Word In Your Ear

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=QhV02AcvQQ0The Heart Wants What It Wants video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGvEWvS1ekkI’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.

Philip Norman has written books about the Beatles – and John, Paul and George - and now turns the spotlight on the man who launched them and the extreme personal and professional obstacles in the dramatic path of his short life, the man who built a shield around them but couldn't protect himself. We talk to him here about ‘Mr Moonlight: Brian Epstein and the Making of the Beatles’ with particular attention to … … how he changed Britain’s image and was mortified to get no recognition for it … the Beatle whose demands he was always fastest to execute … the level of homophobia and anti-Semitism he had to absorb … his reckless pursuits in the days when homosexuality could mean life imprisonment … contract killers, blackmail, rigged roulette wheels and why the Krays said “it wasn’t us” when they heard he’d died … the way he fashioned his own myth and airbrushed others who’d helped the Beatles succeed … why McCartney’s 21st birthday party could have ended the band … his genius (and fraudulence) as a salesman    … the double catastrophe of Brian’s US merchandising deal … John, Aunt Mimi and “a story about the British class system” … and the chaperone on George and Pattie’s first date. Order copies of ‘Mr Moonlight’ here: https://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/books/Mr-Moonlight/Philip-Norman/9781398542266Help 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.

Old friend of the podcast Lloyd Bradley wrote Bass Culture, the defining account of reggae, and he’s now turned his attention to funk, from its deepest roots and via the jazz, arts, TV, radio and pop culture that flavoured it. The main 10-year focus of ‘Funk Has Its Own Reward’ is from James Brown’s ‘Say It Loud - I’m Black and I’m Proud’ to Michael Jackson’s ‘Off The Wall’ but free your mind and all this will follow! … … the importance of radio being “colourblind” … Cab Calloway’s Jive Dictionary and the impact of DJs Martha Jean ‘the Queen’ Steinberg and Daddy-O Daylie … how James Brown floor-tested his records and saved a fortune making them   … funk’s deep roots in America’s marching bands … why jazz is funk’s closest relative and what it stole from white rock   … how the Family Stone’s Larry Graham made bass the place … how solo singers gave way to the ‘funk gangs’   … how Richard Pryor gave mainstream America a window on a whole new world. … the influence of Soul Train and Sesame Street (19-year-old Nile Rodgers on guitar!) in bringing funk to the masses … George Clinton – “I can’t dance, can’t play, people tell me I can’t sing … but without me none of this would have happened!” … plus the Chambers Brothers, Herbie Hancock, Funkadelic, Bootsy, Quincy Jones, Parliament and the greatest funk record ever made. Order copies of ‘Funk Is Its Own Reward’ here: https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/lloyd-bradley-2/funk-is-its-own-reward/9781472123411/Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourearHelp 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.

Chasing the shade and slapping the Sunscreen on this week’s overheated news, we pour a tinkling drink and reflect upon the following … … British people in hot weath-ah! … when rock stars you haven’t seen for 50 years pop up on Zoom … Lennon’s tooth? Timberlake’s toast? Mooney’s school report? Weird things sold at auction … Paul Horn playing in the Taj Mahal, Sonny Rollins on the Williamsburg Bridge, U2 in Slane Castle … are new vinyl albums now ‘luxury goods’ and old ones ‘antiques’? … where you can hear the Abbey Road building on the Dark Side of the Moon … the cinematic records Daniel Lanois made in an abandoned movie theatre near Santa Barbara … Summer In The City: the Lovin’ Spoonful’s road-drill and Regina Spektor’s cleavage … Cat-calming music! Gym motivation! Stress-busting songs for Spurs fans on Judgement Day! The age of the prescriptive playlist … the new dawn of instrumental music, “a public utility like turning on a tap” … and the single Sinatra recorded for Maureen Starkey (only one copy made!).Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourearHelp 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.

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-blackHelp us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourearHelp 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.

Panning for gold in the murky waters of this week’s news, we found the following … … is Sabrina Carpenter’s aunt the voice of Bart Simpson? … is punk now just a small room in the giant apartment block of Goth? … why band life was different for Ringo, Kathy Valentine and Clem Burke … Barack Obama’s songs that define America and how you can’t do the same for Britain … what you notice about the Who’s ‘Tommy’ 47 years later … the night Tom Fogerty’s widow brought his ashes to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame … Hurrrggggh! Aah-haaaa!: the vocal trademarks of Clarence Carter, Bob Wills, James Brown and Bobby Bland … did Select magazine REALLY once give away a giant inflatable Jarvis? (spoiler: yes) … plus Shleep and Rock Bottom by Robert Wyatt and Sam Cooke humming. Sam Cooke humming:https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-e&channel=entpr&q=sam+cooke+thumming+youtube+#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:7e9fec7d,vid:ZYd8DFI5CJg,st:0Order copies of David Hepworth's new paperback 'Hope I Get Old Before I Die' here:https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hope-Get-Old-Before-Die/dp/1804991996Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourearHelp 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.

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/9781399618373Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourearHelp 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.

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_0Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourearHelp 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.

It’s polling day for this week’s news and these are the stories that got our vote … ... Pussycat Dolls, Meghan Trainor and how ‘Blue Dot Fever’ is wrecking ticket sales … how can you judge a songwriter with eight collaborators? … Dylan’s ‘Judas’ moment 60 years later … is everything becoming binary: thumbs-up or thumbs-down? … Grandmaster Flash, Augustus Pablo, George McRea, Tangerine Dream and the times brand new music was invented … when certain dances got you arrested … Alice in Sunderland? See You In My Drums? Shadows’ song titles rebooted … the hilarious self-positioning of the NME critics’ poll… plus jazz pioneer Buddy Bolden and thrill of imagining the sound of acts who were never recorded.Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourearHelp 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.