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. David Gray’s priceless memories of lessons learned the hard way

    1d ago

    David Gray’s priceless memories of lessons learned the hard way

    David Gray went through the roof with his White Ladder album in 2000 and he’s toured and recorded ever since, ending this summer’s loop at Latitude. He talks to us here about the rigours of seeing bands when you lived in rural Wales and the hilarious, hard-won lessons of the first gigs he played himself and every possible shade of crowd reaction. It’s an absolute whirlwind from start to finish and features ...   ... playing weddings, clubs, festivals and a Welsh village regatta   … the role of music in the construction of your character   … the turning point: “I arrived onstage to more applause than I’d ever had when leaving”   … the time gave Morrissey his string of beads   … the emotional architecture of live performance and how Elvis programmed his shows   … vivid memories of seeing the Cult (“bloody nose”), the Mission (“headbutted”) and the Stranglers (“we left terrified”)   … running from stage to stage at Glastonbury in ‘86 and the insular genius of the Cure   … his Liverpool punk band in their perishing “Joycean” flat   … the unbeatable sound of a crowd singing one of your songs     … Nick Drake’s frail sensibility and the value of growing a hard skin.   David Gray tickets here: davidgray.com David Gray’s new album Nightjar, a companion to his 2005 No.1 record Life in Slow Motion, is out now via Bella Figura. 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.

    37 min
  2. Peter Frampton – ‘the Face of 1968’ looks back!

    5d ago

    Peter Frampton – ‘the Face of 1968’ looks back!

    Peter Frampton, for goodness sake! Part of our lives at Word In Your Ear since we were teenagers. Played guitar on national telly when he was 14. Joined the Herd at 16 and Humble Pie two years later. Had the biggest-selling album in American history in 1976 and now releasing his first new record in 16 years. From his home in Nashville, he looks back here – with great modesty, humour and affection - at how he adjusted to such mountainous success and to “when it all came crashing down” while throwing in a winning impression of George Harrison. This too …     … the Herd pursued by screaming girls across Streatham Ice Rink   … when “the Face of 1968” (Frampton) joined “the Face of 1967” (Marriott)   … recording with George, Ringo, Billy Preston, Steve Stills and Phil Spector (aged 20) - “where the hell am I and how did I get here?”   … “I’d fallen off the radar and Bowie gave me the biggest gift anyone could give me”   … the petrifying success of Frampton Comes Alive! - “I felt I’d be like a Rubik’s Cube, here today, gone tomorrow”   … the Scout Club gig (aged 12) that lit the fuse and playing Ready Steady Go! when he was 14 (same show as the Stones)   … when his father met Mick Jagger   … making the doomed Sgt Pepper film with the Bee Gees   … working with Sheryl Crow who’d had a poster of him when she was 14   … and revisiting his childhood home in Beckenham.   Order ‘Carry The Light’ here: https://www.frampton.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.

    44 min
  3. Paul Simon’s Graceland and how the masterpiece was made

    6d ago

    Paul Simon’s Graceland and how the masterpiece was made

    ‘Graceland’ was an almighty gamble for Paul Simon, a costly, high-risk departure from the music he’d been making and a complex international venture. And a game-changing, worldwide triumph. When Ashley Kahn taught a course about it at New York University, Simon turned up to contribute. His book ‘Days Of Miracle And Wonder’ tells the story of what inspired the album, the way it was recorded and the global reaction when it arrived in 1986. We talk to him here about …   … the bootleg cassette of township jive that inspired the Graceland project    … fraying relations with Art Garfunkel and Carrie Fisher   ... his habit of playing unfinished tracks to people – David Byrne, Philip Glass, Neil Diamond – while singing the vocal into their ear   … the extraordinary way he apologised for the failure of One Trick Pony   … how Bakithi Kumalo’s bass solo on You Can Call Me Al is a palindrome – “first half forwards, second half reversed!”   … the advice Quincy Jones gave him about South Africa’s cultural boycott   … the key role of Roy Halee, engineer and long-time creative collaborator   ... the Johannesburg sessions that “started with rhythm and worked backwards”   … Kind Of Blue, A Love Supreme, other albums that merit a book to themselves   … the details you hear in the tracks’ last seconds   … and the Grammy telecast that cemented the album’s US success.   Order copies of ‘Days of Miracle And Wonder’ here: https://geni.us/DaysofMiracleandWonder 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.

    33 min
  4. Kate Mossman has strong feelings about rock stars past their prime

    Jun 16

    Kate Mossman has strong feelings about rock stars past their prime

    Kate’s an old pal of ours from Word magazine who writes scintillating columns and profiles for the New Statesman and Observer. We loved her book ‘Men Of A Certain Age: My Encounters With Rock Royalty’ – just out in paperback! – where she relives her meetings with a variety of legends, eccentrics and old lags whose music she finds particularly compelling and wonders what they all have in common. This typically funny and colourful conversation stops off at …   … the attractive fallibility of rock stars past their peak   … a lifetime’s devotion to Paul Simon   … “Olivia Dean is the Carole King of her generation”   … the ridiculous expectations we heap on musicians’ creativity   … why Arts Criticism is under threat   … when the first record you buy (aged five) is the Chicken Song   … “One-Hit Wonders have achieved infinitely more than most of us”   … Ray Davies and his “eternal sense of apartness”   … why George Michael is under-appreciated and the time he found someone living under his floorboards   … the days when Jeff Beck modelled PVC jackets for Rave  … the genius of Pat Metheny’s Orchestrion   … and the new acts who’ll still be huge in ten years’ time.   Order copies of ‘Men Of A Certain Age’ here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Men-Certain-Age-Encounters-Royalty/dp/1788705645 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.

    49 min
  5. Dave Balfe remembers the Teardrops, Blur and a very big house in the country

    Jun 12

    Dave Balfe remembers the Teardrops, Blur and a very big house in the country

    Dave Balfe was a key player in late ‘70s Liverpool, joined Big In Japan and the Teardrop Explodes, co-founded Zoo Records and, later, Food who signed and launched Blur. It’s fascinating to hear how he’s adapted to promoting music now with his new band Late Transmissions. We talk to him here about the landmarks moments that mapped out his life, among them …   … growing up in the Wirral and its patchouli-scented record shops   … seeing Wings and Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust tour in Liverpool   … how it felt to be immortalised in Blur’s Country House   … what he learnt making AI pop videos   … when your teenage band “goes punk”   … breaking and entering Rumbelows in pursuit of a synthesiser   … the curious link between Blur and JD Salinger in the days “they were all Kurt Weill and discordant”   … the Runaways at Erics – “I wasn’t entirely there for the music”     … Big In Japan with Bill Drummond, Budgie, Ian Brodie and Jayne Casey   .. is AI like the arrival of synthesisers: “this is not proper music?”   … “the old gag, innovation is not pastiching bands that have already been pastiched”   … and Mark’s interview with him 47 years ago.   Lightning Never Strikes Twice video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhV02AcvQQ0 The Heart Wants What It Wants video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGvEWvS1ekk I’m Done With London video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmUnP4b4GjQ   Order the Late Transmissions album here: https://musicsaves.co.uk/product/theheartwantswhatitwants/ 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.

    52 min
  6. Star Ratings - do we love/hate/need them? Five-star debate here! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

    Jun 11

    Star Ratings - do we love/hate/need them? Five-star debate here! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

    Star Ratings are now ubiquitous and inescapable and it’s not just music, films and books. Everything we encounter tends to be rated which colours our judgement before we try it. Choice can be paralyzing but do we read anymore or just count? Benji Wilson’s ‘Rate This Book: How Star Ratings Took Over the World’ traces their origin – back to 350 BC! – paints a picture of modern life and wonders here where we’re heading, along with …   … Aristotle’s 2,500 year-old system of star-rated animals   … how Michelin cooked up starred restaurants to get you to wear out your tyres   … can we spot fake reviews and the people who sell them?   … do we only tend to read one- and five-star reviews? And why writers hate the system   … the ingenious deceit of the Krays movie poster   … the value of reviews in a world where time and tickets costs are escalating   … “Star Ratings are the democratisation of criticism, the least-worst method”   … why a 2016 episode of Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror now seems prophetic   … the “hidden hands” that manipulate the ratings system   … and mass Amazon ratings and the power of Mob Rule.   Order copies of ‘Rate This Book’ here: https://linktr.ee/newmodern_books#560826579   https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rate-This-Book-Ratings-World/dp/1917923651?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE 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.

    38 min
4.5
out of 5
74 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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