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Word In Your Ear — Music
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 and authors in front of an audience.

Over these years they’ve produced hundreds of hours of material. As of the Current Unpleasantness of 2020, they’ve produced yet hundreds of hours more with a little help from guests kind enough to digitally show them around their attics such as Danny Baker, Andy Partridge, Sir Tim Rice and Mark Lewisohn. For the full span of the Word In Your Ear world, visit wiyelondon.com.

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

Copyright: © Word In Your Ear

Latest Episodes:

Musicians and their mothers and the records we could never sell Feb 04, 2024

Show notes

We spun the week’s rock and roll roulette wheel and this is where the balls landed …

… why all rock biopics are worth seeing once.

… ‘demixing’: we spent ages perfecting records. Now we’re unperfecting them.

… the adorable hand-drawn flyer the 15 year-old Robert Plant made for his band Blacksnake Moan 60 years ago – “the weirdest, wildest sound in R&B!”

… are all musicians driven by the urge to please their mums?

… Pyjamarama, Crazy Diamond, Cigarettesnalcohol and other rock and roll racehorses.

… why “The Room” by Fabiano do Nascimento and Sam Gendel is “healing music”.

… has anyone been ‘bigger’ than Taylor Swift? And how can she be so universally popular and yet we can go through life without hearing a note of her music?

… the Pet Shop Boys at the London Palladium: “we don’t do waving”.

… “Something's lost but something's gained in living every day” – Joni Mitchell.

… are any possesions more precious than records?

... and birthday guest Kevin Rose recommends the Brian Wilson biopic Love & Mercy – and we talk about Control (Joy Division), Backbeat (the early Beatles), Rocket Man and Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis.

Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for early - and ad-free - access to all of our content, plus a whole load more!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

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.

Tom Hibbert (the world’s funniest music writer) and why Madonna should be sued Jan 28, 2024

Show notes

Our piercing Hubble Telescope Of Truth scans the rock and roll heavens to see what new patterns emerge, among them …

… running into Rod Stewart at a friend’s funeral.

… the priceless spectacle of rock critics dancing.

... Prefab Sprout and the fine art of bathos – “We were songbirds, we were Greek Gods, we were singled out by fate/We were quoted out of context - it was great!”

… the best songs about being in a band.

… Jackson Browne’s Running On Empty (and its hymn to self-love).

… King Kong, the most famous movie of all time - and why, like Jaws and Jurassic Park, the special effects now seem creaky but the drama still holds.

… our new pop star category: “dancer-singer”.

... how Tom Hibbert invented a whole new whole method of music journalism (and the only song that could get him on a dancefloor).

… “the crack of the backbeat on Vine Street”.

… and birthday guest Roger Millington on Heroes by David Bowie, the Archers theme tune and anything else that might make a new National Anthem.

Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for early - and ad-free - access to all of our content and much more!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

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.

TV's greatest musical moment - and are we still allowed to laugh at hopeless old rock bands? Jan 22, 2024

Show notes

Applying our patent ACME wheat/chaff separator to the rock and roll cornfield, this week’s podcast reaps the following harvest ….

… Stray, Budgie, Fat Mattress, Atomic Rooster … ropey bargain-bin fixtures reborn as costly and collectible vinyl classics.

… Neil Or No Neil: Let’s Impeach the President, The Lone Ranger And Tonto Fistfight in Heaven … spot the fake Shakey song title.

… what they did with the Beatles’ Twist And Shout in the opening sequence of True Detective 4.

… the curious tale of the last line in Casablanca plus Dooley ‘Sam’ Wilson and his off-screen piano double.

… when the Dave Matthews Band tour bus tipped 800lbs of raw sewage onto a pleasure cruiser.

… why it’s hard to feel nostalgic about online magazines.

… “deep-end record-shop-haunting bores” (like us).

… the first three Robert Palmer albums and their old-school sleeves.

… life in the ‘70s without the NME: unimaginable.

… when Neil Young was sued for not sounding like Neil Young and John Fogerty for plagiarising his own material.

... and birthday guests Paul Knox and the biggest musical moments on TV, among them Magical Mystery Tour, John Martyn on Whistle Test, the Pistols on So It Goes ….

Is this the greatest musical moment on TV?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pKpfs5EK_s

Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for early - and ad-free - access to all of our content, plus a whole load more!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

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.

Graham Gouldman knows where to alphabetically file 10cc records Jan 21, 2024

Show notes

In March Graham Gouldman and 10cc are coming your way and here he talks to David Hepworth about:

- seeing Cliff and the original Shadows at his first live show

- playing live in the sixties, when a band would plug all three guitars into the same amp

- where he keeps his fifty guitars

- what’s going on when it all goes quiet on the 10.c.c. tour bus

- the songs you have to play for the audience

- the ones you play for yourself

- what goes through his head every night when he’s standing in the wings

- the proper place to put 10 cc in an alphabetical record collection

Full tour dates here: https://www.10cc.world/events

Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for early - and ad-free - access to all of our content, and much more: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

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.

Annie Nightingale (“the great goth auntie”), choirs on pop records & the music they sent into space Jan 15, 2024

Show notes

We stuck a coin in this week’s jukebox of news and cranked up the volume and these were the tracks that got played …

… fond memories of Annie Nightingale at Radio One and Whistle Test.

… the delicious melancholy of Sunday night pop radio.

… how David Gilmour writes songs.

… sex, clothes, gangsters: the eternal allure of Bonnie & Clyde.

… how the first Police album (including three hit singles) was recorded by a former doctor in a four-track studio above a dairy in Leatherhead for £1,500, and the band’s touching tribute when he died.

… the British Library hijack hack.

… the fantasy theme of so many ‘60s movies: ‘escape’.

… Ridley Scott’s Hovis ad.

… Blind Willie Johnson, Chuck Berry … Blodwyn Pig? The five tracks you’d send into space to represent life on earth.

… how future wars will be started.

… plus birthday guest Sandra Austin on the best use of choirs on records among them Aretha Franklin’s You’ve Got A Friend, Blur’s Tender, the Stones’ You Can’t Always Get What You Want, Roy Harper’s When An Old Cricketer Leaves The Crease.

Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for early - and ad-free! - access to all of our content!: https;//www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

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.

Jim Gordon - the supernatural gift and tragic fate of “the greatest rock drummer” with Joel Selvin Jan 13, 2024

Show notes

Jim Gordon played the drums on Wichita Lineman, Good Vibrations, the Byrds’ Mr Tambourine Man and hundreds of other recordings we all own and worked with pretty much everyone including Steely Dan, Tom Waits, Tom Petty, Randy Newman, John Lennon, Frank Zappa and the Everlys. He toured with Delaney & Bonnie and Joe Cocker’s Mad Dogs And Englishmen package and was a member of Derek & the Dominos. He played with a “bounce, a lilt, a boiling undercurrent” that added a whole new melodic dimension and he saw two different worlds from the inside, the studio-based pop factories of the ‘60s singles boom and the big ‘70s tours of the heyday of the rock album. West Coast author and music columnist Joel Selvin considers his supreme talent and ultimately catastrophic story in his new book ‘Drums & Demons: the Tragic Journey of Jim Gordon’ alighting here at various points in detail, among them …

… the intersection between “rock and roll and true crime”.

… the secret of “a compositional drummer”.

… how he started at the top, aged 17, touring with the Everlys and the Rolling Stones.

… how Rita Coolidge was robbed of her royalties, twice.

… his appetite for fame and recognition at a time when “being a rock star was the most elevated position in the world”.

… why he turned down a Dylan tour.

… the long, tangled evolution of ‘Layla’ and what Jim added to You’re So Vain that transformed it.

… and why he was sentenced to 16 years (for the murder of his mother) and ended up doing 38.

Order Joel’s book here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Drums-Demons-Tragic-Journey-Gordon/dp/1635768993

Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for early - and ad-free! - access to all of our content: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

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.

Great albums now 50 years old, the best gag ever & the haircut that launched folk-rock Jan 07, 2024

Show notes

Leaping across puddles, walking between the raindrops, its collar turned to the cold and damp, our weekly podcast builds a defence against the rigours of the rock and roll weather and offers shelter from the storm. Remain warm and dry with the following …

… the 11 musicians who turned down a Knighthood, MBE etc.

… why Dylan & the Band’s 1974 tour set the template for all tours to follow.

… Rod Stewart minus the hair: unimaginable.

… the old duffers’ perfect New Year’s Eve.

… happy 50th to Joni Mitchell’s Court and Spark, Van Morrison’s It’s Too Late To Stop Now, Steely Dan’s Pretzel Logic, Gram Parsons’ Grievous Angel, Big Star’s Radio City, Todd Rundgren’s Todd and Frank Zappa’s Apostrophe.

… Mr Bates v the Post Office and why sad films and books get harder to process as you get older.

… the wit and wisdom of our old pal Rod Sopp, the Smash Hits ad man - “a roll of cash big enough to choke a donkey”; “he’s so thin he has to run around in the shower to get wet”.

… Sting, Debbie Harry, Elvis Presley: spot the natural blond.

… how Woody Allen uses music to “make films look better”.

… the story of Everybody’s Talkin’ in Midnight Cowboy.

… why movie dance sequences are often filmed in silence.

… and birthday guest Andrew Slattery: All Along the Watchtower in Withnail, Sanctus in If, Didn't Leave Nobody But the Baby in O Brother Where Art Thou? and other great movie soundtrack moments.

Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for early - and ad-free! - access to all of our content!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

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.

Noel Coward, Gallagher & Squire’s superpower summit & the art of the Bob Dylan backbeat Dec 31, 2023

Show notes

Amid the detritus of tangerine peel, half-eaten chocolates, broken toys and jars of home-brewed chutney beneath the rock and roll Christmas tree we found various items still unwrapped and awaiting this week’s podcast, among them …

… how to create the Dylan Blonde On Blonde shuffle in under two minutes.

… “Middlesex Hepworth!” David’s triumph on University Challenge and an inside view of the whole experience.

… Noel Coward revisited through the 21st century lens in the ‘Mad About The Boy’ documentary.

… Liam Gallagher & John Squire’s super-duo: it’s the Mancunian nostalgia jackpot but are the days of pre-release hype now over?

… the most creative thing anyone can do.

… actors from humble backgrounds used to pretend to be posher, now the posher ones affect to be working class.

… how to listen to live albums: new Hepworth research reveals essential ingredient to enhance audio experience!

… ‘a mix is never finished, it’s merely abandoned’, ‘snapping to the grid’ plus the idiosyncrasies of a ‘smart drummer’.

This is the link to creating the Dylan shuffle: https://youtu.be/BMPoFYAwXQ0?t=78

Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for early - and ad-free! - access to all of our content!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

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.

Hipgnosis album art, the hardest working man in showbiz & the moment the world went mad Dec 18, 2023

Show notes

We check this week’s luggage on the rock and roll baggage carousel and remove the following items for inspection …

… The People v OJ Simpson and why it’s worth re-watching.

… the only two convincing films about magazines and journalism.

… bands that look like mini-cab drivers.

… David’s upcoming appearance on University Challenge (cue the voice of Roger Tilling: “Middlesex Hepworth!”)

... the source of the phrase “Bring on the empty horses!”

… why someone called Riley asked John McVie and Nick Mason for his life back.

… who was more prolific, Michael Curtiz, Barbara Cartland or Mozart?

… the eternal destination of all Peter Pan royalties.

… the man who saved Po Powell from a spell in the cooler.

… “Morning, Gentlemen. Nice day for murder!”

… writing bands’ names on school bags.

… ‘I need a sheep, a psychiatrist’s couch, a vet and a ticket to Hawaii!’

... the old Word magazine gang and what they’re doing now.

Mentioned in despatches – the Atom Heart Mother cow, a duff Barry Gibb movie, the Mark Leeman Five and Balaam And the Angel.

Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for early - and ad-free! - access to all of our content!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

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.

Denny Laine, the Move’s catastrophic court case & the man who's made 700 albums in 2 years Dec 10, 2023

Show notes

This week’s wheat/chaff separation process sifts the following from the rock and roll cornfield …

… Tony Secunda, his gangsterish suits and the publicity stunt that backfired spectacularly.

… our old Word magazine pal Rob Fitzpatrick talking about the Japanese composer Michiru Aoyama who's released an album a day since December 2021, each 20 minutes 20 seconds long. And the role of streaming in the ambient music boom.

… the life of Denny Laine and the great “chamber pop” hit he wrote.

... why the Move’s Flowers In The Rain has never earned the band a cent.

… how the death of John Lennon was the dawn of the ‘black border’ magazine tribute.

… Willie Nelson’s way with a middle eight.

… the last men standing in the Band On The Run album shoot.

… is there anyone still on the road older than “the French Bob Dylan” Hugues Aufray (94) and Marshall Allen 0f the Sun Ra Arkestra (99)?

… and mentioned in dispatches - Harold Wilson, Frank Ifield, Ginger Baker’s Air Force, ‘Ronnie & Clyde’ and birthday guest Rob Collis and the best rock and roll movies.

Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for early - and ad-free! - access to all of our content: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

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.

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