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. How Daniel Lanois made those adventurous records with Dylan, U2 and Willie Nelson

    1d ago

    How Daniel Lanois made those adventurous records with Dylan, U2 and Willie Nelson

    Daniel Lanois built a studio in his basement in Quebec and began producing local acts when a teenager. Through work with Brian Eno, he went on to record U2, Bob Dylan, Arcade Fire, Emmylou Harris and scores of others with a method that’s unique, cinematic and utterly extraordinary, a brand of sonic architecture that creates settings to accommodate the songs, often in exotic and stimulating places. And he's made nine albums of his own, the latest the magical instrumental suite ‘Belladonna Nocturne’ – “hear this and you may never go home again”. This rich and fascinating conversation includes …   … how the place you record affects the way you think   ... producing Dylan and Willie Nelson in an abandoned Mexican cinema   … why the first record he bought was Wipe Out by the Surfaris   … the process of “printing sound” and his Music Minus One theory   … “Songs are doorways to another dimension”   … Eno’s working method: “he walked round the studio for 45 minutes ringing bells to map out the length of the album”   … drawing song sketches to stop everyone having to crowd round a laptop   … making the Unforgettable Fire with U2, “expanding Slane Castle ‘til there were little critters crawling out of the walls!”   … conjuring the tropical heat of Robbie Robertson’s Somewhere Down the Crazy River   … and what Hells’ Angels like to do to his music.   Order Belladonna Nocturne here: https://artsmusic.lnk.to/BelladonnaNocturne Help us to keep The Longest Conversation In Rock going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    38 min
  2. Siouxsie, Nico, Cocteaus, Shangri-Las, Bobbie Gentry … a celebration of the sound of Goth!

    2d ago

    Siouxsie, Nico, Cocteaus, Shangri-Las, Bobbie Gentry … a celebration of the sound of Goth!

    Cathi Unsworth was a teenage Goth, enthralled as much by Joy Division and the Banshees as by the Brontës, Bram Stoker and Aubrey Beardsley. We loved her book ‘Season of the Witch’ and she’s since put together a soundtrack album, ‘Dressed In Black’, featuring the Goth divas she most admires and adores. And talks to us here about everything from murder ballads, the Industrial Revolution and Victorian literature to …   … John Peel, Siouxsie, Joy Division and her teenage Goth conversion among the “hedge-goths” and “field-goths” of rural Norfolk   … the phenomenal life, lyrics and mysterious disappearance of ‘Swamp-witch’ Bobbie Gentry   … has Goth eaten Punk?   … why BBC banned Billie Holiday’s “Gloomy Sunday”   … the ‘death discs’ of John Layton, the Shangri-Las and Twinkle   … how Cabaret and Julie Driscoll coloured Siouxsie and the Banshees   … Shirley Collins’ Death And The Lady – “now that’s what I call a pandemic!”   … did Liz Fraser speak fluent Faerie?   … Nico – “if I had a machine-gun I’d kill you all!”   … and how Juliette Gréco looked the devil in the face.   Order copies of ‘Dressed In Black: Goth Divas From The Dark Side’ here: https://acerecords.co.uk/various-artists-dressed-in-black Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    31 min
  3. Blondie and Clem Burke remembered by devoted pal Kathy Valentine of the Go-Go’s

    3d ago

    Blondie and Clem Burke remembered by devoted pal Kathy Valentine of the Go-Go’s

    Clem Burke joined Blondie in 1975. He started writing his memoir 20 years ago and just managed to finish it before he died in 2025, encouraged and assisted by his old friend Kathy Valentine of the Go-Go’s, “a chance to reflect on all he’d achieved”. We’re thrilled she’s joined us here to talk about his dramatic life and ‘The Other Side of the Dream’, a conversation stopping off at …   … falling for her “teenage crush” when she saw Blondie on TV, the man who wore red shoes at his audition   … Clem Burke, eternal fan who idolised the Beatles, Bowie and the Stooges, and the brief moment he became Elvis Ramone   ... do bands talk to each other? … Blondie was not a democracy … “in fact bands are an example of how democracy doesn’t work”   … Clem’s powerhouse drumming and showmanship: “you couldn’t take your eyes off him”   … “the night we met we each had a limo and he introduced me to Andy Warhol”   … how it felt to hear Blondie record one of her songs   … how their lives connected: “we both achieved a dream and had it taken away from us”   … why drummers tend to see groups differently   … and life in the Go-Go’s - “married to four girls!”   Order copies of Clem Burke’s ‘The Other Side of the Dream: My Life in And Out of Blondie’ here: https://lnk.to/theothersideofthedream Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    34 min
  4. The Damned at 50 and the memories (and regrets) of Rat Scabies

    May 20

    The Damned at 50 and the memories (and regrets) of Rat Scabies

    The Damned are – yes! - 50 years old with three of the originals still onboard. And just starting a world tour. In this immensely funny and touching podcast, Rat Scabies (who’s smoking!) points up the repercussions of life in a band. He looks back at their first shows, their devoted audience, “old-fashioned rules”, highlights, regrets, the value of friendship, “putting on the black suit again” and how it felt to rejoin after 30 years on the outside. And all this too …   … playing drums in an Essex panto while pelted with boiled sweets   … Dave Vanian when he was a grave-digger   … punk rock strongholds the world over – “South America was like being in the Beatles”   … Mexico and other places you can still torch a drumkit   … Mr Scabies, aged 70. “Even my mother calls me Rat. The name’s done me well over the years”   … going to the Isle Of Wight aged 14 (with the Danish nanny) and running a hot-dog stand during Hendrix   … supporting the Pistols at the 100 Club: “like letting a greyhound out of a trap”   … Tim Burton, the Goth revival, the Young Ones, steampunk and other factors that keeps the Damned in motion   … “One band’s an oddity, two’s a fashion, three’s a movement”   … rejoining the Damned after 30 years – “like a great stain had been lifted”   … Green Day, algorithms and how they acquired a whole new following.   Order Damned tickets here: aegp.uk/the-damned Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    36 min
  5. Shoegaze, slackers, ‘noise chasms’ and the 10-year reinvention of rock

    May 19

    Shoegaze, slackers, ‘noise chasms’ and the 10-year reinvention of rock

    A whole new age of psychedelia kicked off in the mid-‘80s, of dream-weavers and glorious underachievers, a complete rejection of the standard rock approach to stagecraft, sound and self-promotion. Simon Reynolds was at the heart of it, writing for Melody Maker and piping aboard the pioneering noise-mongers aiming to entrance and disorientate, as recalled in his new book ‘Still In A Dream: Shoegaze, Slackers and the Reinvention of Rock 1984-1994’. He looks back with us here from his home in Los Angeles at its key bands, events and spiritual godfathers, these among them …   … the return to childhood via Syd Barrett and Jonathan Richman to Sarah Records    … is ‘feeble little horse’ the most Shoegaze band name ever?    ... what it was about Morrissey that made Smiths singles sink after Top Of The Pops    … the reason Bowie formed a band    … charming/infuriating interviews with the Cocteau Twins: “words only have any meaning when they’re sung”   … how Britpop brought down the curtain of the wall of sound     … Shoegaze, Dreampop, Lovelynoise, Wide-Brimmed Hat Music and the rock press attempt to impose order: “if a band was on the cover they could double their fee”    ... the divine arrogance of Lawrence of Felt who “didn’t want ordinary people buying my records”   … the ever-extending “noise chasms” of My Bloody Valentine   …  “shattering quartz”: reviewing music that’s about sound not words    … Shoegaze DNA in the 21st Century   ... and the greatest album of that decade, “each track like a session beer”.   Order copies of ‘Still In a Dream’ here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/still-in-a-dream/simon-reynolds/9781399618373 Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    45 min
  6. Brian Eno’s restless creative adventures with Roxy, Bowie, U2 and Talking Heads

    May 15

    Brian Eno’s restless creative adventures with Roxy, Bowie, U2 and Talking Heads

    For nearly 60 years, Brian Eno has been a “proud non-musician” who changed the way people thought and sounded while inventing whole new ways of recording. We loved reading the updated edition of ‘On Some Faraway Beach’ which examines his staggering catalogue of avant garde experiment and wonders if there’s anyone remotely like him. Author David Sheppard looks back with us here at …   … a life of great good fortune: “luck is being ready”   … the rivalry with Bryan Ferry sparked by his getting more attention … and girls   ... where you can hear the effect on his Oblique Strategy cards on the Bowie recordings   ... the ingenious way he made U2 make up their minds   … his first experience of immersive sound via the organ his granddad built in the family home   … why Wire’s Colin Newman calling him “a Class A Bullshitter” was a compliment   … Bono: “We didn’t go to art school, we went to Brian Eno”   … was Coldplay “a Rubicon he should never have crossed?”   … the appeal of the sculptured sound of early ‘70s synths to someone who couldn’t play keyboards   … his greatest record, Another Green World, and the time he heard Music For Airports playing in an airport   Order copies of On Some Faraway Beach here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Some-Faraway-Beach-Times-Brian/dp/1399605712/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0 Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    31 min
4.5
out of 5
73 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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