Word Podcast

A whole new format we've invented for people who've been guests before and were so entertaining we wanted them back. So we've devised some random questions to spark a few memories and revelations. First up, Sid Griffin of the Long Ryders, touring the UK this autumn, who looks back here at his early life before he “went to L.A. to quote-unquote make it”. You'll love this as much as we did, especially … … the Beatles song he knew he'd understand when he was older … his teenage band rehearsal when the drummer got a hammer in his head … the rock star he always wanted to be … what happens when you wear the bug-infested cap you find on a bus … DJ Carl ‘Weird Beard' Markert burping in Pepsi commercials on WAKY Radio … Gregg Turner and the Angry Samoans – “bad songs in bad taste” … things he can still recite from childhood … the best use of music in a movie … how arch-rival Norrie Paramor made George Martin even richer … and the greatest B-side ever written. Plus English teacher Mrs Atlas and his deathless crush on Mimi Babcock. Long Ryders tickets here … thelongryders.com/tourHelp us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“Good hair, good shoes, something to say” were the requirements of Indie Sleaze whose vanguard lit up the fading music press in the first decade of the 21st Century – acts like Franz Ferdinand, the Rakes, the Cribs, Kaiser Chiefs and Bloc Party. Janine Warren saw the Strokes in Camden in 2001 and life took a whole new direction. Her book ‘The World Was A Mess But His Hair Was Perfect' looks back at old-school rock PR, unmanageable bands, and the summit and collapse of the last scene she thinks we'll ever see. You'll enjoy … … Morrissey at St George's Hall, Blackburn … deejaying at Liquidation in Liverpool playing psychedelia and Northern Soul … the impossible task of being Pete Doherty's PR: “like sand running through your fingers” … the day its editor realised the NME was doomed … the indie dilemma: wanting fame and publicity while appearing not to care … the rise of Arctic Monkeys, the first big digital success story … the financial crash, big label panic, illegal file-share and other woes of the 2010 music business … why rock scenes are a thing of the past … and the greatest Indie Sleaze record ever made. Order copies of ‘The World Was A Mess But His Hair Was Perfect: the Last Indie Music Scene 2000-2010' here:https://www.roughtrade.com/product/janine-warren-foreword-by-alex-kapranos/the-world-was-a-mess-but-his-hair-was-perfect-the-last-indie-music-scene-2000-2010?algolia_query_id=5510672a106c0f77be3b364fe1f570ce&algolia_object_id=57550933459275&algolia_index=shopify_prod_products&algolia_position=Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week's news in three separate files - the Good, the Bad and the Befuddling. Which involves … … have Oasis created their own economy? … are stadium gigs now like historical re-enactment? … “people listen to music more intently in Manchester as they're inside while it rains” … ‘includes All Things Must Pass miniature garden gnomes!' The mad money-draining joy of the luxury box-set … when bands don't change but audiences do …Sun = Happiness, Rain = Sorrow: lyrics as an emotional weather forecast … the pianist who wouldn't play minor chords … Nicky Hopkins on records by the Kinks, Beatles, Who and Stones (“She's A Rainbow was like a music-box Mozart”): has any session player made a more vital contribution? … “Lose two teeth in German nightclub brawl, go back to Burnage”: real and fictitious rock band Monopoly sets! … Blue Nile, Ann Peebles, Beautiful South, Paul Simon? What's the best song about rain? Plus J Blackfoot, Paul Simon's Kathy from Brentwood and birthday guest Matthew North.Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Clint Boon was at the heart of “the two biggest musical revolutions of my lifetime” – as a teenager for Joy Division and Buzzcocks, and later the Stone Roses, Happy Mondays and Hacienda and onstage with Inspiral Carpets, a world of characters as big as his own. His memoir ‘The Manchester Chronicles' is about obsessions, schoolteachers, purple winklepickers, mobile discos, good luck, catastrophe and being in the right place at the right time for 30 years. Along with … … why Manchester listens to music so intently: “we're stuck inside while it rains” … auditioning Noel Gallagher “as the Lockerbie plane flew directly overhead” … the new economy: making a Number 2 album funded by t-shirt and cassette sales … growing up on Tom Jones, Shirley Bassey, Little Richard and Gary Lewis & the Playboys … Inspiral Carpets' obsession with West Coast psychedelia … when the band all got houses with their Mute advance “and I just bought some $800 sunglasses” … great bowl-heads haircuts (Stones, Byrds, Jefferson Airplane) and why he got one too … seeing the Pistols at the Electric Circus: “I left college the next morning” … the sudden split: playing Glastonbury one minute, living on milk tokens and income support the next … his 1975 disco playing Mud, the Rubettes and Showaddywaddy (“I was a 14 year-old Ted”) … and how 24 Hour Party People captured “the spirit, chaos, colour and madness”. Order copies of ‘The Manchester Chronicles: True Tales of Music, Madness and Mayhem 1976-2006' here: https://geni.us/manchesterchroniclesHelp us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Slits burned very brightly – but briefly - and were gone, their bumpy and courageous tale crisply told in Zoë Howe's updated ‘Typical Girls?'. She looks back here at the unforgettable things they wore, said and did as “outsiders in an outsider scene”, a band celebrated before they'd even played a note. And touches on … ... how other all-girl groups got started - the Moodies, the Runaways, Fanny, the Shaggs, Goldie and the Gingerbreads … Nora Forster – Ari's mum, German print heiress, the “punk rock Baroness Nica” who bankrolled the Slits … Ari was a 14 year-old schoolgirl, Viv Albertine was 21: “I couldn't have a relationship with her. It was like a having a child in the band”… Nick Kent's account of the four of them “blazing down Oxford Street” … producer Dennis Bovell's dub reggae project with “theWitches of West London” … their fractious relationship with Island Records and Radio One … “No birds on the stage!”: the author's life as a female drummer … and the Pop Group, Rip Rig + Panic, “humour, playfulness, the freedom to be childlike” and the long legacy of the Slits. Order ‘Typical Girls?: the Story of the Slits' here: https://omnibuspress.com/products/typical-girls-the-story-of-the-slits-omnibus-remastered?_pos=1&_psq=typical+girls&_psid=eb748e5dc&_ss=eHelp us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Shawn Colvin was in the spotlight from the age of 10 playing her parents' parties, singing in bars at college, acting off-Broadway and joining country swing bands before making 12 solo albums. She's touring the UK and Ireland from late September and looks back on it all with us from her home in Austin, Texas. Lots of great moments here, these among them … … growing up on hymns, Pete Seeger and the Kingston Trio with a Dad who tried to get stoned at a Judy Collins gig … being a spoons-playing singing waitress with Maria Muldaur in an off-Broadway musical … playing four sets a night of Dylan, Joni Mitchell and Simon & Garfunkel for tips and beer on the Illinois bar circuit … acting in the Simpsons and Larry Sanders … life in dance halls in country swing bands … her part in “the great ‘80s Urban Cowboy Scare” … how to connect with festival crowds when it's raining … the Richard Thompson glass bowl requests system … and covers she never tires of playing – Joan Baez, U2, Gnarls Barkley.Shawn Colvin tickets here: https://tix.to/ShawnUK26Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Passing the conversational Dutchie 'pon the left hand side, we fire up the following … … “speech, not music, brings people together” … if music gets ever broader, why's radio getting more niche? … can YOU guess the NME's 10 most influential bands in 2002? … a doomed Dolly Parton kidnap attempt at the Hammersmith Odeon: we were there! … ‘Voice-tracking', ‘auditorium testing' and other network radio secrets ... 61 year-old listener hears the Beatles for the first time and reports back. (Chapeau, Jelltex!) … short-lived TV spin-offs from Fawlty Towers and Dad's Army … Madonna, 50 Cent and Courtney Love wrote children's books? Anyone read Marcus Mumford's ‘Barnaby and the Drumming Bear'? … familiar acts doing unfamiliar songs and well-known tracks by obscure people … and why Boom Radio is booming.Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dave Rowntree had a camera with him as Blur took off in the early ‘90s and his book ‘No-One You Know' distils the thrill of a band in ascent – backstage, in studios, with fans, on tour buses and their first trips to America and Japan. It bristles with joy and exhilaration. He looks back here at life in lift-off nearly 35 years ago and ahead to his spoken word tour promoting it, stopping off at … … two years busking in France in the mid-'80s … why pictures taken on film are more like paintings than photographs … Blur's unique chemistry - “all four of us had one sister and no brothers” … what he learnt from their label manager Dave Balfe … the writer who discovered Blur and other game-changing moments … how ‘the Fanerati radar' and editor Miranda Sawyer encouraged him to publish the book … Japan's confusing, intoxicating new culture in the early ‘90s … mile-melting on US tour buses in the days before social media and DVD … and why Blur today are in “the dream position”. Order tickets and copies of the book here: https://www.daverowntree.com/Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Natalie Merchant joined 10,000 Maniacs when she was 17, had a long and successful solo career and then began teaching children in New York State. Realising the value of rhymes and theatre, her adaptation of Mother Goose (played by herself) was expanded into a multi-media performance with 150 four-year-olds and recorded with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. She even made most of the costumes. And she's never had an audience reaction as enthusiastic and emotional. It's a magnificent project to give children experiences that modern life rarely affords “right down to the thrill of seeing people play real instruments”. She talks to us here from her New York home about ‘Cabinet Of Wonder', along with … … her first stage appearances, aged seven … scanning record collections and thinking “if they don't have a copy of Nico's ‘Chelsea Girl', we can't be friends!” … how improvising lyrics got her into 10,000 Maniacs (“who I wanted to call the Tunda Bunnies”) … seeing Styx, the Cars and the Clash playing ‘Combat Rock' … how she and her daughter grew up in homes without TV … and the threat of future education run by avatars. The Cabinet of Wonder website: https://cabinetofwonder.org And the multi-retailer link for the album: https://cabinetofwonder.lnk.to/albumHelp us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Proclaimers have only had a handful of hits but they're songs that have kept expanding for nearly 40 years. And the World Cup was a reminder of how far they've reached. Craig and Charlie Reid talk to us here about first adventures onstage, talent shows, the tour circuit, the new album ‘You May Offend' and … … the moment the Proclaimers took off … first records bought in Woolworths in Fife (including the less-than-prophetic World Cup anthem Easy Easy) … the fraternal voices of the Everly Brothers … seeing Joy Division supporting Buzzcocks and feeling “the heat and charisma” of Ian Curtis … the unique way they write songs … getting royalties when your hits are sung in televised football stadiums … their first gigs playing Stones, Kinks, Clash and Pistols covers plus a Talent Show in '77 on a bill with “a lassie singing Scottish ballads and possibly a performing dog” … recording at Rockfield and the ghost of Bohemian Rhapsody ... their new video imagining John & Yoko as they might be today … how easy it is to offend Gen-Z … and hitchhiking 60 miles to see Hibs and writing ‘The Joyful Kilmarnock Blues' about it. Order ‘You May Offend' here: https://proclaimers.lnk.to/youmayoffendHelp us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The original rock podcast - now in its 20th year! – knocks the week's news across the conversational net. Amid the top-spin, rallies and double-faults, you'll find … … farcical developments in the Tupac trial … the shock-horror reaction to the Sam Mendes Beatles' wigs! … Dave Marsh's ‘1001 Greatest Singles' in 1989: what 45s released since would make his Top 10? … ‘If the Phone Doesn't Ring, It's Me', ‘I've Been Flushed From The Bathroom Of Your Heart': real or made-up Country song titles? … “People buy albums because they like the band. They buy singles because they like the song” … musicians who wrote a second memoir as the first one wasn't all true … the Stones single that's streets ahead of their others … the Hank Marvin Challenge: the correct facial expression when playing instrumentals! … are the greatest singles the ones with the most emotional depth? … and the mystery of ‘No Way Out' by Joyce Harris.Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Martin Simpson got backstage when he was 15 and met Jimmy Reed and Big Joe Williams and it changed his life forever. He's been on the folk circuit ever since, still at the top of his game and with the wealth of knowledge and experience reflected in this extremely entertaining podcast. His ‘Some Kind Of Jubilee' album celebrates 50 years since his first record and he's on tour in September. And talks to us here about … … his operatic Dad born in the 19th Century … the message carved with a knife on the door of the Bodmin Trad Music Club … hearing Paul Robeson aged four and thinking “I want to make people cry for a living” … ‘60s folk circuit snobbery and its disdain for “foreign songs” … signing Big Joe Williams' walking stick in a space between Bob Dylan and Joan Baez … memories of Alex Campbell, Matin Carthy, Dave & Jo Ann Kelly and “that swarthy bunch of lunatics from Hull, the Watersons” … the Nun & Ice Cream Cone, the Frog & Afterbirth: imaginary pub venues cooked up with June Tabor … being managed by Tony Secunda, “an extremely unpleasant human being” … “the only damage you can do to a folk song is to not sing it” … supporting Steeleye Span and the night cash rained from the heavens … Don't Think Twice It's All Right, These Days by Jackson Browne, Mississippi John Hurt and other songs that never let you down onstage … second-lining at a New Orleans jazz funeral: “the slow drag and the racing return” … and how folk songs travel abroad and evolve. Order copies of ‘Some Kind Of Jubilee' here: https://martinsimpsonmusic.com/pre-order-the-new-album/ Martin Simpson tickets here: https://martinsimpsonmusic.com/Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Shadows were the strongest brand in British pop, adored and widely imitated. When they went out of fashion, no-one wanted them to change. Bob Stanley salutes their enormous influence and creation of the guitar hero and unravels their rapid post-Beatles decline in his superb new book, ‘The Shadows: the Definitive Story'. And talks to us here about … … Hank and Bruce arriving in London aged 15 when the 2i's coffee bar was a labour exchange and a social club … entering a talent contest won by a Malayan opera singer … the magic of cowboy culture transported to British suburbia and their four cartoonish stage names … meeting Jacques Tati at the Paris Olympia and being asked to write a song for his upcoming movie … the rapid post-Beatles crash – bow-ties, panto and Cliff announcing his Christianity … “being thrown through a mangle twice a night by Arthur Askey in Stockton-on-Tees is not why they joined the music business” … getting Hipgnosis to design their album sleeve while stuck playing Batley Variety Club … the return of instrumentals with Albatross and the Good, the Bad and the Ugly … when Hank was asked to join the Move .. the Swedish vogue for “barbed wire groups” … and Neil Young's ‘From Hank to Hendrix' – which everyone assumed was about Hank Williams. Order copies of Bob's book here: https://tr.ee/rSilFTJwfOHelp us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stuff, nonsense, the white heat of debate and yesterday's news today! Which this week involves … … which of these didn't host a TV chat show – Ian Botham, Charlotte Church, Lily Allen or Harold Wilson? … if you'd paid £102 to see two-thirds of the Fugees show up an hour late, wouldn't you SCREAM for a refund? … Britain's most rock'n'roll hotel and why the idea of “excess” seems purely American … Dave and Stephane Grappelli at the Sunset Marquis … Reversing Into Tomorrow! We Came, We Saw, We Left! The genius of Stiff Records, “the Motown of Bayswater”, and the oddballs and misfits they signed … “there are only two types of record demand: too little and too much” … “Artistic breakthrough, the first double B-side!” The single that started the Indie boom … and why naked ballet doesn't work.Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A sense of melancholy hangs over the music of songwriters whose lives were tragically short – Nick Drake, Jeff Buckley, Eva Cassidy, Judee Sill - and we're left knowing very little about them. Jamie Fisher, writer and New York Times researcher, discovered Elliott Smith 12 years after he'd died and contacted 40 of his friends and fellow musicians to build a picture of him for her memoir Nobody Broke Your Heart. She looks back here at his background and ascent from the Portland club circuit to the Oscars, and touches on … … the emotional impact of first hearing his music walking round Central Park in Lockdown … “goofy, stubborn, wildly smart, addictively listenable” … early life in Omaha and Texas (and the telling tattoo on his arm) … the shy collegiate kid reading Dostoevsky who thought promotion was “distasteful” … how a singer-writer broke through in Portland during the Grunge boom … rejected stage-names - Johnny Panic, Elliott Stillwater-Rotter - and the pivotal moment when Steven became ‘Elliott' .. his sense of humour – “a garbage truck passed him and he said, ‘there's my ride!'” … the archive of unreleased recordings she'd heard … the Oscars appearance and signing to DreamWorks and Nirvana's PR … the root of his eventual unhappiness … “he would have been more shielded if he'd been in a band” … and his expanding legacy and adoption by Gen-Z. Order ‘Nobody Broke Your Heart' here: https://www.roughtrade.com/product/jamie-fisher/nobody-broke-your-heart-an-intimate-biography-of-elliott-smithHelp us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Michael Cragg's devotion to all things Kylie once led him to Melbourne in search of the actual carousel horse she rode in a pop video. He got a tattoo a day later. Can't Get You Out Of My Head is a funny and fondly detailed personal account of the risk-taking variety of her records, the mystery of her private life and the irresistible nature of her appeal, a girl who, were there a war on, would be painted on the tail fins of aircraft. He looks back here at … … her ‘90s reinvention by association – with Nick Cave, Michael Hutchence and Bobby Gillespie … how records about joy never get enough credit … wrestling back control after life with Stock Aitken & Waterman … the root of her appeal as a gay icon ... being vilified by the press for any public pronouncement … a capacity to charm her detractors when she meets them … reciting I Should Be So Lucky at the Poetry Olympics alongside Patti Smith and Allen Ginsberg … a mixture of the ordinary and the exotic and the ‘Carry On' sexuality of her videos … only Queen Elizabeth 11 has had more waxworks at Madame Tussauds … and Michael's meeting with her – “I'm six foot eight, she's five foot one” - and the resulting photo. Order copies of ‘Can't Get You Out of My Head' here: https://www.faber.co.uk/product/9780571392766-cant-get-you-out-of-my-head-in-search-of-kylie/Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

‘Sandy Denny: A People's History' has just been published, memories from fellow musicians, old friends, producers, writers, fans and admirers. Linda Thompson met her when they were both 16 and was devoted to her ‘til she died in 1978 – “she's still with me, I talk to her all the time”. She looks back here at their lives in Soho bars, folk clubs and studios, the world they inhabited and the musicians they both knew. Among the many highlights … … meeting Sandy in 1966, onstage doing Jackson Frank's You Never Wanted Me. “Eight million cigarettes a day but such breath control!” … why her singing and songwriting were unique … high times at the Colony Club with Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon - “famously grumpy” … “she didn't put up with bullshit. Cross her and she'd deck you” … memories of Nick Drake – “spectral and gorgeous” … the repercussions of the Fairport car crash … memories of her family home in Wimbledon (on the cover of Unhalfbricking) … recording ad jingles for Ski Yoghurt and ‘flour so fine, it flows and it flows' - £15 an hour, “a fortune” … making demos of Nick Drake songs with Elton John, “so full of Valium I had to be held up to the mic” … sharing a flat with Tim Buckley in Holland Park … “anyone who can bear to listen to their own records must be no bloody good” … and the script Nick Hornby started about the life of Richard and Linda Thompson. Order ‘Sandy Denny: A People's History' here: https://burningshed.com/georgia-rose-lucas_sandy-denny-a-peoples-history_bookHelp us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The news slapped on the conversational barbecue and served with a side of old hokum. This week's mixed grill includes … … our favourite story in the whole of popular music! … Lisa Marie Presley & Michael Jackson, Neil Young & Daryl Hannah and other weird celebrity weddings … how Glen Hansard got hired for the Commitments … “Everybody has a plan ‘til they're punched in the face” … Linda Thompson and the million reasons singers hate listening to their old albums … the fabulous life and times of Vicki Wickham in the days when 24 year-olds ran the business … Luke Combs, Nate Bargatze and the rising appeal of Mr Nice Guy … how David Bowie recorded … Mick Jagger's only marriage … “Kingsley Amis Introduces Us To Pop Stars!” and other doomed TV ideas Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tim Pope caught the video wave in 1981 and made hundreds of promotional clips, often three or four a week, edited at night and on-air days later. You'll have seen them, singles for the Style Council, The The, Iggy Pop, Hall & Oates and many others. For 15 years he was the man to call – inventive, caffeinated, risk-loving, clubbable – and “nothing was too mad or stupid”. He celebrates that magic age of big budgets and creative freedom in his story-filled memoir ‘I Shoot Rock Stars', just out, and looks back here at … … the video that made his reputation … MTV showing six of his clips in a row … the thrill of Bowie's silhouette as he walked across the Rainbow stage in 1977: “there was so little footage back then, you'd rarely seen people move” … his teenage love of Dusty, ELP, King Crimson and Pink Floyd … shooting seven clips a fortnight and the one time a record label tried to interfere … Neil Young's 2,000-acre Broken Arrow Ranch and the “burning fires of his eyes” … Iggy Pop singing I Wanna Be Your Dog in the John Snow pub in Soho … “German sausages, lumps of lamb, maggots, a whole party”: the Soft Cell clip that caused a walk-out ... “You're a funny little arsehole!”: breaking the ice with Bowie … what he learnt from Mark Hollis of Talk Talk and spending time with his ashes. Order ‘I Shoot Rock Stars' here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/i-shoot-rock-stars/tim-pope/9781035426959Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pauline Black was seen singing Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell songs in Coventry folk clubs and recruited by a local reggae band. Then converted to ska and joined the Selecter - back on tour this summer and with a box-set of live recordings, ‘The Selecter at the BBC'. She looks back here at … … their first gig with Madness for 47 years in Brighton – “very red fezzy!” … her Sliding Doors moment supporting Bert Jansch ... discovering the Pioneers, Prince Buster and the Skatalites through white skinheads in Coventry … the famous 2-Tone Brighton Beach photo of 1979 with the Specials and Madness … “there were three looks for a black girl singer back then – Tina Turner, the I-Threes Earth Mother … or invent something new. So I invented the Rude Girl” … seeing Pentangle playing the theme from ‘Take Three Girls' in 1971 and then the MC5 and Arthur Brown with his “papier-mâché brain” … training as a bio-chemist and radiographer – “there isn't an orifice I haven't inspected” … the first Selecter gig – “flares, safari suits and me in pink spandex trousers like the girls from Chic” .. how Jerry Dammers created the cartoon 2-Tone look and the night radio played the first single … and “a black man with a gun and a stage invasion” on the BBC's Pebble Mill. Order copies of ‘The Selecter At The BBC: The Complete Recordings 1979-1981' here: https://theselecter.lnk.to/AtTheBBC Tickets here: https://theselecter.net/live-dates/Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tony Fletcher launched Jamming! when he was 13, wrote for the Face at 16, ran a label with Paul Weller at 17 and a year later was presenting the Tube. And was in a band signed to EMI. If anyone did more as a teenager, we want to meet them. It's all in his coming-of-age memoir ‘Pow! When UK Punk Went Pop 1980-84' - discussed here - which touches on … …the speed, the possibilities and the riches of success in the early ‘80s – and how it felt to be at the heart of it … “I knew nothing about running a label – and then discovered Paul Weller didn't either” … Madness being interviewed by “spiky-haired, Harrington-jacketed, Ben-Sherman-shirted me” … when confidence meets ignorance … when bands went from selling 2,000 records to 20,000 and, in America, 200,000: “Phil Oakey always carried £500 in cash” … the research meetings that launched the Tube and his two-minute audition … the day Leslie Ash called in sick and he covered for her on live TV … Pete Townshend, 35, convinced the Who were finished ... discovering the inner circle within the inner circle … “to the Rainbow for the Mod Revival all-dayer!” … and memories of Wham!, Paula Yates and Pete Wylie and what he learnt from running labels and magazines. Order copies of ‘Pow! When UK Punk Went Pop 1980-84' here: US: https://www.trouserpressbooks.com/pow UK: https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/pow-when-uk-punk-went-pop-1980-84-tony-fletcher/74b193de4c1dee68Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week's news in a conversational cocktail-shaker and served with ice and a little paper parasol. Those Happy Hour highlights include … … six musicians who keep getting better looking … Plas Johnson RIP, a part of everyone's life for 60 years … the Odyssey and how Hollywood thinks the rest of the world has a foreign accent … why you couldn't make Bugsy Malone today … Jonathan Richman's genuine wide-eyed love of the modern world … Clare Torry's Pink Floyd payday … “Styrofoam ice buckets full of ice”: the greatest song ever written about life on the road … Mick Jagger, the art of evasion and the exquisite boredom of Stones' B-sides about America … the four rock stars who played the Artful Dodger … and what John Wayne said to ‘Jesus'.Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week's news in a conversational cocktail-shaker and served with ice and a little paper parasol. Those Happy Hour highlights include … … six musicians who keep getting better looking … Plas Johnson RIP, a part of everyone's life for 60 years … the Odyssey and how Hollywood thinks the rest of the world has a foreign accent … why you couldn't make Bugsy Malone today … Jonathan Richman's genuine wide-eyed love of the modern world … Clare Torry's Pink Floyd payday … “Styrofoam ice buckets full of ice”: the greatest song ever written about life on the road … Mick Jagger, the art of evasion and the exquisite boredom of Stones' B-sides about America … the four rock stars who played the Artful Dodger … and what John Wayne said to ‘Jesus'.Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ben Sidran was in a teenage band with Steve Miller and Boz Scaggs, a session pianist with the Stones in 1969 and carved a brilliant career as a jazz musician, producer, author and broadcaster. He's just written ‘Cool Cat Blues' about his old friend and collaborator Georgie Fame and the brief, luminous, pre-rock London blues and jazz scene that launched him. This enthralling conversation looks at the “heavy lift” of being a piano player and Georgie's unique position in the organic, unhyped, pre-youth scene before the arrival of rock. And covers … … the “coal smoke” London of the late ‘60s and Ben recording with the Stones at Olympic … the romance and “elephant paths” of the great jazz legends … why British musicians were more sophisticated than Americans obsessed with authenticity ... the influence of Mose Allison, “a white jazz and blues intellectual with storytelling and social commentary” … GI's bringing black American records to the Flamingo Club … how Georgie Fame was “raised by wolves” and the Larry Parnes and Light Entertainment worlds that helped shape him … and Yeh Yeh, Get Away and the Ballad Of Bonnie and Clyde, the hits that damaged his reputation. Order ‘Cool Cat Blues' here: https://www.equinoxpub.com/projects/cool-cat-bluesHelp us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Steve Hackett's seven years in Genesis get re-explored when he tours in October, along with ‘solo gems' from the records he's made since, the latest ‘the Roaring Waves', a collaboration with old pal Steve Rothery. He looks back here at defining moments in the Genesis story such as the stage props, the early American tours and Phil Collins when he met him having just auditioned for Zeffirelli and being “all fur coats and girlfriends”. Along with … … when bands stood on fishboxes if there wasn't a stage … playing harmonica through his nose and “open wounds” from American guitars .. Cream, John Mayall and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band on Eel Pie Island ... what Lennon said about Genesis “in the days before we could tweet it, sadly” … Apache, Man Of Mystery and the guitarists Hank Marvin inspired … how Phil Collins got to be the band's singer and the days when Phil and Peter Gabriel did Alan Whicker impressions onstage ... Guy Garvey at the Prog Proms … the last time the five of them were together and the chance of a reunion … and the new album with Steve Rothery, inspired by Whitby and the legend of Dracula. Order copies of ‘The Roaring Wave' here: https://stevehackettsteverothery.lnk.to/TheRoaringWaves-Album Order Steve Hackett tickets here: https://myticket.co.uk/artists/steve-hackett and https://www.hackettsongs.com/toursHelp us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mari Wilson has drunk deep of all that London nightlife has to offer, from a London Transport social club in Wembley to a posh venue in Chelsea via the Cooks Ferry Inn in Edmonton, and she remembers it well. Here she marks the release of her new album “Girl About Town” by talking about:•⁠ ⁠making bacon sandwiches for Mott The Hoople•⁠ ⁠entertaining her dad's mates with her Alma Cogan impression•⁠ ⁠Half of Scotland coming to stay for the Home Internationals•⁠ ⁠touring in a Commer van•⁠ ⁠taking her “Klute” hairstyle to watch Stray and the Pink Fairies•⁠ ⁠playing Dusty Springfield on the musical stage•⁠ ⁠audiences who want to get home in time for Antiques Road Show•⁠ ⁠bringing it all back home to the Cadogan Hall, Chelsea, on October 4th:⁠ ⁠https://cadoganhall.com/whats-on/mari-wilson-girl-about-town/Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Another over-heated week put through the conversational air-conditioner, which involves … … the man who got rich writing words that could never be sung … Anna Bullock? Stefani Germanotta? People who'd never have made it if they hadn't changed their names … and the best stage name ever! … Marco Pirroni's jukebox … when the Rock'n'Roll rulebook declared ‘Thou Shalt Not Dance!' … how David Dundas made a fortune from just four notes … Ringo, Dylan, Hank Marvin, Bill Wyman and the magic of cowboy culture … who lost out on ‘It's Only Rock'n'Roll' and ‘Jessica'? … and the biggest star of the 20th Century and how he got his name Plus the Bingville Bugle and birthday guest Gianluca Tramontana looks back at when dance music came in for a kicking.Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Marco Pirroni's moment in the sun was big, lucrative but incredibly short. It was under a year from Adam & the Ants' first hit to their last and immediate break-up. Adam, he remembers, was the perfect writing partner – driven, intensely competitive and with “a pathological fear of only being Number 2”. He's got no regrets, hasn't had to do day's work since, and looks back here at …… being the first band writing songs for the video age… “you can't confuse fans buying records with love, it's nothing personal”… Telstar, Fireball XL5, Roxy Music and the “moon-stomping hits of Slade”… playing covers of songs they didn't like with Siouxsie at the 100 Club: “punk rock and my part in its downfall”… Adam's “Shakespearian tirade” at the legal meeting with Rolf Harris when he sued over Prince Charming and War Canoe… Malcolm McLaren's jukebox: the Flamin' Groovies, Alice Cooper, the Troggs, “songs that weren't very good”… “we stopped being a punk band or a pop band or a glam band – or any sort of band at all”… never tour America when you don't have a bank account.Order ‘Your Money Or Your Life' here: https://tr.ee/P2_qxNZ6jCHelp us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Specials have officially disbanded, bowing out with a swansong album recorded in the ruins of Coventry Cathedral in 2019. Horace Panter looks back at the first shows they played - when Jim Callaghan was still PM! - and the rigours of mastering ska when some of the group thought it was “old man's music”. Along with … … the dignified way for any band to retire … the 2-Tone tour of 1979 – “like a school trip with no teachers” … bonding with Terry Hall over comedian Ken Platt: ‘I won't take me coat off, I'm not stoppin'!" … the day Jerry Dammers came to rehearsal with Prince Buster's Greatest Hits – “for all your rebellious needs!” … the poignancy of playing in the ruins of Coventry Cathedral when you start the set with an air-raid siren … seeing the Faces and Mott the Hoople, “once in my school uniform” … the sensory overload - “The space! The volume!” - of Led Zeppelin at the Albert Hall when you're 15 and from Kettering … “strange to think few people under 60 have ever seen the Specials” … the bassist he pretended to be when posing in the mirror ... the Bilzen Festival in 1979 “when the chain-link fence was broken down and I came offstage like I was walking on air” … and creating the 2-Tone look with ex-Mod tonic suits Order ‘Live From The Cathedral' here: https://shop.thespecials.islandrecords.com/Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As this week's news hurtles over the net, we sort the aces from the double-faults. The final score … … Madonna, Shakira, Chris Martin and World Cup 11-minute half-time overload! … how many Stones albums were “the best since Exile On Main Street”? … Kevin Rowland's heart-breaking songs about Life's Third Act … 10 good reasons to miss the Nineties … Country & Western is about travelling through the vast geography of America. “Go 200 miles in Britain and you fall off the edge” … Florian Pilkington-Miksa, Cedric Bixler-Zavala, Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond: rock's real (or invented?) double-barrelled names … how “travel and never arrive” is the new entertainment experience … plus Sly Stone's Babies Makin' Babies, the comforting cry of “Gambo's in the building!” and birthday guest Patrick Butler.Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We first saw Kevin in ‘77 wearing jodhpurs onstage with his art-punk band the Killjoys! He's formed a new version of Dexys, made an album, starts a tour in October, and looks back here at central moments in his life, some recent ones so huge and affecting “that I put them to music” and they'll be performed as a drama in the first half of these upcoming theatre shows. This touches - in vivid detail - on bands that inspired him, repaired relationships, a health crisis, what it took to be a singer in the first place and what's requires now to put the show back on the road, along with … … memories of music before the Beatles … playing Jim Reeves and Ricky Nelson in a social club band in 1975 “after the bingo” … the touching shift of power in his relationship with his 102 year-old father: “he was like a child again, he needed me” … Roxy Music on Top Of The Pops, “I couldn't believe you could be avant garde AND commercial” … life on the Top Rank circuit supporting the Specials: “you learnt not to play at an audience but play for them” … making Searching For The Young Soul Rebels in ten days with producer Pete Wingfield dancing in the studio … “Come On Eileen doesn't belong to me anymore” … the alarming spectacle of an ‘80s Hear & Now package tour and what it taught him .. the song he wrote for his grandchildren (one of whom is 31) … a possibly terminal diagnosis in 2024 and “like Wilko Johnson, the relief I felt” … and the Tim Buckley song he just recorded without knowing who wrote it! Order the new Dexys album ‘Love' here: https://dexysofficial.lnk.to/love And tour tickets here: https://dexys.tmstor.es/LiveHelp us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week's penalty shoot-out of news sorts the surefire hits from the over-the-bar misses. That final score again … … what Morrissey's only gone and done now … when your logo's worth than your songs … Taylor Swift's wedding and how Sly Stone got there first … do musicians care about awards?… Divine Comedy, Jonathan Richman, Fountains of Wayne, Zappa: why are ‘humorous' records so divisive?… happy 200th birthday Stephen Foster, the man who invented the pop song!… and cover versions of his songs you'll know - Hard Times Come Again No More (Dylan, Springsteen, Emmylou Harris), Beautiful Dreamer (the Beatles), My Old Kentucky Home (Randy Newman), Oh Susannah (James Taylor), Camptown Races and many more … why comic actors are funnier on TV than in films … the delicious melancholy of songs about going home … when did musicians ‘go pro'? Did the Clash or the Faces consider themselves ‘professionals'?… Oasis, New Order, the Hollies, Herman's Hermits, Corrie, Man City/Man U, the Smiths: why is Manchester Feud Central? … plus Margot, Jerry & the take-away curry, and birthday guest Guy Constant.Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The blistering heat of 1976 burnt various things onto the memory – standpipes, strikes, Entebbe, ‘Confessions' movies, Jeremy Thorpe – but most of all the records that became its soundtrack, some of them revolutionary, others begging for extinction. John L Williams captures the moment in ‘Heatwave: the Summer of 1976, Britain at Boiling Point' and a paints of picture of a country on the brink of a vast pop-cultural shift. We talk to him here about … … violence at gigs and football and on Derek & Clive albums … dumb people pretending to be clever (prog rock) and clever people pretending to be dumb (Ramones) … the rise of Joan Armatrading in the days before ‘identity' marketing … how ‘funny' t-shirts were the memes of their day … when Tom Robinson saw the future in Scarborough … “mainstream culture gave you things to both love and hate” ... how Rock Follies featured an imaginary Blitz Club where people danced in military uniforms … Andy Summers (with Kevin Ayers) and Stewart Copeland (Curved Air) on the same bill a year before the Police … why anyone with a Sensational Alex Harvey Band scarf got a wide berth … Time Out's headline: "It's the Buzz, Cock!" … Tom Waits, aged 25, unconvincing hobo-hipster … and Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Emmanuelle and the lowest point of the Radio One Roadshow. Order copies of ‘Heatwave' here: https://tinyurl.com/2kudc6xrHelp us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nige Tassell fell in love with the literary allusions of Prefab Sprout when at school and his new book ‘Truly Gifted Kids' tells their unique and inscrutable story – and involves some delightfully off-road “deerstalker” investigation. You'll find self-sabotage, square pegs in round holes, the eternal pressure to have hits, and a devoted portrait of ringmaster Paddy McAloon that leaves you convinced there's never been anyone quite like him before or since. This sparks off in a million directions, these among them … … the lure of bands who'd clearly been to the library and were unlikely to have a huge hit ... Paddy's stoic defence of their name … his distaste for “diary songwriting” of Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen … Jesse James, Elvis, Hey Manhattan: the obsession with the romance of America … the archive of unrecorded songs (one box labelled ‘For Rod Stewart') … how the success of The King Of Rock ‘N' Roll came to haunt them … the inconceivable moment they appeared on the National Lottery with Bob Monkhouse and Mystic Meg … pop tribalism on the school bus … the dreadful circumstance that lead to I Trawl the Megahertz … Paddy's visual transformation from tousled pop star to hermetic semi-reclusive Gandalf … and the fate of the Steve McQueen motorbike. Order ‘Truly Gifted Kids' here …https://linktr.ee/newmodern_books?lt_utm_source=lt_share_link#566128608.Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tapping the barometer of news to see what's blistering or stormy, which this week includes … … “The Man can't bust our music!”: the crimes and misdemeanours of Clive Davis … the single biggest change in our lifetimes ... when did musicians become ‘artists'? … Johnny Marr's guitar habit … unlimited cash and what we'd spend it on … Madonna smoking at Paris Fashion Week hoping someone would try to stop her … why Dave doesn't own any Arista records … which five Paul Simon songs became film titles? … a Prime Minister who loves ‘Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You' by Big Thief! … 56 year-old takes annual Dark Side of the Moon test: “and I still don't like it!” … are there more registered songwriters or lorry drivers? Plus the biopic boom and birthday guest Andrew Stocks has a senior moment.Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Seven hundred fans have contributed to ‘Gary Numan: A People's History', a lavishly published compendium of memories of discovering, hearing and watching him over the 50 years he's been making music. As you might imagine, he's immensely touched, not least because – in this honest and extremely modest conversation – he feels his roller-coaster career was down to “perseverance not God-given talent” and that if he hadn't come along, that devotional space in his fans' lives would have been filled by someone else. He talks to us here from his home in Los Angeles and touches on … … the extent of what music can mean to people … how careers pan out – “huge highs then you fall off a cliff for a while” … ‘I made though perseverance more than God-given talent' … meetings with upstarts and superstars … why he doesn't listen to new music … ‘Don't call me, the Gothfather!' … the press he got in the early ‘80s “that made fans hide their Gary Numan albums” … how hip-hop and Afrika Bambaataa absorbed his music … ‘I'm not unique, I simply supply a service” ... and having your Gary Numan tattoo sketched for you … by Gary Numan! Order copies of ‘Gary Numan: A People's History' here: https://burningshed.com/richard-bowes_gary-numan-a-peoples-history_bookHelp us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

David Gray went through the roof with his White Ladder album in 2000 and he's toured and recorded ever since, ending this summer's loop at Latitude. He talks to us here about the rigours of seeing bands when you lived in rural Wales and the hilarious, hard-won lessons of the first gigs he played himself and every possible shade of crowd reaction. It's an absolute whirlwind from start to finish and features ... ... playing weddings, clubs, festivals and a Welsh village regatta … the role of music in the construction of your character … the turning point: “I arrived onstage to more applause than I'd ever had when leaving” … the time gave Morrissey his string of beads … the emotional architecture of live performance and how Elvis programmed his shows … vivid memories of seeing the Cult (“bloody nose”), the Mission (“headbutted”) and the Stranglers (“we left terrified”) … running from stage to stage at Glastonbury in ‘86 and the insular genius of the Cure … his Liverpool punk band in their perishing “Joycean” flat … the unbeatable sound of a crowd singing one of your songs … Nick Drake's frail sensibility and the value of growing a hard skin. David Gray tickets here: davidgray.comHelp us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Digging deep in the icebox of news to choose the following lightly chilled refreshments … … 500 Miles, Wonderwall, Yes Sir I Can Boogie(?): what does it take to be a football anthem? … Gorillaz brilliant reinvention of the “guest appearance” … Jerry Dammers' father was the Dean of Bristol Cathedral? Siouxsie's dad milked venom from snakes? … Rod Stewart's “laryngitis”- aka being on a private jet to watch Scotland play in Boston! … how they're celebrating Syd Barrett's 80th … the godawfullest album title in the entire history of popular music … England 2 Colombia 0: Kirsty MacColl's immaculate sense of melancholy … Faux Fighters, Proxy Music, By Jovi: tribute bands aren't lesser versions of the band you like but great versions of the songs you like … the worst Boz Scaggs gig followed by the best … teen fizz to chin-stroking introspection: the link between George Michael and the Beach Boys … “Londoners like to feel they're impossible to impress” … plus 500 Hartlepool fans dressed as Smurfs and birthday guest Blaine Allan.Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Peter Frampton, for goodness sake! Part of our lives at Word In Your Ear since we were teenagers. Played guitar on national telly when he was 14. Joined the Herd at 16 and Humble Pie two years later. Had the biggest-selling album in American history in 1976 and now releasing his first new record in 16 years. From his home in Nashville, he looks back here – with great modesty, humour and affection - at how he adjusted to such mountainous success and to “when it all came crashing down” while throwing in a winning impression of George Harrison. This too … … the Herd pursued by screaming girls across Streatham Ice Rink … when “the Face of 1968” (Frampton) joined “the Face of 1967” (Marriott) … recording with George, Ringo, Billy Preston, Steve Stills and Phil Spector (aged 20) - “where the hell am I and how did I get here?” … “I'd fallen off the radar and Bowie gave me the biggest gift anyone could give me” … the petrifying success of Frampton Comes Alive! - “I felt I'd be like a Rubik's Cube, here today, gone tomorrow” … the Scout Club gig (aged 12) that lit the fuse and playing Ready Steady Go! when he was 14 (same show as the Stones) … when his father met Mick Jagger … making the doomed Sgt Pepper film with the Bee Gees … working with Sheryl Crow who'd had a poster of him when she was 14 … and revisiting his childhood home in Beckenham. Order ‘Carry The Light' here: https://www.frampton.com/Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

‘Graceland' was an almighty gamble for Paul Simon, a costly, high-risk departure from the music he'd been making and a complex international venture. And a game-changing, worldwide triumph. When Ashley Kahn taught a course about it at New York University, Simon turned up to contribute. His book ‘Days Of Miracle And Wonder' tells the story of what inspired the album, the way it was recorded and the global reaction when it arrived in 1986. We talk to him here about … … the bootleg cassette of township jive that inspired the Graceland project … fraying relations with Art Garfunkel and Carrie Fisher ... his habit of playing unfinished tracks to people – David Byrne, Philip Glass, Neil Diamond – while singing the vocal into their ear … the extraordinary way he apologised for the failure of One Trick Pony … how Bakithi Kumalo's bass solo on You Can Call Me Al is a palindrome – “first half forwards, second half reversed!” … the advice Quincy Jones gave him about South Africa's cultural boycott … the key role of Roy Halee, engineer and long-time creative collaborator ... the Johannesburg sessions that “started with rhythm and worked backwards” … Kind Of Blue, A Love Supreme, other albums that merit a book to themselves … the details you hear in the tracks' last seconds … and the Grammy telecast that cemented the album's US success. Order copies of ‘Days of Miracle And Wonder' here: https://geni.us/DaysofMiracleandWonderHelp us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kate's an old pal of ours from Word magazine who writes scintillating columns and profiles for the New Statesman and Observer. We loved her book ‘Men Of A Certain Age: My Encounters With Rock Royalty' – just out in paperback! – where she relives her meetings with a variety of legends, eccentrics and old lags whose music she finds particularly compelling and wonders what they all have in common. This typically funny and colourful conversation stops off at … … the attractive fallibility of rock stars past their peak … a lifetime's devotion to Paul Simon … “Olivia Dean is the Carole King of her generation” … the ridiculous expectations we heap on musicians' creativity … why Arts Criticism is under threat … when the first record you buy (aged five) is the Chicken Song … “One-Hit Wonders have achieved infinitely more than most of us” … Ray Davies and his “eternal sense of apartness” … why George Michael is under-appreciated and the time he found someone living under his floorboards … the days when Jeff Beck modelled PVC jackets for Rave … the genius of Pat Metheny's Orchestrion … and the new acts who'll still be huge in ten years' time. Order copies of ‘Men Of A Certain Age' here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Men-Certain-Age-Encounters-Royalty/dp/1788705645Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Amid much parping of vuvuzelas, the week's news stories sprint onto the pitch. And these make it to the quarter-finals … … Dua Lipa's mega-wedding and its echoes of Mick & Bianca … when did publicity turn into “perpetual planetary attention”? … Chris Martin “curating” the World Cup Final half-time show … if you can't stand the noise, move out of Soho! … watching Rufus Wainwright do Judy Garland … when Madonna was troubled by helicopters … JBs's Dudley, Mr Pickwicks, the Band On The Wall: who imagined old rock venues would be celebrated by the V&A? … “Keep music away from sport!” … is Taylor Swift really getting married in Madison Square Garden? … and the Nation Blue, the Green Falcons, the Golden Lilies: starry-eyed indie act or World Cup team nickname?Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dave Balfe was a key player in late ‘70s Liverpool, joined Big In Japan and the Teardrop Explodes, co-founded Zoo Records and, later, Food who signed and launched Blur. It's fascinating to hear how he's adapted to promoting music now with his new band Late Transmissions. We talk to him here about the landmarks moments that mapped out his life, among them … … growing up in the Wirral and its patchouli-scented record shops … seeing Wings and Bowie's Ziggy Stardust tour in Liverpool … how it felt to be immortalised in Blur's Country House … what he learnt making AI pop videos … when your teenage band “goes punk” … breaking and entering Rumbelows in pursuit of a synthesiser … the curious link between Blur and JD Salinger in the days “they were all Kurt Weill and discordant” … the Runaways at Erics – “I wasn't entirely there for the music” … Big In Japan with Bill Drummond, Budgie, Ian Brodie and Jayne Casey .. is AI like the arrival of synthesisers: “this is not proper music?” … “the old gag, innovation is not pastiching bands that have already been pastiched” … and Mark's interview with him 47 years ago. Lightning Never Strikes Twice video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhV02AcvQQ0The Heart Wants What It Wants video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGvEWvS1ekkI'm Done With London video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmUnP4b4GjQ Order the Late Transmissions album here: https://musicsaves.co.uk/product/theheartwantswhatitwants/Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Star Ratings are now ubiquitous and inescapable and it's not just music, films and books. Everything we encounter tends to be rated which colours our judgement before we try it. Choice can be paralyzing but do we read anymore or just count? Benji Wilson's ‘Rate This Book: How Star Ratings Took Over the World' traces their origin – back to 350 BC! – paints a picture of modern life and wonders here where we're heading, along with … … Aristotle's 2,500 year-old system of star-rated animals … how Michelin cooked up starred restaurants to get you to wear out your tyres … can we spot fake reviews and the people who sell them? … do we only tend to read one- and five-star reviews? And why writers hate the system … the ingenious deceit of the Krays movie poster … the value of reviews in a world where time and tickets costs are escalating … “Star Ratings are the democratisation of criticism, the least-worst method” … why a 2016 episode of Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror now seems prophetic … the “hidden hands” that manipulate the ratings system … and mass Amazon ratings and the power of Mob Rule. Order copies of ‘Rate This Book' here: https://linktr.ee/newmodern_books#560826579 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rate-This-Book-Ratings-World/dp/1917923651?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLEHelp us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Philip Norman has written books about the Beatles – and John, Paul and George - and now turns the spotlight on the man who launched them and the extreme personal and professional obstacles in the dramatic path of his short life, the man who built a shield around them but couldn't protect himself. We talk to him here about ‘Mr Moonlight: Brian Epstein and the Making of the Beatles' with particular attention to … … how he changed Britain's image and was mortified to get no recognition for it … the Beatle whose demands he was always fastest to execute … the level of homophobia and anti-Semitism he had to absorb … his reckless pursuits in the days when homosexuality could mean life imprisonment … contract killers, blackmail, rigged roulette wheels and why the Krays said “it wasn't us” when they heard he'd died … the way he fashioned his own myth and airbrushed others who'd helped the Beatles succeed … why McCartney's 21st birthday party could have ended the band … his genius (and fraudulence) as a salesman … the double catastrophe of Brian's US merchandising deal … John, Aunt Mimi and “a story about the British class system” … and the chaperone on George and Pattie's first date. Order copies of ‘Mr Moonlight' here: https://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/books/Mr-Moonlight/Philip-Norman/9781398542266Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When the pedalo of perusal cruised the lagoon of news this week, it paused to inspect the following ... … the particular magic of the late-night DJ … a Get Well card to dear Bob Harris … is Global Beatles Day a bridge too far? … the exquisite Britishness of the Manics, the Fall and the Small Faces … Cyprus Avenue, Soho, Asbury Park … the best places to visit to help you understand an artist who lived there … how T.Rex and Roxy Music were “too fancy” for America … Jagger, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Johann Sebastian Bach? Musicians with the most children … All You Need Is Love – work of genius or “ropey old doggerel”? Plus birthday guest Paul Thompson, Foghat and watching the One World global-cast on a black and white telly.Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Old friend of the podcast Lloyd Bradley wrote Bass Culture, the defining account of reggae, and he's now turned his attention to funk, from its deepest roots and via the jazz, arts, TV, radio and pop culture that flavoured it. The main 10-year focus of ‘Funk Has Its Own Reward' is from James Brown's ‘Say It Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud' to Michael Jackson's ‘Off The Wall' but free your mind and all this will follow! … … the importance of radio being “colourblind” … Cab Calloway's Jive Dictionary and the impact of DJs Martha Jean ‘the Queen' Steinberg and Daddy-O Daylie … how James Brown floor-tested his records and saved a fortune making them … funk's deep roots in America's marching bands … why jazz is funk's closest relative and what it stole from white rock … how the Family Stone's Larry Graham made bass the place … how solo singers gave way to the ‘funk gangs' … how Richard Pryor gave mainstream America a window on a whole new world. … the influence of Soul Train and Sesame Street (19-year-old Nile Rodgers on guitar!) in bringing funk to the masses … George Clinton – “I can't dance, can't play, people tell me I can't sing … but without me none of this would have happened!” … plus the Chambers Brothers, Herbie Hancock, Funkadelic, Bootsy, Quincy Jones, Parliament and the greatest funk record ever made. Order copies of ‘Funk Is Its Own Reward' here: https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/lloyd-bradley-2/funk-is-its-own-reward/9781472123411/Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourearHelp us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Leo Sayer burst onto national telly in 1973 dressed as a Pierrot with the Show Must Go On launching a 50-year career in colourful company – songwriters, boxing legends, swindling managers, scurrilous socialites – and learning a great deal in the process. “Don't underestimate the idiots!” is the hard-won advice. He's touring in October and joins us here from Australia to look back at … … how he and Linda Ronstadt escaped from Trump's gruesome penthouse … walking through Memphis dressed as a clown … seeing Lonnie Donegan invent skiffle, Dylan at the Albert Hall and Bob Marley at the Lyceum from the side of the stage … when Paul Kossoff asked him to audition for Free … designing record sleeves for Marley, Roger Daltrey, Humble Pie and Quintessence … “I'm the Forrest Gump of the music industry – nearly there!” … “working with Adam Faith was like having Marlon Brando as your acting coach” … the advice Paul McCartney gave him in 1973 … “Do you mind if I vomit in your shoe?” … and a week in a training camp with Muhammad Ali. Order Leo Sayer tickets here: https://tix.to/LeoLive26 Order the ‘Leothology' box-set here: https://www.roughtrade.com/product/leo-sayer/leothology-the-studio-albums-1973-nowHelp us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourearHelp us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Chasing the shade and slapping the Sunscreen on this week's overheated news, we pour a tinkling drink and reflect upon the following … … British people in hot weath-ah! … when rock stars you haven't seen for 50 years pop up on Zoom … Lennon's tooth? Timberlake's toast? Mooney's school report? Weird things sold at auction … Paul Horn playing in the Taj Mahal, Sonny Rollins on the Williamsburg Bridge, U2 in Slane Castle … are new vinyl albums now ‘luxury goods' and old ones ‘antiques'? … where you can hear the Abbey Road building on the Dark Side of the Moon … the cinematic records Daniel Lanois made in an abandoned movie theatre near Santa Barbara … Summer In The City: the Lovin' Spoonful's road-drill and Regina Spektor's cleavage … Cat-calming music! Gym motivation! Stress-busting songs for Spurs fans on Judgement Day! The age of the prescriptive playlist … the new dawn of instrumental music, “a public utility like turning on a tap” … and the single Sinatra recorded for Maureen Starkey (only one copy made!).Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Daniel Lanois built a studio in his basement in Quebec and began producing local acts when a teenager. Through work with Brian Eno, he went on to record U2, Bob Dylan, Arcade Fire, Emmylou Harris and scores of others with a method that's unique, cinematic and utterly extraordinary, a brand of sonic architecture that creates settings to accommodate the songs, often in exotic and stimulating places. And he's made nine albums of his own, the latest the magical instrumental suite ‘Belladonna Nocturne' – “hear this and you may never go home again”. This rich and fascinating conversation includes … … how the place you record affects the way you think ... producing Dylan and Willie Nelson in an abandoned Mexican cinema … why the first record he bought was Wipe Out by the Surfaris … the process of “printing sound” and his Music Minus One theory … “Songs are doorways to another dimension” … Eno's working method: “he walked round the studio for 45 minutes ringing bells to map out the length of the album” … drawing song sketches to stop everyone having to crowd round a laptop … making the Unforgettable Fire with U2, “expanding Slane Castle ‘til there were little critters crawling out of the walls!” … conjuring the tropical heat of Robbie Robertson's Somewhere Down the Crazy River … and what Hells' Angels like to do to his music. Order Belladonna Nocturne here: https://artsmusic.lnk.to/BelladonnaNocturneHelp us to keep The Longest Conversation In Rock going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cathi Unsworth was a teenage Goth, enthralled as much by Joy Division and the Banshees as by the Brontës, Bram Stoker and Aubrey Beardsley. We loved her book ‘Season of the Witch' and she's since put together a soundtrack album, ‘Dressed In Black', featuring the Goth divas she most admires and adores. And talks to us here about everything from murder ballads, the Industrial Revolution and Victorian literature to … … John Peel, Siouxsie, Joy Division and her teenage Goth conversion among the “hedge-goths” and “field-goths” of rural Norfolk … the phenomenal life, lyrics and mysterious disappearance of ‘Swamp-witch' Bobbie Gentry … has Goth eaten Punk? … why BBC banned Billie Holiday's “Gloomy Sunday” … the ‘death discs' of John Layton, the Shangri-Las and Twinkle … how Cabaret and Julie Driscoll coloured Siouxsie and the Banshees … Shirley Collins' Death And The Lady – “now that's what I call a pandemic!” … did Liz Fraser speak fluent Faerie? … Nico – “if I had a machine-gun I'd kill you all!” … and how Juliette Gréco looked the devil in the face. Order copies of ‘Dressed In Black: Goth Divas From The Dark Side' here: https://acerecords.co.uk/various-artists-dressed-in-blackHelp us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.