Word In Your Ear
Mark Ellen and David Hepworth have been talking about and writing about music together and individually for a collective eighty years in magazines like Smash Hits, Mojo and The Word and on radio and TV programmes like "Rock On", "Whistle Test" and VH-1.Over thirteen years ago, when working on the late magazine The Word, they began producing podcasts. Some listeners have been kind enough to say these have been very special to them. When the magazine folded in 2012 they kept the spirit of those podcasts alive in regular Word In Your Ear evenings in which they spoke to musicians an...
Which is the most two-faced world - movies, music or daytime TV?
Fond and appraising enquiry of recent events, this week featuring … … we now feel we have to approve of artists/musicians/writers before we can say we like what they do. When did all this start? … a new Stackwaddy game – Hari-Krishna Stomp Wagon? Starchelle Chicago Bear? Flaming Lips song title or exotically named winner of Crufts’ Best In Show? … in defence of men with bad reputations eg Evelyn Waugh, Martin Amis, John Lennon … … re-pressed versions of …
Farewell Tina Turner – “all you needed was Nutbush City Limits and a Watneys Party 7”
A special extra podcast recorded just after hearing the news. We can barely remember a time when we weren’t aware of her. This looks back at the Ike & Tina R&B; hits of the ‘60s, the Ikettes dance routines and how he copyrighted her stage name, the story of the recording of River Deep Mountain High with Phil Spector, Proud Mary on the Ed Sullivan Show, supporting the Rolling Stones, her unique vocal style and the way she sold the …
Robert Johnson, Shakespeare and the rock star image of Martin Amis
Put through the boil-wash of enquiry and hung upon the washing line of truth this week you’ll find the following one-size-fits-all garments … … which acts are fading from memory and who’ll be remembered in 50 years’ time? … how Paul Simon, Leonard Cohen and Warren Zevon addressed mortality – (‘My Ride’s Here', ‘Enjoy Every Sandwich’ ...). … actors who’ve made albums. … the photo that changed the perception of Johnny Cash. … why you should watch the Pet Shop …
Is there a more annoying rhyme than “arms” and “charms”?
Further nutritious items on the pod’s tasting menu this week include … … the story of Tubular Bells and how the Exorcist sent its sales through the roof. … beneath the surface of every band is a drama waiting to kick off: the View’s reunion gig was “a brotherly bust-up that went too far”. … one of the following didn’t endorse a credit card, but which? – Beyoncé, Michael Jackson, Kiss, the Wu-Tang Clan, U2 and the Sex Pistols. …
How a nine-year-old boy kick-started Rock’n’Roll (and other stories)
Where the Gold Bracelets of Sincerity and Wisdom and the Rod of Equity and Mercy meet the piping hot music news agenda in a weekly podcast and alight upon the following …. … the greatest singer of sad songs we’ve ever heard. … the extraordinary tale of the B-side of ‘13 Women And Only One Man’. … songs you couldn’t record these days. … Rufus Wainwright’s re-recording of Neil Young’s Harvest – but CAN modern technology possibly make it sound …
Groups that look like a check-out line at B&Q? We have a winner!
Encountering the cheerful ping-pong bats of conversation this week you’ll find … … the most unprepossessing rock band on God’s green earth. … Ed Sheeran v Marvin Gaye – “the case continues”. But does anybody genuinely copy anyone else these days? … Springsteen and Michelle Obama and their irresistible thirst for publicity. … the return of the Stack Waddy game: Spencer Birtwistle? Wilfred Mott? … Bernard Cribbins sitcom character or former member of the Fall? … Santana’s Caravanserai still sounds …
“Well I walked up to her and I asked her if she wanted to dance.”
Items run up the flagpole this week include … … our memories of the exquisite agony of teenage dances, especially Dave’s at the Mecca Ballroom in Wakefield, 1965. ... unforgettable things said and done by Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson. … rock stars with Brian Jones’s hair. … do we care more about the people who make music than the music itself?… a point from Massive Attack – “is the discussion ‘should AI recreate music?’ or is it …
Jack Nitzche, a “pleat-faced” guitarist and the time Sly Stone got married onstage
Dipping our shrimping nets this week into the ever-bountiful rock and roll rock pool we find … … Dylan, Madonna, Pharrell Williams, Michael Jackson, Nick Cave and Keith Richards – which one didn’t write a children’s book? … S Club 7, Miles Davis’s sessionmen and others apparently ripped off by the heartless, skinflint music industry. … the unsung story of Jack Nitzsche, “the man with the golden touch”, his part in the Stones’ baroque period and the recordings he made …
John Cooper Clarke reveals “the performing poet’s worst enemy”
The “bargain basement Baudelaire” is setting out on a UK tour in April and tells Mark Ellen here about the earliest shows he saw and played, memories which happily include … … the subtle art of crowd control. … seeing Bob Hope when he was 9 and the strange impression of the adult world that suggested. … the dress code that barred him from a Hendrix gig. … auditioning for Bernard Manning at the Embassy Club and what he learnt …
“Fred Flange”, Barry Cryer meets the Pretenders and what we’ve learnt about the Velvet Underground
This week’s trawl of the rock and roll outer limits alights, among others, on the following sizzling hot topics … ... a lost Beatles tape and the night they played Stowe School 60 years ago. … the return of the Stackwaddy game: were there really ‘60s New Zealand pop groups called the Chapta, Hi-Revving Tongues and the Kal-Q-Lated Risk? … Todd Haynes’ brilliant Velvet Underground documentary and how the band spawned pop’s greatest look- and sound-alike movement. And could Lou …