Word In Your Ear

Mark Ellen, David Hepworth and Alex Gold
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. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. The Band Aid recording, the birth of the tape loop and the power of the movie theme tune

    2 DAYS AGO

    The Band Aid recording, the birth of the tape loop and the power of the movie theme tune

    This week’s events piled into a pipe and enthusiastically smoked include …     … our memories of being at the Band Aid recording in Sarm studios, November 25 1984.   … why it was the last dance of the mass media and why nothing could have the same impact now.   … the “household name” that made all the difference.   … the real reason Bob Geldof could be involved.     … James Bond, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, the Spaghetti Westerns … how music is the real DNA of film franchises, the fingerprint that connects you with the original.     … why should a teenager know what a radio is?   … “Live vivid! Delete ordinary! Break moulds! Copy nothing!” The tortuous rebranding of Jaguar.   … what the BBC spends 95 per cent of its time doing.   … how Bee Gees’ drummer Dennis Byron unwittingly invented the tape loop.   … the appeal of inconvenient technology.   … David’s second Deep ‘70s compilation, “a dream fulfilment” – Americana, Skinny Tie music, cover versions, the outer limits of Island Records.   … plus birthday guest Mike Sketch on discovering music late in life (Dylan, Tom Waits etc).   David’s ‘More Deep 70s’ 4-CD compilation is available for pre-order now: https://www.amazon.co.uk/David-Hepworths-More-Deep-Misunderstood/dp/B0DCGGQDNK Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    58 min
  2. How Toyah & Robert’s kitchen show became an Xmas rock’n’roll ding-dong

    4 DAYS AGO

    How Toyah & Robert’s kitchen show became an Xmas rock’n’roll ding-dong

    One of our rays of sunshine in the dark days of Lockdown was Toyah and Robert’s Sunday Lunch, fizzing clips of the two of them in their Dorset kitchen, him playing off-brand rock and roll, her singing in extravagant finery, occasionally on an exercise bike. Their version of Metallica’s Enter Sandman got 8.6m views alone. One time they were dressed as bees, another re-staging Swan Lake wearing tutus. This has now flowered into an all-the-trimmings Christmas show with a full rock band touring in December. They look back here at how it started and where it’s ended up, which includes …   … the teenage Fripp doing the twist at the Cellar Club, Poole.   … Strictly judge Craig Revel Horwood’s reaction when Robert booed him on set.   … when the “elite newspapers” declared their kitchen shows were “genius”.   … where their two different audiences meet.   … plans for an upcoming Fripp memoir and his 1981 King Crimson diary.    … things you find in old boxes in the attic.   … how the grumpier end of King Crimson’s supporters regard the “other Robert Fripp”.   … what Tony Iommi and Robert Plant thought of their lockdown clips.   … and what you can expect from their Christmas Party show – which involves Bowie, Blondie, Neil Young, Slade, Metallica and an inflatable penguin.   Toyah and Robert’s Christmas Party tickets here: https://toyahwillcox.com/gigs/ Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    24 min
  3. Robert Hilburn on the lifetime achievement of Randy Newman

    13 NOV

    Robert Hilburn on the lifetime achievement of Randy Newman

    He’s written some of the darkest entries in the American songbook but became world famous with a sunny celebration of friendship on the soundtrack of “Toy Story”. Inbetween can be found a staggering range of songs dealing with everything from short people to Vladimir Putin, from performing bears to the Louisiana Flood., from ELO to the Great Nations Of Europe, all of which show up in this authoritative new biography from Robert Hilburn, for years the rock writer of the Los Angeles Times. Topics touched on in his chat with David Hepworth:    … when you called your book “A Few Words In Defense Of Our Country”, did you know it was coming out in Election week?   … why Robert’s review of Elton John at the Troubadour in 1970 transformed the life of one piano player from Pinner while his review of Randy in the same same venue in the same year didn’t have the same effect on this local hero.   … how Randy finds his inspiration by sitting in front of the TV with a big stack of hardback books.   … what his famous uncles taught him and how he has spent a lifetime trying to follow their lead.   … how he got his first break from Cilla Black, Alan Price and the British chart,   … what he said when he finally got as Oscar after years of nominations.   … why he can write quickly when commissioned but moves agonisingly slowly when relying on inspiration.   … why he’s the only biographical subject to insist his children are interviewed.   … what he thinks of Donald Trump. Order Robert’s book here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Few-Words-Defense-Our-Country/dp/1408720361 Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear   Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    30 min
  4. Peter Perrett of the Only Ones – teenage life, a wondrous return and a 35-year lost weekend.

    12 NOV

    Peter Perrett of the Only Ones – teenage life, a wondrous return and a 35-year lost weekend.

    After many years of invisibility, Peter Perrett of the Only Ones is out, about and on tour again and talks to us here about the first gigs he ever saw and played, which involves …   … what time he goes to bed.   … “he writes better lyrics than Elvis Costello and is prettier than Billy Idol”: why Nick Kent’s review was an insult.   … seeing the Small Faces in 1966, the Floyd with Syd at Middle Earth, Dylan at the Isle of Wight, Fairport Convention, Geno Washington, Lou Reed in 1972 (“a hero”), Sex Pistols in 1975.   … the Ally Pally Love-In in 1967 with Pink Floyd, the Animals, Julie Driscoll and Arthur Brown (“doing Alice Cooper five years before Alice Cooper”).   … supporting Global Village Trucking Company at the Marquee in 1975 with Glenn Tilbrook and Jools Holland.   … memories of Vivienne Westwood, the Bromley Contingent and leopardskin vinyl trousers.   … the first gig he ever played, doing the Velvet Underground’s What Goes On with a four-string guitar at a college dance.   … the tangled tale of Another Girl Another Planet.   … “I never thought I’d retire at 28 and come back as a septuagenarian’.     … the role reversal of being produced by your own son.   … and how the Snow Station Vadsø festival in Norway – with Peter Buck, Lenny Kaye, Fritz Catlin and Mark Bedford – gave him the courage to go back on tour.   Peter Perrett tour dates here: https://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/peter-perrett-tickets/artist/5238432   Order his new album The Cleansing here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cleansing-Peter-Perrett/dp/B0DB8VMBDL Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    29 min

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. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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