest is the writer, star of the literary world and co-host of the Backlisted podcast Andy Miller, onstage wearing very special McCartney-related clothes for a very special reason. Like all of us, he watched Get Back and was astonished by what he learnt ab

Appetising items on our lavish tray of conversational hors d'oeuvres this week include:-&nbsp;Billie Eilish, 20, (“the youngest at headliner at Glastonbury”) and pop stars who started even younger – “Little” Stevie Winwood, Stevie Wonder, Ranking Roger, Annabella Lwin, Alex Chilton and Peter Frampton.&nbsp;“The poison of criminal violence and gang warfare” (supposedly Brighton in 1948) and other highlights of Brighton Rock.&nbsp;The Stones – what they heard when the screaming stopped and the Hyde Park show 53 years ago.&nbsp;Kate Bush on Woman’s Hour.&nbsp;Found in the attic: an old copy of Smash Hits from 1982 and the rich variety on offer - the Belle Stars, Monsoon, Kid Creole &amp; the Coconuts, The Teardrop Explodes on a bill with Queen, Vic Godard goes swing, Scritti Politti, Neil Tennant on Hambi &amp; The Dance.&nbsp;A did-they-play-day-or-night-at-Woodstock parlour game.&nbsp;TLC v

Among the things of great import we ran up the flagpole this week:-&nbsp;Why Baz Lurhmann’s new movie will do for Elvis what Get Back’s done for the Beatles.&nbsp;Highlights of our Word In Your Park show – what happened on Geoff Lloyd’s McCartney radio special involving a flugelhorn? What was Andy Miller wearing and why? What obscure McCartney track did Danny Baker say was a masterpiece? What did Graham Gouldman nick from Things We Said Today when writing hits for the Hollies?&nbsp;The John Peel auction and the prices people paid for an Oz Obscenity Trial vest, copies of Sniffin’ Glue and a postcard from John Lennon.&nbsp;Is punk the new pop memorabilia sweet spot?Why gigs are getting longer.&nbsp;How music hall shaped the first pop package tours.&nbsp;Dads and daughters at concerts.&nbsp;Plus patron birthday guest Andrew Stocks and a Fava’s Day gift from Keith Adsley.<p

Topics off the leash this week include …&nbsp;The Talent v Charisma pie chart you can apply to any act.&nbsp;“Double-concentrated Liam” versus “diluted Noel”, an update on the Oasis land-grab.&nbsp;A second helping of the “Pete Doherty swaps crack for Camembert” story.&nbsp;Liverpool taxi-driver, 25, claims to have never heard of the Rolling Stones: could this be possible?&nbsp;Pop stars infinitely older (or younger) than you imagined.&nbsp;Learning to speak fluent tabloid – “the Here Comes The Sun hit-makers”, “the Paint It Black chart-busters” etc …Marc Bolan is a “thin” concept. Bolan + Pies/Booze doesn’t work.&nbsp;Plus Petula Clark, Andy Summers, Japan, Michael Owen and Toni Basil.----------------Tickets for Word In The Park in London on June 18th here: <a href="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/were-throwing-a-party-for-paul-mccartneys-8

We give the week a spirited shakedown to see what falls out of its pockets. And this includes …&nbsp;The late Ronnie Hawkins – road hog, stunt diver, bootleg liquor smuggler!&nbsp;Who’s the only original rock and roller now still alive?&nbsp;If you went to see Jeff Beck and Johnny Depp lumbered on to “jam”, how monumentally hacked off would you be?&nbsp;Kiss have handed in their lunchpails and eyebrow pencils. Shouldn’t more hoary old rock acts “retire out of self-respect”?&nbsp;What Danny Boyle’s Pistol mini-series explains about the band’s urge to succeed – and its corniest moments revisited.&nbsp;Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Lady Gaga ... any other musicians who cut it on-screen?&nbsp;&nbsp;What are the great songs about communal experience along with Thanks For The Memory, I Will Survive, Born To Run, Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve) and Airhead’s Funny How?<

Framed in the piercing super-trouper of perusal this week …&nbsp;The highs and lows of Danny Boyle’s new Sex Pistols biopic.&nbsp;The best in-car music for road trips (Paul Simon, Steely Dan, Rufus Wainwright …).&nbsp;How do Thom Yorke’s children feel about their father’s brilliant new album (the Smile) still sounding like the work of a bleating teenager?&nbsp;The late Alan White (of Yes), a working drummer since the age of 13.&nbsp;&nbsp;Has social media destroyed the celebrity interview by revealing how star-struck we all are?&nbsp;The joy of never googling an artist and allowing them to remain a glorious mystery.&nbsp;The unusual position in Depeche Mode occupied by Andy Fletcher.&nbsp;&nbsp;Can classical musicians understand pop music?&nbsp;When Pink Floyd met Yehudi Menuhin.&nbsp;The Common ground between cricket and Spinal Tap.&nbsp

This week we've been mainly talking about....Could The Smile be the first side-project to eclipse the mothership?Is the kitchen the place we mainly listen to music these days?Bob Neuwirth - the man who helped Dylan become DylanVangelis - the man whose music was more famous than the filmWhy do American newspapers make pop records sound as dull as set books?Here's friend of the pod Owen Parker.https://www.owenparker.co.uk-----------------Make a pact to make better coffee. If you haven’t tried Pact Coffee yet, we’ll help you get started with 50% off your first and third order when you create a new Pact Plan.Go to&nbsp;https://www.pactcoffee.com/Create

Entertainments, thrills and diversions at the end of the rock and roll seaside pier this week include …&nbsp;Things we want to see in a Bob Dylan museum.&nbsp;Why the upcoming Spinal Tap sequel fills us with excitement and dread in equal measure.&nbsp;The pub in Cornwall that Vogue magazine tried to sue.&nbsp;&nbsp;Is ‘Exile’ the best Stones album or just their most fashionable? And a new book about Nellcôte – “urchins living in wealth and splendour”.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The brief return of the Stackwaddy game - Springsteen or Taylor Swift lyric? YOU be the judge!&nbsp;&nbsp;The fizzing cacophony of the Smash Hits office.&nbsp;Why do most TV series (apart from Breaking Bad) start well and fizzle out?&nbsp;A trailer for ‘The Curious Chronicles of Villa Nellcôte’ by Geir Hornes here …ht

The dazzling super trouper of gentle enquiry is trained this week upon:-&nbsp;Our recent encounter with John Lydon – his high viz shirt, his smoking habit and his usefully commercial righteous indignation about the upcoming Danny Boyle-directed ‘Pistol’ TV series.&nbsp;Why Spinal Tap was a blessing and a curse for their real-life drummer Ric Parnell (RIP).&nbsp;The magnificent bucolic frolic held in the memory of the Old Grey Whistle Test producer Mike Appleton.&nbsp;The sad fate of Jackie Wilson.&nbsp;The “pleasant illness” of record collecting.&nbsp;Musicians who died onstage.&nbsp;Why comedians might start to need bodyguards&nbsp;The curious meaning of a “stone fox chase”.----------Make a pact to make better coffee. If you haven’t tried Pact Coffee yet, we’ll help you get started with 50% off your first and third order when you create a new

Folk deity, songwriter and festival figurehead, Kate Rusby was raised on Planxty and De Dannan but staged a rebellion with Smash Hits and “storytelling songs” by A-ha. High in the mix in this splendid pod are “people who sing like a bird”, Nanci Griffith, Nic Jones’ Penguin Eggs, being on Top Of The Pops with Ronan Keating, “2p bus rides anywhere in Yorkshire”, Lyle Lovett, stage fright in Hyde Park, winning a folk competition aged 15, Dan Tyminski as George Clooney and why she’s evangelical about Bob Fox and Stu Luckly. 30th Anniversary album …https://www.amazon.co.uk/30-Happy-Returns-Kate-Rusby/dp/B09VPMYB1F Tour dates …https://katerusby.com/gigs/ Underneath the Stars Festival …<a href="https://underneaththestarsfes

… which may or may not feature Noel Coward, Slade, the KLF and the Spice Girls.&nbsp;Other key items in pursuit of entertainment this week include:-&nbsp;When did British pop turn female?&nbsp;The glorious notion that boyfriends who don’t work out are “Near Mrs”.&nbsp;The best band this decade! (clue: it’s Wet Leg).&nbsp;The endlessly rewatchable qualities of Moneyball and The Big Short.&nbsp;Cary Grant: “All men want to be Cary Grant? I want to be Cary Grant!”&nbsp;The singular magic of the Hot Club of Cowtown.&nbsp;Who invented the term “rock and roll”?&nbsp;Who bought a song called Real Ugly Woman from the teenage Leiber &amp; Stoller?&nbsp;&nbsp;Band members who slept with each other.&nbsp;Alan Freed being sued by Moondog.&nbsp;And the certifiable fact that only one person was ever better as a solo artist than in

White-hot topics examined this week include:-&nbsp;The sweeping return of Britpop (Shed Seven, Reverend and the Makers, how did they get so huge?)&nbsp;Has Nick Mason won Pink Floyd? Has Liam Gallagher won Oasis?&nbsp;Record shops that shaped our lives like the Record Bar in Wakefield.&nbsp;The amazing Nick Cave merchandise range (now encompassing tea-sets, crockery, tiles, wallpaper, jewellery and “the Warren Ellis Pure Exploitation Egg Cup”).&nbsp;What Frank Sinatra claimed was a “filthy Communist lie”.Is there a better chronicler of the shades of middle age than Nick Lowe?&nbsp;Can the current Little Feat line-up really be called Little Feat?&nbsp;Acts that stand for something.&nbsp;Happy 40th birthday to Moon Zappa’s Valley Girl!&nbsp;Is there a more irritating adjective than “awesome”?&nbsp;‘Dogs with fleas, allergies/A book of G

Among the key questions being booted round the block this week in hot pursuit of entertainment:-&nbsp;Why is the billing of the Rolling Stones as just “Stones” on the current tour posters a monstrous affront to human decency?&nbsp;Why are Mozart and PG Wodehouse “like two peas in a pod”?&nbsp;Is there a better literary simile than “the drowsy stillness of the afternoon was shattered by what sounded like GK Chesterton falling on a sheet of tin”?&nbsp;Would pub rock, punk and the ‘80s club boom have ever happened if it hadn’t been for the mighty Time Out?&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;What’s the howling error in all the Battle of Britain movies?&nbsp;And what pitiful fee did Yvonne Elliman choose to accept instead of royalties for the Jesus Christ Superstar album?&nbsp;And birthday patron guest Stephen Lambe has a couple of questions for the panel.&nbsp;&nbsp;----------"G

Among the delights this week:-&nbsp;Pink Floyd’s single for Ukraine (the best peace anthem ever?) and the song Bruce Springsteen played the night Saddam Hussein’s statue came down in Baghdad.&nbsp;A man who has 227 Kiss albums.&nbsp;Warners’ talent scout Andy Wickham (RIP), the house hippy who opened the door for Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Neil Young, Gram Parsons and a-ha (a movie waiting to happen).&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The members of Big In Japan (a book and documentary waiting to happen).&nbsp;The snack bar Brimful Of Rasher, the Greek restaurant I Should Be Souvlaki and other sparkling retail puns.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The welcome return of “What gets my goat?”&nbsp;And birthday patron Chuck Loncon on the comedy classics of Kinky Friedman and Bob Newhart.&nbsp;--------&nbsp;Andriy Khlyvnyuk of Ukrainian band Boombox singing the WW1 folk protest song "The Red V

Will Smith did something at the Academy Awards which showed what he cared about most - did you notice it too? Our blow-by-blow account of the moment everyone missed.&nbsp;* Plus … a man who has 25 Big Country albums (and other unlikey acts whose records we obsessively collect).* Is there any band still going after 50 years with more original members than Roxy Music?* The enduring joy of Joe Jackson’s Look Sharp! and Night And Day.* And the kind of thing they let you put on an album cover 50 years ago.Tickets for Word In The Park in London on June 18th here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/were-throwing-a-party-for-paul-mccartneys-80th-and-youre-invited-tickets-259008229587Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon and receive every future Word Podcast before the rest

In which we salute the charismatic Taylor Hawkins – and the magnetic appeal of brothers in arms (Taylor &amp; Dave, Pete and Carl, Bruce and Clarence, John and Paul) - invent some rock and roll retirement homes (Itchycoo Park, Barrytown, In The Land Of Grey And Pink), stage an album sleeve style-off and wonder if ‘80s hair will ever make a comeback. Other things mentioned in despatches include Cruising With Ruben &amp; the Jets, the Wailing Wailers, Broadcast News, Working Girl and whether Strawberry Switchblade and Pete Wylie have their Smash Hits covers on their living room walls.&nbsp;Steve Lamacq’s Drumming Masterclass with Taylor Hawkins: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwjEc8S0PRoTickets for Word In The Park in London on Saturday June 18th here: <a href="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/were-throwing-a-party-for-paul-mccartneys-80th-and-youre-invited-ticke

Entertaining things subjected to wry and rigorous scrutiny this week include:-&nbsp;* The most bizarre and tenuous rock autobiographies – eg the tell-all revelations of Elvis Presley’s nurse, Primal Scream’s tambourine player, Sinatra’s valet and the girl who made John Lennon a cheese sandwich.* How Roger Daltrey wound up living in a van.* Aimee Mann v Steely Dan and the curious world of support acts.* Would you rather see a “legend” or the next big thing?&nbsp;* The noble tradition of song stealing in reggae.&nbsp;* “Your bus leaves in ten minutes, be under it!” and other inspired ways of dealing with hecklers.&nbsp;&nbsp;* If you mailed a letter to 'Andy Partridge, Swindon' or 'Rod Stewart, Essex', would they get it?&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;* And Dolly Parton’s dignified escape from the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.&nbsp;Plus there’s a ceremonial reading of Bono’s piss-poor poe

Have you ever heard a band but couldn’t work out where their sound came from? We’re saying: only once. What connects the Sweet’s Blockbuster! to Willie Dixon’s Hoochie Coochie Man? How can Noel Gallagher complain that musicians can’t afford instruments when instruments have never been cheaper? Why is songwriting now like VAR? Has anyone had more preposterous names than the offspring of Grimes and Elon Musk? How did Nile Rodgers transform Let’s Dance? … plus literary theft, smoking in films, Eno’s Music For Airports, Dylan’s new book, NordVPN and the movies you can watch endless times and why (Master And Commander and Brief Encounter among them).Grab your EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal by going to&nbsp;nordvpn.com/yourear&nbsp;or use the code yourear to get a

There’s “pop star good looks” - as opposed to “film star good looks” - and there’s “indie good looks” ... but which acts were a hundred per cent hot? Plus … is there any such thing as an original pop song? How did the Linn Drum make us accept the mechanical? What’s the source of a lot of canned laughter? What was Springsteen’s great act of betrayal? And we explore the benefits of Nord VPN by way of South Korea’s favourite comedy and Peter Sellers and Bernard Cribbins in Two-Way Stretch. And birthday patron Jon Collins gets to call a meeting.Grab your EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal by going to&nbsp;nordvpn.com/yourear&nbsp;or use the code yourear to get a Huge Discount off your NordVPN Plan + 1 additional month for free + a bonus gift! It’s completely risk fr

In which we skip the light fandango through live recordings full of extraneous noise – hecklers on a Lou Reed track, barking dogs on a Joe Henry album, the audience chatter on Bill Evans at the Village Vanguard – remember why Gary Brooker’s voice was so affecting and applaud PJ O’Rourke’s wisdom about the art of childrearing. And turn cartwheels in the direction of a guesthouse run by a member of Horslips, an early sighting of “Little” Stevie Winwood, the Queen track not to play at funerals and a touching encounter with Dave Clark. Plus birthday patron guest Avi Chaudhuri gets to set the agenda.&nbsp;PJ O’Rourke …https://youtu.be/n775HebQKMI?t=197&nbsp;Joe Henry and barking dog …https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0KmtMgiTuo&nbsp;Dylan’s Every

Piping hot topics fondly booted round the park this week include … are any actors ever convincing when playing a famous rock star? Does it matter if movies “based on a true story” are largely fiction? Why David’s never got on with Love’s Forever Changes. Did Entertainment Weekly exist just to provide a pleasant lifestyle for the people who worked on it? Plus … the connection between Captain Beefheart and blue cheese, Eddie Izzard’s drilling cats, memorable art theft, tambourine players in rock and another great story about ‘Under My Thumb’ being played at a wedding reception. And birthday-partying patrons David Carroll and Adrian Ainsworth put their questions to the panel and flag up Japan and ‘Strange Kind of Love’ by Love And Money.&nbsp;&nbsp;Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis …https://youtu.be/OWi2lFLe4Cg&nbsp;Inventing Anna …<a href="https://youtu.be/65xa8TG2

Among the items for your distraction and entertainment this week … Do people still form bands? The tangled story of the Aqualung artwork. The skull-cracking number of albums released every day. Instructions on record sleeves – “Horslips: “file under reasonably popular”. The Atom Heart Mother cow. The Wagatha Christie legal costs. Art critics’ lofty pronouncements about the fate of “the average band”. The link between the 12-inch sleeve and the shield of the native American warrior. And the thrilling and imminent arrival of David Hepworth’s 4-CD compilation ‘Deep 70s: Underrated Cuts From A Misunderstood Decade’ and the monstrous fun he had compiling it (paging Patto, Sharks, Bridget St John …). Plus birthday patreon guest Nick Foreman calls a meeting.&nbsp;David Hepworth’s Deep ‘70s compilation …<a href="https://www.demonmusicgroup.co.uk/catalogue/releases/david-hepworth-deep-70s-underrated-cuts-from-a-misunderstood-decade-signed-edition/" rel="noopener noreferr

In the crosshairs this week … how Mike Campbell’s masterpiece was almost eaten by machinery, who made five great albums in five years?, “a mix is never finished it’s merely abandoned”, Robert Plant at Kidderminster Harriers, hand-written notes from Half Man Half Biscuit, god bless Alex Harvey, the expulsion of the vax-free Woody Woodmansey and birthday guest Keith Adsley explains the Temple of Seitan.&nbsp;Mike Campbell talks about the Boys Of Summer …https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxBYBnPJfGQSubscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon and receive every Word Podcast before the rest of the world - and with full visuals!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear <a target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href="https://open.acast.com/public/patreon/fanSubscribe/4

Who invented the rock spectacle? Has Adele got a touch of Imposter Syndrome? What was Barry Cryer’s gag about the Pretenders? Which bands devised their own mottos? Who’s Floating Points? How did they mic up the bagpipes on the Jeff Beck’s Truth? What the juggins is “paralinguistics”? Where did the Velvet Underground reunion go wrong? Plus a birthday visit from patreon supporter Kevin Rose, aka the manager of Athenlay Park U12.Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon and receive every future Word Podcast before the rest of the world - and with full visuals!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href=

A candlelit episode boldly addressing the burning issues du jour, among which you’ll find … Is old music killing new music?; actors that should play rock stars (Keeley Hawes IS Kirsty MacColl, Martin Freeman IS Noel Gallagher); legendary Procol Harum roadie and whistle-blower Kelloggs; a riot at a Dutch Stones gig in '64; fast songs done as ballads; a roll-call of Smash Hits’ pop nicknames; Magic Alex in a strip club in High Wycombe (cue the old gag “my mother doesn’t know I’m in advertising, I told her I play piano in a brothel”); selling your children to see the Who; roadies who should be immortalised on film; and our advice to the BBC re the licence fee farrago.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;https://tedgioia.substack.com/p/is-old-music-killing-new-music&nbsp;The riot at the Stones’ gig in 1964 …<a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/songsphilos

What’s the difference between “chin music and beard music”? What’s the most you’d pay for a ticket? What happened when the Pope went record shopping? Will the Beatles’ Get Back be used in management instruction videos? What 45s sound good at 33? Who’s the classic Dad Rock band? ... these and other burning issues are addressed in this episode along with Fleetwood Mac: The Rugby Shirt Years, Brian Epstein’s A Cellarful Of Noise and the powerful romantic fantasies of the Ronettes’ first album.&nbsp;Plus self-isolating birthday guest Paul Knox beams in from Hong Kong.Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon and receive every future Word Podcast before the rest of the world - and with full visuals!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon<br

In which we choose a new National Anthem, tell the story of Hamish Grimes and the Clapton graffito, salute the best moments in Frasier and feel the powerful effect of the 'You Can All Join In' sampler on male fashion. Plus … swearing, albums to test your hi-fi and David Hepworth’s fantasy rock band in 1963.&nbsp;Our Spotify playlist of new National Anthems …https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5ZGUB014llDjmDyH1nPK7K?si=ox2lqc5IRW6-c-efaZdKaQ Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon and receive every future Word Podcast before the rest of the world - and with full visuals!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear G

In which we look at Sly Stone, Stevie Wonder, the Staple Singers and Gladys Knight in the fabulous Harlem concert film from 1969. And think what possessions we might bother to keep in a house fire. And wonder if Stop Making Sense is the greatest live performance ever filmed. And talk to someone – birthday patron Andrew Slattery, no less! – who listened to 1,000 albums in 2021. Plus ... Coldplay's recording retirement and the short list of acts who still make good records after 25 years.Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon and receive every future Word Podcast before the rest of the world... and with full visuals!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See <a style

In which we salute the comic genius of Ronnie “Fletcher” Barker and Fulton “Mackay” Mackay, fantasise about autobiographies still to come (Neil Tennant, Pet Clark, John Paul Jones, Noel Gallagher), are mildly appalled by the new My Sweet Lord video and play two bracing rounds of Spot the Genuine Christmas single (Beck’s Little Drum-Machine Boy? Half Man Half Biscuit’s Deck The Halls With Buddy Holly?). Gary Chrimble to all, and a gear New Year!Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon and receive every future Word Podcast before the rest of the world - and with full visuals!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener

In which we remember the lightness of touch and winning gallows humour of Mike Nesmith and the interesting ways he made and spent his fortunes. And it’s 50 years since There’s A Riot Goin’ On, the most radical record to ever top the US charts, and 40 years since the girls transformed the Human League. Plus Hepworth’s “confessions of an amateur weed smoker”, the less you pay for records the better they are, and the gloriously daft reason ELO’s first album was called “No Answer” in the States. New patrons are literally piped aboard with a bosun’s whistle!Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon and receive every future Word Podcast before the rest of the world - and with full visuals!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon<p s

In which we remember the “Smoke On The Water” fire at Montreux Casino, the soft melancholy of some underrated Christmas records, wonder which documentaries could get a Get Back remake and address the burning issues of the day: eg worst perms in rock, Ed Sheeran &amp; Elton John, vegan bands in waiting, legendary pop recluses and what our ‘most played’ Spotify tracklist says about us.Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon and receive every Word Podcast before the rest of the world!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Peter’s been on the pod before talking about the Beatles and Crosby Stills Nash &amp; Young, and he’s just published a fascinating account of the ‘60s sexual revolution, a time when a new and unimaginable freedom collided spectacularly with the hand-wringing Victorian values of the media. We talked to him at the West Hampstead Arts Club about Mick Jagger v Mary Whitehouse, the Avengers, Jenny Fabian’s Groupie, Bond movies, Germaine Greer, the Killing of Sister George, Dirk Bogarde, Cliff Richard as an unconvincing sex symbol, Jane Birkin, Michael Caine in Alfie, John &amp; Yoko, the concept of ‘Kinkiness’ and the pop records that sailed close to the wind.&nbsp;@Peter_Doggett&nbsp;Growing Up: Sex In The Sixties …https://www.amazon.co.uk/Growing-Up-Sixties-Peter-Doggett/dp/184792428XSubscribe to Word In Your Ear o

Recorded at the West Hampstead Arts Club - we're back in the outside world! - the band’s bassist remembers their label’s hopes of selling 5,000 copies of their first album in the autumn of ’77. His just-published memoir recounts the rollercoaster that followed, from the London pub circuit to Compass Point, Live Aid, the gigantic world tours that took in the Eastern Bloc, the sales-boosting arrival of MTV and the CD boom, and how it felt to land back on earth when they called a halt in the mid-‘90s. The early days are fascinating too, a friendship forged with Mark Knopfler over Little Feat, JJ Cale and Ry Cooder albums and the dream-like events of their record deal and rapid ascent.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;@John_Illsley&nbsp;My Life In Dire Straits …https://www.amazon.co.uk/My-Life-Dire-Straits-Biggest-ebook/dp/B08WBXZCQ1<br

In which we remember being at Sarm Studios 37 years ago as Bob Geldof and Midge Ure marshalled the troops, and look at the reaction to the Get Back movie, Alan Hull, Al Stewart’s energetic love life, Billy Preston and others flown in to keep bands together, Lenny Kaye’s record-filing ruse and why John Illsey had the best job in the world. Plus the return of the Stackwaddy Game - spot the made up musical genre (Skweee, Simpsonwave, Soyabilly etc).Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon to receive every future Word Podcast before the rest of the world - plus loads more!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener nore

Lenny Kaye’s just published ‘Lightning Striking: Ten Transformative Moments In Rock And Roll’, events in particular times and places that changed the landscape, among them (and discussed here) Liverpool in 1962, New York in 1975 and Seattle in 1991. In the digital world, will we ever have that kind of local music scene again? His fascinating observations include driving to San Francisco for the Love-In, the world of CBGBs, Norwegian Black Metal, life in the Patti Smith Group and some of “the eccentric characters I feel naturally drawn to” which include Joe Meek, Stiv Bators and the Ramones. Among the questions: what’s the correct way to file Captain Beefheart, under ‘C’ or ‘B’? This is a man whose record collection is divided into “food groups” and includes “a wacko section”. He’s wonderful company.&nbsp;&nbsp;Lightning Striking …https://www.a

In which we watch a breathtaking 40-minute piece of oratory by EC that takes in David Hockney, TikTok, Laurel &amp; Hardy, what Pete Thomas did during Lockdown and how to avoid your new album being “just another bucket of herring tossed into the stream”. And go to the Premiere of Peter Jackson’s Get Back. And remember some slightly hopeless second albums (ABC, Stones, Arctic Monkeys, Tracy Chapman) and some prime examples of the “front-loaded” LP (Let’s Dance, the Joshua Tree etc). And delight in discovering the snobbery of people who work in record shops is still apparent when you’re trying to buy an Ornette Coleman CD.Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon and receive every future Word Podcast before the rest of the world - and with full visuals!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear <a target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href="https://open.acast.com/public/patreon

In which we salute the great ‘60s pop writer and Beatles associate Maureen Cleave, find a copy of Melody Maker from the week Hunky Dory was released (the Rainbow opens, Lindisfarne banned from Brighton Dome after fans dance in aisles! etc), talk to Chris Topham of the Plane Groovy label about the vinyl crisis (there’s a seven-month wait to get a record pressed), check the map of the biggest-selling music acts from each UK county and get to the root of the old Sounds headline “My naked bath-nights with Olivia Newton-John”.&nbsp;Chris Topham’s Plane Groovy Records …https://www.planegroovy.com/toppo.html&nbsp;Maureen Cleave’s famous ‘How Does A Beatle Live?’ piece …http://headsup.freeshell.org/beatles-articles/standard.html&nbsp;<

In which we kick about with music at weddings, spin-off groups, the bracing challenge of Trout Mask Replica, why pop music needs no awards, the Lionel Blair gag on I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue, a 42-disc boxset, skippable album tracks, the Stones still playing Midnight Rambler, McCartney on LP Hartley, Hamlet and Dylan Thomas, and rhyming slang we’d never heard – eg lunch: “a pint of Shaun Ryder, two Bills and a Giorgio Armani”. Plus the tragedy of the Astroworld Festival.&nbsp;That Lionel Blair and Sammy Davis tap-off in 1961:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrS_XEBuFSU&nbsp;Bob Lefsetz on the rock festival safety crisis:https://lefsetz.com/wordpress/2021/11/06/astroworld/Word In Your Ear live in London on November 22nd: <p

In which we debunk the eye-watering Adele Hyde Park ticket prices, note the crowd-losing absence of choruses in Nick Drake songs, remember the strangest onstage guests, marvel at McCartney’s childhood memories and applaud Steve Van Zandt’s theory about the beginning and end of rock music. And birthday patron Giles Fraser is piped aboard plus his proposition about rock and roll legacy.Giles Fraser's Let's Fly: https://www.troubador.co.uk/bookshop/contemporary/lets-fly/Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon and receive every future Word Podcast before the rest of the world... alongside a whole lot more!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear <a target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href="https://open.acast.com/public/patreon/fanSubscribe/

Daniel Rachel, old pal of the pod, has just published ‘Like Some Forgotten Dream: What If The Beatles Hadn’t Split Up?’, much of it drawn from his access to the Let It Be tapes and full of enthralling details about the highs and lows of the band’s last year. This includes precisely what happened after George stormed out in Jan ’69, the stories of Gimme Some Truth, Cold Turkey and All Things Must Pass, missed press news opportunities, the Scottish car crash, the Toronto Peace Concert and a fantasy tracklist for the double album they could have made in 1970. And much fond talk of their personal chemistry. “There was no showboating, everybody served the song and the idea of making music surpassed everything.”@DanielRachel69https://www.amazon.co.uk/Like-Some-Forgotten-Dream-Beatles/dp/1788403207Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on

One of the great Lockdown success stories now has a book attached. This magnificent invention started in March last year and, at one point, Tim was hosting 10 Listening Parties a day. He looks back here at some of the ones he loved the most and how the Four Lions movie got the ball rolling. And talks about the Beach Boys, Iggy Pop, Discharge, Vashti Bunyan’s horse-drawn trip to the Hebrides and (aged 13) seeing Crass in a scout hut in Winsford.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;https://timstwitterlisteningparty.com/&nbsp;All past editions … …https://timstwitterlisteningparty.com/pages/all.html&nbsp;@LlSTENlNG_PARTY&nbsp;The Listening Party book …<a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Listening-Party-Artists-Reflect-Favourite/dp/0241514

In which we watch the Harmony Game (the fabulous doc about the making of Bridge Over Troubled Water), wonder if the British are qualified to play Country, hear the new Let It Be outtakes (the Fabs playing ‘Fancy My Chances With You’ and George ordering cauliflower cheese), consider the genius of Every Breath You Take, the Stones dropping Brown Sugar and the moment dance music changed from songs to grooves, and salute the Apple Scruff who sang on Across the Universe.&nbsp;The new Let It Be outtakes on Spotify …&nbsp;https://open.spotify.com/album/1BdxbYp1FaNejpDgtDo25V?si=SDCZXciQRUqQTG0dcsP2dA&nbsp;Paul Simon and fan …&nbsp;https://youtu.be/AXBlY5CImUUSubscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon and rece

In which we remember when one of the Stones was in the Air Force, the agony of loons pants, the genius of Irene Handl (and her screen roles: Mrs Crumbling, Miss Harker-Parker, Miss Slenderparts) and Bowie as the Goblin King in Labyrinth. Plus Cliff Richards’ new ‘perv breeks’, Steve Van Zandt visits Brian Jones’ grave, the best short songs, when haircuts wreck a band and Ian Martin’s live review of Rick Astley doing the Smiths.&nbsp;Irene Handl and Peter Sellers in Shadows on The Grass: https://open.spotify.com/track/5cdRF3u4UsywY4dZ2g0imJ?si=3967f42723834402Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon and receive every future Word Podcast before the rest of the world... plus a whole lot more!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear <a tar

‘A Furious Devotion' is just out, written by Richard Balls after long conversations and nights spent with Shane and interviews with members of the Pogues, old girlfriends, former teachers and collaborators (Nick Cave, Sinead O’Connor and Christy Moore among them). This covers childhood times in Tipperary, his ‘genius’ school years, fierce debates about his Irish identity, the full story of Fairytale of New York, his marriage, how the band put up with him and the cussed old curmudgeon he is today (a taste: this is a man who shuns computers, mobiles and email and won’t turn the TV down when being interviewed). A revelation from start to finish.@RichardBalls&nbsp;https://omnibuspress.com/products/a-furious-devotion-the-life-of-shane-macgowan-published-on-7th-october-2021&nbsp;<a href=

White-hot, pressing topics kicked around the rock and roll park this week include … can heavy metal ever be sexy?, why the Beatles would have made the greatest Unplugged act, the return of Scritti Politti, good deals in charity shops, what made Status Quo swing, how Jim Morrison wrecked the legacy of the Doors, the Floyd and the Stones discovering disco, Barry Ryan RIP and why Best Record polls in old music papers still get our goat.&nbsp;Rock stars smoking: https://art-sheep.com/old-photographs-of-musicians-smoking-their-cigarettes/Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon and receive every Word Podcast before the rest of the world... alongside a whole lot more!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear <a target='_blank' rel='noopener n

In which we re-watch the Graduate, wonder when Yes songs stopped making sense, salute the best rock stage names and the Björn Ulvaeus song credit campaign, ponder the curious UK launch of Rolling Stone, note the bands who never did cover versions and wonder if - and this may be stressful - Queen could become more popular than the Beatles.&nbsp;Keith Adsley's beard-losing fund-raiser: https://www.hertsad.co.uk/news/new-recovery-home-opens-in-city-8344686?fbclid=IwAR2R1AlZgV2qsTqYh9JrWSdMlw3yhB-ztYDsvm05MDGhqHAjhbixHqrPktsSubscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon and receive each Word Podcast before the rest of the world... plus a whole load more!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyoure

‘The Best Of Jamming!’ is a powerfully nostalgic collection of extracts from the fanzine Tony launched in 1977 when he was 13, born of the lost age of spraymount, cow gum, Tippex, typewriters and cut-and-paste issues stapled together on the bedroom floor. He looks back at the hand-drawn covers, letters from Paul Weller, cash loans from his Mum, in-office debates (“Can we have American acts on the cover?”) and the magazine’s eight glorious years on the edge of insolvency, a story someone really ought to make into a movie. Copies of Jamming! now fetch £50 on eBay. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;@tonyfletcher&nbsp;Best of Jamming!https://www.amazon.co.uk/Best-Jamming-Tony-Fletcher/dp/1913172309&nbsp;Tony’s books …<a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Books-Tony-Fletcher/s?rh=n%3A266239%2Cp_27%3ATony+Fletcher" rel="noopener nore

.. where we consider the brave new world in which Rick Astley plays the Smiths, a documentary explores the reasons people detest Kenny G and Rolling Stone rather self-consciously revise their list of the Best 500 Songs Of All Time (should they declare 2001 the new Year Zero and just reset the clock?). And featuring ... worst supergroups, acts who've never put out any cover versions, bands who arrived at the venue but never played and Morrissey answering the phones on Rock Around the Clock.&nbsp;&nbsp;Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon and receive every future Word Podcast before the rest of the world - and with full visuals!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast

Among the white-hot news items fondly examined this week you’ll find … the eternal wars in Fleetwood Mac, how we broadcast our love of bands before the rock t-shirt arrived (involves a canvas bag, a biro and the words ‘Chicken Shack’), Michael Chapman, Dumpy’s Rusty Nuts, the one good thing about the pandemic, albums that were too long and a night featuring a navy surplus greatcoat and the non-appearance of the Move’s Ace “The Singing Skull” Kefford.Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon and gain access to each future Word Podcast early - and in full audio-visual glory! Plus a load more exclusive content and benefits: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See <a sty

In which we consider the melancholy of Abba (and find a 45 year-old bar of Abba soap), applaud the hidden message in Lee Perry's Cow Thief Skank, wonder how Judee Sill would be marketed today, remember the Beach Boys' purple patch and note the only two things of any worth ever achieved by Iron Butterfly.Support Word In Your Ear on Patreon and gain access to each Word Podcast early... and in full audio-visual glory!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which we wonder if it's the Stones without the drummer, tell the whole story of the "work five years and 20 years hanging around" interview, salute the great Charlie album sleeve moments and investigate "the Rolling Stones wobble". And there's Reading Festival '79, the Nirvana Nevermind saga and other random folk on record sleeves (the US marine on a Smiths cover, the Russian presidential candidate on a Pulp album, Supertramp's singing waitress, the Bauls of Bengal) and a search for the origins of Prog.Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon and gain access to a whole bunch of brilliant extra content and benefits!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See <a styl

‘I Wanna Be Yours’, the superb memoir by “the bargain basement Baudelaire”, is now out in paperback, much of it an account of growing up in Salford. Here he looks back at the days when “the Rialto cinema was my babysitter”, seeing Little Richard aged 11, the fine details of the Beatles’ tailoring, old TV ads, Stanley Holloway, Joe Loss, “Woodman, Spare That Tree”, the Mecca ballrooms, the Bernard Manning audition that launched his career, the pure sensory overload of hearing rock and roll in fairgrounds and life in a flat with two members of the Velvet Underground. It’s extremely funny and revealing – and, for anyone old enough to remember those times, exquisitely nostalgic.&nbsp;https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wanna-Yours-John-Cooper-Clarke/dp/1509896104&nbsp;@official_jcc&nbsp;<a href="http://johncooperclarke.com/gigs/" re

Topics this week given a vigorous shakedown include ... the magical story-telling of the late Tom T Hall, best-preserved '80s rock stars, the construction of John Cooper Clarke's pickled onion "pork pie doorstep", the line-up and health risk of the 1971 Weeley Festival (Gnidrolog! Tir Na Nog! Castle!), a chance meeting with Una Stubbs, how Spotify changes your Greatest Hit, best opening songs on a debut album and what's the annual miserabilis of rock?Support Word In Your Ear on Patreon and gain access to every future Word Podcast early - and in full vision!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourearKeep up-to-date with our now-legendary Word In Your Attic series on YouTube: https://youtube.com/wordinyourear <a target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href="https://open.acast.com/

The fourth and last guest at our sun-roasted live event in Holland Park on July 17 was the ever-supercharged Danny Baker. Straw-hatted, drink-toting and delighted audience members were treated to a series of superb comic monologues which featured his idea for a Beatles movie, the South London promoter who locked himself in a portakabin to evade the wrath of his acts and a magnificent riff about how the music-hall legend Bud Flanagan conned his way onto an ocean liner (aged 14) and joined a travelling show in America.&nbsp;@prodnose&nbsp;Tour dates with Bob Harris …https://www.ents24.com/uk/tour-dates/danny-baker Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:g

Topics subjected to the usual forensic scrutiny this week include ... Jan &amp; Dean's role in the kidnap of Frank Sinatra Jnr, is it still the Stones without Charlie?, the Offspring drummer kicked out for being an anti-vaxxer, buying Revolver 55 years ago, Bobby Whitlock's roasting of the All Things Must Pass remix, how Tot Taylor gatecrashed the music industry in '73 and the least rock and roll leisure pursuits.https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/introducing-the-grand-scheme-snatching-sinatra/id1435516849?i=1000530258036 Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer'

We staged our first live event for 18 months on July 17, a sun-baked day at a spectacular outdoor venue kindly lent us by Opera Holland Park. A vast amount of fun was had. We’re putting up podcasts of all four of our guests, this one featuring the world’s pre-eminent fount of all Beatles knowledge and wisdom, the great Mark Lewisohn and including his thoughts about Peter Jackson’s upcoming Get Back movie, why Brian Epstein is underrated, a pivotal moment in the Beatles story (1961), the treasures you find when leafing through old magazines (as opposed to googling), and the revelation that Mean Mr Mustard was based on a real life character whose wife has numerous grounds for divorce.&nbsp;@marklewisohn&nbsp;https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mark-Lewisohn/e/B00J6BJQYK%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share&nbsp;Tune In (pap

Topics plumbed to their very depths this week include .... are tears for Olympic athletes now compulsory? The absurd names of Usain Bolt's children. The backstage chaos of the Concert For Bangladesh. Dusty Hill's mid-ZZ Top job at an airport. Can Ryan Adams ever get another record deal? Why the Sparks story is unique and extraordinary. Can you ever feel as attached to music you don't own in physical form? Bands you hated when young. Plus ... Magic Alex on impersonating members of the Stones for a living.Support Word In Your Ear on Patreon and gain early access to each and every Word Podcast... in full audio-visual glory!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See <a s

Matters of high import thrashed out this week include Dylan's Shadow Kingdom livestream, the Thunder Road lyric farrago, Apple Venus and Wasp Star - separated at birth!, the best reggae album ever, laughter on records, underwhelming follow-up albums and why Hot Rats makes the perfect crime thriller soundtrack. Supporting cast includes Kevin Turvey, Philip Glass, Brian Auger's Oblivion Express and Dave "Bucket" Colwell of Humble Pie.Support Word In Your Ear on Patreon and gain access to hours of extra content: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy

We had our first live event for 18 months on a fabulous, sun-baked afternoon in Holland Park on July 17 and the writer and former Fleet Street columnist Lesley-Ann Jones was one of the four guests (there’ll be a podcast of each of them). These are her crowd-pleasing, colourful memories of Queen backstage at Live Aid, living with Raquel Welch and tea with Bowie at Haddon Hall. The Stones are in there too.&nbsp;@LAJwriter&nbsp;LAJ’s books …https://www.amazon.co.uk/Books-Lesley-Ann-Jones/s?rh=n%3A266239%2Cp_27%3ALesley-Ann+Jones&nbsp;Podcast …https://podcasts.apple.com/sn/podcast/11-porkys-pals-lesley-ann-jones/id1463527178?i=1000442129335

In our sun-baked return to live events on July 17, we had four guests onstage at a spectacular outdoor venue kindly lent us by Opera Holland Park in West London, the first our old pal the shy, retiring, hard-to-prise-a-word-out-of-him broadcaster Gary Crowley. Stories here include the time he was invited round to the Clash HQ for an interview (when still at school), the giddying sensation of meeting Paul McCartney and some unsung heroes of '80s pop.&nbsp;@CrowleyOnAir&nbsp;Radio London …https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p001d7z2&nbsp;Gary's 'Lost '80s' CD box-sets … …https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gary-Crowleys-Lost-Various-Artists/dp/B07L51CSKH<a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gary-Crowley-Lost-80s-2/dp/B0

Sports writer and old pal Nige Tassell traces the story of Sweet Caroline, You’ll Never Walk Alone and Yes Sir I Can Boogie – with fond memories of the Tranmere Rovers’ spontaneous vegan chant moment. Other piping hot topics include Dua Lipa and the stolen photo, have you ever booed a band?, the exact number of onstage hours Dylan’s played All Along The Watchtower, the magic of Freddie King and the Jayhawks, does Richard Branson like music?, indie weddings and are there any rap covers bands?&nbsp;@nigetassell&nbsp;Nige’s books …https://www.amazon.co.uk/Books-Nige-Tassell/s?rh=n%3A266239%2Cp_27%3ANige+Tassell Get bonus content on Patreon<p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'

In which we salute Frogspawn Candy, Lord Snooty &amp; his Pals and Steppenwolf, rejoice in the Onion's coverage of Lorde, applaud the return of the Siffleur and pop tunes that feature whistling, back Elvis Costello on song-stealing, have a CD Date Night with the Decemberists and A Tribe Called Quest (while unravelling their Lou Reed court case), and inspect a new theory about the Manson murders.&nbsp;Elvis Costello on song stealing …https://uk.news.yahoo.com/elvis-costello-defends-olivia-rodrigo-150635978.html&nbsp;Lorde in the Onion …https://www.theonion.com/lorde-slammed-and-condemned-because-it-seems-like-it-s-1847175966&nbsp;Chris Pratt’s former band

Nobody is better qualified to talk about music as he's seen it from every angle. Bob Geldof broke into the Beatles' hotel room aged 12. He saw Dylan and the Stones when he was 13. Radio Luxembourg sent him messages from the ether. He worked out why the great lyrics work ("and the best opening line"). He studied the stagecraft of a host of musicians and formed a band of his own. He felt the lure of "screaming stadium whores and sex on tap". He staged Live Aid. And he ended up a close friend of many of "the people at the top of pop's Mount Olympus". This extraordinary interview has revelations about what's required to be a rock star you may never have imagined. And he nominates some Greatest Records Ever Made.&nbsp;https://www.theboomtownratsofficial.com/&nbsp;Citizens of Boomtown …<a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Citizens-Boomtown-Rats/dp/B083MVDKMW" rel="

Matters of high import discussed this week include ... having a 'date night' with your old CDs. Can the one-piece jumpsuit ever return? The whole Billie Eilish apology saga. Do all first girlfriends have names like Deidre Birchwood? What pop location deserves a blue plaque? Why Court And Spark outranks Blue. The&nbsp;Foo Fighters' Bee Gees moment. Rock's second best year. And would you pay $998 to get some All Things Must Pass garden gnomes? Plus James Brown, Black Grape, Chicken Shack, Duckworth Lewis, Tom Petty and Robert Plant's Band Of Joy. And David's mist-filled 30-second reverie about a romance in summer '67.Tickets for Word In The Park in London on July 17th here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/a-word-in-the-park-a-summer-afternoon-of-socially-distanced-storytelling-tickets

In which we shake down the piping hot topics du jour, among them ... the 50th anniversary of Glastonbury, the genius of Miles Copeland's management method, the new six-hour Beatles movie, Bob Geldof on what it takes to be a rock star, would Oasis have worked in the '70s, why current songwriters are afraid to experiment, and whatever happened to Terry Reid?&nbsp;Terry Reid at the first Glastonbury in 1971 ...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFtPnpDMxyITickets for Word In The Park in London's Holland Park on July 17th here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/a-word-in-the-park-a-summer-afternoon-of-socially-distanced-storytelling-tickets-152091141699 <a target='_blank' rel='noopene

In this week's pod we explore whether Apple's new spatial audio is actually worth it, ponder urgent listener questions such as "is pop music all about cymbals?" and "should we be paying attention to Van Morrison right now?" and chat to old pal Paul Burke about advertising in music and why the art of discotheque DJing is a little bit like foreplay.http://www.paulburkecreative.com/Tickets for Word In The Park in London on July 17th here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/a-word-in-the-park-a-summer-afternoon-of-socially-distanced-storytelling-tickets-152091141699Support Word In Your Ear on Patreon and gain access to a load of extra content and benefits: <a href="https://www.patreon.com/wor

This week's burning hot topics include .... the 50th birthday of Joni Mitchell's 'Blue’. Songs about the joy of spending "a bankroll big enough to choke a donkey". When Whistle Test went all Tomorrow's World. Books or records: which could you survive without? Is there the Who without Pete Townshend? Films we've watched the most. Music that's unfailingly cheerful. Is "Play Loud" the daftest thing ever put on an album cover? Was there ever a posher musician than James Lascelles of Global Village Trucking Company (in line of succesion to the British throne)? And the sweet story of Gravesend's own rock gods Kinky Machine and their 50-year anniversary video. &nbsp;Kinky Machine's reunion ...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pn8MyQH-gu0Whistle Test tackles the new technology, 1983 ...<a href="https://youtu.be/iQ76xlMF8r4" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_

In which we salute some much-loved writers (Clive James on Rod Stewart: "he was hopping about like a bifurcated marrow"), investigate the Friends Reunion, predict the next pop acts on postage stamps (a round of Stamp Waddy, anyone?) and tackle the burning issues of the day - aka What's the longest you've ever waited for a band to appear? And who's best: Britney Spears or Taylor Swift (and which would you want to organise your bungee jump)?Tickets for Word In The Park on July 17th here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/a-word-in-the-park-a-summer-afternoon-of-socially-distanced-storytelling-tickets-152091141699Support Word In Your Ear on Patreon for a cornucopia of additional content and fabulous benefits!: <a href="https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear" rel="noopener noreferrer" target

Bernie's memoir - 'Where's My Guitar?' - is just out in paperback and this highly entertaining encounter with the old rock and roll trouper features his early bands (Clockwork Mousetrap, Skinny Cat), Cream and Fleetwood Mac at Dunstable's California Ballroom, auditioning for Renaissance and East Of Eden (then turning the job down), 'secret police' on the Wild Turkey tour, thumping Phil Mogg, Mickie Most's butler and Rolls Royce car phone, sessions for Hot Chocolate, the Spinal Tap moment of Whitesnake's Lovehunter sleeve, the extraordinary tale of his co-writing Here I Go Again and the perils of trying to prise Tony "Dear Boy" Ashton out of a pub.&nbsp;&nbsp;@Bernie_Marsden&nbsp;https://berniemarsden.com/&nbsp;https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wheres-

In which three old lags who've been following Dylan most of their lives - David Hepworth, Sid Griffin and Mark Ellen - offload a passionate personal theory and fly the flag for a favourite track. As Sid points, "How many times do you find yourself saying, 'Who does that? Only Bob Dylan!'" Includes 'Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues' as a quiz and the three albums sleeves where he wears the same jacket. Also .... the John Lydon/Pistols/Danny Boyle legal stand-off and memories of the much-loved Fred Dellar, the Rock Wikipedia of his day.&nbsp;Sid's books about Dylan ...https://www.amazon.co.uk/Million-Dollar-bash-Dylan-Basement/dp/1908279699Tickets for Word In The Park on July 17th here: <a href="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/a-word-in-the-park-a-summer-afternoon-of-socially-distanced-storytelling-tickets-152091141699" rel="noopener

In which the beloved entertainer talks about his memoir 'Beeswing: Fairport, Folk and Finding My Voice 1967-1975', a rich and circuitous ramble that features Jimmy Shand, Louis Armstrong, a school band with Hugh Cornwell, sitar lessons with Andy Summers, the word game that invented 'Unhalfbricking', the genius of Sandy Denny, the 'backstabbing' folk community, the perils of the British stiff upper lip, a cardboard cut-out of Nick Drake, the Henry the Human Fly photoshoot, disinfecting sheep, the writing of Meet on the Ledge and the enduring mystery of the best song lyrics.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;@RthompsonMusic&nbsp;https://www.richardthompson-music.com/&nbsp;https://www.amazon.co.uk/Beeswing-Fairport-Finding-Voice-1967-75/dp

In which we look at the light-fingered early lives of Camden's Magnificent Seven and the soundtrack of the Pursuit of Love, note the collapse of the BRITs and the Oscars and tell the extraordinary tale of the writer who thinks Bob Dylan's his dad. Plus ... Never Mind The Quality, Feel the Length (long things that only work because they're long - eg the Irishman, the Dead's Dark Star, Lawrence Of Arabia). And... what items of girls' clothing is Alex wearing this week?&nbsp;The Madness doc ...https://www.bt.com/tv/documentary/madness-before-we-was-we-channel-amc-date-music-band-history-trailer&nbsp;Bob Dylan Knew My Mother: Sam Sussman's piece in Harpers ...&nbsp;<a href="https://harpers.org/archive/2021/05/the-silent-type-on-possibly-being-bob-dylans-son/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target=

The great Joel Selvin has just published 'Hollywood Eden: Electric Guitars, Fast Cars and the Myth of the California Paradise', a thumping account of the West Coast pop revolution between 1958-1968 beginning with the rise of Jan &amp; Dean and ending with "the greatest record ever made", Good Vibrations. He beams in from San Francisco, a substantial cigar on the go, to talk about the shamefully uncelebrated Nancy Sinatra's pioneering records (and '57 pink Thunderbird), the Beach Boy who invented the surf market, the "poisonous" Kim Fowley, the genius of Phil Spector and Lou Adler and the rise of Sunset Strip.&nbsp;@Joelselvin&nbsp;https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hollywood-Eden-Electric-California-Paradise/dp/1487007213 Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target=

In which we remember the Wailers' London shows and what made them unique, salute the fond but sceptical rock photographs of our old friend Ken Sharp, unravel the brilliant mechanics of Jerry Seinfeld's 'Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee', discover why Steve Martin gave up comedy, tell an old Barry Cryer gag and play a bracing round of 'Irritating Electoral Candidate or Fun-Loving Calypso Songbird?' (Lord Buckethead? Attila the Hun? etc).Tickets for Word In The Park here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/a-word-in-the-park-a-summer-afternoon-of-socially-distanced-storytelling-tickets-152091141699Want exclusive early access to every future Word Podcast, and in full audio-visual glory? Of course you do, you're only human! Make sure you're subscribed to our fabulous Patreon for this and muc

Forty-two years after her meteoric ascent, Rickie Lee Jones has put out a memoir, 'Last Chance Texaco: Chronicles of a Troubadour'. And this we strongly recommend, a candid, salty, high-octane account of her breakthrough and early adventures criss-crossing America, many of which were turned into songs. Among her cast of fellow travellers are her Vaudevillian song-and-dance grandparents, Tom Waits, Dr John, Lowell George, Lenny Waronker and Chuck E Weiss, all of whom feature in this delightful pod. As do tales of her famous Saturday Night Live slot, West Side Story, her Beatles obsession (aged 8), the Damon Runyan world of late '70s L.A., current life in New Orleans and the "firece fire of fans who've stayed with me".&nbsp;&nbsp;@RickieLeeJones&nbsp;https://www.amazon.co.uk/Last-Chance-Texaco-Chronicles-Troubadour/dp/1611856469</

In which we're joined by old pal Kate Mossman who's had a colourful encounter with Tom Jones, we look at the legal battle for Nirvana's logo and the bands who sell more t-shirts than records, we're convinced we know why the England Squad don't make football singles any more, we dig out some surely bank-busting white labels and play a round of Hip Hop Star or Character From A '60s Comic?Kate's terrific piece about Tom Jones in the New Statesman ...https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/music-theatre/2021/04/tom-jones-interview-i-wanted-be-man-desperatelyWord In Your Ear is back and in the great outdoors, tickets here ...&nbsp;<a href="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/a-word-in-the-park-a-summer-afternoon-of-socially-distanced-storytelling-tickets-152091141699" rel="noopener noreferrer" target

In which we shake down the Bat Out Of Hell saga and Morrissey v the Simpsons, wonder what happened to the Bay City Rollers billions, explore Richard Thompson's theory of folk-rock snobbery, salute pop memoirs that end early and remember how people reacted when Kraftwerk and the Ramones first appeared. And announce our Word in the Park live event in July! ...&nbsp;WORD IN THE PARK TICKETS: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/a-word-in-the-park-a-summer-afternoon-of-socially-distanced-storytelling-tickets-152091141699 Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A world-put-to-rights-special that tells the story of the man who hid in a crate on a three-day flight with only a book of Beatles song lyrics for entertainment, looks at the stupidity of 19 year-olds, considers Rob Lowe’s belief that "there's no point in being famous today", predicts that CDs will become as treasured and collectable as vinyl, and wonders if musicians could still play if as pissed as they claimed to be. Also includes Shit-faced Shakespeare and a round of Song Title By the World's Most Pretentious Band or Artwork By Damien Hirst?Want exclusive early access to every future Word Podcast - and in full audio-visual glory! - plus LOTS more? Of course you do, you're only human! Make sure you're signed up to our fabulous Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear <a target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href="https://open.acast.com/public/patreon/fanSubscribe

Tessa and Bob are lifelong Mark E Smith devotees and have just published 'Excavate: the Wonderful And Frightening World of The Fall', a collection of essays inspired by the band’s&nbsp;unique and eternally beguiling back catalogue and divinely cranky modus operandi - along with artwork, ephemera, lyrics sheets, letters to fans and self-written press releases. It's an atlas that navigates the Fall’s outer reaches rather than an investigation of the man himself "as you can't look directly at the sun". This terrific free-wheeling conversation touches on football, architecture, working men's clubs, self-made mythology, the nature of Fall fans, the powerful impact of Kenny Everett's World's Worst Records Show album and the plastic carrier-bag left onstage that Tessa still has 25 years later.&nbsp;@rocking_bob&nbsp;@tessanorton&nbsp;<a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Excavate-Wonderful-Frightening-World-Fall-ebook/dp/B0873XZ21B" rel="noopener noreferr

In which David delivers a tremulous rant about the curse of the two-minutes' silence at sport events, we note the Duke of Edinburgh's Beatles connection, rummage through the BBC's 'black box', salute the longest-lasting line-ups (Damned, Golden Earring, ZZ Top, Blind Boys of Alabama?), weep at the worst rock and roll tattoos, remember the Bowie album with three different covers and play 'Oi! band member or friend of the Krays?' and 'no-frills Seventies drummer or cast member of Corrie?'Want exclusive early access to every future Word Podcast - and in full audio-visual glory! - alongside a whole host of additional exciting, enlightening and entertaining content and benefits? Of course you do! Make sure you're signed up to our fabulous Patreon for all this and more: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear <a target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href="https://open.acast.com/p

In which we applaud Paul Simon's light-fingered songwriting skills, delight in the fake Roxy Music rejection letter, trace the origins of rock's black uniform (which Keith Richards reckons has it roots in cowboy movies), discover powerful new chemical benefits from being in bands, reveal the Spandau Ballet hit based on If I Had A Hammer, hear Philip Roth's advice to an aspiring novelist and play rock band or children's entertainment option (Angry Beavers?).Want exclusive early access to every future Word Podcast - and in full audio-visual glory! - alongside a whole host of additional exciting, enlightening and entertaining content and benefits? Of course you do! Make sure you're signed up to our fabulous Patreon for all this and more: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear <a target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href="https://open.acast.com/public/patreon/fanSubscribe/423

In which we play theatrical moments from great live albums - Humble Pie, ELP, the Stones, James Brown, Sinatra &amp; Count Basie, Free, the Who, the Allman Brothers ("Whipping Post!") - relive the wit and wisdom of James Blunt on Twitter, examine the raw agony of having a rock star as a parent (warning: Eve Hewson's Bono story involves public dancing to the Backstreet Boys in a dressing-gown) and reveal whose tour rider includes "oxygen tanks and a doctor available to give mid-set B-12 injections".Want exclusive early access to every future Word Podcast - and in full audio-visual glory! - alongside a whole host of additional exciting, enlightening and entertaining content and benefits? Of course you do! Make sure you're signed up to our fabulous Patreon for all this and more: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear <a target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href="https://open

In which we're joined by old pal Trevor Dann who was one of the 200 people sitting on the floor of the Nottingham Boat Club 50 years ago hearing the unreleased Stairway To Heaven ("maximum volume as it was on the river and there were no houses next door"). Plus memories of Nick Drake in 1971 (Trevor wrote the memoir Darker Than The Deepest Sea) - the underwhelming live shows, the mistakes on his album sleeves, the family tensions, why his legend is still expanding and what he might be doing if he was still with us today. And ... the Stack Waddy game: real or fake Half Man Half Biscuit tracks (Eamonn Holmes Under The Hammer?) and Indie Rock Band or lower league football team?&nbsp;&nbsp;@TrevorDannTrevor's excellent Nick Drake memoir ...https://www.amazon.co.uk/Darker-Than-Deepest-Sea-Search/dp/0749951338Want exclusive early access to every future Word Podcast - and in full audio-visual glory! - alongside a whole host of additional exciting, en

In which we relive the joys of cassette mixtape pop snobbery, discover a rock star's mum who was a WW2 secret agent, name the best songs about mothers, salute Tony "Ian Faith" Hendra RIP and his part in Spinal Tap (and his National Lampoon gags eg 'Yoko Is A Concept By Which We Measure our Pain'), note the coded messages in Dylan's 'Bringing It All Back Home' sleeve and play 'Lee Perry Tune or Item of Jamaican Cuisine?'Want exclusive early access to every future Word Podcast - and in full audio-visual glory! - alongside a whole host of additional exciting, enlightening and entertaining content and benefits? Of course you do! Make sure you're signed up to our fabulous Patreon for all this and more: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon

In which we salute Chris Barber and Bunny Wailer, listen to Robert Fripp's £80-a-pop personal message service, marvel at the Kings Of Leon's new crypto-currency, relive the agony of the Bob Harris vinyl flood, wonder if Bob Weir's was the only decent rock ponytail, reconnect with the Drifters, Lonnie Donegan and Lewis Taylor ("the great undiscovered jewel of 20th C popular music"), and play 'Van Morrison song or Richard Littlejohn headline?', 'Oasis track or children's book?' and '50s wrestler or member of the Bonzo Dog Band?'.Want exclusive early access to every future Word Podcast (and in full audio-visual glory!) alongside a whole host of additional exciting, enlightening and entertaining content and benefits? Of course you do! Make sure you're signed up to our fabulous Patreon for all this and more: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear <a target='_blank' rel='noopener no

In which we try the Obama/Springsteen pod, view astonishing footage of Sinatra recording in 1965, watch films we've never seen (eg "Life Of Brian" - merchandise at the stoning scene? "Two rocks and a bag of gravel"), remember the Stones' satin-clad tax-dodging flit to the south of France, applaud the greatest one-man albums ever made, and play 'Children's book or rare psychedelic single?', 'European rave palace or Gwyneth Paltrow lifestyle accessory' and 'Spot the fake DJ' (Spinston Churchill?).WIYE Merch: http://www.wiyelondon.com/merchFrank Sinatra recording in 1965 ...https://www.openculture.com/2017/04/watch-frank-sinatra-record-it-was-a-very-good-year-in-the-studio-in-1965.htmlWorking

In the event of the temporary indisposition of Mr Mark Henry Ellen his part is taken for today's podcast by Mr Alexander Karl Gold and he and David Hepworth talk on the subject of which other songwriter-band leaders might arguably give Ray Davies a run for his money when it comes to sustained creation of brilliant singles, what it's like to go to Dolly Parton's home town and the contrasting accounts of the popular song experience which are available in the films "Framing Britney" and "Travelling For A Living" (https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-travelling-for-a-living-1966-online), a 1966 film of life with the Watersons. Plus, of course, the Stackwaddy Game.Want exclusive early access to every future Word Podcast - and in full audio-visual glory! - alongside a whole host of additional exciting, enlightening and entertaining benefit

... a Valentine's Day Special (which naturally involves Jackie DeShannon and Lucinda Williams), the curious case of Bruce Springsteen, the Jeep ad and the shot of tequila, and the 50th birthday of Tapestry. Plus Stack Waddy: 'leafy English village or colourful minor celebrity?' and 'Tom Waits track or story by Damon Runyon?'Want exclusive early access to every future Word Podcast - and in full audio-visual glory! - alongside a whole host of additional exciting, enlightening and entertaining content and benefits? Of course you do! Make sure you're signed up to our fabulous Patreon for all this and more: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy</a

In which we navigate by way of pay-for-play bribery, Elvis Costello's mum, the songs the Bonzos taught us, the man who helped cook the Beatles' books, the eternal trials of posh pop stars, and Farrah Fawcett-Majors and the story of the Midnight Plane To Houston. And play 'Pulp song or episode of Are You Being Served?'The Bee Gees record a message for Pete Paphides' ansaphone in 1997 ...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcKi3-pYutQ&amp;lc=UgwqHWpFK3w9utgLeH54AaABAg&amp;feature=em-commentsWant exclusive access to every future Word Podcast - and in full audio-visual glory! - alongside a whole host of additional exciting, enlightening and entertaining content and benefits? Of course you do! Make sure you're signed up to our fabulous Patreon for all this and more: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear <a target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href="ht

In which the conversational spotlight alights upon the great Hilton Valentine (RIP), adventures with the KLF, Phil Collins' disastrous session for All Things Must Pass, DJ EZ's marathon, Clare Torry on the Great Gig In The Sky, Carey Mulligan v Variety magazine and John Otway's version of House of the Rising Sun. Plus be prepared to play ... "Rave DJ or Household Cleaning Product?" and "Queen track or fantasy novel by George RR 'Games Of Thrones' Martin?".Want exclusive early access to every future Word Podcast (and in full audio-visual glory!) alongside a whole host of additional exciting, enlightening and entertaining content and benefits? Of course you do! Make sure you're signed up to our fabulous Patreon for all this and more: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear <a target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href="https://open.acast.com/public/patreon/fanSubscribe/423439

A snow-filled scenic ramble featuring the appeal of Dolly Parton for the under-fives, the Cilla Black/Phil Spector chart battle of '65 (and Phil's unsettling appearance at the Q Awards), a John Lennon birthday lunch in Paris, the post-Brexit future for musicians on tour, Midge Ure, Tucky Buzzard and Eddie Izzard ... plus a bracing round of 'Wodehouse character or rock musician?' and 'Morrissey song title or quote from Oscar Wilde?'.Midge Ure on the impact of Brexit on touring the EUhttps://twitter.com/BBCSounds/status/1352594601434099716Want exclusive early access to every future Word Podcast - and in full audio-visual glory! - alongside a whole host of additional exciting, enlightening and entertaining content and benefits? Of course you do! Make sure you're signed up to our fabulous Patreon for all this and more: <a href="https://www.patreon

In which we're joined by Sam Pope - the man who shantyised Eminem - on the new mass appeal of seafaring folk tunes, applaud the value of Happy Music (and name the tracks that never let you down), wonder why no-one's made a biopic about Fleetwood Mac, Blondie or the Ramones, and watch Fran Lebowitz in Pretend It's A City and wish we could have had breakfast with Charles Mingus and Duke Ellington. And play 'Film noir or Springsteen song?' and 'Reggae soundsystem or Marvel superhero?'.Sam Pope on Tik Tok and Instagram - @sampopemusicWant exclusive early access to every future Word Podcast (and in full audio-visual glory!) alongside a whole host of additional exciting, enlightening and entertaining content and benefits? Of course you do! Make sure you're signed up to our fabulous Patreon for all this and more: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get

In which we tell the story of James Taylor's tattoo, Bowie's coded message to Hermione, Tracy Chapman v Nicki Ninaj, Gerry Marsden stealing George Harrison's girlfriend, and the real life girls from Valerie and My Sharona - plus bracing rounds of 'Republican Senator or Country Music star?' and 'Joanna Newsom song title or vegetarian restaurant in Brighton?'. And the lost Wombles-style Oasis tribute album (What's the Story) Tobermory?.&nbsp;James Taylor's tattoo story is at 4.20 ...https://youtu.be/ouR_PDffp40Want exclusive early access to each and every future Word Podcast - and in full audio-visual glory! - alongside a whole host of additional exciting, enlightening and entertaining content and benefits? Of course you do! Make sure you're signed up to our fabulous Patreon for all this and more: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonu

Surely the only podcast on God’s Earth that covers Elmer Gantry’s Velvet Opera, Pulp’s Disco 2000, Zulu, voter fraud in Citizen Kane, Mother’s club in Birmingham, Prudence Farrow, the Alan Parsons Project, Get Cape Wear Cape Fly!, the Maharishi, ‘Lennon Remembers’, Gothmog (lieutenant of Morgul) and ‘Is it a craft beer or a Mercury Prize Nominee?’&nbsp;The Beatles recording of ‘There You Go Eddy’, a song about Hunter Davies …https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=beatles+there+you+are+eddy+youtube&amp;docid=608013219034040298&amp;mid=427E49A4B90193F58E80427E49A4B90193F58E80&amp;view=detail&amp;FORM=VIRE Get bonus conten

Surely the only podcast that's ever included tantalising Beatles film outtakes, the knock-down sale of Michael Jackson's Neverland, 'the Great Fatsby' by Leslie West, Frank Sinatra, E17 with sleigh bells and and Ladbaby's We Built This City On Sausage Rolls. Plus we play energetic rounds of 'Farrow &amp; Ball paint colour or Tyrannosaurus Rex track?' and 'Lilith Fair acoustic act or Lush beauty product'?Want exclusive early access to this - and every future - Word Podcast, and in full audio-visual glory, alongside a whole host of additional exciting, enlightening and entertaining content and benefits? Of course you do. Make sure you're signed up to our fantastic Patreon for all this and more. Get bonus content on Patreon<p style='color:grey; font-size:0

Surely the only podcast that's ever included tantalising Beatles film outtakes, the knock-down sale of Michael Jackson's Neverland, 'the Great Fatsby' by Leslie West, Frank Sinatra, E17 with sleigh bells and and Ladbaby's We Built This City On Sausage Rolls. Plus we play energetic rounds of 'Farrow &amp; Ball paint colour or Tyrannosaurus Rex track?' and 'Lilith Fair acoustic act or Lush beauty product'? Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which we dust down a great new Bee Gees doc (How Can You Mend A Broken Heart?), applaud Bill Bailey, remember the absurdity of the Best Guitarist polls (and then name our favourite guitarists), mine the folklore of John Le Carre for possible band names (the Scalphunters, Madame Ostrakova), shake down the ‘river of dimes’ world of music copyright, and play a bracing round of ‘Black Metal Band or Item Of IKEA Furniture? Bill Bailey doing U2 having a Catastrophic Technical Failure …https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=bill+bailey+impression+of+U2++youtube&docid=608004010494658780&mid=093D1A58807BF3F7B1D8093D1A58807BF3F7B1D8&view=detail&FORM=VIRE And his impression of Billy Bragg …https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=bill+bailey+billy+bragg+youtbe&docid=608046294460467055&mid=933388ED5A44F42CF025933388ED5A44F42CF025&view=detail&FORM=VIREWant exclusive early access to every future Word Podcast - and in full audio-visual glory! - alongside a whole host of additional exciting, enlightening

In which we dust down a great new Bee Gees doc (How Can You Mend A Broken Heart?), applaud Bill Bailey, remember the absurdity of the Best Guitarist polls (and then name our favourite guitarists), mine the folklore of John Le Carre for possible band names (the Scalphunters, Madame Ostrakova), shake down the ‘river of dimes’ world of music copyright, and play a bracing round of ‘Black Metal Band or Item Of IKEA Furniture? Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which we salute the Taylor Swift publicity machine and the "sixth Stone" Ian Stewart, marvel at the money-spinning value of song copyrights (Dylan, Gershwin, Third Man Theme etc), listen to albums in the dark, point up McCartney's superhuman achievement on June 14 1965 and spot fictitious music magazines (the Amazing Pudding?) and emo bands (Moose Blood?). Ian Leslie's 64 Reasons To Celebrate Paul McCartney ...https://ianleslie.substack.com/p/64-reasons-to-celebrate-paul-mccartneyWant exclusive early access to this - and every future - Word Podcast alongside a whole host of additional exciting, enlightening and entertaining benefits? Of course you do. Make sure you're subscribed to our fantastic Patreon for all this and more: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See <a styl

In which we salute the Taylor Swift publicity machine and the "sixth Stone" Ian Stewart, marvel at the money-spinning value of song copyrights (Dylan, Gershwin, Third Man Theme etc), listen to albums in the dark, point up McCartney's superhuman achievement on June 14 1965 and spot fictitious music magazines (the Amazing Pudding?) and emo bands (Moose Blood?). Ian Leslie's 64 Reasons To Celebrate Paul McCartney ...https://ianleslie.substack.com/p/64-reasons-to-celebrate-paul-mccartney Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.</p

Choice items discussed include Dua Lipa's 5-million-tickets-sold online show, the full list of Altamont catastrophes, the magic of the rock press 'on the road' feature, Maslow's hierarchy of needs (oh yes!), Jeff 'Skunk' Baxter's move into military defence and US Spy Satellites, David's disastrous cinema outing, whether going to gigs is now largely about the 'being there' on social media, cult Xmas singles and the mystery of Griselda Pugh & the Horses of Instruction.Want to receive this - and every future - Word podcast before the rest of the word, and in full audio-visual glory, alongside a whole host of other exciting, enlightening and entertaining benefits? Of course you do. Make sure you're signed up to our fantastic Patreon for all this and more: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hoste

Choice items discussed include Dua Lipa's 5-million-tickets-sold online show, the full list of Altamont catastrophes, the magic of the rock press 'on the road' feature, Maslow's hierarchy of needs (oh yes!), Jeff 'Skunk' Baxter's move into military defence and US Spy Satellites, David's disastrous cinema outing, whether going to gigs is now largely about the 'being there' on social media, cult Xmas singles and the mystery of Griselda Pugh &amp; the Horses of Instruction. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which we look at pop conspiracy theories (eg Britney Spears), the Christmas songs that work for 2020, the 36 different versions of the new McCartney album, the howling mundanity of Arsene Wenger's Desert Island Discs, folk box-sets made in China, Gary Barlow in Sainsbury's, "America's truth crisis" and mangled celebrity band names. And the time David spent Christmas alone. The #FreeBritney story in Vanity Fair …https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2020/11/the-oracle-of-britney-spears The ‘Harry Smith B Sides’ in the New York Times ...https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/14/arts/music/anthology-of-american-folk-music.html Nick Lowe’s ‘Christmas At The Airport’ …https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQoVB3Rd28E Davitt Sigerson’s It’s A Big Country … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDXZsydJU2cWant to receive this - and every future - Word Podcast before the rest of the world, and in full audio-visual glory, alongside a whole host of other exciting, enlightening and entertaining benefits? Of course yo

In which we look at pop conspiracy theories (Britney Spears!), the Christmas songs that work for 2020, the 36 versions of the new McCartney album, the howling mundanity of Arsene Wenger's Desert Island Discs, folk box-sets made in China, Gary Barlow in Sainsbury's, "America's truth crisis" and mangled celebrity band names. The #FreeBritney story in Vanity Fair …https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2020/11/the-oracle-of-britney-spears The ‘Harry Smith B Sides’ in the New York Times ...https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/14/arts/music/anthology-of-american-folk-music.html Nick Lowe’s ‘Christmas At The Airport’ …<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQoVB3Rd28E" rel="nofollo

In which we fantasise about what happened after Clooney gave 14 friends $1m in cash, note the sale of Dylan's private letters, miss the great North London record shops, unravel Radio 1 v the Pogues, pitch pop stars' dogs against Nigerian Highlife entertainers and name the second greatest Christmas record ever made.--------------Want to receive this - and every future - Word Podcast before the rest of the world, and in full audio-visual glory, in addition to a whole host of other exciting, enlightening and entertaining benefits? Of course you do. Make sure you're signed up to our fantastic Patreon for all this and more: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy

In which we fantasise about what happened after Clooney gave 14 friends $1m in cash, note the sale of Dylan's private letters, miss the great North London record shops, unravel Radio 1 v the Pogues, pitch pop stars' dogs against Nigerian Highlife entertainers and name the second greatest Christmas record ever made.Bob Dylan chronological playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4yakVhk1BBXS3nXUEMh1RR?si=qRSBLUjPRzCdC97yreie_g Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Acts that wrote songs about themselves (Animals, Monkees, Manfreds, Devo, NWA, Ants etc), Lloyd Cole does handwritten lyrics to order, the welding of Bob Dylan, Des O'Connor's UK tour with Buddy Holly, the West Wing v The Thick Of It, amusingly named skate-punk bands and does Terminator X own a black ostrich stud farm in North Carolina?Want to receive this - and indeed every future - Word Podcast before the rest of the world, and in full audio-visual glory, alongside a whole host of other exciting, enlightening and entertaining benefits? Of course you do. Make sure you're signed up to our fantastic Patreon for all this and more: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/p

Acts that wrote songs about themselves (Animals, Monkees, Manfreds, Devo, NWA, Ants etc), Lloyd Cole does handwritten lyrics to order, the welding of Bob Dylan, Des O'Connor's UK tour with Buddy Holly, the West Wing v The Thick Of It, amusingly named skate-punk bands and does Terminator X own a black ostrich stud farm in North Carolina? Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On the menu this week - the genius of the late Geoffrey Palmer in the Kipper And The Corpse and Reginald Perrin ('rum cove, Johnny Woman' etc), four anniversary albums - Badfinger's No Dice (Nov '70), Prince's Dirty Mind ('80), the Traveling Wilburys' Vol 3 ('90) and the Beatles' #1 (2000), pop careers that kicked off early, fictitious new age groups, pseudonymous secret gigs, the joy of CNN and the entertaining notion of Trump fleeing to a secret bunker to evade ruinous lawsuits.Want to receive this - and every future - Word Podcast before the rest of the world, and in full audio-visual glory, alongside a whole host of other exciting, enlightening and entertaining benefits? Of course you do. Make sure you're subscribed to our magnificent Patreon for all this and more: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon<p style='color:grey; font-si

On the menu this week - the genius of the late Geoffrey Palmer in the Kipper And The Corpse and Reginald Perrin ('rum cove, Johnny Woman' etc), four anniversary albums - Badfinger's No Dice (Nov '70), Prince's Dirty Mind ('80), the Traveling Wilburys' Vol 3 ('90) and the Beatles' #1 (2000), pop careers that kicked off early, fictitious new age groups, pseudonymous secret gigs, the joy of CNN and the entertaining notion of Trump fleeing to a secret bunker to evade ruinous lawsuits. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which the author of 'Ready Steady Go!: the Weekend Starts Here' talks about the show that revolutionised pop TV - the people who made it, the acts that appeared, the dancers, the clothes, the James Brown shock-the-nation-special, the Troggs auditioning in reception, the '60s scene-makers packing its Green Room and how it captured what Mick Jagger calls "the wonderful chaos of the times". Andy's book is the most detailed and affectionate tribute imaginable and you're strongly advised to take a look at it. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ready-Steady-Weekend-Starts-Here/dp/1947026348Want to be 'in the room' when we record these special guest podcasts? Sign up to our fabulous Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener norefe

In which we tell the real story of Stardust (the new Bowie biopic), lampoon Kanye West's Kardashian hologram, brace ourselves for the arrival of 'synthetic media', dream up the fictional indie band generator, name some great autumnal albums (eg the Finn Brothers' Everyone Is Here) and remember Roger Moore and Dorothy Squires' cavalier mistreatment of records. The Kardashian hologram ...https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-54731382Computer inventions of fictitious people ...https://thispersondoesnotexist.com/Want to receive this - and every future - Word Podcast - before the rest of the world, and in full audio-visual glory, alongside a whole host of other exciting, enlightening and entertaining benefits? Of course you do. Make sure you're signed up to our fantastic Patreon for all this and more: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon<br

In which we tell the real story of Stardust (the new Bowie biopic), lampoon Kanye West's Kardashian hologram, brace ourselves for the arrival of 'synthetic media', dream up the fictional indie band generator, name some great autumnal albums (eg the Finn Brothers' Everyone Is Here) and remember Roger Moore and Dorothy Squires' cavalier mistreatment of records.The Kardashian hologram ...https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-54731382Computer inventions of fictitious people ...https://thispersondoesnotexist.com/ Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' targe

In which we salute Jerry Jeff 'Mr Bojangles' Walker and Spencer Davis (at the ABC in Wakefield!), comedians with catchphrase singles, the marketing genius of Lily Allen and the grand tradition of pop songs about - how can we put this? - "self-love".Want to receive this - and every future - Word Podcast before the rest of the world, and in full audio-visual glory, alongside a whole load of other exciting, enlightening and entertaining benefits? Of course you do. Make sure you're signed up to our fantastic Patreon for this and more: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which we salute Jerry Jeff 'Mr Bojangles' Walker and Spencer Davis (at the ABC in Wakefield!), comedians with catchphrase singles, the marketing genius of Lily Allen and the grand tradition of pop songs about - how can we put this? - "self-love". Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rob Halford - still proudly "a big daft kid" - remembers old music hall acts at the Wolverhampton Grand, wearing polyester suits and kipper ties when the manager of Harry Fenton's, slogging round Europe in a Transit van, booze, drugs, bullwhips, "being head-to-toe in leather", standing in for Ozzy, coming out on MTV and "wearing my sister's purple top Old Grey Whistle Test". Rob's memoir Confess ...https://www.amazon.co.uk/Confess-Rob-Halford-ebook/dp/B07ZL2ZQSFRob on Instagram@robhalfordlegacy@judaspriestWhistle Test ...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=957N7EAtpY4&list=PL5jPQshWo8ry-36NEo4AudZMn2iP9CW8P&index=61 Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which we remember Peter Frampton and the second golden age of the Scream Idols (and his hard-nosed manager Dee Anthony), are weirdly gripped by the recent screening of Cliff's Summer Holiday, look at rock stars' cars, Krautrock acts and rejected album titles, and name "the shabbiest sleeve notes ever written".Want to receive this - and indeed every future - Word podcast before the rest of the world, and in full audio-visual glory? Course you do. Make sure you sign up to our fantastic Patreon for this and much more: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which we remember Peter Frampton and the second golden age of the Scream Idols (and his hard-nosed manager Dee Anthony), are weirdly gripped by the recent screening of Cliff's Summer Holiday, look at rock stars' cars, Krautrock acts and rejected album titles, and name "the shabbiest sleeve notes ever written". Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which we salute National Album Day by digging out some much loved '80s LPs, the Telegraph’s Neil McCormick tells us about the tyranny critics now endure from aggrieved pop fans and we invent fictitious Emo bands and live album titles.To receive this - and indeed every future - Word Podcast before the rest of the world, and in glorious audio-visual magnificence - make sure you're subscribed to our brilliant Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which we salute National Album Day by digging out some much loved '80s LPs, the Telegraph’s Neil McCormick tells us about the tyranny critics now endure from aggrieved pop fans and we invent fictitious Emo bands and live album titles. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which we unearth NME's best albums and singles polls from the '70s (Jethro Tull? Spirit? Country Joe?), invent fictitious Calypso and Blues stars, rave about Call My Agent, remember Lennon's Aunt Mimi and Steve Strange versus Mick Jagger, wonder if it's curtains for the age of the movie star and hear our producer Magic Alex on the joys of "flying and explosions" as he binge-watches all 23 Marvel movies.Want to receive this - and indeed every future - Word podcast before anyone else, and in glorious audio-visual splendour? Course you do. Make sure you sign up to our marvellous Patreon to make this dream a reality: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy fo

In which we unearth NME's best albums and singles polls from the '70s (Jethro Tull? Spirit? Country Joe?), invent fictitious Calypso and Blues stars, rave about Call My Agent, remember Lennon's Aunt Mimi and Steve Strange versus Mick Jagger, wonder if it's curtains for the age of the movie star and hear our producer Magic Alex on the joys of "flying and explosions" as he binge-watches all 23 Marvel movies. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We look at Rolling Stone's new Best 500 Albums update and think ... where's the 80s? Where's the British stuff? Where's the jazz, country, dance music, electronic, heavy metal? Is it just the classics plus hip-hop? Is it as useful as Elvis Costello's Best 500 albums in Vanity Fair or Dave Marsh's 1001 singles? Plus Michael Kiwanuka, the Mercury Prize and the Booker. And '80s Peel Show acts with amusing names.If you'd like to receive this - and indeed every future - Word Podcast before the rest of the world, and in full glorious audio-visual splendour, make sure you're subscribed to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.</p

We look at Rolling Stone's new Best 500 Albums update and think ... where's the 80s? Where's the British stuff? Where's the jazz, country, dance music, electronic, heavy metal? Is it just the classics plus hip-hop? Is it as useful as Elvis Costello's Best 500 albums in Vanity Fair or Dave Marsh's 1001 singles? Plus Michael Kiwanuka, the Mercury Prize and the Booker. And '80s Peel Show acts with amusing names. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Old pal Owen Parker on Street Life, Message In A Bottle, Superstition and other recordings that accelerate and the nightmarish complexity of playing stadiums to a click-track. Plus we predict the fate of CDs, invent 'record collection wallpaper' and look at Vertigo label landfill prog bands and the songs of John Shuttleworth.If you'd like to receive this - and indeed every future - Word podcast before the rest of the world, plus a veritable treasure trove of other benefits, make sure you sign up to our marvellous Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Old pal Owen Parker on Street Life, Message In A Bottle, Superstition and other recordings that accelerate and the nightmarish complexity of playing stadiums to a click-track. Plus we predict the fate of CDs, invent 'record collection wallpaper' and look at Vertigo label landfill prog bands and the songs of John Shuttleworth. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mark Ellen talks to David Hepworth about his new book "Overpaid, Oversexed and Over There" which describes how British imitations came out from under the shadow of American originators in the early 60s, how a handful of acts from the UK went on to command the heights of the worldwide music industry, the things they learned, the things they taught and the transatlantic traffic in sounds and styles which led from the Beatles to Boy George. Also includes: the amazing story of the Dave Clark Five, the strange genius of the Animals, how the British invented the guitar hero, what the Stones learned in America, the bands that were built in the UK with the US in mind, why punk rock took years to detonate in America, the one thing that makes American music stars different from their British counterparts and the reason 2020 may turn out to be just like 1961. Get bonus content on Patreon

In which we rope in a real musician – aka our producer Magic Alex – to discover why bands always play their big hits too fast (‘are you a dragger or a pusher?’), decode stage names (Perry Farrell, Lipps Inc, Fay Fife ...), delight in Trump’s recent campaign trail faux pas with John Fogerty’s Fortunate Son and remember pop exploitation films (Gonks Go Beat!) and ill-advised rock star advertising capers.If you'd like to receive this - and indeed every future - Word Podcast before the rest of the world, and if you so wish in full audio-visual glory, then make sure you're subscribed to our Patreon: https://www/patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.</p

In which we rope in a real musician – aka our producer Magic Alex – to discover why bands always play their big hits too fast (‘are you a dragger or a pusher?’), decode stage names (Perry Farrell, Lipps Inc, Fay Fife ...), delight in Trump’s recent campaign trail faux pas with John Fogerty’s Fortunate Son and remember pop exploitation films (Gonks Go Beat!) and ill-advised rock star advertising capers. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which we dig out a Smash Hits from ‘79 (entirely written by D Hepworth), wonder if Ian Brown’s gone stir crazy, watch it kick off between Dylan and the Beatles (in ’66), navigate the enriching waters of NTS Radio, remember when Kevin and Perry went Mancunian and stage a stand-off between ‘60s folk revivalists and punning rock memoir titles (‘Kiss And Make-Up’ – Gene Simmons’; ‘I Did It Otway!’ etc). Smash Hits, Sept ‘79https://www.flickr.com/photos/51106326@N00/sets/72157622155198859/ NTS Radio…https://www.nts.live/If you'd like to receive this - and indeed every future - Word Podcast before the rest of the world, and in full audio-visual glory, please subscribe to the marvel that is the Word In Your Ear Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey

In which we dig out a Smash Hits from ‘79 (entirely written by D Hepworth), wonder if Ian Brown’s gone stir crazy, watch it kick off between Dylan and the Beatles (in ’66), navigate the enriching waters of NTS Radio, remember when Kevin and Perry went Mancunian and stage a stand-off between ‘60s folk revivalists and punning rock memoir titles (‘Kiss And Make-Up’ – Gene Simmons’; ‘I Did It Otway!’ etc). Smash Hits, Sept ‘79https://www.flickr.com/photos/51106326@N00/sets/72157622155198859/ NTS Radio…https://www.nts.live/ Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See <a style='col

Author Justin Quirk on ‘the direct link between Kiss and Trump’. Writer and highly entertaining metal connoisseur Justin Quirk – the man behind Nothin’ But A Good Time: the Spectacular Rise and Fall of Glam Metal – on the age of big hair, frocks coats, cowboy boots and fabulously cartoonish stage acts that began with MTV in ’83, developed a ‘slow puncture’ with Guns N’Roses and was killed off by Nirvana in ‘91 - includes the WWF Wrestling connection, the ‘branding exercise and pyramid selling scheme’ of Kiss, the key role of Ozzy Osbourne (‘the world’s least convincing werewolf’), the Thiller-like construction of Def Leppard’s Hysteria, the highs of Wasp and Motley Crue, the lows of Tigertailz and Wrathchild, and Glam Metal’s last hurrah before the arrival of the age of irony. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Nothin-But-Good-Time-Spectacular-ebook/dp/B08CGJN334 @justindquirkTo be 'in the room' as these podcast interviews are recorded, subscribe to our brilliant Patreon: https://www.patreon.com

In which we're joined by our producer Magic Alex for a scenic tour of 'Landfill Indie' ("the Libertines were our Beatles!"), check the musicians incensed by Trump's use of their music, applaud the best wearers of Shorts In Pop (where Andrew Ridgeley meets Bob Weir), navigate the mob-handed hook-and-track systems of 21st Century songwriting, and invent fake psychobilly bands and rock star film cameos.If you'd like to receive this - and indeed every future - Word podcast before the rest of the world, and in full audio-visual splendour, subscribe to our frankly marvellous Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which we're joined by our producer Magic Alex for a scenic tour of 'Landfill Indie' ("the Libertines were our Beatles!"), check the musicians incensed by Trump's use of their music, applaud the best wearers of Shorts In Pop (where Andrew Ridgeley meets Bob Weir), navigate the mob-handed hook-and-track systems of 21st Century songwriting, and invent fake psychobilly bands and rock star film cameos. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Author, renowned Beatles authority, 'Pop Professor' and old pal of the pod Kenneth Womack talks about 'John Lennon 1980: the Last Days In The Life', his riveting account of events in the Dakota and beyond. Things covered in fascinating detail: the fond and complex relationship with McCartney, the tangled friendship with Dylan, TV watched, stuff bought and sold, the return to the studio and not-so-secret recordings, the withering album reviews, the future plans and the trials of a life lived at this level of celebrity. @KennethAWomack https://www.amazon.co.uk/John-Lennon-1980-Last-Days/dp/1787601366 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Books-Kenneth-Womack/s?rh=n%3A266239%2Cp_27%3AKenneth+Womack https://kennethwomack.com/ Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer'

In which we look at Chris Frantz's memoir and its exasperated take on David Byrne (bang goes the Talking Heads reunion), revisit late '60s Laurel Canyon, unravel some Zappa album titles, marvel at brave new adventures in vinyl sales and how Freddie Mercury's teeth got the Pistols their big break, and get Hilary Mantel's tilt on Madonna ("the plain girl's revenge").To receive this podcast - and every future one - before the rest of the world, and in glorious audio-visual splendour, subscribe to our frankly fantastic Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which we look at Chris Frantz's memoir and its exasperated take on David Byrne (bang goes the Talking Heads reunion), revisit late '60s Laurel Canyon, unravel some Zappa album titles, marvel at brave new adventures in vinyl sales and how Freddie Mercury's teeth got the Pistols their big break, and get Hilary Mantel's tilt on Madonna ("the plain girl's revenge"). Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Writer and counter-cultural connoisseur Joe Banks joins us to talk about Hawkwind: Days Of The Underground, his sparkling account of the rise and 51 year trajectory of the unsung revolutionary heroes. All the following are entertainingly included - their 'creation myth' in the white heat of Ladbroke Grove and days as the house band of Radical Politics, the sci-fi adventure with Michael Moorcock and Robert Calvert, the Silver Machine saga, the pioneering rock theatre of Space Ritual, their roles in punk and Krautrock and the saucer-eyed cast members who've kept them "the alternative to the alternative". Key fact: Joe has a Labrador puppy called Lemmy. @JoeBanksWriterhttps://www.daysoftheunderground.com/The famous Hawkwind clip that was shown on TOTP ...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NysxdHSIs4I Get bonus content on Patreon

In which we salute the game-changing inventions of the Stones, Kinks and Louis Armstrong, watch the song catalogue sales boom, wonder if the age of spectacle is over, spot the fake alt.country and dark metal bands and take a closer look at the Williams twins v Phil Collins.To receive this Word Podcast - and indeed all future ones - before the rest of the world, subscribe to our marvellous Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which we salute the game-changing inventions of the Stones, Kinks and Louis Armstrong, watch the song catalogue sales boom, wonder if the age of spectacle is over, spot the fake alt.country and dark metal bands and take a closer look at the Williams twins v Phil Collins. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which we applaud the great rock and roll name changes (eg the late Wayne Fontana), get unsettled by 'Stan' culture and over-zealous Taylor Swift supporters, take the temperature of the Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, remember some footballers' hits and wonder how any rock star could be gauche enough to display their gold discs.To receive this - and every - Word Podcast ahead of the rest of the world, subscribe to our frankly marvellous Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which we applaud the great rock and roll name changes (eg the late Wayne Fontana), get unsettled by 'Stan' culture and over-zealous Taylor Swift supporters, take the temperature of the Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, remember some footballers' hits and wonder how any rock star could be gauche enough to display their gold discs. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which we we marvel at the Beatles' 12-song set 55 years ago (four of them covers), applaud a virtual gig in the Natural History Museum, ponder Alan Bennett and Ellen DeGeneres, wonder when musicians became "creative artists", spot the fake band (Canadian rock acts v 1972's 'Giants of Tomorrow'), and remember Fame, Bugsy Malone and the great Alan Parker. I'm Down at Shea Stadium ...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6D11NTWwUBackstage at Shea Stadium ...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QElpSMJiLv0To receive this podcast before anyone else, subscribe to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which we we marvel at the Beatles' 12-song set 55 years ago (four of them covers), applaud a virtual gig in the Natural History Museum, ponder Alan Bennett and Ellen DeGeneres, wonder when musicians became "creative artists", spot the fake band (Canadian rock acts v 1972's 'Giants of Tomorrow'), and remember Fame, Bugsy Malone and the great Alan Parker. I'm Down at Shea Stadium ...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6D11NTWwUBackstage at Shea Stadium ...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QElpSMJiLv0 Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='

Novelist David Mitchell on Utopia Avenue, his fictional account of life in a band (Sunday Times No 1 best-seller!) - plus Bucks Fizz at the Malvern Winter Gardens, the lure of Marillion, the effect of Abba on tooth enamel, "the high register vocabulary" of Rush, the novelistic tangles of the White Album and Tales From Topographic Oceans, and Bowie's piercing predictions about the internet in 1999 - plus "the Greatest Record Ever Made".@david_mitchell Utopia Avenue …https://www.amazon.co.uk/Utopia-Avenue-David-Mitchell/dp/1444799428 https://www.davidmitchellbooks.com/books/ Bowie talks to Jeremy Paxman about the internet …https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiK7s_0tGsgReceive each Word Podcast before anybody else by subscribing to our brilliant Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted o

Novelist David Mitchell on Utopia Avenue, his fictional account of life in a band (Sunday Times No 1 best-seller!) - plus Bucks Fizz at the Malvern Winter Gardens, the lure of Marillion, the effect of Abba on tooth enamel, "the high register vocabulary" of Rush, the novelistic tangles of the White Album and Tales From Topographic Oceans, and Bowie's piercing predictions about the internet in 1999 - plus "the Greatest Record Ever Made".@david_mitchell Utopia Avenue …https://www.amazon.co.uk/Utopia-Avenue-David-Mitchell/dp/1444799428 https://www.davidmitchellbooks.com/books/ Bowie talks to Jeremy Paxman about the internet …<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiK7s_0tGsg" rel="nofollow noopener" targe

... 50 and 40 years ago this week! In which we salute the magnificent Peter Green (and hear Owen Parker's memories of recording with him in the '90s), look back at the great Q headlines - CarelessTalk Costs Wives! The Hoarse Foreman of the Apocalypse! - flick through a Melody Maker from 1970, spot the fake deejay, applaud the recent Springsteen radio shows and find Bob Marley & the Wailers photographed in lift.To receive this podcast early - and in full audio-visual glory - subscribe to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which we salute the magnificent Peter Green (and hear Owen Parker's memories of recording with him in the '90s), look back at the great Q headlines - CarelessTalk Costs Wives! The Hoarse Foreman of the Apocalypse! - flick through a Melody Maker from 1970, spot the fake deejay, applaud the recent Springsteen radio shows and find Bob Marley &amp; the Wailers photographed in lift. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Live Aid's "2,000 million global audience": surely some mistake? In which we remember Lady Di rollerskating in Kensington Palace with Duran Duran on her Walkman, invent fake rap stars and Mod Revival bands, applaud the world's first DJ, light a candle for Judy Dyble, relive a Nick Lowe parlour game and watch a sensationally dreadful pop documentary.Subscribe to our Patreon for exclusive content and benefits: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which we remember Lady Di rollerskating in Kensington Palace with Duran Duran on her Walkman, invent fake rap stars and Mod Revival bands, applaud the world's first DJ, light a candle for Judy Dyble, relive a Nick Lowe parlour game and watch a sensationally dreadful pop documentary. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Graeme Thomson on John Martyn's "lifelong grudges and huge, messy explosion of records"Music writer, author and old pal from Word magazine, Graeme Thomson on his spledid new book, "Small Hours: the Long Night of John Martyn", a tale involving immaculately delicate music, dark undercurrents, Glaswegian folk clubs, Nick Drake, Lee Perry, Joe Boyd, countless chaotic relationships, oceans of booze and a manager with two broken ribs. @GraemeAThomson https://www.amazon.co.uk/Small-Hours-Long-Night-Martyn/dp/178760019X https://www.amazon.co.uk/Graeme-Thomson/e/B001JS877A%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share https://www.graemethomson.net/Subscribe to our Patreon for exclusive content and benefits: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener

Music writer, author and old pal from Word magazine, Graeme Thomson on his spledid new book, "Small Hours: the Long Night of John Martyn", a tale involving immaculately delicate music, dark undercurrents, Glaswegian folk clubs, Nick Drake, Lee Perry, Joe Boyd, countless chaotic relationships, oceans of booze and a manager with two broken ribs. @GraemeAThomson https://www.amazon.co.uk/Small-Hours-Long-Night-Martyn/dp/178760019X https://www.amazon.co.uk/Graeme-Thomson/e/B001JS877A%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share https://www.graemethomson.net/ <a target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' hre

In which we shudder to imagine life in a group with Brian Jones, David Crosby, Dennis Wilson etc, chew tobacco with Charlie Daniels, invent reggae acts, ponder the predicament of Kasabian and Lady Antebellum, remember Garry Shandling and Hitchcock's Rear Window and tell the hoary old Richard Pryor story.Subscribe to our Patreon for exclusive content and benefits: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which we shudder to imagine life in a group with Brian Jones, David Crosby, Dennis Wilson etc, chew tobacco with Charlie Daniels, invent reggae acts, ponder the predicament of Kasabian and Lady Antebellum, remember Garry Shandling and Hitchcock's Rear Window and tell the hoary old Richard Pryor story. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which we ponder American pop showbiz v shambling British charm, bands v solos acts, Will Farrell's Eurovision movie, Ed Sheeran's bank balance, Beyoncé at Glastonbury, which rock star will live the longest and Disco v Grunge in the Stack Waddy game.Subscribe to our Patreon for exclusive content and benefits: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which we ponder American pop showbiz v shambling British charm, bands v solos acts, Will Farrell's Eurovision movie, Ed Sheeran's bank balance, Beyoncé at Glastonbury, which rock star will live the longest and Disco v Grunge in the Stack Waddy game. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which we ponder rock and roll stage names, the immortal gag that launched Billy Connolly, KT Tunstall versus the streaming system and best guests on chat shows - and the only British Prime Minister to ever host one. That PM and his chat show ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4kS15y5MDEKT Tunstall on the Broken Record Campaign ...https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p08hw0xlSubscribe to our Patreon for exclusive content and benefits: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which we ponder rock and roll stage names, the immortal gag that launched Billy Connolly, KT Tunstall versus the streaming system and best guests on chat shows - and the only British Prime Minister to ever host one. That PM and his chat show ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4kS15y5MDEKT Tunstall on the Broken Record Campaign ...https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p08hw0xl Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which we contemplate pop stars' statues, 50th anniversary albums, excruciating things actors do in Lockdown, fictitious Monsters of Rock, the curious tale of Madonna's Ray Of Light and the best/worst things about Oasis. The Southsea Alternative Choir with Love’s Johnny Echols doing Alone Again Or …https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Oeg5J028uI ... and (What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love & Understanding with Nick Lowe …https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1yfkye_qR4The London Symphony demonstrating their instruments: https://youtu.be/TMUwtGuOzFMSubscribe to our Patreon for exclusive content and benefits: http://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information

In which we contemplate pop stars' statues, 50th anniversary albums, excruciating things actors do in Lockdown, fictitious Monsters of Rock, the curious tale of Madonna's Ray Of Light and the best/worst things about Oasis. The Southsea Alternative Choir with Love’s Johnny Echols doing Alone Again Or …https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Oeg5J028uI ... and (What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love &amp; Understanding with Nick Lowe …https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1yfkye_qR4The London Symphony demonstrating their instruments. https://youtu.be/TMUwtGuOzFM Ge

In which we spot the fake Country & Western song titles and ponder the man who launched the Undertones, Classics that leave us cold, eternally comforting sitcoms and the analogue childhood of Andy Partridge.Subscribe to our Patreon for exclusive content and benefits: http://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which we spot the fake Country &amp; Western song titles and ponder the man who launched the Undertones, Classics that leave us cold, eternally comforting sitcoms and the analogue childhood of Andy Partridge. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which we play the Stackwaddy Game with power pop and the UFO club, wonder how come artists remake their classic albums, explain why nobody truly wanted Little Feat to be massive, ponder the one relationship in a rock star's which matters more than marriage and look at a bunch of album covers which accidentally made a few members of the public famous.Get access to each podcast before it goes public (and in vision as well as sound) by becoming a Patreon supporter: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which we play the Stackwaddy Game with power pop and the UFO club, wonder how come artists remake their classic albums, explain why nobody truly wanted Little Feat to be massive, ponder the one relationship in a rock star's which matters more than marriage and look at a bunch of album covers which accidentally made a few members of the public famous.To experience this podcast in its full audio-visual glory please see our brand new Classic Tier. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

... for Richard Thompson!In which we ponder the hellhounds on Robert Johnson's trail, the song Randy Newman's second wife let him write about his first, the BBC's upcoming re-run of Live Aid and the longest-running rock and roll marriages.Get early access to every Word Podcast via our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which we ponder the hellhounds on Robert Johnson's trail, the song Randy Newman's second wife let him write about his first, the BBC's upcoming re-run of Live Aid and the longest-running rock and roll marriages. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

... and how Astrid Kirchherr invented Indie.In which we update the Pink Floyd wars, remember launching Q and marinade in the calming qualities of Lee Sklar's lockdown bass adventures.Lee Sklar – on bass guitar!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSNv41kVJs0 Curt Smith and daughter …https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSf5-TelBuw Astrid Kirchherr’s portraits of the Beatles …https://www.invaluable.com/artist/kirchherr-astrid-4euya6a1cw/sold-at-auction-prices/ Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which we update the Pink Floyd wars, remember launching Q and marinade in the calming qualities of Lee Sklar's lockdown bass adventures.Lee Sklar – on bass guitar!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSNv41kVJs0 Curt Smith and daughter …https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSf5-TelBuw Astrid Kirchherr’s portraits of the Beatles …https://www.invaluable.com/artist/kirchherr-astrid-4euya6a1cw/sold-at-auction-prices/ Get bonus content on Patreon<p style='color:grey; font-size:0.

... and the curious tale of the Beatles-busting Sgt 'Nobby' Pilcher.In which we play the Stack Waddy game, ponder the fate of live rock and roll and investigate the B-side that gave Joan Jett a career and "the power ballad that ended the Cold War". The Arrows’ I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll …https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AT_Pbtyid0 Pyewackett – they exist!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaiU4OAnf-o Scorpions’ Wind Of Change …https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4RjJKxsamQ Little Richard …https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj059o9OwqY Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Fairport's momentous year and the curious tale of the Beatles-busting Sgt 'Nobby' Pilcher.In which we play the Stack Waddy game, ponder the fate of live rock and roll and investigate the B-side that gave Joan Jett a career and "the power ballad that ended the Cold War". The Arrows’ I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll …https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AT_Pbtyid0 Pyewackett – they exist!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaiU4OAnf-o Scorpions’ Wind Of Change …https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4RjJKxsamQ Little Richard …https://www.youtu

... and other pop parlour games.In which we get Alexa to play Stack Waddy, Carly Simon meets James Bond, we wonder if girls make passes at rock stars in glasses, and remember Millie, Dave Greenfield, Florian Schneider and the first edition of the Face.Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Kitchen Disco …https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cpr0kvlQpx0 John Fogerty’s back garden …https://www.loudersound.com/news/marshmallows-a-golden-retriever-and-a-view-john-fogerty-raises-the-bar-on-lockdown-videos Doobie Brothers in lockdown …https://www.ktlo.com/2020/05/04/watch-doobie-brothers-members-virtually-perform-black-water-with-fans-while-in-lockdown/ Bugger Off by Stack Waddyhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbBxhbAOdPY The Stranglers’ version of Walk On By with stunning Dave Greenfield keyboard solo …https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqfqVDHNW6c Meryl Streep (aged 16) at Shea Stadium …https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=x6aNSHLg18Y Creedence Clearwater playing I Put A Spell On You …https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeXqt

In which we get Alexa to play Stack Waddy, Carly Simon meets James Bond, we wonder if girls make passes at rock stars in glasses, and remember Millie, Dave Greenfield, Florian Schneider and the first edition of the Face.Made exclusively available early to you, dear Patron. Thanks for your continued support. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

... the Incredible String Band, Mr Chalk and Mrs CheeseIn which we celebrate the 50th birthday of The Who's "Live At Leeds", wonder why the Incredible String Band suddenly sound so right and talk about what all those living room performances tell us about Rock Star's Homes.The case of the missing hit.https://tinyurl.com/y9ymj7saToyah and Robert Fripp dance in the kitchenhttps://youtu.be/gIPuHzCvXMMCat Stevens somewhere warm enough to leave the door openhttps://youtu.be/yXuq6XpoasESupport us via our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

... reading old music papers, and telling Alexa to button it.In a packed programme David and Mark continue their quest to second-guess Amazon's mysterious lady DJ, remember the man who used to buy the Beatles' cars, look at how Pink Floyd's investment problems led to their embrace of disco, read out some small ads from old music papers, wonder whether rock music without an audience is really worth the trouble and recite the names of our new Patreons in a very exciting new way. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

... before we play unplayable albums?Just how desperate do you have to be before you give John and Yoko’s “Two Virgins” or Michael Nesmith’s “The Prison” a spin? Also in this episode, another round of Alexa’s Favourites, more people sign up to be Patreon patrons, getting Lene Lovich’s autograph on a train ticket, exactly when people started having their pictures taken on the Abbey Road zebra, and travel back in time to when Bob Dylan played Earls Court and the compact disc was about to make the LP redundant.LinksThe Sound Of The Hound is the new podcast from the EMI Archive Trusthttps://www.emiarchivetrust.org/the-sound-of-the-hound-a-new-podcast-series-about-the-birth-of-recorded-sound/Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/wordinyourearWord In Your Attic on YouTube: www.youtube.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon<p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em

... to the special talents of John Prine & Adam SchlesingerAlso in the episode: pink moon over London, waking up to birdsong, Brinsley Schwarz at the Fillmore and the strange majesty of old Melody Maker headlines. Plus name-checks for our inaugural patrons. If you'd like to joint them see below. And don't forget to catch up with our brand new "Word In Your Attic" with Mark Billingham at https://youtu.be/JQoTS0mKeVM.John Prine and Iris DeMent doing "In Spite Of Ourselves"https://youtu.be/P8tTwXv4glYFountains of Wayne doing "Hackensack"https://youtu.be/S6N2KYq8q14Word In Your Ear Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

... in which Mark Ellen and David Hepworth discuss milk in rock, read your correspondence and invent a game you can play with Alexa.Massively encouraged by the fact that nobody tried to physically stop them doing it again, Mark and David podcast from their lofts to anyone who has nothing better to do for the next half an hour. Subjects covered include: the musical tastes of "Parks And Recreation"'s April Ludgate, when dad bought his hifi on hire purchase, why the current lockdown is good news for the Abbey Road zebra and a really funny list from an old copy of Word.Bono doing "Let Your Love Be Known"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlA8p3O1C-UPaul Simon singing "American Tune"https://youtu.be/wVYPVvS-mI4The Roots and Jimmy Fallon performing "Stuck In The Middle With You"https://youtu.be/JKYiTg6_J-MIt's the 19-piece Rotterdam Philharmonic playing Beethoven's Ode To Joy on lockdown.https://youtu.be/nNBtwsPigccKevin Ayers Whatevershebringswesing with Robert Wyatt on backing vocals and Mike

In which Mark Ellen and David Hepworth talk about Joni Mitchell, Krakatoa and the importance of dressing properly while WFH.Since they're spending a proportion of the Current Unpleasantness talking to each other anyway. Mark Ellen and David Hepworth thought they may as well record some of it, explaining what's happening with Word In Your Ear in the light of the current situation, how they're getting by at home, what they're reading, what they've been listening to and what it might all mean for the return of long form listening. Well, it's not as if they've got anything else to do.Joni Mitchell in concert at the BBC in 1970https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAxjPfWOiqIJoni Mitchell doing "Me And My Uncle" i n 1965https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k6OYIvLLcAHere's a good place to start on the books of Simon Winchester.http://www.simonwinchester.com/And here's an introduction to Anthony Powell.http://anthonypowell.org/David's book "A Fabulous Creation" is out in paperback.https://amzn.to/39gV

Pete Paphides' acclaimed "Broken Greek" is, as David says when introducing him, the best book written by a former Smash Hits reader and looks set to do for unjustly uncelebrated popular music what Nick Hornby did for football in "Fever Pitch". This chat encompasses: Abba, West Brom, the Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, Mind Your Language, shopping for singles at Woolworths, living above a chip shop, hoping to be adopted by the Brotherhood Of Man and making the amazing discovery that John Lennon and Paul McCartney actually used to be in the same band! Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dan Franklin's first book "Heavy" chronicles his life-long love affair with heavy music in all its different manifestations, from Meat Loaf to Sunn 0))), and argues that it deserves a lot more respect than it gets as a rule. It's a story that takes us from a cassette copy of a Guns N' Roses album thrust into the hands of a puzzled eight-year-old, via the fields of Donington and the mosh pits of Camden to the lengths a new father will go to free a Type O Negative CD from the mangled remnants of a family car. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

John Mitchinson and Andy Miller do the award-winning Backlisted podcast which, as they like to say on the tin, "brings new life to old books". They're also big music fans so we thought they would be the ideal people to come along and talk in their own inimitable style about what they feel are some of the best and sometimes overlooked examples of the genre. That's how come, in a wide-ranging discussion we came to touch on "Dino: Living High In The Dirty Business Of Dreams" by Nick Tosches, "Black Vinyl, White Powder" by Simon Napier Bell and Levon Helm's "This Wheel's On Fire", "Nico: Songs They Never Play On The Radio" by James Young, Julian Cope's "Krautrock Sampler", Stephen Sondheim's "Look: I Made A Hat" and "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead: The Dirty Life and Times of Warren Zevon" by Crystal Zevon, all of which are in their different ways recommended. Conversation covers: how much a rock star gets for their memoirs, how to tell if an anecdote is made up or not, why Julian Cope doesn't m

We were delighted to welcome Bethan Roberts to Word In Your Ear to talk about her novel “Graceland”. This is based on the most important relationship in the life of Elvis Presley. His mother Gladys brought him up single-handedly when his father went into prison, she encouraged his singing, she feared for what the girls would do to him and what the managers might take from him, wished he didn’t have to go away so often and would have preferred him to be a furniture salesman married to a nice local girl with some grandchildren on the way. Then, when he was undergoing basic training in the army, she died.People say that Elvis was never the same after he went in the army. In fact he was never the same after his mother died. Bethan tells us about how she got the idea for the book, what fascinates her about the intense relationship between mother and son and while, as she explains, the odd incident may have been embroidered, the basic facts of her narrative are not in dispute. What’s most am

In his new book "A New Day Yesterday", an account of progressive rock in the 1970s, Mike Barnes tells the story of how this peculiarly British musical form was born out of the Small Faces' "Itchycoo Park" and the Graham Bond Organisation and went on to flourish throughout the 70s in the universities of Britain and the arenas of the United States. He talks to Mark and David about all the issues that matter: capes, mellotrons, seated audiences, prolonged soloing, the real names of the members of Quintessence and whatever happened to Egg. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When Sid Smith first finished his definitive biography of King Crimson in 2001 he thought, not unreasonable that would be that. But then Robert Fripp reactivated the band and so Sid had to take up his pen once more. This has resulted in an even more definitive work "In The Court Of King Crimson". He came to Word In Your Ear to run Mark and David through the key facts of their extraordinary rise and their exceptional longevity, what it's like to spend six weeks on the road with a bunch of musical gentlemen of a certain age and why he's not planning to put down his pen just yet. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alexis Petridis was very lucky Elton John chose him to help tell the story in his best-selling memoir "Me". Elton John's equally lucky Alexis agreed because without him it probably wouldn't be half as good as it is. In fact it's two stories: the first is the story of a musical career that seems to be headed nowhere until a chance meeting with a lyricist began a partnership which operated in an unprecedented way and led to unprecedented success; the other is a personal story of how a very tense little boy from Pinner grew to be able to afford all the addictions on a Pharaonic scale, managed to conquer them and belatedly found contentment in a state that wasn't even invented when he was first a superstar. Every home should have a copy because everyone in that home would find at least some of it jaw-dropping. Alexis told us what it was like to write and what he learned about life in the process. <a target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href="https://open.acast.com/public/patreon/fanSu

On December 7th Thomas Alan Waits celebrates his 70th birthday and to mark that occasion we asked Barney Hoskyns, the author of his biography "Lowside Of The Road", to talk about what makes Waits one of the rare examples of a misfit who has prospered on his own terms. It's all here: developing his shtick entertaining the line of customers outside, choosing to dress in a way that had gone out of style twenty years before, living his character twenty four hours a day, being taken in hand both personally and professionally somewhat late in the day and eventually becoming a success on his own terms. Barney thinks he as important an artist as the 20th century has produced. He came along to explain why. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https

It's always good to welcome Andrew Collins back to the pod. Andrew was with us most recently to talk about the new edition of his official biography of Billy Bragg. This time he's got his movie hat on, as befits the man who writes about films for the Radio Times and presents "Saturday Night At The Movies" on Classic FM. Since 2019 has been such a bumper year for music biopics we asked him to remind us what are the best of breed in ten categories ranging from fiction to festivals and everything inbetween. You probably won't agree with it all but it will probably leave you determined to have a look on Netflix and search out some overlooked classic. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more

Graham Parker had an unusual career trajectory. "I didn't pay my dues until after I had some success," he says. In the wake of his greatest triumph, 1979's "Squeezing Out Sparks", he broke up his partnership with the Rumour and moved to America. Here he was the unwitting beneficiary of a record business which had difficulty adapting to a changed world. In the 80s and 90s, he says, they actually gave him too much money. A few years back he resumed his partnership with the Rumour, who were all present and correct and all got on with each other, a state of affairs almost unique in rock and roll. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The big hit records of today are assembled. The great records of 1968 were made. In a few cases they just happened, seemingly brought into being by some higher power over and above the efforts of any one individual. In his new book “Wichita Lineman: Searching In The Sun For The World's Greatest Unfinished Song” Dylan Jones traces the combination of inspiration and chance which makes this “the world’s greatest unfinished song” and, more to the point, arguably the greatest pop record ever made. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Daniel Rachel talked to everyone from Noel Gallagher to Tony Blair for his new book “Don’t Look Back In Anger” and he came in to Word In Your Ear to talk about how Kate Moss, David Beckham, Alan Macgee, Damien Hirst, Alastair Campbell and many others, knowingly or otherwise, managed to shape Britain’s last feelgood decade, which began with Spike Island and finished with the death of Diana. We guarantee, this will change the way you think about the era you lived through. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When Dave Lewis first went to see Led Zeppelin at the Empire Pool, Wembley in 1971 it cost him 75p. When they played their final show at the O2 in 2007 he was on Robert Plant's guest list. From the germ of his teenage scrapbook he built a small empire, based on his fanzine "Tight But Loose", which has produced a staggering range of titles dedicated to every aspect of Led Zeppelin's career. His book "Evenings With Led Zeppelin" has the distinction of being literally the heaviest book ever to feature on "Word In Your Ear". Dave came in to the Islington to talk about what got him excited in 1971 and, as you'll hear, still excites him today. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informati

For more than forty years Ian Penman has been one of the best writers about music in the country. His new book, "It Gets Me Home, This Curving Track", is made up of essays about James Brown, Prince, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, John Fahey and other musicians who have a strange fascination for him. Ian came to the Islington to talk about his career as a writer, the book and his plan to write a book about searching for music in charity shops. Be warned. This is the kind of book that will send you straight back to your records to listen for things that you've been missing. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is Nick Lowe the only musician of his generation who has actually got better as he’s got older? How did he survive the Famepushers hype? How did England’s most laid-back musician become the Midas of the punk era? What’s the secret of his success as a producer? What does he understand that most other musicians don’t? Will Birch, a musician himself, has known him a long time, and has written “Cruel To Be Kind”, the definitive biography of one of our great musical institutions. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Fifty years ago to the week the first Crosby, Stills and Nash LP was released in the UK, holding out the prospect of brotherly love in close harmony. Thus begun half a century of bitter infighting, chemical and sexual excess, regular break-ups and tearful reunions, all of which is documented in lip-smacking detail in “Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young” by one of our favourite authors Peter Doggett. He came along to the Islington to talk to Mark and David about it. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On Sunday the Dutch group The Analogues, who have set out to play the Beatles songs that the Beatles never played live, using the same equipment that was used fifty years ago, recreated the whole of "Abbey Road" in Studio 1 at Abbey Road. Mark and David were there and they haven't stopped babbling about it since. Hence we thought they should share their enthusiasm with the wider public. This conversation was recorded via Skype which is prone to the odd drop-out but we trust you'll find it worth listening round. If you want to get an idea of why they considered it so remarkable, watch this clip from a recent Dutch TV show. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In his new book "Fried and Justified", veteran PR Mick Houghton writes about his experience as the man whose job it was to get these bands and many others written about in the NME and Melody Maker, back in the days when thousands of bands formed, toured and split up purely in order to achieve their ultimate ambition, which was getting on the cover of a weekly music paper. Have we really seen the last of all those mad haircuts, all those dramatic break-ups, all those madly controversial interviews in budget hotels in the Benelux countries? Mick came along to Word In Your Ear to tell us. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In a departure from our usual way of doing things we were delighted to welcome Art Of Noise-nik, ABC arranger and purveyor of fine soundtrack music for everything from "Poldark" to "The Hustle" Anne Dudley to talk about a career that has been largely spent behind the scenes. Subjects covered include: the surprising things you can learn from working with people with no musical talent, why everything in a film is provisional, how to suggest a chord to Paul McCartney, the uncanny ear of George Michael and what it's like to stand in front of an orchestra with a baton. Plus, for the first time ever, we're delighted to introduce actual musical illustrations. Let us know what you think. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privac

Gary Crowley has just put together “Gary Crowley’s Lost 80s”, a lovingly-curated four CD set of the kind of oldies that the radio station computer doesn’t automatically reach for. It’s the kind of stuff that might have soundtracked his teenage discos, his nights at the Wag, his shows on Capital Radio and GLR or served to warm up the crowd as he presided over shows by Wham or the Style Council. He came along to Word In Your Ear to talk to Mark Ellen and David Hepworth about his extraordinary career, which began with meeting Joe Strummer in the street, climaxed with introducing Oasis at Knebworth and involved everybody from Elton John to the Wonder Stuff. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy fo

In 2007 private equity firm Terra Firma borrowed a lot of money from Citibank to buy EMI, the UK’s most venerable music company. Their plan was to transform this most traditional of companies to meet the challenges of a new age. A year later the economic crash came along to make what was already a difficult job even harder. Eamonn Forde covered what was going on at EMI for The Word as the smart guys from the city tried to grapple with the idiosyncrasies of a business which is strangely touchy-feely and utterly unscientific. And now that the Terra Firma misadventure is over and EMI has been divided up among the other major comglomerates he’s brought it together into The Final Days Of EMI: Selling The Pig, a uniquely authoritative insider account of an industry that was losing an empire and was yet to find a role. He came along to Word In Your Ear to talk about it. Get bonus con

David Hepworth's new book "A Fabulous Creation" is about the era of the LP, from "Sgt Pepper" in 1967 to "Thriller" in 1982. The book was launched at Foyles in Charing Cross Road with a chat between David and Mark Ellen in front of a packed house. This was illustrated with the usual magic lantern show which you can probably reproduce in your head. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We were delighted to welcome Midge Ure to the Islington to talk about growing up in Glasgow, becoming a teen idol by accident, being offered a slot in the Sex Pistols, almost becoming the Next Big Thing, assisting at the birth of the Cult With No Name, becoming a temporary rock star with Thin Lizzy, becoming a genuine rock star with Ultravox, writing the biggest hit in chart history, getting his slot at Live Aid pinched by his mate Bob Geldof, appearing on "This If Your Life", "Celebrity Masterchef" and playing the blues on the porch with Eric Clapton. Truly all human life is here. Midge is touring twice in the next year. In the first jaunt, beginning in March, he'll be playing and also taking questions from the audience. In the second he'll be supported by a full band and reprising many of the Ultravox and Visage songs which are about to celebrate their 40th birthday. Get bo

In introducing this session, which was inspired by David Hepworth's new book "Nothing Is Real" Mark Ellen said "I've know this man for over forty years and I've never won an argument with him". On this occasion the two of them were joined by old friends, writer Jude Rogers and broadcaster/podcaster Geoff Lloyd, to chew over some of David's theories, such as why the Beatles were underrated and why you should never play pop records at funerals, and to add a few of their own, which cover such topics as the girlfriend who changed the direction of popular music, the redundancy of the live album and the records that you should and shouldn't play at a wedding disco. A splendid time is guaranteed for all. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https:

Peter Grant was the former all-in wrestler turned manager whose reputation was built on his knack for making sure his bands got paid. In this respect didn't hurt to have the build of a screen heavy and the reputation of a gangster. When Led Zeppelin got paid it was in quantities so large that they had to be taken away from the venues in carrier bags from supermarkets. In "Bring It All Back Home" Pink Floyd and Queen biographer Mark Blake tells the full story of Peter Grant from his time as a wartime tearaway through road managing Chuck Berry and Gene Vincent to his meeting with Jimmy Page, with whom he formed what was probably the key relationship in the Led Zeppelin camp through their rampages across America in the 70s to a very dark period holed up in his moated house in the country taking cocaine in immense quantities and harbouring dark thoughts about the world outside. As we told Mark Blake when he came to the Islington to talk about it, this one really should be a movie. <a targe

Kenneth Womack, who actually teaches a course in the Beatles at Monmouth University in New Jersey, has just published "Sound Pictures", the second part of his mammoth biography of Beatles producer George Martin, and he came to Word In Your Ear to talk about it. There was plenty to cover: from his childhood in the Depression through a transformation thanks to the Fleet Air Arm and the Guildhall School of Music to an apprenticeship at EMI which led him to produce everyone from Flanders and Swann to Peter Sellers and then confronted him with the challenge of making something of the four boys from Liverpool that the publishing division were keen on signing. He wasn't convinced at first but as soon as they did something he thought was good he was the first to recognise it and he was the only person apart from Brian Epstein who believed they were going to be huge and helped make sure they were. Kenneth provides a gripping account of what was arguably the most productive creative partnership

Billy Bragg joins us to talk about Izal medicated toilet paper, the Beatles, Joe Henry, the restorative effects of finishing the evening signing tea towels, Bovingdon tank museum, an old copy of the East London Advertiser, meeting Bob Dylan, watching old Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movies, the importance of accountability, what the Clash could do and what they couldn't do, meeting Ray Galton in the pub, what poems could each of us recite from memory, Lead Belly, the cultural importance of TV cowboys, how many of the Quarrymen are still alive, and much more besides... Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For all the people who have been asking to hear the long version of our chat with Chas Hodges, who was our guest in the podcast on June 1st 2012, here it is. It's all here: growing up in Edmonton, playing in Joe Meek's house band, hearing "Revolver" on acetate, playing with Heads, Hands and Feet, the amazing story of Chas and Dave and much more. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the entire firmament of those who busted the charts in the 1980s there was nobody more reliably sane than Mark King of Level 42. Before they start on their 2018 tour he came in to the Islington to entertain an enthralled house with his account of importing the first Mahavishnu Orchestra album into the Isle Of Wight, turning up on Lenny White's doorstep in America at the age of seventeen, treating the bass as a percussion instrument, his ride on the giddy carousel of chart success in the 80s, prodding Sean Penn in the chest at Madonna's party, appearing with Elton John and Eric Clapton at the Prince's Trust and a recent run-in with Ginger Baker. One of the best evenings we've ever had at the Islington. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href=

Ever since first hearing the siren call of The Rubettes' "Sugar Baby Love", Mark Kermode, TV and Radio's Mr Movie, has been possessed by a determination to find out how it feels to be on stage with a band and to make the noise that bands made. His new book "How Does It Feel?" recounts every step on that journey, from making his own guitar while at school through leading his own bands The Bottlers and The Dodge Brothers and masquerading as the musical director of Danny Baker's late-night chat show to trying to learn the chromatic harmonica on stage in front of a large orchestra and an even larger audience. It has been a life devoted to the noble objective of getting some kind of noise out of just about anything he has been confronted with and being prepared to treat the twin impostors of approval and derision both the same. Get bonus content on Patreon<p style='co

We couldn't get over the fact that Seymour Stein actually met Buddy Holly. It shouldn't surprise us really because after all he is 76 and his first job in the music business was at Billboard when he was a teenager. It's well known that as the boss of the Sire label he signed the Ramones, Talking Heads, Depeche Mode, the Undertones and Madonna. What's less well-known is the part played in the Sire story by Focus, the Deviants and the Climax Blues Band. The full story is written in "Siren Song" which he's written with Gareth Murphy. He came to Word In Your Ear to talk about it. We let him get on with it. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stuart Baillie's book, "Trouble Songs" is, as he told us at this Word In Your Ear, his personal story as well as the story of music and the Troubles. Born in Belfast in 1961, Stuart came to London to work on the NME, returning to Belfast in the late 90s to run a music project in the city. His book paints a rich picture of a place with unique virtues as well as unique problems. It's the story of how entertainment has reflected both and how live music re-emerged from behind the ring of steel and came blinking in the daylight following the Good Friday agreement. It's the story of Christy Moore, the Miami Showband, Stiff Little Fingers, Rudi, Van Morrison, the Undertones, Terri Hooley and scores of others, many of whom were interviewed specifically for the book. It's also the story of the part played in the events of the time by outsiders like Lennon and McCartney, U2 and The Clash. It's the story of how music both brings people together and sometimes drives them apart. It's one of the bes

Drummer with the Small Faces, the Faces and the Who, supplier of the distinctive drum sound on the Rolling Stones' "It's Only 'N' Roll", guest at Mick Jagger's wedding in 1971, Kenney Jones is one of the few people born in Stepney in 1948 who wound up owning his own polo club. It's all in his newly-published autobiography "Let The Good Times Roll". He came to the Islington to talk to David and Mark about it. The new air conditioning was working and a splendid time was had by all. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Award-winning broadcaster and podcaster, successful novelist and former Word subscriber Simon Mayo makes his debut on the pod to talk about his ascent of the greasy pole of broadcasting, his experience fronting the Radio One Roadshow in the days when that was a very big deal, his radio husband Mark Kermode, his radio wife Jo Whiley, his first adult novel "Mad Blood Stirring", soon to be a major motion picture, and the real reason why Dave Lee Travis always got the biggest cheer. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It was a delight to catch up with Andrew Collins on the occasion of the publication of "Still Suitable For Miners", his biography of Billy Bragg which was initially published in 1998 and is now updated with additional material. He talked to David and Mark about the days when a biographer had a carrier bag of clippings instead of the internet, how the self-described big-nosed bastard from Barking managed to turn himself into a national institution and kept his brand burning bright for the best part of forty years and also tells us the one about the stripper and the banana. All this and an education too! Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the sixties Neil Innes wrote and sang many of the deathless masterpieces of the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band. In the late 70s he was the leading light of the pre-fab four, The Rutles, still the greatest and most affectionate of Beatles parodies. He lives in France now. On a visit to the UK to take part in a tour marking the 40th anniversary of the Rutles, he dropped in to the Islington to talk to old skool fans Mark and David about wooing women with fruit, meeting the Beatles on the stairs at Abbey Road, doing a weekly children's programme live on TV with the one and only Viv Stanshall, helping George Harrison with his garden and not suing Oasis. A delightful guest. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/priv

Virgin, Harlequin, One Stop, Dobells, Rock On, HMV, Cheapo Cheapo, Disci, Andy's, Woolies, Our Price and a million and one places called The Spinning Disc. It doesn't matter where you did your record shopping in the far long-ago, they're all in "Going For A Song", Garth Cartwright's information-packed survey of UK record shops past and present. In this podcast he talks to Mark and David about record retailing in this country from the days of the cylinder through the danceband boom of the thirties and the madness of Beatlemania to the recent rebirth of very specialist indies. It's a road we've all trodden one way or another and it's good to have it recognised. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy<

Tim Rice didn't particularly like musicals. He was a rock and roll fan turned junior exec. In fact when Tim Rice met Andrew Lloyd Webber in the late 60s he had his eyes on a nice job running one of EMI's overseas outposts. But then there was Jesus Christ Superstar which was performed by the Grease Band and recorded at Olympic and sold in quantities nobody knew anything could sell and the next thing he knew he was a giant of the musical theatre and was writing with and for everyone. The perspective he's acquired in the course of a fifty-plus year career is unique and he's already distilled a lot of it into one volume of memoirs. He came along to The Islington so that Mark and David could encourage him to get on with the next volume. It was a delight to talk to him. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See <a style=

It was born in an unpromising flat in Tottenham, came to fruition in an old manor house in Oxfordshire, became, by accident, the soundtrack of a horror film that is still frightening people 45 years later and led, also by accident, to the foundation of one of the few British brands that's still a household name. It changed the lives of everybody who had anything to do with it. Richard Newman is the only person to have spent time talking to all the people who were involved and his book, 'The Making Of Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells', has been re-published to mark the forty-fifth anniversary of the record's original release. He came to the Islington to talk to David and Mark about it. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/priv

When Ian Anderson left the family home in Blackpool to make his name in the music business his father flung him hid old overcoat. "It'll be cold out there," he said. That was more than fifty years ago. 2018 sees the fiftieth anniversary of the release of the first Tull album "This Was". This anniversary is being marked by a special tour which begins in April. When Ian was our guest at Word In Your Ear he talked about: going to the police station as a 15-year-old because he wanted to be a copper, how the name of his band was as much a surprise to him as anyone else, what it was like to go on before Hendrix at the Isle of Wight in 1969, how The Who outshone the Rolling Stones during the filming of "The Rolling Stones Rock And Roll Circus", why any idiot can manage his own band and why so few do, the secret of breaking America and why this tour is definitely the last. Get bonus c

In the course of a packed conversation with David Hepworth the Damon Runyon of Bermondsey touches upon Keith Chegwin and the Third Ear Band, carrying a coffin and recovering from cancer, the breathtaking profanity of Hughie Green and the staggering stupidity of certain BBC executives, the difficulty of dealing with 12-year-old TV producers who are labouring under the misapprehension that they understand pop history and what happened when he and Danny Kelly decided it was finally time to try getting stoned. As ever, all human life is there – as it is in his latest autobiographical volume, "Going On The Turn". Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Robert Forster's new book 'Grant And I' features strongly in many people's lists of the music book of the year. He came to WIYE to talk to Mark and David about growing up in Brisbane, bonding with Grant McLennan over their shared affection for Ry Cooder, forming a band with like-minded people rather than people who could play, getting near enough to success to be able to taste it and why no band has anything new to say after twenty minutes. Robert's been on the podcast before and remains one of our favourites. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Armando Iannucci's Hear Me Out is a collection of pieces about his first love, classical music. He decided early on that the Deep Purple and Lou Reed records favoured by his older brother didn't speak to him in the way that Holsts's Planet Suite did. His book explains why. In this wide ranging chat with Mark and David Armando talks about how it felt to not share the general enthusiasm for the sound of now and what he says to people when they try to get him on the dance floor at parties. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As a teenager Dylan Jones was one of that generation who saw David Bowie on “Top Of The Pops” in 1972 and felt he was talking directly to them. As an art student he worked as an extra on a Bowie film and even gave him a light for his cigarette. As the editor of such magazines as Arena and GQ he went on to interview Bowie numerous times. Now he’s put together “David Bowie: A Life”, a massive oral history of the man’s life and brilliant career. It draws on the recollections of everyone from old school friends like George Underwood through fellow musicians like Rick Wakeman to the artists, film makers and fashion leaders whose direction he affected. In this special extended chat with Mark Ellen and David Hepworth Dylan talks about everything Bowie, including how small he was in some directions and yet how big in others. Get bonus content on Patreon<p style='color:gr

"My Dad said that if I joined a rock band I would be an alcoholic, a drug addict and skint. Turns out he was right." So writes Chris Difford in "Some Fantastic Place", a startlingly candid autobiography. An old friend of the pod he came along to Word In Your Ear to talk to Mark and David about the strange dynamics within bands, the reason musicians don't talk to each other, the attractions of relaxants and stimulants and the challenges of managing Bryan Ferry. Amazing stuff. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The guest on our snug Chesterfield was Daniel Rachel, who won the Penderyn Prize for best music book of 2017 for his "Walls Come Tumbling Down", a triumphant oral history of the story of Rock Against Racism, 2-Tone and Red Wedge. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Johnny Rogan almost didn't make it to this Word In Your Ear. He was so absorbed in a discussion about biography with friend of the podcast Mark Lewisohn that he had a small traffic accident that almost sidelined him for the evening. Anyway, he made it and brought along both volumes of his mammoth new account of their complex career. To help tell their story we were also delighted to welcome another friend of the pod Sid Griffin. It's all here: the folk revival, Swinging London, psychedelia, square glasses, country music, personality conflicts and some very sad ends. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Usually our guests are talking about freshly-published books. It's actually ten years since Sarfraz Manzoor put out Greetings From Bury Park, his memoir about growing up in a traditional Pakistani family in Luton with an obsession with Bruce Springsteen. With the prospect of the story being transferred to the screen in the offing, Sarfraz came along to talk to David Hepworth about how he found parallels between Springsteen's songs and the challenges he faced in his life and how his desire to identify with the Boss led him into the odd unfortunate fashion choice. At the same time the two of them talk about Bruce Springsteen's autobiography Born To Run as it comes out in paperback, because, face it, he could use the royalties. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noope

We loved them because they could do things we could never do. We adopted them as our fantasy friends when we were teenagers and were still measuring ourselves against them forty years after. David Hepworth talks about his best-selling book "Uncommon People" which traces the history of the cult of the rock star from Little Richard to Kurt Cobain. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Thomas Dolby’s career has seen him sharing a helicopter with a terrified David Bowie over Wembley Stadium, labouring on the nightshift at a New York studio in search of noises that Foreigner might like and dropping in on Michael Jackson at home in the days before scandal consumed him. All this and a good deal more is in his memoir The Speed Of Sound, which also covers his pop success and his adventures at the heart of the great Internet revolution. He came to Islington to talk to Mark Ellen and David Hepworth all about it. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

John Ingham used to sign himself Jonh Ingham when he covered the very early stirrings of punk rock in 1976 for Sounds. Although he was a writer by trade he took along his camera because literally nobody else was taking pictures and he recognised that early punk was above all things colourful. Forty years later he’s got those pictures out from storage and published them in a fabulous new book called Siprit Of 76: London Punk Eyewitness, which has pictures of all the key players - the Sex Pistols, Clash, Siouxsie, Generation X and Subway Sect - in the last days before they were household names. It’s an extraordinary document. The book comes with an introduction from Jon Savage and a commentary from John himself. He came along to the Islington to tell us about the year it all happened. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on A

David Hepworth started at Smash Hits in the late 70s, Mark Ellen joined in the early 80s, Barry McIlheney arrived in the middle of the decade and Miranda Sawyer came along in the late 80s. Therefore they were well placed to talk about such key Smash Hits experiences as being pinned to a door by Jimmy Pursey, taking Bananarama to Burger King, asking U2 to draw a duck and getting a bit tired and going home halfway through a Stone Roses interview. All this and more in this bumper ish. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“Captain Fantastic” is Tom Doyle’s account of Elton’s most tumultuous decade, the 70s, during which time he assumed every role from bedsitter poet to intercontinental hell raiser, from singing frontiersman to singing hornet, from Pinner to Philly and back. He came along to Word In Your Ear to talk to us about the eternal puzzle that is Elton. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There’s a rich British tradition of well brought up young men from the leafier suburbs developing a fixation on music from a very different culture and somehow getting themselves a job playing said music on the radio. Nobody has done it more successfully and more unexpectedly than David Rodigan. For a part of the career he’s run it alongside his work as an actor. No wonder there’s so much interest in turning his book “My Life In Reggae” into a film. It’s a story rich in humour and packed with incident, some of which he recounted to Mark Ellen and David Hepworth. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We were delighted to be joined by two of the UK’s most respected providers of backing vocals and harmonies, who between them have sung with everybody from David Bowie at Live Aid on down. They showed us aspects of their vocal techniques, instructed us in the diplomatic arts required to rub along on tour when the members of the band aren’t speaking to each other and explain why the wordless refrain has gone the way of the whalebone corset. You can find the full story in Tessa’s book “Backtrack”. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this shortcast Jon Savage talks to David Hepworth about his new compilation album, “1967 - The Year Pop Divided”. Forty-eight tracks of psych-flavoured pop, rock and soul from the last year before music went off into its own ghettoes, from the Byrds to Captain Beefheart, from Rex Garvin and the Mighty Cravers to the Shag, from the Thirteenth Floor Elevators to Gladys Knight and the Pips, from the Monkees to The Mickey Finn. “Do the lyrics have anything in common? Yes. Drugs." Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In Which Tony Fletcher tells us about Wilson Pickett, who was impossible as a child, inimitable as a singer and incorrigible as a success, and how he came to write “In The Midnight Hour”. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which Barney Hoskyns talks to us about Woodstock and the part it played in the lives of Dylan, the Band, Albert Grossman and Van Morrison, as related in his book “Small Town Talk”. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which Jeff Evans returns from researching the full history of "Rock and Pop On TV" for his new book and talks to Mark Ellen and David Hepworth about not just "Six Five Special" but also "Cool For Cats", not just Legs and Co but also Ruby Flipper, not just "The Tube" but also "The White Room", and wonders whether, now that we have You Tube, we have finally come to the end of music television as a genre. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which Paul Gambaccini, that son of New York who became an institution of British broadcasting, talks to Mark Ellen and David Hepworth about how the Beatles changed his life, how he got into broadcasting, what brought him to Britain, his experience of Radio One in the 70s, his recent ordeal at the hands of the Metropolitan police – fully documented in an amazing book "Love, Paul Gambaccini" – and how this experience has changed his view of the BBC and the Labour Party but not the British people. It's an extraordinary listen, one that goes the full distance from hilarity to horror. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which Mick Houghton, the author of a book about the legendary folk-rock label Elektra, and Adam White, the man behind a huge tome about the history of Motown, talk to David Hepworth about the unique challenges faced by independent labels, the charismatic men who founded them, the occasionally difficult stars they had to deal with and what keeps both Jac Holzman and Berry Gordy going at an age when most people are happy just to look at their great-grandchildren. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which Richard Houghton, the author of “I Was There”, a collection of first-hand reminiscences from people who saw the Beatles back in the sixties, from under-attended dance halls in England to over flowing stadia in the United States, talks to David Hepworth about how he wrinkled out their stories. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which David Hepworth talks to legendary journalist and author Paul Morley about how David Bowie inflamed his young imagination and his new book The Age Of Bowie. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which David Hepworth talks to legendary journalist and author Hunter Davies about his time as a fly on the wall with the Beatles in the middle sixties and his newly-published Beatles Book. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which we talk to the irrepressible Sylvia Patterson on how music provided some much needed structure in her chaotic teenage life and her career as a writer on Smash Hits, NME and beyond. Contains: Manics, Mick Hucknall, Happy Mondays, Blur and many more. Sylvia’s book is “I’m Not With The Band”. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which we talk to Derek Ridgers, who began taking pictures at Eric Clapton’s Rainbow concert and was there to document the brief moment when punk was invented in London. Some of these pictures are collected in his new book “Punk London 1977”. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which we talked to the husband and wife team behind Maybe I'm Doing It Wrong: The Life And Times Of Randy Newman about this uniquely fascinating artist and whether he'll be remembered for"Short People" or "Toy Story". Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which Harry Nilsson biographer Alan Shypton reflects on the man with the voice of an angel and the thirst of a medium-sized nation. We're a bit late with this, but Alan's book 'Nilsson: The Life Of A Singer-Songwriter' is such an absorbing account of a life packed with incident that it's better late than never. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which David Hepworth instructs Mark Ellen in the theory behind his best-selling book about the the annus mirabilis of the rock album, “1971: Never A Dull Moment”. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which friend of Word In Your Ear and Essex correspondent Zoë Howe talks about the Doctor Feelgood frontman, subject of her new book Lee Brilleaux: Rock’n’Roll Gentleman. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which Word contributor and biographer of George Harrison Graeme Thomson talks about the short but action-packed passage of the “literally clubbable” Phil Lynott, the subject of his authorised biography “Cowboy Song”. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jon Savage has written celebrated histories of Punk Rock and the Teenager. Now he turns his attention to 1966, the year when pop went fuzzy at the edges, when psychedelic drugs, protest about Vietnam and anxiety about nuclear war helped inspire some of the greatest pop music ever made, by everyone from Bob Dylan to the Stones to Norma Tanega. He talked to David Hepworth about it in front of an audience at The Islington. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Howard Sounes has already written revelatory biographies of Bob Dylan and Paul McCartney. Most recently he’s turned his attention to Lou Reed. In Notes from the Velvet Underground he recounts the extraordinary life and career of one of rock’s most memorably irascible characters, someone who occasionally pulled a gun on even close friends and allies. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Elvis Costello joins us to talk about his blockbusting memoir "Unfaithful Music And Disappearing Ink". The conversation takes in such vital issues as: growing up in a house full of acetates and publishers demos, the reason The Attractions ran on to the stage in 1977, Nick Kent’s tackle on display in the garden of the pub opposite Island Records, playing support to the Natural Acoustic Band in 1971, listening to the radio in the 60s, what he learned from Burt Bacharach and why the White House is the ideal place to play “Penny Lane”. Cheers, Elvis. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

David Hepworth and Mark Ellen talk bout Tracey Thorn’s Naked At The Albert Hall: The Inside Story Of Singing and John Seabrook’s The Song Machine: Inside The Hit Factory via the miracle of Skype. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

David Cavanagh, the author of “Good Night and Good Riddance: How Thirty-Five Years Of John Peel Help Shape Modern Britain”, and Trevor Dann, WIYE’s go-to guy on all matters radio, talk about John Peel: his radio style, his complicated personality, his contribution to the national heritage and where he would be broadcasting today if he were still around. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Chris Salewicz joined us to talk about “Dead Gods: The 27 Club” which deals with the rock stars who never got past their twenty-seventh birthday. His list includes: Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Brian Jones, Kurt Cobain, Amy Winehouse and others. What they all had in common was a family background not as happy as you would like and a sub-conscious fear of dealing with adult life. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

WIYE McCartney Special. Paul Du Noyer, who’s interviewed him more than anyone (much of which is reflected in his new book, “Conversations With McCartney), and Laura Barton, who need her cat after him, discuss a national institution with Mark Ellen and David Hepworth. Best look, best song, best story, it’s all here, including the answer to the perennial question - what was Paul McCartney’s best song for The Beatles? Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Patrick Woodroffe is the world's foremost live show lighting designer. He's the man the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder and many others ask for by name. He's been behind some of the most ambitious and technically demanding stage presentations, from vast crowds on Copacabana Beach to a world TV audience for the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics. He talked to Mark Ellen and David Hepworth about his work in front of an audience at the Islington. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Peter Doggett is one of the most respected authors in the music field, with highly-praised works devoted to David Bowie and the Beatles to his name. Here he talks to Mark Ellen and David Hepworth about his magnum opus “Electric Shock”, a panoramic history of popular music from the gramophone to the iPhone. This was recorded in front of an audience at the Islington. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mick Wall has been a leading light of rock journalism at the heavier end for over thirty years, playing an important role in the development of Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Guns N’ Roses and many others. Here he talks to Mark Ellen and David Hepworth about his experiences, as recorded in his new book “Getcha Rocks Off”. This was recorded in front of an audience at the Islington. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On the 30th anniversary of the day four people who were there — Janice Long, Dylan Jones, Mark Ellen and David Hepworth — talk about what it was like, how it didn't quite happen as planned, how people and press reacted at the time and what it changed about music and media. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

One of our oldest pals talks about Altered Images, Gregory's Girl, the joys of the oldies circuit and how motherhood led her to write Tallulah and the Teen Stars, the latest in a series of Young Adult books about the adventures of thinly-disguised versions of Smash Hits favourites. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this special Word In Your Era recording the UK's most legendary disc jockey talks to Mark Ellen and David Hepworth about playing records on the radio in the 70s, about sneaking Lou Reed up Auntie's skirt, avoiding the Bay City Rollers and going to an authentic record company sponsored orgy. Happy days. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mark Ellen and David Hepworth talk to Johnny Rogan, biographer of Morrissey and Van Morrison, about Ray Davies, the subject of his latest book, “A Complicated Life”. Recorded at the Islington in front of an audience at Word In Your Ear. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mark Ellen, David Hepworth and Fraser Lewry talk to “Magic” Alex Gold about his playing ukulele in Alaska, schlepping the length and breadth of Britain to play to one man and Fido and learning the entire repertoire of the Rolling Stones in just one day. Plus: Tidal, Rick Buckler, the unquiet life of AC/DC and how to leave your records in your will. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rick Buckler was the drummer of The Jam. His book "That's Entertainment" tells the story of how a teenage covers band from Woking became Britain's most popular group of the late 70s and early 80s, how it all came to an end and the likelihood of it being started again. He talked about it to Mark Ellen and David Hepworth at a Word In Your Ear event at the Islington. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Richard Goldstein was the world's first rock critic. He wrote the "Popeye" column for the Village Voice during the British invasion of New York, rubbing shoulders with the Stones, Dylan, Janis Joplin and Brian Wilson. His book "Another Little Piece Of My Heart" is a unique record of a tumultuous era seen up-close. He talked about it to Mark Ellen and David Hepworth at Word In Your Ear is Islington. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Norman Jopling worked for Record Mirror in the 60s. He wrote the first story about the Rolling Stones, he took competition winners to meet the Beatles on the set of Help!, he saw the arrival of a new world at the Isle Of Wight Festival in 1969. His book "Shake It Up Baby!" is a vivid diary of that frenetic decade. He talked about it to Mark Ellen and David Hepworth at Word In Your Ear is Islington. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mark Ellen and David Hepworth talk to founder members of Fairport Convention Ashley Hutchings and Simon Nicol about Sandy Denny, the subject of "I've Always Had A Unicorn", a new biography by Mick Houghton. Recorded in front of an audience at the Slaughtered Lamb in Clerkenwell. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On the day Bob Dylan's album "Shadows In The Night" was released, top Dylan interpreter Barb Jungr and musician and writer Sid Griffin, talked to Mark Ellen and David Hepworth about how they first came to Bob Dylan, their favourite Dylan look, their favourite album and song and what it is about his music that keeps them coming back. This was recorded in front of a live audience. You'll just have to imagine the pictures. Next time make sure you're there. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mark Ellen and David Hepworth talk to Mark Billingham and Martyn Waites about Great Lost Albums which celebrates some of the records which you may not have actually heard but surely nonetheless exist in some fold of rock’s rich tapestry. We’re talking of course of David Icke & Tina Turner’s collaboration, the first Velvet Underground and Lulu album and Bob Dylan’s legendary collaboration with Liberace. This was recorded in front of an audience at the Islington in London’s swinging Islington. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mark Ellen and David Hepworth talk to Richard Balls, the author of Be Stiff: The Stiff Records Story about that label’s unique contribution to the iconography, lore and humour of the British record scene. Plus Mark Lewisohn pauses in the middle of the sisyphean task of writing his mammoth history of the Beatles to tell us how he’s getting on. This was recorded in front of an audience at the Islington in London’s swinging Islington. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mark Frith and Sylvia Patterson join Mark Ellen and David Hepworth to remember Britain's brightest - includes extremely rare 1982 Christmas flex. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Part of Danny Baker’s epic November performance at The Islington in which he talked about his new book “Going Off Alarming”. Believe it or not, Mark Ellen and David Hepworth are in there as well. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which Mark Ellen, Fraser Lewry and David Hepworth consider U2's album, the rum work done in the name of the "rock doc" and the proper duties of a household cat Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Zoe Howe, author of a new book about Stevie Nicks, talks to Mark Ellen and David Hepworth in front of an audience at the Islington. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In an interview recorded in front of an audience at The Islington, Ben Watt talks to David Hepworth and Mark Ellen about "Romany and Tom", his acclaimed memoir of his parents, and his award winning solo album "Hendra". Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Legendary artist manager, entrepreneur and speaker on all things music business Simon Napier-Bell talks to Mark Ellen and David Hepworth about his new book “Ta-Ra-Ra-Boom-De-Ay” (the dodgy business of popular music) in front of a packed house at The Islington. Includes: Lottie Collins, Wham, Irvin Berlin, The Beatles, Japan, the Yardbirds, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, One Direction, Pet Shop Boys and just about everybody else in the music business. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Includes: world debut of enthralling new parlour game Rock Poker; Neil Finn’s Two-Way Family Favourites; the two tribes of Adam Ant Nation; Justin Timberlake’s moveable feast; why long-form TV is a sinister plot to steal our lives; a pathetic attempt to read a whole paragraph of Mark Ellen’s book “Rock Stars Stole My Life” without laughing; plusuncalled for interjections from Fraser Lewry’s amazing wi-fi rabbit and your questions answered. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

March 2014: Mark Ellen, David Hepworth and Fraser Lewry convene over cakes to discuss: why all rock docs are legally bound to feature Bono, the touching story of Harry Nilsson's last marriage, what Jimi Hendrix really got up to in Marrakesh, whether Ginger Baker is in fact a bit of a bore, Fraser's day trip to North Korea and the book what Mark wrote. And Vikings. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Men kicking stars! Smoking on TV! Having to introduce music you didn't like! Getting picked on in public! All this and more in our Whispering Bobcast in which the great man plays 70s Rock Bingo, recalls cramped sessions with the Wailers in tiny continuity studios, the years when he couldn't go out for fear of being set upon by punk rockers, his memories of eating celery with Van Dyke Parks and making friends with John Lennon, his sacking from Radio One, his re-hiring by Radio Two and the launch of a new compilation of live sessions from Old Grey Whistle Test. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we're joined by Jude Rogers and Eamonn Forde to kick around the following subjects: the stylistic chasm between Grace Jones and Ed Sheeran at the Jubilee concert, the desirability of Macca finishing with Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, whether Madness playing Our House on top of the Palace was the most spectacular bit of staging ever seen at a pop show, what we have learned from Twitter about Nick Heyward, Richard Coles and "the girls side of the playground", the sounds and smells our children will never know and the big question - do records smell? Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're joined in the pod by Chas Hodges, who you'll know from such hits as "Gertcha" and "Ain't No Pleasing You". But you ought to also know him from his time in Joe Meek's house band, his stint on tour with the Beatles as a member of Cliff Bennett's Rebel Rousers, his time with pioneering country-rock band Heads, Hands and Feet and his manifold and honourable contributions to sessions galore. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Graham Gouldman wrote For Your Love for The Yardbirds, Bus Stop for The Hollies, Tallyman for Jeff Beck, No Milk Today for Herman's Hermits and I"m Not In Love and lots of others for 10cc. He has worked with Kirsty MacColl, Kasenetz-Katz, Andrew Gold, Gary Barlow, The Ramones, Mickie Most, John Paul Jones, Neil Sedaka and the Manchester City FA Cup squad of 1972. He's got a new record coming out called Love & Work. You think we ran out of things to talk about? Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Chaz Jankel - co-author of Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, Sweet Gene Vincent and Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick - looks back at the rollicking rise of the Blockheads, and Derek "The Draw" Hussey contemplates Ian Dury, the man whose shoes he fills in the current Blockheads line-up. Contains their charming performance of A Little Knowledge, the greatest piece of music recording in Word podcast history, we're saying. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kate Mossman, David Hepworth and Fraser Lewry go through John Peel's Record Collection and ponder what you can tell about personality type from flicking through anyone's accumulated spines. We also wonder whether Alabama Shakes anxiety indicates the impossibility of trying to like things just because other people do, discuss rock's vanishing instruments, and attempt to come up with preferable alternatives to the big Duran Duran/Stereophonics/Paolo Nutini/Snow Patrol Olympic showdown. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Over the last week we've welcomed three authors into the pod: Stanley Booth went on the road and down to Muscle Shoals with the Rolling Stones in 1969 and eventually wrote all about it in the ultimate access all areas on tour book, The True Adventures of The Rolling Stones; Paul Charles is one of the UK's leading live music agents and he's also the author of The Last Dance, a new novel set against the background of the Irish showband scene of the 60s; Andrew Martin is a journalist and author who's taken his fascination with railways of all kinds into fiction as well as fact. His new book is Underground Overground, a passenger's history of the tube. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for mor

This bumper edition covers: the only other person called Levon, why celebrities always feel the need to put one over on interviewers in public forums, who Record Store Day is supposed to be benefiting, the upsides and downsides of travelling in south-east Asia and podcasts about farming and Shakespeare. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Things we've been talking about this week include the great NME mis-selling scandal of the 90s, the grisly details of MC Hammer's 1998 bankruptcy, and the days when you could see Neil Young and have enough change to buy a bag of chips on the way home. Also: Pugwash drop in to talk about getting fan mail from Jeff Lynne and play a song from their new album, and we discuss an amazing documentary called Dreams Of A Life. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Latitude and Reading/Leeds promoter Melvin Benn remembers his first event - an anti-Thatcher gig in ’79 - while elsewhere there’s the unadulterated chaos of Axl Rose and girlfriend at Reading (the festival he helped save from bankruptcy), memories of Nirvana, the time he and Michael Eavis defended Worthy Farm against anarchists with petrol bombs, and the revelation that promoters can “play God” with the weather conditions. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mark Ellen, David Hepworth and Fraser Lewry debate whether there really is such a thing as a ropey Beatles record, the best food they've ever had at a gig, and the ethics of flying in samples during live performances. Plus Mike Doughty, talking about his career and his extraordinary memoir The Book Of Drugs. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The UK’s premier crime-thriller writer Mark Billingham enters the pod and subjects his obsessions to forensic enquiry - among them The Smiths, Genesis, Johnny Cash and Hank Williams. There’s some sound advice – "if you get caught shoplifting, at least nick something fashionable". There’s his four minutes dancing onstage with Elvis Costello and the time Morrissey let him to use some Smiths lyrics in one of his novels. And the fatwa from furious Phil Collins supporters. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We talk about great unexpected shows. David Hepworth goes to see Randy Newman and finds himself sitting behind some people who are clinically incapable of resisting the temptation to talk. Plus Green Gartside and Rhodri Marsden of Scritti Politti drop in to sing a couple of songs and talk about buying old Little Feat albums in the 70s. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The wildly prolific songwriter – and leader of The Soft Boys, Egyptians, Venus 3 and, currently, The Floating Palace collective – tackles life’s big issues. Such as why The Beatles were doomed as solo projects, the magic twin poles of the Syd Barrett lyric method, and the rigours of playing an entire set of David Bowie classics. Plus some riveting stuff on the ‘78 gig circuit and the Battle Of The Somme. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nige Tassell comes up from Somerset and (fatally) brings us something to drink. Before it takes effect we cover the following stuff: David Hepworth wonders why the best venues for rock and roll are always the ones built long before rock and roll was ever thought of. We ask when did school choirs start singing Adele songs and is this entirely a good idea? We have a quick chat and a song from Band Of Skulls, and Nige shares some of his most treasured old cassettes with us. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On February 27th Eliza Carthy plays the pub across the road in one of our Word In Your Ear series of live shows. In this special shortcast she tells David Hepworth what kind of music was playing in the house when she was growing up, how she had a thing for Rick Astley and how her boyfriend made her give her Barbies away to the charity shop. Bastard. A few tickets for the show, which features Eliza plus full five piece band, supported by Emily Barker and the Red Clay Halo plus Left With Pictures, are still available. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This podcast has lots in it: Mark Ellen taking a blunt instrument to his phone, the debt Madonna’s half-time Superbowl show owed to Elizabeth Taylor’s quiet entrance into Rome in the movie Cleopatra, the feminizing of pop, the people who’ve made more than one great album, how we know Lady Gaga isn’t a real blonde and the likelihood of a movement like punk getting swallowed up by Facebook. Plus a visit from Dodgy to talk up their new record Stand Upright In A Cool Place, Fraser’s recipe for a warming soup and the cat on the pitch at Anfield. Should be enough to get you home through the snow. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This podcast features interviews with two fascinating guests: Nick Coleman talks to David Hepworth about his excellent new book The Train in The Night, which touches on all kinds of things: why boys feel the need to define themselves by their tastes, what it’s like listening to a Nazareth album with your dad, how the brain eventually rewires itself to make up for the information it’s missing and the fact that people like us actually have far more records in our heads than even the biggest jukeboxes. We’ve also been visited by Yolanda Quartey, the sensational singer with Bristol’s Phantom Limb, whose new album The Pines is out now and who will be featured in the CD with the next issue. She brought with her a couple of live recordings made especially for the Word podcast. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See <a

In celebration of James Medd’s stupendous piece in Word 108 on the secret world of the bass guitarist, Medd and Mark Ellen present a podcast with session wizard and bon viveur Guy Pratt – who tells tales of working with Pink Floyd, The Smiths, Jimmy Page, the dictatorial Madonna and David Coverdale (who he impersonates immaculately). And explains the correct pronunciation of “Whitesnake” and how he did a Sophie Ellis-Bextor hit in 17 minutes. He also peels off the world’s greatest bottom lines on the office bass guitar. Our story starts on an aeroplane piloted by Floyd drummer Nick Mason experiencing strange and artificial turbulence... Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informatio

Neil Cowley dropped by the office the other day to talk about the Neil Cowley Trio, their new album The Face Of Mount Molehill, his time as a sideman with everyone from The Pasadenas to the Brand New Heavies, his part in the musical career of Sue Perkins and how the best place to learn to play jazz is in your local garden centre. We liked him so much we’ve put it out as a short podcast on its own. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We celebrate 200 editions of the Word Podcast in the room upstairs in The King and Queen in Foley Street, W1, scene of Bob Dylan's first ever appearance in the UK. Subjects covered included: the on and off wedding arrangements of Sinead O'Connor; Kate Mossman being pursued the house Benny Hill-style by Kevin Ayers and Fraser's legendary misdirection of the Princess Of Wales. The audience lines up to compete in our legendary Rock and Roll Spelling test and plays thirty seconds of a rock classic on an unusual instrument. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Word helicopter takes off from just the battlements of Graeme Thomson’s castle in Edinburgh, hugs the coastline on its way south, dropping off at the massive Victorian folly occupied by Mark Hodkinson on the borders or Yorkshire and Lancashire and then makes a detour into Berkshire where it lands on the vast rolling lawns of John Naughton’s massive country seat. Finally it hovers over Cast Iron Studios in Caledonian Road to record two tunes and some chat with The Miserable Rich. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In a seasonal departure from our usual routine we bring you at this special time the voices of some of our valued contributors from all over the country, picking the books, DVDs and records that they have found most interesting this year. In this first instalment David Hepworth talks to Jim Irvin, Andrew Collins and Jude Rogers. In addition we've got The Rifles in the pod, performing songs from and talking about their new album Long Walk Home. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mark Ellen, David Hepworth and Fraser Lewry range across: a star-studded carol service, what Verdi could do that Dylan couldn't, and story of "Wally!" In addition Kate Mossman joins us to talk to folkie Jackie Oates who also plays a couple of songs from her new record "Saturnine". Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we welcome to the pod Renaissance Man, art rock avatar, club pioneer, movie actor and very tall man Richard Strange. As Kid Strange he fronted the 70s rock band the Doctors of Madness, who were supported by everyone from the Sex Pistols to Joy Division. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this podcast: the legit release of the Rolling Stones’ “Brussels Affair”, the things that Jimmy Savile did and did not do, Paul Du Noyer remembering Jackie Leven, your misinterpreted songs thread, Fraser explaining why he features on a Guns N’Roses b-side, the Black Sabbath reunion(s) and a couple of songs from Emily Barker and the Red Clay Halo. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nile Rodgers enters the pod to talk us through his story: the man who created the only triple platinum single in the history of Atlantic Records, led Chic through the ups and downs of disco and went on to produce Diana Ross, David Bowie, Duran Duran and Madonna. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Andy Gill joins us to recount the full story of The Beach Boys' Smile, recounting Brian Wilson's odd partnership with the ever-voluble Van Dyke Parks, the stubbornness and luxuriant chest hair of Mike Love, the underwater misadventures of Dennis Wilson, the often misrepresented Dr Eugene Landy and the trans-Atlantic battle for supremacy between the former Pendletons and the Beatles. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sitting in the home studio where he recorded the vocals for Fairy Tale Of New York, Steve Lillywhite talks about working with Eddie & The Hot Rods, the Pretenders, U2, Simple Minds, Brian Eno and Jared Leto and almost everybody else. He also advances his case as the judge that American Idol really needs. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

David Hepworth and Mark Ellen remember the Tom Hibbert cookery course, talk about what was in the George Harrison film and what should have been in it, what Tony Bennett does that rock bands don't and the correct way to pronounce Yngwie Malmsteen. Plus we're announcing how you'll be able to get the full podcast in future only if you're a subscriber to the magazine. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our own Andrew Harrison and celebrated food photographer Patrice de Villiers join us to talk about Love Music Love Food: The Rock Star Cookbook, a mammoth undertaking published in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust. It features the likes of Brett Anderson, Noel Gallagher, Mick Hucknall, Cliff Richard, Tinie Tempah, Paul Weller and many others talking about and being photographed with their favourite food. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're joined in the pod by author Jonathan Coe, he of The Rotter's Club. We talk prog in riveting detail, look back at his days as a rock hack at The Wire, explain the use of music in Billy Wilder movies, and hear a a newly recorded track from his reformed college loungecore act The Peer Group. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're joined in the pod by two card-carrying Bowie experts – Peter Doggett - author of the superb new book "The Man Who Sold The World: David Bowie And The ‘70" and Word’s long-serving associate editor Paul Du Noyer. On the way we learn Bowie’s tortuously complicated childhood, his unproduced rock opera, the lost recordings and the four times Paul got to interview him. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rhodri Marsden visits us in the cupboard to talk about his "40 Noises That Built Pop" feature, to reveal how some of the sounds in the list were arrived at and the instruments that gave birth to them. Also up for discussion: Rhodri's first date hell Twitter sensation. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kate Mossman joins us in the pod to talk about being obsessed with Queen when her classmates were into Nirvana, and how you can never assume that young people go along with what their generation appears to be going along with. Plus: is picking the music for your own funeral the poor man's Desert Island Discs? Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Thomas Dolby joins us to talk about working with Trevor Horn, David Bowie, Prefab Sprout and Joni Mitchell; operating as musical director of TED, spending an evening at Michael Jackson's, making money through polyphonic ringtones and just generally trying to do things in a different way. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

David Ford joins us in the podcast to talk about his terrific new book, I Choose This, which proves there's no success like failure, and to reveal how Jeff Buckley's influence on an entire generation of musicians wasn't entirely benign. Also: Kate Mossman introduces Amy LaVere. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jude Rogers and Kate Mossman join us in the podcast to talk about the short life and sad death of Amy Winehouse. Also in this edition: our Sunday afternoon cruise down the Thames with Neil Finn & C.W. Stoneking. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our final Latitude recording: Andrew Harrison is joined by Stuart Maconie and Louise Wener to look back at Britpop: why it happened, what is was like, and where it all went wrong. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Robin Ince joins us in the Word lounge to talk about Mills & Boon and why Robert Smith should never be a crowd marshall, and the chaps from They Might Be Giants talk to David Hepworth and answer audience questions about set lists. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the third of this year's Latitude podcasts, Absolute Radio's Geoff Lloyd talks David Hepworth and Mark Ellen through the pain of losing his record collection and reveals a genuine piece of backsgage gossip, and we hear from I Am Kloot and C.W. Stoneking. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the first of a few podcasts recorded in the Word "Lounge" at Latitude, Britain's premier poet Simon Armitage talks to Mark Ellen and David Hepworth about why Bob Dylan is not actually a poet, and K.T. Tunstall talks about the challenges of playing festivals and her time as Anne Frank. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.