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. 2d ago

    Carl Palmer’s 64 years onstage and the ingenious way he’s touring as ELP

    Whenever Carl Palmer joined a band, he was head-hunted by a bigger one - the King Bees, Chris Farlowe & the Thunderbirds, the Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Atomic Rooster and, eventually, Emerson Lake & Palmer. We get a vivid whirlwind tour here of six decades onstage – modest, very funny, barely pausing for breath – and a full account of how ‘An Evening with Emerson Lake & Palmer’ will work when he tours the show in 2027 (and the setlist). Tons of highlights, blink and you’ll miss them, these just a few … … “You can’t call the group Emerson Lake & Palmer! What if somebody leaves?” … playing jazz and cabaret from the age of 12 and memories of “formation dancing night” … the King Bees at a Birmingham All-Nighter with Chris Farlowe, Steampacket and “a few black bombers” .. the one-eyed bassist who drove the van … American 10,000-seaters with Arthur Brown … the Who in 1965 – “never seen anything like it!” … who owns the name Emerson Lake & Palmer? … the day he got a job for John Bonham … being choppered to the Isle of Wight in their stage gear ... Vincent Crane sawing his Hammond in half … the ELP audition and “Ahmet Ertegun from NY” ringing to twist his arm … playing the Palladium where his grandpa conducted a Palm Court Orchestra … and drumming on a vegan diet. Mentioned in passing: Cozy Powell, Graham Bond, Erroll Garner, Oscar Peterson, Ginger Baker, Roy Orbison and Bruce Forsyth. Order ‘An Evening With ELP’ tickets here: https://crosstownconcerts.gigantic.com/carl-palmer-tickets 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.

    Carl Palmer’s 64 years onstage and the ingenious way he’s touring as ELP
  2. 4d ago

    Joni Mitchell’s fascinating treasure trove of lost interviews with the BBC

    Tom Hagler works at the BBC with access to every TV and radio programme involving Joni Mitchell for 50 years, all full of revelations about her songs and the times she spent in London. So he transcribed the interviews – even the bits off-camera - and talked to the people who’d watched them being recorded, now published as ‘River Of Words: Joni Mitchell At the BBC’. It’s full of fresh angles and good stories, like this podcast which touches on … … Joni living on cigarettes, coffee and chocolate in a Bayswater flat in 1968 … early exposure by John Peel and on Stanley Dorfman’s pioneering ‘In Concert’ (she was the first guest!) … her complete transparency in interviews – “I felt like a cellophane wrapper on a pack of cigarettes” … the night she met Graham Nash … the BBC failing to exploit their 1990 ‘scoop’ about her giving away her daughter for adoption, and the moment she thinks she met her (aged 3) … how she held her own in the ‘70s rock Boys’ Club … “save something of yourself”: when Kris Kristofferson heard Blue … the Tracey MacLeod interview where she claims to be a reincarnated Arab rug dealer … and the value of Big Yellow Taxi in the climate crisis. Order copies of ‘River Of Words: Joni Mitchell at the BBC’ here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/River-Words-Joni-Mitchell-interviews/dp/1035435780 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.

    Joni Mitchell’s fascinating treasure trove of lost interviews with the BBC
  3. Oct 20

    Nigel Dick shot videos for Band Aid, Guns N’Roses, Britney and Oasis by ‘failing upwards’

    We first met Nigel Dick in the late ‘70s when he was the motorbike messenger for Stiff Records and watched him rocket to success in the video boom, directing career-launching clips for Guns N’Roses, Tears for Fears and Britney Spears and working with Cher, Joni Mitchell and McCartney, all recorded in his memoir ‘Music Video Mischief’. He looks back here on that big-budget golden age and the rise of the amateurs from his home in Colorado and stops off at … … ‘You have to work out where the power lies’ … the story of the million dollar video … how he finally found the Axl Rose charisma … New Boots And Panties, ‘the most radical album to have that level of success’ … Stiff’s ‘frightening, lovable, devious’ Dave Robinson, characteristics every label boss requires … ‘I’ll make sure you never work in this town again!’ … why the 16 year-old (ex-Mickey Mouse Club) Britney Spears was born for video … working with his teenage heroes Yes: ‘the beautiful castles I’d built in my mind just collapsed to sand’ … the rise of AI – ‘best to check people haven’t got six fingers and a changing haircut’ … and working with McCartney, Cher, Band Aid, Oasis and Claude Van Damme. Order copies of ‘Music Video Mischief’ in the UK from: https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/music-video-mischief-ozzy-to-britney-oasis-to-gn-r-mccartney-to-cher-a-lifetime-of-rock-and-chaos-nigel-dick/619386081ce90352?ean=9798999048783 And in the U.S. from: https://www.trouserpressbooks.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.

    Nigel Dick shot videos for Band Aid, Guns N’Roses, Britney and Oasis by ‘failing upwards’
  4. Oct 14

    Rory Gallagher – Ireland’s first rock star remembered by the brother who managed him

    You forget how huge and ubiquitous Rory Gallagher was in the ‘70s, just 22 at the Isle of Wight and auditioning for the Stones four years later, an inspiration for Johnny Marr, Andy Partridge, the Edge, Slash and countless others. And for his brother and manager Dónal - “it was a big wide world I wasn’t going to see unless I hung onto his coattails”. He’s just published a memoir, ‘Edged In Blue, A Rock’n’Roll Odyssey with Rory Gallagher’, and looks back here at some of the highlights, these among them … … watching Six-Five Special through a closed TV shop window at night and adding vocals to entertain the crowd … hearing jazz, Lonnie Donegan and Big Bill Broonzy on Forces Radio in Ireland … auditioning for the Stones in 1974 … joining the Fontana Showband aged 15 playing ceilidh, Chuck Berry and Georgie Fame … Taste on the chaotic Blind Faith US tour when Ginger Baker attacked the security … when Johnny Marr and Joe Bonamassa asked to borrow his old guitars … and “the BBC’s most recorded artist of the ‘70s” and managing his expanding legacy. Order ‘Edged in Blue: A Rock 'n' Roll Odyssey with Rory Gallagher’ here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Edged-Blue-Rock-Odyssey-Gallagher/dp/1786052539 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.

    Rory Gallagher – Ireland’s first rock star remembered by the brother who managed him
4.5
out of 5
79 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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