Word In Your Ear

This week’s crackling logs on the conversational fire include … … the attractively unchanging sound of Joe Henry’s 15 albums (the man PRs still sell as “Madonna’s brother-in-law”). … the 45th anniversary of David and Mark’s first meeting – at an Earth Quake gig at Salford University on February 10 1978. … Neil Tennant’s letter to Janice Long. … the recommended TV tribulations of Kleo, East German intelligence operative. … “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. … where live music costs £3 a minute. … did the Beatles and Stones ever sound remotely similar even when playing the same song? … the Beatles on Juke Box Jury (and what they said about Elvis).   … Levon Helm’s drum kit. … plus birthday guest David Messer on why everyone should love Bill Wyman. … and birthday guest Adrian Ainsworth recommends three classical albums – Sean Shibe’s ‘Lost & Found’, ‘A Verlaine Songbook’ by Carolyn Simpson and Joseph Middleton, and John Adams’ ‘Shaker Loops’.Grab your EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal by going to nordvpn.com/yourear to get a Huge Discount off your NordVPN Plan + a Bonus Gift! It’s completely risk free with Nord’s 30 day money-back guarantee!Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon to receive early and ad-free access to every future Word Podcast!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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* What was going on in his head all that timeChuck Berry: An American Life by R.J. Smith is out now.https://amzn.to/3IE7K7qSubscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon and receive every future Word Podcast ad-free and before the rest of the world!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 … … a valuable lesson from watching Leon Russell’s deserted matinee at a racetrack in Maryland. … his mum’s reaction to him singing Plastic Ono Band songs in the car when he was 10.   … seeing George Harrison (aged 11) with his sister. … the fascination of formerly big bands now quietly on the way back down (like Steppenwolf). … playing drums at his son’s school concert.   … the “crazy and theatrical spectacle” of Neil Young’s Rust Never Sleeps tour. … and what fan footage on YouTube can tell you. Eels tour dates …https://www.ents24.com/uk/tour-dates/eelsSubscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for early access to every future Word Podcast!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Given the once-over this week in vigorous pursuit of edification and amusement … … should a Fawlty Towers sequel be illegal? … over-refreshed audiences wrecking Jukebox Musicals. … our hunt for the elusive album sleeve with the long-haired girl/Afghan hound. … how acts signal their popularity now the charts no longer matter. … critics who attacked people who attacked back. … the Beatles and ‘the genius of personality’. … how the parental credit card fuels the Springsteen ticket price inflation. … U2 about to play the new Las Vegas venue with an LED screen the size of three football pitches. … what’s the best age to be? … when are we in our prime and when are we at our most stupid? Plus birthday guest Nick Foreman and Danny Baker’s rare album hand-out.Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon to receive every future Word Podcast before the rest of the world!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The dazzling super-trouper of gentle enquiry is trained this week upon:- … Sam Smith’s inflatable suit. … “TV kills everything”. … 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). … 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”. … Burt Bacharach’s magical eight-year run of hits from Three Wheels On My Wagon to Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head. … the mystifying story of the re-recording of The Dark Side Of The Moon. … if the BRITS wants to attract a teenage audience, why put it on terrestrial telly on a Saturday night? We’ve got a better idea. … “wearing the iron hat”.  -------- Cilla and Burt Bacharach recording Alfie …https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glpIgnmKrZcGrab your EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal by going to https://nordvpn.com/yourear to get up a Huge Discount off your NordVPN Plan + 4 months for free! It’s completely risk free with Nord’s 30 day money-back guarantee! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 … … audiences “wanting their pound of flesh”. … lessons learned from watching Derek Nimmo in panto. … “cheesy” stage effects - eg Bowie’s mirrorball in Space Oddity.   … Stan Webb of Chicken Shack charging offstage at Green’s Playhouse in Glasgow with a 100 foot guitar lead. … being “a human jukebox” at Clouds discos playing Jo Jo Gunne and Sparks covers. … seeing “The Marmalade” at a Radio 1 roadshow when he was 14. … memories of Taj Mahal, Skid Row, Colosseum and the Sensational Alex Harvey Band. … 10,000 people blocking Sauchiehall Street to get tickets for Deep Purple. … and headliners who didn’t turn up. Midge’s tours dates here: https://www.ents24.com/uk/tour-dates/midge-ure@midgeure1 http://www.midgeure.co.uk/Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon to receive every future Word Podcast before the rest of the world!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Conversational footballs punted about the park this week include … … 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.” … buskers being allowed to use amplification is a monstrous invasion of our private space: discuss. … is Deliveroo the new generation gap?   … we asked some AI software to write lyrics in the style of certain bands. You need to hear the results. … musicians and the positions they should play on the football pitch. … a deathless picture of McCartney and all-girl crowd at the Cavern. … plus birthday guest Keith Adsley flies the flag for ‘Jaguar Sound’ by Adrian Quesada.Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon and receive every future Word Podcast before the rest of the world, alongside a whole host of extra and exclusive content, benefits and rewards!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ron Sexsmith starts a UK tour at the end of April and talks about what he’s learnt about live performance, which includes:- … “notes from girls” after winning the High School Variety Show. … playing for drunks in his local bar when he was underage and being hidden when the police arrived.  … Elton John at the Rich Stadium in Buffalo (and being a member of the Fan Club). … his first performance, singing ‘Ben’ by Michael Jackson. … the influential low-key stagecraft of Gordon Lightfoot and Leonard Cohen, “people who just stood there”. … the rigours of long tours. … being “on Cloud Nine for a year” after seeing the Who. … and watching Cat Stevens from the best seat in the house.   All details about Ron’s upcoming tour here …https://ronsexsmith.com/tours/ @RonSexsmith https://ronsexsmith.com/Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon and receive every future Word Podcast before the rest of the world, alongside a whole host of extra and exclusive content, benefits and rewards!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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.   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 psych-folk act Justine. Also featured – buying Roger St. Pierre’s record collection, the magic “fallibility” of vinyl (eg personal messages on sleeves) and the Greatest Record Ever Made! Brighter Day Vinyl runs a weekly Flick-Through Thursday - at the same time Top Of The Pops used to be on! - where you can get to see what’s currently on offer and you’ll find all details about Joel’s shop, its collection and what he buys and sells here …   https://linktr.ee/brighterdayvinyl @BrighterdayvnlSubscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon to receive every future Word Podcast before the rest of the world, alongside a whole lot more!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 & 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 … … playing the London club circuit in 1964. … 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!”). … assembling the band for a Paul Jones session – Nicky Hopkins piano, Jeff Beck guitar, Paul Samwell-Smith bass, McCartney drums).  … appalling ‘60s royalty rates. … life as head of A&R at Apple where people sent “100 pages of certifiably mental lyrics in the hope that John Lennon might put them to music”. … signing and producing James Taylor and the album that changed the music business. And Taylor supporting the Who on US tours. … the secret of being a great manager.... Linda Ronstadt singing barefoot at the Bottom End.  … Apple recording artist Brute Force and his non-chart-troubling single The King Of Fuh. … the other role model for Austin Powers. … and why music today is just as good as the past.  David Jacks' memoir, Peter Asher: A Life In Music …https://www.amazon.co.uk/Peter-Asher-Music-David-Jacks/dp/1493061216Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon to receive every future Word Podcast before the rest of the world, and ad-free!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Things featured this week in hot pursuit of entertainment and enlightenment … … seeing Television in 1975 for £1.50 - support act, Blondie. … Kaleidoscope, Country Joe & the Fish, Fairport Convention and other origins of the Tom Verlaine guitar sound.   … the mystery voices on The Dark Side Of The Moon, the Clare Torry story and how Pink Floyd used Abbey Road as an instrument. … “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. … “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. … 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 magical statement – to cold-cock all the crapola and all-purpose wheatchaff mix ‘n’ match, to set the whole schmear straight and get the current state of play down down down to stand or fall in one, dignified granite-hard focus!” … songs with great intros.  … and birthday patron Kevin Rose flies the flag for ‘Simple Songs’ by Jim O'Rourke.Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for early access to every future Word Podcast, ad-free!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Long Ryders are touring in May and our old pal Sid Griffin tells us what to expect and looks back here at … … Herman’s Hermits and the Dave Clark Five playing on a steamboat. … 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. … seeing Big Joe Turner with the Lee Allen Orchestra (11-piece horn section!). … the Everly Brothers’ first reunion. … a barely known Carole King onstage in The City in 1968. … his local bluegrass sessions at the Landseer Arms in Archway (“very Greenwich Village 1961”). … and the benefits of touring when you’re older – “the pressure’s off”.  Details and tickets here:https://www.thelongryders.com/The-Long-Ryders-Tour-Dates.html https://www.sidgriffin.com/ @SidCPsGriffinSubscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for early access to content, invites to our get-togethers digital and in person, and a whole load more!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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&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. 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? Discuss.Grab your EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal by going to https://nordvpn.com/yourear to get up a Huge Discount off your NordVPN Plan + 4 months for free! It’s completely risk free with Nord’s 30 day money-back guarantee!———-Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon and receive every future Word Podcast before the rest of the world, with full visuals, and ad-free!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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”. 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 anywhere else “and were like secret messages to the hardcore fans” - eg the Stones’ The Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man and the Spider And the Fly. Honourable mentions for Yes It Is, This Boy and You Know My Name (Look Up The Number). … the White Lotus and that fabulous Jennifer Coolidge Golden Globes speech. … what would you do if you were the new Radio 3 boss? … haircut and knitwear issues in ‘the Banshees of Inisherin’. … Peter Sellers in Only Two Can Play. Plus birthday patron Paul Knox joins us with theories about impact of the Incredible String on the Beatles and the sad, mysterious tale of the disappearance of Licorice McKechnie.  Kate Mossman in the New Statesmanhttps://www.newstatesman.com/culture/music-theatre/2023/01/jeff-beck-interview-tribute-guitar-hero The Yardbirds on Shindig!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mn6q_jcc0uo And on the Milton Berle Show, 1966https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oNDXsIulXwGrab your EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal by going to https://nordvpn.com/yourear to get up a Huge Discount off your NordVPN Plan + 4 months for free! It’s completely risk free with Nord’s 30 day money-back guarantee! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 … … the day Reg Dwight changed his name (and getting him session work with the Barron Knights). … wearing “lime green trousers, blue moccasins and a kaftan” at the Beatles’ One World broadcast. … 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. … taking Brenda Lee to the pictures. … holidays with Charlie Watts in France and memories of his wake. … why he used to ring Elton up and ask, “what’s the weather like there, Jean?”  … seeing the Stones at the Scene club with Chrissie Shrimpton. … the advice he gave John Lennon (and getting him on the Old Grey Whistle Test) … and the qualities all stars need to be successful.  Buy ‘The Tastemaker: My Life With The Legends and Geniuses of Rock Music’ here …https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tastemaker-Life-Legends-Geniuses-Music/dp/0571371930 Tony dressed as the Queen in an ad for John Lennon’s Mind Games album …https://www.facebook.com/johnlennon/videos/mind-games-advert/1009681682383878/Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for a whole world of extra and exclusive content, benefits and rewards: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

… in which we amble fearlessly into the New Year in tireless pursuit of amusement, stopping off at various stations along the way, among them …  … can any song be completely original? … meeting Sun Ra. … the time Gianluca Vialli kissed David’s wife’s hand. … does streaming make us more adventurous? … did Frank Zappa ever appear in Miami Vice? … tortuous puns in music memoir titles. ... singers we’ve had enough of.... Sam Cooke humming.  … some rare and rewarding records – eg Billie Joe Armstrong & Norah Jones’ Foreverly and Mellow Candle’s Swaddling Songs plus Jorma Kaukonen, Jimmy Webb, the Pursuit of Happiness … … powerful feelings of envy provoked by John McLaughlin. .. the diminishing appeal of Jeff Buckley. … why you have to hear Van Dyke Parks’ ‘Super Chief: Music For The Silver Screen’. … and birthday guest (and magnificent repeat winner of our Friday night quiz) Andrew Slattery.  Sam Cooke humming …https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cds8YQyFeTI Rolling Stone’s Best 200 singers …https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-singers-all-time-1234642307/Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon and receive every future Word Podcast before the rest of the world, alongside a whole host of extra and exclusive content, benefits and rewards!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Things explored this week in pursuit of entertainment and diversion … … Neil Tennant interviews Malcolm McLaren and other delights in Smash Hits, January 1983. … “there’s no such thing as a finished record!” … the link between Cliff & the Shadows and the Merry Pranksters. … 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? … pop stars’ school reports. … when did the ‘60s turn from black and white to colour?   … and when did people start talking about old records as if they were like old books - “first pressings”, “imprints”? … Muriel’s Wedding, Priscilla Queen Of the Desert, Strictly Ballroom and the return of Abba. … the pure unalloyed joy of rubbing a shrink-wrapped box-set against your cheek.… Jack Charlton’s high-rolling £100 spending spree. … guess the ‘80s fan club from its address!… and birthday guest Sandra Austin.  Smash Hits Jan 1983 …https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Smash-Hits/1983/Smash-Hits-1983-01-06.pdf  Jim Morrison’ father and sister …https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kz63-q8otYMSubscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon to receive every future Word Podcast before the rest of the world, alongside a whole host of extra and exclusive content, benefits and rewards: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. Order Bruce’s book here …https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ivor-Cutler-Outside-Sitting-Popular/dp/180050294X/ref=sr_1_6?qid=1671698453&refinements=p_27%3ABruce+Lindsay&s=books&sr=1-6 @bruce956Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for a whole world of extra and exclusive content, benefits and rewards!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. … 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 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.  … Dead Eyes: the Tom Hanks’ comment that sparked a three-series podcast.… why scat-singing brings us out in hives.… the magic of Seinfeld – ‘four shallow self-obsessed people’ in a world where there’s ‘no growing and no hugging’.… why you should listen to Joachim Cooder’ Over That Road I'm Bound: The Songs of Uncle Dave Macon.… and what birthday guest John Innes learnt from re-listening to his entire music collection in chronological order – and the bands he decided to abandon.Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon and receive every future Word Podcast before the rest of the world, alongside a whole heap of extra and exclusive content, benefits and rewards: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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: https://www.gordotronic.com/Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for a whole world of early, extra and exclusive content, benefits and rewards!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 … … albums whose cover was over half the sell. … was Jet Black older than all the Beatles and Stones? Dave Greenfield and Edgar Allan Poe – separated at birth. … that brief moment when Creedence Clearwater were the biggest thing on the planet. … what people paid for the wooden balls on the Rumours cover and one of Christine McVie’s dresses.  … Stackwaddy: Abba v Zappa song titles - spot the ringer! … a Marshall Crenshaw 40th anniversary covers album? The race to find the next bizarre obscurity. … Little Feat, Fragonard and a cake on a swing.   … plus Anthony Blunt, Elton John will never retire and new Patreon supporters (and their fictional jobs).Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon and receive every future Word Podcast before the rest of the world!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 … … Anita Harris at the ABC in Yarmouth. … appearing with the Millwall squad and Jimmy Tarbuck singing ‘New York New York’ in top hat and tails. … the joy of Keef Hartley’s Half-Breed. … arriving to see Frank Zappa to discover he’d been thrown offstage in the afternoon show “but Cochise were still appearing!” … his dad Spud’s amateur doctor who did a good sideline in racing tips. … why selling his 14,000 albums is like being “unchained from a lunatic”. … Black Sabbath playing ‘unplugged’ in a powercut at the Albert Hall. … and an honorary mention of the pith helmet full of saveloys. Tickets here: Danny Baker: At Last… The Sausage Sandwich Tourhttps://www.ents24.com/uk/tour-dates/danny-baker @prodnose https://www.dannybakerstore.com/Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for a whole host of extra and exclusive content, benefits and rewards!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which the piercing searchlight of conversational scrutiny points in the direction of … … Christine McVie’s early adventures, our burning love for Chicken Shack’s ‘40 Blue Fingers’, her Sliding Doors moment in a Dickins & 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. … records you never connected with that suddenly make sense 50 years later. … the deep-seated, underrated pleasure of ‘Electric Arguments’ by the Fireman (aka Youth and McCartney). … what your InstaFest line-up reveals about your listening habits. … 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 whole host of extra and exclusive content, benefits and rewards!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. https://badlands.co.uk/ @BadlandsUKSubscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for a whole host of extra and exclusive content, benefits and rewards!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

… 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”. Plus … Pet Shop Boys on the Archers. … the 40th anniversary of Thriller and Quincy Jones’ speech about how “we’re here to save the music business”. … the extraordinary - possiby incendiary - story of Bob Dylan and the faked autographs. … Lil Peep, Lil Flip, Lil Plum, Lil Dicky … spot the fictional rapper! ... and birthday guest Kevin Walsh on why everyone should hear ‘Electric Arguments’ by the Fireman (aka McCartney and Youth). And here’s our Word podcast with Wilko Johnson (plus guitar) from 2010 …https://shows.acast.com/word-in-your-ear-2/episodes/5fe229acf896715ee83196eaSubscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for early access to every future Word Podcast alongside a whole world of additional and exclusive content, benefits and rewards!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 being a writer and historian, Ken is Professor of Popular Music at Monmouth University in New Jersey and you’d kill to be in his class. The revamped ‘Long And Winding Roads: the Evolving Artistry of The Beatles’ is just out and he’s working on a new book about Mal Evans which should appear in June 2023. Long And Winding Roads …https://www.amazon.co.uk/Long-Winding-Roads-Evolving-Artistry/dp/0826417469The Mal Evans book ...https://kennethwomack.com/mal-evans-the-biography-archives/Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for a whole world of extra and exclusive content, benefits and rewards!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Further free-wheeling conversational detours include … … “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.   … “and any eye for detail caught a little lace along the seams”: exquisite descriptions of clothes in Joni Mitchell songs. … the NME Encyclopedia Of Rock revisited, that well-thumbed, much-loved and indispensable bible from the world before the internet. … 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. … and playing Mozart on a ukulele. Plus birthday guest Simon Poulter.Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon and receive every future Word Podcast before the rest of the world, alongside a whole host of additional content, benefits and rewards!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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

On the radar this week in an enquiring, celebratory or goat-getting capacity … … has the World Cup balloon already been unmendably punctured? … and is the same thing happening to Twitter? … “if social media had come along earlier would Sergeant Pepper exist?” … Richard Osman-created fictional sleuth or rock stars’ real names: you decide. … a chance meeting with Jaco Pastorius. … speaker-testing moments of bass guitar brilliance. … the general public armed with a mouse are infinitely crueller and more aggressive than the very worst journalists: discuss.   … 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!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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’. Which you can buy here …https://www.amazon.co.uk/Adventures-Modern-Recording-ABC-ZTT/dp/178870603X @Trevor_Horn_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 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

… 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. … 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’. Stevie Wonder’s ‘Talking Book’ was released 50 years ago this week. How did it change the landscape of electronic music forever? Jockstrap, First Aid Kit, Dry Cleaning, Small Feet, Thermos and Diarrhea Planet. One of these is not a real band. But which? The new ‘Revolver’ remix. A technological masterpiece but don’t we prefer music to sound the way we first heard it on the equipment at the time?   The Giles Fraser parlour game. You have to go back to school and can appoint all the staff yourself but they have to be from the music world. Who’s headmistress (Dolly Parton? Annie Lennox?). Head of Art (Ferry? Eno?). Head of English (Richard Thompson?). Head of Science (Tom Dolby?). Matron (Clare Grogan? Lulu?). Plus birthday guests Giles Fraser and Ian Martin and new patrons recast as TV presenters. Jerry Lee Lewis on the Steve Allen Show in 1957: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fw7SBF-35EsSubscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon and receive every future Word Podcast before the rest of the world - with full visuals!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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.  ‘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 Podcast before the rest of the world, alongside a whole host of extra and exclusive content, benefits and rewards!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the crosshairs this week … Sampha, Skepta? Mercury Prize winner or Italian sports-shoe brand? Was Revolver really the Beatles’ most “consequential” album? James Corden v Balthazar: fame in the age of social media. Liz Truss, Steven Gerrard, Bruce Springsteen and knowing “what it’s like to have failed with the whole world looking on”. Danny Baker’s selling 12,000 records: unsettling life-stage moments when you put your foot on the ball and look around the pitch. The joy of old books and finding pencil marks in the margin by other readers. Noel Coward in ‘In Which We Serve’ and were the Mountbattens “the orginal hot couple”? … and Simon Sebag Montefiore’s brilliant 213-song playlist of songs to accompany his new book “The World: A Family History” …https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0bXOS1k3hGKmfQCmbg21W4?si=CbdtROxeQie0rZyg_KA-SQ&nd=1Grab your EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal by going to https://nordvpn.com/yourear to get up a Huge Discount off your NordVPN Plan + 4 months for free! It’s completely risk free with Nord’s 30 day money-back guarantee!Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon to receive every future Word Podcast before the rest of the world, ad-free, and with full visuals!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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?). Buy ‘Haywire: the Best Of Craig Brown’ and his other wonderful books here … https://www.amazon.co.uk/Craig-Brown/e/B001HCVLIU%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon and receive every future Word Podcast before the rest of the world, alongside a whole host of extra and exclusive content, benefits and rewards!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. 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.  Simon’s playlist for ‘The World’ …https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0bXOS1k3hGKmfQCmbg21W4?si=CbdtROxeQie0rZyg_KA-SQ&nd=1 Order ‘The World’ here …https://www.amazon.co.uk/Books-Simon-Sebag-Montefiore/s?rh=n%3A266239%2Cp_27%3ASimon+Sebag+Montefiore http://www.simonsebagmontefiore.com/ @simonmontefioreSubscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon and receive every future Word Podcast before the rest of the world, alongside a whole host of extra and exclusive content, benefits and rewards!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which we waspishly suggest the odd nip and tuck is now standard practice - and name a few obvious suspects. And alight upon … … Nick Hornby’s new book and the connections he’s found between Dickens and Prince.   … support acts we’ve seen who became household names. … David’s dinner with Jess Phillips MP and what happened the day JK Rowling got a tour of the House of Commons. … the former hospital orderly who walked into Muscle Shoals studios and had a worldwide hit with his first recording. … the real identities of S. Flavius Mercurius and Bijou Drains. … the all-round wonderfulness of the London Palladium. … extracts from Bob Dylan’s new book and some of the songs he’ll be exploring.… and a query from birthday guest Cathal Chu. Grab your EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal by going to https://nordvpn.com/yourear to get up a Huge Discount off your NordVPN Plan + 4 months for free! It’s completely risk free with Nord’s 30 day money-back guarantee!Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon to receive every future Word Podcast early, ad-free and with full visuals... alongside a whole load more!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Things picked up by the ankles this week and given a light shaking to see what falls out of their pockets … … why King Crimson is like no other band on God’s green earth. ... a sweet story about a Let It Rock writer David's just met at a book event. … a McCartney Stackwaddy game. … when did rock souvenir posters become a thing? ... why Robert Crumb didn’t apologise. ... how we scored on the new life Questionnaire. … “the longer I practice, the luckier I get”. … Burke Shelley, poet laureate. … and an almost encounter with Colin Firth. Plus birthday guests Paul Cook and Steve Cadman. These are Paul Cook’s excellent Furlough Fashion posts and videos …   https://furloughfashion.co.uk/ And a trailer for the new King Crimson doc ...https://www.imdb.com/video/vi4222272025/?playlistId=tt10148150&ref_=vp_rv_2Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon and receive every future Word Podcast before the rest of the world!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Things given a grilling this week in hot pursuit of revelation and entertainment … .. would YOU pay £45 to see Ian Brown and some backing tracks? … 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. ... career-shrinking band names. … Chunkz, Pieface and the Beast: new adventures in stadium-filling entertainment. … is Nuggets the most famous and influential compilation ever released? … 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. … Paul Scholes meets Gary Neville. … rock stars separated by a single letter. … and more songs about seagulls and chips.   A short film about Joe Bussard here …https://youtube.com/watch?v=OPhtR09p6zM&feature=share&utm_source=EKLEiJECCKjOmKnC5IiRIQhttps://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/14/arts/a-loving-obsession-with-oldtime-jazz.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare Desperate Man Blues …https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0375702/Grab your EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal by going to https://nordvpn.com/yourear to get up a Huge Discount off your NordVPN Plan + 4 months for free! It’s completely risk free with Nord’s 30 day money-back guarantee!Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon to receive every future Word Podcast early, ad-free and with full visuals!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In powerful pursuit of amusement and distraction we aim the piercing supertrouper of scrutiny this week in the direction of … … why Ry Cooder MUST write a memoir. … records that sounded like nothing you’d ever heard before, eg the Message by Grandmaster Flash and Donna Summer’s I Feel Love.   ... nighttime footage of the State Funeral rehearsal. … why ‘Delhi Crime’ on TV makes the Wire’s Baltimore look like Stoke Poges. … dinner with the “fantastically indiscreet” Tony King. … why Hilary Mantel was such a phenomenal writer – and an extract that demonstrates it. … the return of the Stackwaddy game: James Brown/Frank Zappa track or advertising slogan? … Beefheart selling Aldous Huxley a vacuum cleaner. Plus … birthday patron Ed Newman beams in from his shift at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary with thoughts about Ravel’s Bolero, Dylan and Beatles podcasts and an inspired music book idea with a medical twist that someone must – MUST! – publish!Grab your EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal by going to https://nordvpn.com/yourear to get up a Huge Discount off your NordVPN Plan + 4 months for free! It’s completely risk free with Nord’s 30 day money-back guarantee!Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon to receive every future Word Podcast ad-free and before the rest of the world!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Among the thoughts, theories and assorted old hokey in the firing line this week you will happily find … … rock biopics someone ought to be making … memories of Drummie Zeb and Aswad at Nottingham Boat Club … the time British Forces radio turned down Whitney Houston … the “awful fat man that spoilt Lady Di’s memorial for everyone” … the slight return of the Stackwaddy game - Prince’s pseudonyms! … Louis Armstrong at Batley Variety Club … Pete Drummond’s hilariously goofy intro to Tim Buckley’s Dream Letter live album ... Townes Van Zandt reissued on 8-track: bizarre technology twist or inspired-but-fictional PR stunt? ... ‘70s festivals that made the tent-torching Reading of 2022 look like a picnic … why even Pitbull, U2 and Usher are playing residencies in Las Vegas … the extraordinary early life Anni-Frid of Abba … movies under construction – Martin Scorsese and the Grateful Dead, Sam Taylor-Johnson and Amy Winehouse ... and a birthday encounter with cornerstone Word In Your Ear supporter Jelltex.  Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon to receive every future Word Podcast before the rest of the world, ad-free and with full visuals... alongside a whole host of brilliant and exclusive extra content, benefits and rewards!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to this week’s pod in which various white-hot topics are brought in for questioning, among them … … Whatever happened to Dando Shaft? … Alastair Sim, Terry-Thomas and flowsy saxophones in The Belles of St Trinian’s … Does it matter if music-making acts are fictitious or that rappers are artificial and produced by computer graphics and AI? … how many people were in Keith Tippett’s Centipede (the clue’s in the name)? … Titus Groan and Demon Fuzz … is there anything the lily-livered music business is prepared to defend? … puddings delivered by Deliveroo … Jann Wenner and the caviar spoons … the ‘greening’ of Reading Festival … and what kind of sane world allows pop music at hotel breakfasts?----------Grab your EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal by going to https://nordvpn.com/yourear to get up a Huge Discount off your NordVPN Plan + 4 months for free! It’s completely risk free with Nord’s 30 day money-back guarantee!----------Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon and receive every future Word Podcast before the rest of the world, with full visuals, and ad-free!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In bold and vigorous pursuit of entertainment we steer via the following topics … … Thora Hird with a rifle. … acts who wrote rejected songs for Bond movies. … the legend of Van Duren. … hilariously awful revelations about the private plane use of Taylor Swift, Tom Cruise, Steven Spielberg etc on @CelebJets.   … is pop music now largely about an old thing re-discovered? … the late Judith Durham of the Seekers and other great ‘stirring’ voices of our time. … a record we haven’t played for 44 years. … Beyoncé and her re-written lyric (and can it really need 25 people to write a song?). … 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 in entertainment history. … and BJ Cole in an ale shop.Grab your EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal by going to nordvpn.com/yourear to get up a Huge Discount off your NordVPN Plan + 1 additional month for free + a bonus gift! It’s completely risk free with Nord’s 30 day money-back guarantee!——–Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for a whole load of extra and exclusive content, benefits and rewards!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 & 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 the Ink Spot micropub in Newbiggin by the Sea (thanks to Simon and Ange).  ‘Hole In The Ground’ by Bernard Cribbins …https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-JVnlB7Onk The Ink Spot microbrewery …https://www.theinkspot49.co.uk/Grab your EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal by going to nordvpn.com/yourear to get up a Huge Discount off your NordVPN Plan + 1 additional month for free + a bonus gift! It’s completely risk free with Nord’s 30 day money-back guarantee!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 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which we paddle our conversational canoe through the rock and roll backwaters, stopping off this week at … … the closure of Word magazine ten years ago and what we miss – and don’t miss - about it. … who in their right mind in this day and age would possibly want to be famous? … Bruce Findlay, the country’s only famous record store owner. … the energetic sexual activities of Dave Davies in his new memoir and the uniquely mid-‘60s British concept of ‘kinkiness’. … 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). .. the documentary someone should make about the Rubettes. … Manny Charlton of Nazareth RIP and the bizarre pop fact that one of their biggest hits was a Joni Mitchell cover. … handcuffed men in court for stealing rare Eagles artefacts. … whether the legendarily awful Be Here Now album deserves a gentler appraisal 25 years later. Don’t forget it starts with “a minute of helicopter noise and morse code”. … and birthday patron Allan Williams’ collection of Hipgnosis album sleeves – paging Picnic, Helloe’en and Music From Free Creek! You can buy Dave Davies’ memoir Living On A Thin Line here …https://www.amazon.co.uk/Living-Thin-Line-Dave-Davies/dp/1472289773Subscribe 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 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

High in the conversational mix this week …  … the return the Stackwaddy game! - do Ben & Jerry’s do a Bohemian Raspberry? Are there really Apple Music genres called Pillow Talk and Countrypolitan? … Errol Flynn and his dachshund water-skiing. … James Caan’s opening scene in Misery.… is Nick Kyrgios the first ‘rap’ tennis star? … why ‘Indie’ doesn’t tolerate non-conformity (or success) – plus Razorlight and other bands who let you down. … bizarre combinations of celebrities we’ve bumped into at the BBC – eg Ronnie Corbett and Ladysmith Black Mambazo. .. the vital importance of communal suffering at rock festivals. … 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 nordvpn.com/yourear to get up a Huge Discount off your NordVPN Plan + 1 additional month for free + a bonus gift! It’s completely risk free with Nord’s 30 day money-back guarantee!--------Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for a whole load of extra and exclusive content, benefits and rewards!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. The Islander by Chris Blackwell … https://www.amazon.co.uk/Islander-My-Life-Music-Beyond/dp/1788705750\1Subscribe 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 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 revelations about McCartney’s life and songs and what he’s meant to us over the years.Part One - https://shows.acast.com/word-in-your-ear-2/episodes/word-podcast-459-word-in-the-park-1 - features the broadcaster Geoff Lloyd and the writer Andy Miller.Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon and receive every future Word Podcast before the rest of the world - alongside a whole load more!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.