Word In Your Ear

Roger Armstrong co-founded the legendary Rock On record shop and was running the Chiswick label long before the punk rock explosion of independents, a believer that you could license rare R&B, soul and rockabilly classics while cutting new records with rising stars (Shane MacGowan, Kirsty MacColl and Joe Strummer among them). He then co-founded Ace Records and talks to us here about the thrill of trawling through American label vaults, locating vintage tracks and finding them a whole new audience. Along with … … seeing Ella Fitzgerald and the Beatles in Belfast in the early ‘60s ... inventing a new Irish rock circuit and turning showbands into soul bands … how American Graffiti, Gaz’s Rockin’ Blues and the mod revival all chimed with Ace Records’ re-issues … promoting ‘Tin’ Lizzy (“that’s what it sounded like on the phone”) and being immortalised in one of their lyrics (“I get my records at the Rock On stall”) … Joe Strummer in the 101-ers – “sensational, full-tilt, as if playing a stadium” … releasing Dylan’s Theme-Time Radio Hour box-sets and the size of his record collection … finding a Little Richard demo and making an Elvis Presley speech album a money-spinner … being a pioneer tape rat and crate-digger and Ace Records quality control – “Stack ‘em low, sell ‘em high!” … “think of the strapline, then choose the tracks”: making compilations with Jon Savage, Bob Stanley, Bobby Gillespie and Paul Weller … plus reflections on John Martyn, Carol Grimes, Brinsley Schwarz, Rocky Sharpe, Irma Thomas, Arthur Alexander and the Count Bishops (“like the Stones at 78”). Order ‘Chiswick Records 1975 - 1982 Seven Years At 45 RPM’ here: https://www.acerecords.co.uk/chiswick-records-1975-1982-seven-years-at-45-rpmFind out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On the menu at the rock and roll state banquet … … Into the Mystic, Meet On The Ledge, In My Life, Tom Waits’ Take It With Me and other perfect songs for a last farewell … the day we joined the world’s best band … Robert Redford’s blinding handsomeness and the greatest moment – all three seconds of it – in Butch Cassidy And the Sundance Kid … best-looking rock stars … were the Shadows really a UK Eurovision entry? … “very special guests” and the new age of the stadium rock “bring-on” … how John Prine and Iris DeMent won the big door prize … “the movie camera is the biggest lie-detector in the world” … strange double bills of our time - the Foo Fighters and Rick Astley, Bo Diddley and the Clash Plus Cary Grant smoking, watching Brad Pitt do ordinary things and birthday guest Steven Way on the subtle billing of support acts.Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Novelist and journalist Tom Piazza struck up a friendship with the irreplaceable John Prine in the last years of his life. This relationship, which began as a profile for a magazine, almost blossomed into an autobiography and involved a road trip in an inadvisable vehicle, has resulted in a new book “Living In The Present With John Prine”. Which involves:•⁠ ⁠setting off in a 1977 Coupe De Ville and driving “until the engine burns up”.•⁠ ⁠sitting up all night playing old country songs.•⁠ ⁠remembering how he came to write some of the greatest songs of the last fifty years•⁠ ⁠an evening’s swapping stories with Elvis Costello which ends with the alarming word “the jukebox is on fire!”•⁠ ⁠what Prine’s last album “The Tree Of Forgiveness” has in common with Beethoven’s late quartetsBuy Living In The Present With John Prine: https://amzn.eu/d/9vWv9rgFind out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Having disposed of the surprising history of pop stars who posed for Playboy, discussing whether the universe really needs another album called "Play", come up with a couple of nominations for Best Album Title Of All Time, we hear about Alex's experiences seeing Oasis in the midst of 90,000 who have never been to Manchester and how he "used the force" to get some face time with Jack Black and Dave Grohl.Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Peter Hammill, adored by Bowie, Mark E Smith and many others, co-founded Van Der Graaf Generator when he was 19. And he’s made 47 albums since, powered by “hubris, enthusiasm and sheer bloody-mindness” and celebrated in a new 18-CD box set. He talks to us here from Somerset about … … supporting Hendrix at the Albert Hall and being ‘the Shirley Bassey of the Underground’ … meeting David Bowie - who asked for Hammill’s new music to be sent to him all his life … Van Der Graaf Generator being bottled off by medical students in the days when you rang from a phone-box to see what gigs you were playing … the Bee Gees, Eric Clapton, Champion Jack Dupree and Jimmy James & the Vagabonds at the Locarno in Derby … Tony Stratton-Smith and the Six Bob Tour – 30p! – with Lindisfarne and Genesis … Nut Rocker, Theme Of Exodus and other teenage keyboard staples  … the value of “Boswellian superfans” who know more about you than you do … breaking the £100 barrier for a live performance … writing blues songs, aged 16, with “a gnat’s experience of life” … the unsettling lyric to Rodgers & Hammerstein’s ‘You've Got to Be Carefully Taught’ … and his new young audience via the internet and “that right of passage, your parents’ records” Order The Charisma & Virgin Recordings 1971 - 1986’ here: https://peterhammill.lnk.to/CVRecordingsPRPre-order 'ROCK and ROLE: The Visionary Songs of Peter Hammill and Van der Graaf Generator' here: https://burningshed.com/store/kingmakerFind out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Has there ever been a group like Talking Heads? Jonathan Gould’s Burning Down The House explores their affluent background, the root of their ambition and the springboard of the New York scene of the late ‘70s (he was a regular at CBGB). Along with … ... the romanticised image of CBGB and the reality … their black music roots: “the same instrumentation as Booker T & the MGs” … the influence of the Modern Lovers: “Jonathan Richman and Byrne were both oddballs, appealing but peculiar” … how the economy of New York’s real estate let them rent a 2,000 square foot loft for $289 a month … bands from affluent backgrounds take greater commercial risks: “there was always a Plan B” … the art-school drop-out lineage that began John Lennon and Keith Richards … how different they were from the CBGBs acts, a band that sang verses in French and “didn’t dress like the New York Dolls”  … the band’s dynamic, Chris and Tina “effectively one person” ... did Byrne really make Tina Weymouth “re-audition”? … the success of the Tom Tom Club and the tension that caused … Byrne’s invention of his own “white choreography” … Stop Making Sense, as big a part of their legacy as any album … and why there can never be a reunion Mentioned in dispatches: Brian Eno, Adrian Belew, Herbie Hancock, Stevie Wonder, Johnny Ramone and Fela Kuti.   Order ‘Burning Down The House’ here:https://www.waterstones.com/book/9780063022980Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Freddie Mercury had an affair with a close friend’s wife and, in 1977, became a father. He’s now a grandfather. That’s the foundation of a new book ‘Love, Freddie’ by his highly respected biographer Lesley-Ann Jones which details a four-year, detailed exchange with his daughter ‘B’, now 48, and the contents of the 17 notebooks he gave her before he died in 1991. We talk to Lesley-Ann here about this gripping new tilt on his story which covers … … the 41-page document B sent her in 2021 and how the author assumed it was a hoax … why B was outraged by his portrayal in the Bohemian Rhapsody biopic … how the notebooks Freddie gave her are legally owned by Sony “and she would burn them if they tried to collect them” … Freddie’s turmoil at the time of her conception - engaged to Mary Austin, a love affair with David Minns … B’s secret life in Kensington and Montreux and her father’s “scary knitwear” disguises … “in the age of AI, even a real photo of Freddie and his daughter would be reckoned a scam” … the unheard – surely priceless - recordings Freddie made of the two of them singing together … how B’s existence stayed a secret and the members of Queen’s inner circle who might have known about her  … the photo of B, aged four, with her dad and David Bowie … and how there were no denials about B’s existence from Queen or any Cease & Desist demands when the book extracts published. Order ‘Love, Freddie’ here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Love-Freddie-Mercurys-Secret-Life/dp/1916797962Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

All the leaves are brown and the sky’s a bit unruly but mellow fruitfulness abounds in this week’s pick of the rock and roll news. Add to basket …   … is Morrissey hacked off, broke or just desperate for attention? … are stadium gigs the new tourism? … bucket hats, Man City, lads culture … how did America finally ‘get’ Oasis? … singles that weren’t on albums … are we sated by an overabundance of music? … how Gary Numan got a record deal … why Gene Loves Jezebel are the new Sam & Dave!  … the new age of the rock and roll pilgrimage … did Slade record the Hokey Cokey? The Dave Clark Five did Neil Young? The Troggs did Foxy Lady? … the Jam, the Yardbirds, The Nice, the Smiths: bands who broke up because they couldn’t crack America … selling Barry White records to Middle Eastern airline pilots Plus Tubeway Army, the Scaffold doing Ging Gang Goolie, “Mister Ferry’s diction” and birthday guest Jelltex.Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Immortalised by Hendrix, ‘Hey Joe’ had its roots in 18th century murder ballads, ‘60s folk and rock clubs before the world got to hear it. Jason Schneider unravels its twisted genesis in ‘That Gun In Your Hand’, and talks to us here about the miracles that allowed it to happen and the sad fate of Billy Roberts, the man who claimed he wrote it. Along with … … “all pop records are built on the back of other pop records” … the allure of violent songs: “we get our kicks from real-life murder” … the bit-part players in the story – David Crosby, Dino Valenti, Tim Rose, Cass Elliot, the Byrds, the Leaves, the Creation and Bob Dylan … the final twist: how Chas Chandler was looking to make Hey Joe a hit when Linda Keith pointed him at Hendrix … “a song with no chorus and a circle of fifths”: why it was a rock staple alongside Gloria and Louie Louie … the cruel fate of Billy Roberts who never recorded Hey Joy as couldn’t bear to give away 50 per cent of the royalties … the girl murders the man? “It’s a song still in evolution” … how Andy Summers was the first person to hear Hendrix play in the UK … 1,881 guitarists mass-performed Hey Joe in 2007 but could you even release a version of it now? You can order ‘That Gun In Your Hand: The Strange Saga of Hey Joe and Popular Music’s History of Violence’ from Anvil Press here: https://www.anvilpress.com/books/that-gun-in-your-hand-the-strange-saga-of-hey-joe-and-popular-musics-history-of-violence And from the US distributor Asterism here: https://asterismbooks.com/product/that-gun-in-your-hand-the-strange-saga-of-hey-joe-and-popular-musics-history-of-violence-jason-schneiderFind out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Maddy Prior – folk royalty, an absolute hero of ours – is touring with Steeleye Span again this autumn 66 years after they started, a life someone should make into a movie. She talks to us here about her undimmed love of live performance and …   … when the height of your ambition is a £3 ticket to Blackpool Pleasure Beach … “Rod Argent, the first boy I ever kissed” … her fox-fur-trimmed Lambretta when a teenage mod … the night Steeleye Span showered their audience with £4,000 … seeing Acker Bilk, Chris Barber, Josh White and Sony Boy Williamson in St Albans clubs … driving Rev Gary Davis round Britain in a Triumph Herald: “Miss Maddy, you’d make a great nurse! Was that a compliment or an insult?” … “Traditional music is great material to work with. It’s like steel – you can bend it but you can’t break it” … hearing Dylan for the first time (with Donovan) and thinking “this man can’t sing”  … memories of her father who wrote Z Cars … life with Tim Hart: “Living in sin? No, we’re living in Archway!” … Tony Secunda, his spray-can and his promotional stunts – “Win 24 hours with a member of Steeleye Span” … Alan Partridge and the great ‘Gaudete’ moment … the new Steeleye Span album Conflict “about the rip and tear relationship we have with the planet that hosts us” … and Singing For The Uncertain, her course for singers who think they can’t Steeleye Span tour dates here: https://steeleyespan.org.uk/sample-page/tour-dates-2025/Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our pencil-chewing, critical assessment of this week’s news gets mainly * and *** reviews, among them … …. Sting v Summers & Copeland over Every Breath You Take, the goose that laid the golden egg … what John Lennon would have thought about the ‘cancelled’ track on Some Time In New York City … when did “critically acclaimed” come to mean unpopular? … the knock-about days when a critic was “a jerk, a crank and a spoilsport” … Jonny Greenwood’s dad was a bomb disposal expert? Pete Doherty’s mum was a Lance-Corporal in the Royal Army Nursing Corps? … what matters more, the song or the record? ... Anthony Fantano, Rick Beato and the rise of the YouTube rock review … “negative comments about a famous act’s new album are like graffiti on the walls of a hallowed institution” … Bob Dylan’s Self Portrait, Andrew Ridgeley’s Son Of Albert (“half a star”) and the lost age of the crushing review … and “you never mention Depeche Mode!”Find out more about how to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Debsey Wykes was in Dolly Mixture, one of the very few all-girl groups in post-punk London, a time when bands with charisma won the battle for attention and you promoted singles on the back of a truck. Her memoir Teenage Daydream perfectly captures a slice of late ‘70s life, the thrill of playing the pub circuit and trying to storm Radio One. Along with … … the agony of re-reading teenage diaries … being supported by U2 then watching their “annoying” ascent … Girls With Electric Guitars and why rock hacks couldn’t take them … forming bands for self-expression: “you reach that moment when all you want to do is scream!” … “when Jean-Jacques Burnel rests his boot on your head you don’t wash your hair for a week” … early adventures with Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, David Cassidy and Bowie: “Cassidy was normal, Bowie was weird” … diary entries: “the lead singer of the Only Ones has fantastic legs and glittery plimsolls” … “Sugary Sweets Cause Youth Decay!”: the NME’s withering interview  … the satin-and-silk allure of Stevie Nicks … violence at ‘70s gigs: “we were locked in the dressing-room with the sirens going off” … “a cross between the Slits and the Nolans”: John Peel’s producer’s loathing for Dolly Mixture … the vicious rivalry between ‘70s girl singers … letters from her old boss and headmaster after she appeared on Top Of The Pops Order ‘Teenage Daydream: We Are The Girls Who Play In A Band’ here: https://linktr.ee/new.modern?utm_source=linktree_profile_share&ltsid=008bc73f-2400-4a67-81df-04fa9758dc06Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A tub-thumping, snare-cracking, cymbal-simmering, two-way backbeat to this week’s rock and roll news, the on-beats including … … “Trauma-bonding?” Why being ‘a fan’ is like a love affair … Ian Brown, Morrissey, Siouxsie, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison … why singers who don’t play an instrument are a different species … the stadium-rock drummer transfer window … Sigourney Weaver at Shea Stadium in ’65 … singers who don’t sound like their personalities … what can a singer-songwriter write about if they get famous at 18? … the unreleased Beatles Holy Grail? … can you be a fan of someone younger than you are?Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear … how do you know a drummer’s knocking on your door? … plus Leonard Cohen, Phil Oakey and are you ever too old to be wearing a Libertines military tunic? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How can you not love the Divine Comedy whose inspirations include Tom Lehrer and “Landfill Indie”? And Neil Hannon wrote music for Wonka, Father Ted and the IT Crowd. There’s a new album, Rainy Sunday Afternoon, and a tour in October and all bases are covered in this conversation from Kildare, these among them …  … seeing U2 at Croke Park “and feeling as though I’d won the Wonka Golden Ticket”. … favourite bands of the ‘80s and ‘90s - Pixies, Sugarcubes, Sonic Youth and Ride.… the miserably cancelled Father Ted musical and how he’s recycled the songs he wrote for it. … a research trip to an Indie Disco with Stuart Murdoch of Belle and Sebastian.  … how it feels to record at Abbey Road.  … his teenage band inventing new words to R.E.M songs in an Enniskillen youth club. … how new songs begin.  … supporting Carter USM and Suede, “the moment I first felt like a pop star”. … Mar-A-Lago, a childhood trip to London and further melancholia on his new album Rainy Sunday Afternoon.… rocks on the street in Derry en route to Primary School during the Troubles. … Hepworth and Ellen appearing on a Duckworth Lewis album - “nudging and nurdling!” … his first stab at “witty pseudo-intellectual lyrics”. … “never leave your tour bus, be rehearsed before you start rehearsals” and other ways touring saves money. … and the five songs he always plays.Divine Comedy tickets here: https://thedivinecomedy.com/livePre-order Rainy Sunday here: https://lnk.to/RainySundayFind out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tanita Tikaram’s second gig had an audience of three – one paying customer and two concert promoters. When one of them wanted to talk to her afterwards she said, “sorry, I’ve got to get the train home.” She was 17. In this podcast she tells us the story of the one of the fastest career ascents on record which stops off at … … an open-mic night with a girl who cut up newspaper – “what happened to her?” … Basingstoke alumni –Tanita Tikaram, Jane Austen, Liz Hurley … … ignoring Wham! in favour of Suzanne Vega and Tom Waits. … the lure of school theatre groups – “a skive, you could basically be arty and smoke”. … “Ringo Starr gave me an award!” … supporting Warren Zevon and Jonathan Richman - and John Martyn (with Tracy Chapman). … the faint absurdity of promoting Twist In My Sobriety on Kids TV. … “when you’re young, you’re adaptable”. … mourning the loss of mainstream music. … a summer spent miming on European pop TV shows. … the thrill of hearing Ancient Heart was Top Ten when playing the Cambridge Folk Festival – “they all thought, that’s one of us in the charts!”  … and today’s imbalance between new music and nostalgia. Order Tanita Tikaram tickets here: https://www.tanita-tikaram.com/live/ Order Liar: Love Isn’t A Right here: https://www.tanita-tikaram.com/music/Find out how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bob Mould, whose records with Hüsker Dü had such impact on Nirvana and Pixies, is back on tour again, both solo and with a band. “I’ve built this tiny soap box - and if you don’t like it, it’s been nice knowing you!” He talks to us from San Francisco about … … March 30 1979: “the day that changed my life” … over-refreshment on the bus to see Rush and Aerosmith, aged 16 … the influence of Hüsker Dü on Nirvana, Pixies and My Bloody Valentine – “it’s a game of hot potato. YOU take this sound now!” … seeing the Ramones opening for Iggy Pop – “simplistic on the surface but I got all their ‘60s pop references” … the art of the three-song set-opener … playing Buzzcocks and Ventures covers in ‘three-two’ bars … opening for the Foo Fighters, playing for 100,00 people – and for crowds wearing masks during Covid … “the more the production, the less the spontaneity” … visual clues playing solo to let the audience know where the beat is … “I’m one of those others”: inter-song riffs about politics, protest and oppression Order Bob Mould tickets here: https://bobmould.com/Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Damping down the wildfires of rock and roll news this week we focus on the following … … Oasis, Taylor Swift and Coldplay and the new age of Winner Takes All … did Bob Dylan write a song with Gene Simmons, advertise lingerie or appear on a telethon with Harry Dean Stanton? … movies that need making eg the Molly Drake Story, the Rock And Roll Mitford Sisters (Pattie, Jenny and Paula Boyd) … surely what makes the rock business ‘unfair’ are the people spending the money on it? … is the Golden Age of TV over? … Paul Weller’s magnificent Find El Dorado and the songwriters he’s rebooting - Willie Griffin, Bobby Charles, Duncan Browne, Eamon Friel … a JR Hartley moment: Brian Protheroe taking his grandson to watch his album being re-mastered at Abbey Road … ‘Programmes made for older viewers always have a lot of green in them’ … will we ever get another comedy record? … why did we love Succession, Breaking Bad, the Queen’s Gambit and Six Feet Under yet have no burning desire to ever watch them again? … how 200 Go-Betweens box-sets came with books from the late Grant McLennan’s library signed by Robert Forster … ‘Never glad confident morning again!’ … new acronyms – RIYL, anyone? … do any new TV comedies merit an Xmas Special? ... plus the Trump Awards, main character syndrome, Black Pudding Bertha (the Queen of Northern Soul) and birthday guest Ed Newman on box-set addiction – “this way madness lies!”Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Paul Weller has just covered it on his new album. Morrissey played it to Noel Gallagher who took the idea and ran with it. What explains the enduring appeal of a record that stalled at number 22 all those years ago? Actor/musician Brian Protheroe doesn’t know but he’s certainly grateful that it’s being reissued once again. His story takes us back to:…the days when young musicians hitch-hiked to London…the way the sun shone on the day “Sgt Pepper” came out…when Soho was a village and an out of work actor could afford to live in Covent Garden…when being dumped by a girl could inspire that actor to diarise his daily routine…when the jazzman who played the solo on the record couldn’t remember it for “TOTP”…how it feels to take your grandson to Abbey Road to watch your album being remastered.Pre-order the Chrysalis Red reissue of the first Brian Protheroe album: https://brianprotheroe.lnk.to/PNBFind out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Other, weaker podcasts may take the summer off. Not this one.…the story of Jerry Garcia’s alligator strat, Paul McCartney’s violin bass and the instrument Peter Frampton thought had gone forever…the long story of Terry Reid, who turned down Led Zeppelin, and the golden afternoon when he was the most charismatic figure in roc…the real reason why you wouldn’t have wanted to be at Keith Richards’ place on that day in 1967…why there’s nothing more boring than hedonismMick Jagger’s 1967 affidavit is here: https://www.ewbankauctions.co.uk/20250821M1-lot-4008-The-Rolling-Stones-typed-documents-that-appear-to-relate-the-infamous-Redlands?auctionFind out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

word-podcast-798-peter-ames-carlinFriend of the pod and chronicler of the careers of Springsteen, Paul Simon and REM, Peter Ames Carlin has heard all the recordings that went into the album which was Springsteen’s last chance saloon and spoken to the people who were there to put together the story of how it was all done.….the lucky break that came when the boss’s son went to a Springsteen show….the man who played on Bruce Springsteen’s greatest record and then left….how Springsteen learned that the way to make a live-sounding record was not to record it live….the reconnecting of 70s rock with the great American rock & roll of the 50s…the thinking behind one of the few album covers deserving of the adjective “iconic”…what happened when Steve Van Zandt told the Brecker Brothers what to play….the fundamental difference between American and British musicTonight In Jungleland: The Making Of Born To Run: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tonight-Jungleland-Making-Born-Run/dp/0385551533Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.