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E155: Robyn Hitchcock on the Soft Boys + David Blue + Mick Farren Jul 10, 2023

Show notes

In this episode we invite the inimitable Robyn Hitchcock to reminisce about his heroically nonconformist career from the Soft Boys to 2022's Shufflemania!

After Robyn explains his recent return to London from his adopted Nashville, Barney, Mark and Martin hear about his hippiefied but not entirely psychedelic '60s youth – plus his early immersion in the far-out folk of the Incredible String Band and the songs of his greatest influence Syd Barrett. He talks about how the Soft Boys did – and didn't – fit into the UK's punk scene of the late '70s, but also how they became a totemic cult influence on American acts from R.E.M. to Gillian Welch & David Rawlings.

Clips from John Tobler's 1973 audio interview with '60s folk-rocker turned Asylum Records singer-songwriter David Blue provide an opportunity to discuss the former David Cohen's Greenwich Village buddy Bob Dylan and the huge influence on Robyn of Bobsongs like Blonde On Blonde's 'Visions of Johanna'. Meanwhile the 10th anniversary of the death of underground-press legend and Deviants rabble-rouser Mick Farren takes us back to the revolutionary '60s and the heyday of International Times – as well as to such seminal Farren pieces as 1976's NME rallying cry "The Titanic Sails at Dawn".

Mark rounds off the episode with quotes from newly-added library pieces about 'Terry' hitmaker Lynn "Twinkle" Ripley (Evening Standard, 1964), Motown chauvinist Marvin Gaye (Phonograph Record, 1977), Henry Rollins né Garfield (Washington Post, 1981) and more…

Many thanks to special guest Robyn Hitchock. Somewhere Apart: Selected Lyrics 1977–1997 is published by Tiny Ghost and available now.

Pieces discussed: The Soft Boys, The Soft Boys live, Robyn Hitchock by J. Kordosh, Robyn Hitchcock by Pete Paphides, David Blue, Pop in the Police State, Rock – Energy for Revolution, The Titanic Sails at Dawn, Memories of Mick Farren, Black Flag, Marvin Gaye, Eddie Hinton, The Cramps, Twinkle and Chet Atkins.

E154: Richard Morton Jack on Nick Drake + Steve Marriott + Flashback magazine Jun 19, 2023

Show notes

In this episode we welcome the very personable Richard Morton Jack to "RBP Towers" and ask him to talk about his monumental new biography of Nick Drake – along with his marvellous Flashbackmagazine and an audio interview with Small Faces/Humble Pie frontman Steve Marriott.

We commence by hearing how Richard was initiated into pop music (and its freakier offshoots) — and how this led him to the arcane cult figures covered in Flashback, not to mention released on his Sunbeam label. From the underground sounds of Sam Gopal, Mad River and Blossom Toes to the exhaustive undertaking that was Nick Drake: The Life was a major gear-shift for Richard, but one that came with the blessing of the Drake estate — and a foreword by Nick's sister Gabrielle.

In a long and in-depth conversation, we attempt to make sense of the life, death and musical magic of the troubled troubadour, placing him in the context of producer Joe Boyd's Witchseason stable and hearing about a 1970 Jackie interview with Nick that Richard unearthed during his no-stone-unturned research for the book.

A very different legend of '60s/'70s English music can be heard in two clips from Chris Welch's 1985 audio interview with artful rock dodger Steve Marriott. We discuss the Small Faces and then Humble Pie; infamous manager Don Arden and Immediate boss Andrew Loog Oldham; Steve's blue-eyed-soul holler of a voice... and of course 1968's concept album Ogden's Nut Gone Flake. Then we briefly turn our attention to Steve's R&B-boom contemporary Tony McPhee (1944-2023) and the remarkable blues-infused hard rock trio that was the Groundhogs.

Finally, Mark and Jasper talk us out with notes on (and quotes from) newly-added library pieces about — among other subjects – Odetta (1963), Marc Bolan (1970), Motörhead (1981), New York's Collective School of Music (2003) and Congolese street musicians Staff Benda Bilili (2009).

Pieces discussed: Nick Drake by Jerry Gilbert, Nick Drake in Jackie, In Search of Nick Drake, Nick Drake: Exiled from Heaven, Steve Marriott audio, Tony McPhee audio, Odetta, Marc Bolan, Motörhead, Folk albums, The Who, Terence Trent D'Arby, The Collective and Staff Benda Bilili.

E153: Lloyd Bradley on Black London + Tina Turner + Steve Barrow audio Jun 05, 2023

Show notes

In this episode we welcome Lloyd Bradley into our Hammersmith lair and ask him about his career as a journalist and as the acclaimed author of Bass Culture and Sounds Like London — the latter book celebrating its 10th birthday at the time of recording.

We learn what London sounded like to Lloyd as a boy growing up in '60s Hornsey, and how his love for music led to writing for Blues & Soul and then NME and Q. He talks us through some of the key themes of Sounds Like London — his history of "100 years of Black music in the capital" — and particularly the homegrown reggae sub-genre known as "lover's rock" and the rise of grime as a hybrid of UK garage, hip hop, jungle and dancehall.

Discussion of lover's rock leads us to clips from a 1998 audio interview with Steve Barrow, founder of dub/roots-reggae reissue label Blood and Fire — and then to how Lloyd came to write 2000's mighty Bass Culture: When Reggae was King.

After a short discussion of soul legend Bettye LaVette — and her journey from early '60s Atlantic Records to the Anti- label in the mid-noughties — we pay tribute to the late Tina Turner and her epic story of survival and self-reinvention

Mark quotes from highlights of his additions to the RBP library, including Richard Harrington's Washington Post review of the last gig Lowell George ever played and Tony Scherman's exhaustive Musician interview with session drummer Earl Palmer. Finally, Jasper talks us out with his remarks on pieces about Labrinth and London's hyper-eclectic jazz scene.

Many thanks to special guest Lloyd Bradley. For more on Bass Culture and Sounds Like London, visit his website at lloydbradley.net.

Pieces discussed: George Clinton, Beggar & Co, The Growth of Grime, Blood & Fire's Steve Barrow audio, Bettye Lavette, Bettye Lavette vs. Susan Boyle, Thankful N' Thoughtful, Ike & Tina, Tina Turner, Soulful Queen of Rock'n'roll, Tina Turner roars into Rock Hall, Lowell George, Earl Palmer, Labrinth live and London jazz.

E152: Cliff Jones on Gay Dad + Brian Jones + Paul Simon audio May 22, 2023

Show notes

In this episode we welcome pop poacher-turned-gamekeeper (turned rockademic) Cliff Jones to RBP's Hammersmith HQ and invite him to talk about his shape-shifting career in music — as well as about Paul Simon and doomed Rolling Stone Brian Jones (no relation).

Barney starts things off with his memories of Cliff coming into the MOJO office circa 1994-5, plus we hear about long-form pieces our guest wrote about Peter Green and (for The Face) the Fugees. We also discuss Johnny Cigarettes' 1999 NME interview with Gay Dad, the band Cliff formed in the wake of Britpop.

Nick Broomfield's new BBC documentary about Brian Jones prompts conversation about the self-destructive blues obsessive who was sidelined by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards — and ditched by Anita Pallenberg — after which we turn our attention to the rather different Paul Simon. Clips from Tony Scherman's 1993 audio interview with the other half of Art Garfunkel are jumping-off points for our collective thoughts on the New Yorker's career from his Brill Building days to the Hearts and Bones album and beyond.

We pay heartfelt tribute to our guest's fellow RBP contributor Pete Silverton, who passed away on May 18th, and recall his crucial early Sounds interviews with the Clash, the Sex Pistols and other punk bands. Among the new library additions discussed, finally, are pieces about Flamingo Club owner Rik Gunnell (1966), Mick Hucknall's Frantic Elevators (1982), hip hop heroes the Jungle Brothers (1989) ... and, from 2007, Lily Allen and Amy Winehouse.

Please note this episode was recorded before we learned of the passing of former Smiths bassist Andy Rourke.

Pieces discussed: Talk Talk talk tech, The Fugees, Gay Dad, Brian Jones by Dawn James, Brian Jones by Greil Marcus, Brian Jones by Carol Clerk, Paul Simon audio, Hearts and Bones, Sex Pistols, Sid Vicious, Rik Gunnell, Average White Band, Danielle Dax, The Jungle Brothers, Frantic Elevators, Dave Matthews, Erykah Badu and Lily Allen/Amy Winehouse.

E151: Sylvia Patterson on Smash Hits + George Michael audio May 08, 2023

Show notes

In this episode, we welcome the excellent Sylvia Patterson to RBP’s Hammersmith HQ and ask her all about her life as a music journalist from Smash Hits to the NME and beyond, referencing her excellent memoirs I’m Not With the Band and Same Old Girl.

We begin with her start in writing at Dundee publisher D.C. Thomson, including as music editor for the short-lived Etcetera, which led to her applying for a staff job at irreverent pop paper Smash Hits. Sylvia reminisces about what it was like working on a magazine that never took the business of popular music too seriously, reflecting that the lack of a cynical ulterior agenda engendered a fun atmosphere for both the writers and (most of) the musicians.

Touching on Sylvia’s 1987 interview with newly inducted Rock Hall of Famer George Michael, whom she dubbed "the glummest man in pop", we hear clips from an Adam Sweeting audio interview conducted on the same day. The man born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou cut a serious figure at the time, contemplating his relationship with the press and the nature of political gestures from pop stars as well as rebuffing "rumours" that he’s gay after Boy George has outed him on the radio.

Moving on to the 90s and beyond, at which point Sylvia became a freelancer for publications including The Face and the NME, we talk about her experience interviewing The Artist Formerly Known as Prince before discussing the chaos of the Britpop era. Defending her chosen side in the Oasis vs Blur debate, she recounts the hilarity of speaking with the Gallagher brothers in 2001.

To bring Sylvia’s story up to date, we ask her about her new memoir Same Old Girl, published in April, about her diagnosis in late 2019 with breast cancer and the treatment amidst a global pandemic that followed.

We then spotlight three articles on Donna Summer ahead of a new documentary directed by her daughter and pay tribute to recently departed Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot. Finally, Mark and Jasper quote from a few new additions to the RBP library including interviews with Jet Harris and Chris Cornell and a profile of Christian Scott/Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah.

Many thanks to special guest Sylvia Patterson. Same Old Girlis published by Fleet and available now.

Pieces discussed: George Michael: The Glummest Man in Pop?, George Michael audio, Prince, Oasis, Blur, Donna Summer, Donna Summerer, Giorgio Moroder, Gordon Lightfoot, Jet Harris, Soundgarden, Smokey Robinson, Morrissey, Secret Affair and Christian Scott/Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah.

E150: Edwin Pouncey & Sandy Robertson on rock and the occult + Andrew Lauder Apr 24, 2023

Show notes

In this episode we welcome Sounds legends Sandy Robertson and Edwin (Savage Pencil) Pouncey into our Hammersmith lair and ask them about their careers and shared fascination with the occult.

After describing their routes into writing and their days at Sounds, Sandy and Edwin reflect on the dark history of occult rock from Black Widow to Norway's Black Metal scene, via Jimmy Page, Kenneth Anger and Aleister "the Beast" Crowley.

Clips from the late Andy Gill's 1990 audio interview with Liberty/United Artists executive Andrew Lauder give us an opportunity to honour the Hartlepool-born facilitator of musical freakiness and discuss the many acts he signed and/or A&R'd over the course of 50 years, from Hawkwind and the Groundhogs to the Stranglers and the Stone Roses.

After saying our goodbyes to reggae sound-system operator Jah Shaka and small-trio jazz pianist Ahmad Jamal, Mark and Jasper run through their highlights among recent additions to the RBP library, including pieces about Nancy Sinatra (1967), the Eagles (1972) and Kim Deal and Tanya Donnelly (1993)... and a 2011 tribute to hip hop star Dwight "Heavy D" Myers.

Many thanks to special guests Edwin Pouncey and Sandy Robertson. Find their books, including Edwin's Savage Pencil Scratchbook and Sandy's Aleister Crowley Scrapbook, in all good bookshops.

Please note that we recorded this episode before learning of Mark Stewart’s death.

Pieces discussed: Mister Aleister Crowley, The Primer: Occult rock, David Bowie: White Lines, Black Magic, Andrew Lauder audio, Sound Systems & Jah Shaka, Ahmad Jamal, April Stevens, The Eagles, Shaun Cassidy, Nancy Sinatra, Kim Deal & Tanya Donnelly and Why Heavy D Matters.

E149: Andy Beckett on Pop & Politics + The Beat + Everything But The Girl Apr 11, 2023

Show notes

In this episode we welcome author and Guardian journalist Andy Beckett to RBP's Hammersmith HQ and ask him to discuss politics and pop from the late '70s to the present day.

Andy talks about his first musical passions as a teenager in the early '80s, as well as about Rock Against Racism, Red Wedge and the politicised postpunk era in general. He recalls his first pieces for The Independent in the early '90s and explains how his broader interest in popular culture informs his perspective as an op-ed columnist and the author of When the Lights Went Out and Promised You a Miracle. In a week that saw Finland joining NATO and the indictment of Donald Trump, we ask what musicians can and can't do to change the world.

The imminent new album from proto-Woke duo Everything But The Girl gives us an opportunity to address the enduring political ideals of Ben Watt and Tracey Thorn, plus we travel back to 1981 via clips from an audio interview with The Beat's David Steele and Ranking Roger, who talk to John Tobler about youth unemployment and the menace of nuclear weapons.

After we've paid our respects to departed legends Seymour Stein and Ryuichi Sakamoto, Mark talks us through his new additions to the RBP library, including pieces about the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper, Joan Armatrading, Talking Heads and Sun Ra. Jasper then wraps up the episode with his thoughts on a 2002 live review of Queens of the Stone Age and a 2015 piece exploring the influence of Spaghetti Westerns on reggae.

Many thanks to special guest Andy Beckett.

Pieces discussed: Andy Beckett on Dylan, on Simon Reynolds' Rip It Up, on The Face, Everything But The Girl, Peter Paul and Mary, War Between the Generations, Enoch Clapton, Red Wedge, Where are the political pop stars?, The Beat audio, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Seymour Stein, Sgt. Pepper, Joan Armatrading, Talking Heads, Sun Ra, Queens of the Stone Age and dub spaghetti.

E148: Rob Dickins on Warner Bros. + Leon Russell + Wayne Shorter Mar 13, 2023

Show notes

In this episode we welcome music-industry legend Rob Dickins and ask him to tell us about his "pop life" in the 27 years he worked with Prince, Madonna and other Warner Brothers superstars.

Rob takes us back to his music-infused youth when his dad Percy worked for Melody Makerand New Musical Express and his brother Barry managed the High Numbers/Who. We hear about his days booking bands as a Social Sec at Loughborough University, and then about his start at Warner Publishing in 1971. Tremendous yarns about Madonna, Cher, Rod Stewart and others follow in rapid succession, along with the mind-boggling account of how Rob became global head of Warner Music… for 24 hours.

A new biography of Leon Russell gives us the perfect excuse to hear clips from Andy Gill's 1998 audio interview with "the master of space and time" — the first about 1970's Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour, the second about the writing of Russell's beloved 'Song For You'.

After we've said goodbye to former Miles sideman and Weather Reporter Wayne Shorter and to Jackson Browne's virtuoso sideman David Lindley, Mark talks us out with quotes from his favourite new library additions from the past fortnight.

Pieces discussed: Leon Russell audio interview, Wayne Shorter: The Sunny Weatherman, Wayne Shorter: After the Storm, Michelle Mercer on Wayne Shorter, Behind the Curtain: David Lindley, Lynyrd Skynyrd: The 100 Proof Blues, Kraftwerk's Ralf Hütter and Maureen Cleave in conversation with Jack Good.

E147: Ellen Sander on rock life in the sixties + Robert Palmer audio Feb 27, 2023

Show notes

In this episode we welcome pioneering '60s rock writer Ellen Sander and invite her to discuss her classic 1973 book Trips: Rock Life in the Sixties, reissued in an "augmented" edition in 2019.

Ellen recalls her New York upbringing and initiation into the folk scene in Greenwich Village, then explains how Danny Fields (episode 28) steered her towards writing for Sing Out! and Hullabaloo. With references to David Crosby, David Geffen, Abbie Hoffman and the Monterey Pop festival, she talks about the inextricable relationship between '60s music and the decade's political upheavals. We also hear about her 1968 article on groupies; her troubling experiences on the road with Led Zeppelin; and her relationship with Elektra Records founder Jac Holzman (father of her son Marin), all of which led to the writing of Trips.

Attention then turns to two clips from the week's new audio interview, in which suave Yorkshire-born rock'n'soul man Robert Palmer talks about his love of bossa nova and the fun he had on the sessions for 1974's Sneakin' Sally through the Alley with Little Feat's Lowell George.

After Mark quotes from new library interviews with the Beatles (1963), B.B. King (1968), and Simpsons creator Matt Groening (1993), Barney cites an early Steely Dan piece from 1973 and Jasper recommends articles about emo stars Paramore (2010), Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor (2014) and – from 2016 – jazz hybridiser Jacob Collier.

Many thanks to special guest Ellen Sander. Trips: Rock Life in the Sixties is published by Dover and available now.

Pieces discussed: Crosby, Stills & Nash, Robert Palmer audio, Roxy Music, For Your Pleasure, Roxy in retrospect, Chuck Jackson, Chuck Jacksoner, Chuck Jacksonest, The Strokes, B.B. King, The Beatles, Beach Boys, Matt Groening, Steely Dan, Paramore, Trent Reznor and Jacob Collier.

E146: Fred Goodman on Rock Films + D.A. Pennebaker + Burt Bacharach Feb 13, 2023

Show notes

In this episode we welcome the exemplary Fred Goodman and ask him about his journalistic career and highly acclaimed books.

Fred talks about his early years as a jazz columnist for Cash Box, as well as his interest in the business side of popular music. He describes how a stint as a Senior Editor at Rolling Stone led to the idea of a book about "the head-on collision of rock and commerce", subsequently published as 1997's The Mansion on the Hill. Avid fans of that classic tome, Mark and Barney ask their guest about legendary figures such as Albert Grossman, David Geffen and Jon Landau, after which Fred explains why – in an effort to champion the late Mexican-American singer in her native USA – he wrote 2019's Why Lhasa de Sela Matters.

Moving on to Fred's latest book Rock On Film, conversation turns to some of his favourite music movies from A Hard Day's Night to This is Spinal Tap with a nod to Michael Lindsay-Hogg who wrote the foreword to Rock On Film. Clips from an audio interview with the late D.A. Pennebaker lead in turn to a discussion of 1967's Bob Dylan documentary Dont Look Back.

Not long after we've paid tribute to Television's mercurial Tom Verlaine, breaking news comes in that we've also just lost the great Burt Bacharach. Putting ourselves on the spot in real time, we talk about the genius who (with lyricist Hal David) created masterworks from 'Make it Easy on Yourself' to 'Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head'.

Finally, Mark talks us out with quotes from pieces about folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary, the Rolling Stones' Beggars Banquet and the late David Crosby, while Jasper concludes the episode with remarks about pieces on Keane and pop's relationship with social class.

Many thanks to special guest Fred Goodman. Rock on Film is published by Running Press and Why Lhasa De Sela Matters is published by University of Texas Press.

Pieces discussed: The Mansion on the Hill, Rock and Roll on Film, Richard Lester audio, 25 Essential Music DVDs, The Harder They Come, Michael Lindsay-Hogg, Spinal Tap, Metallica's Some Kind of Monster, D.A. Pennebaker audio, Television, Tom Verlaine, Burt Bacharach, Peter, Paul and Mary, Beggars Banquet, David Crosby, Keane and Class.

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