Word In Your Ear

Mark Ellen, David Hepworth and Alex Gold

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.

  1. 5d ago

    Georgie Fame, Ben Sidran and the golden age of ‘60s Soho

    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-blues 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.

    Georgie Fame, Ben Sidran and the golden age of ‘60s Soho
  2. 6d ago

    Steve Hackett remembers batwings, blues clubs and Genesis on £15 a week

    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/tours 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.

    Steve Hackett remembers batwings, blues clubs and Genesis on £15 a week
  3. Jul 14

    The Specials are no more! Horace Panter remembers days when it was ‘like walking on air’

    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.

    The Specials are no more! Horace Panter remembers days when it was ‘like walking on air’

Ratings & Reviews

4.5
out of 5
15 Ratings

About

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.

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