Word In Your Ear

Author, DJ, member of St Etienne and a regular on our podcasts, Bob Stanley was the second guest at our sun-baked garden party in the auditorium of Opera Holland Park on June 3 talking about his new book “Bee Gees: Children Of the World”. He feels – and very rightly – that in some quarters they’re still the punchline to a heartless joke and deserve infinitely more critical respect. This illuminating conversation touches on the “teenage delinquent” years in Manchester, their struggles in Australia, signing with Robert Stigwood, success and how badly they handled it, what the press made of them, how they invented the sound of Jive Talkin’ and Night Fever, the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, why they were known as “Pilly, Potty and Boozy” and the various people who’ve loudly sung their praises – Diana Ross, Pet Shop Boys, Take That and Noel Gallagher among them. Order Bob's book ‘Bee Gees: Children of the World’ here … https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bee-Gees-Children-Bob-Stanley/dp/1788705424/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=]2502&hvtargid=pla-1945216255331&psc=1&th=1&psc=1Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for early - and ad-free! - access to all our content!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s a barely believable sixty years since the Rolling Stones put out their first single, “Come On”, so we asked Lesley-Ann Jones, the author of “The Stone Age", along to talk about them and how they have related to the women in their lives, from Brian Jones’s strange relationships with his Cheltenham girlfriends, Mick Jagger’s powerful attraction to women who look like him, the sexual competition that raged between him and Keith Richards and the mid-life crises of Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman. As they say on the disclaimers this podcast contains adult themes.Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon to receive early - and ad-free! - access to all of our content!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week’s rock and roll gumbo includes the following spicy and nutritious ingredients … … “the internet is designed to let middle-aged men think they’ve had the last word”. … will the Royal Blood storm-in-a-teacup do them more good than harm? … Barry Gibbs’ beard. … what ‘Three Lions’ did to the Lightning Seeds’ Scottish, Welsh and Irish fanbase. … old memories of Kevin Coyne and Marjory Razorblade. … why no band is ever “forgotten”. … what’s so sacred about Love Will Tear Us Apart? … can AI music ever work if you don’t feel a connection with the person making it?   … why are the Doors fading from view? … there are only two degrees of adulation: too little or too much. Plus Birthdays guests Ray Roscoe and Paul Thompson.Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for early - and ad-free! - access to all of our content!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Fond and appraising enquiry of recent events, this week featuring … … we now feel we have to approve of artists/musicians/writers before we can say we like what they do. When did all this start? … a new Stackwaddy game – Hari-Krishna Stomp Wagon? Starchelle Chicago Bear? Flaming Lips song title or exotically named winner of Crufts’ Best In Show? … in defence of men with bad reputations eg Evelyn Waugh, Martin Amis, John Lennon … … re-pressed versions of albums that were 70p in the late ‘60s now sell for £29.99. What fresh madness is this? … Liam Gallagher’s son Lennon and Paul Weller’s daughter Dylan ‘toast the 20th anniversary of an iconic Mulberry bag’: an ‘It’s like punk never happened’ special! .. how the Silicon Valley TV series tells the truth. … Noel Gallagher’s magnificent use of the word ‘disingenuous’ (possibly to wrong-foot and baffle his brother). And why he wrote Acquiesce. … the now comically over-the-top Cannes standing ovations and what’s behind them. … and the weaselly worlds of film and daytime telly.Tickets for Word In The Park in London on June 3rd here!: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-happy-return-of-word-in-the-park-tickets-576193870377Grab your EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal by going to https://nordvpn.com/yourear to get up a Huge Discount off your NordVPN Plan + 4 months for free! It’s completely risk free with Nord’s 30 day money-back guarantee! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A special extra podcast recorded just after hearing the news. We can barely remember a time when we weren’t aware of her. This looks back at the Ike & Tina R&B hits of the ‘60s, the Ikettes dance routines and how he copyrighted her stage name, the story of the recording of River Deep Mountain High with Phil Spector, Proud Mary on the Ed Sullivan Show, supporting the Rolling Stones, her unique vocal style and the way she sold the drama of the songs … and then the greatest comeback imaginable: the arrival of manager Roger Davies, the B.E.F.’s recording of Ball Of Confusion at Abbey Road (and the impossible demands of James Brown), Mad Max: Beyond the Thunderdome, Private Dancer (and Bowie’s 1984) and the record-breaking 180,000-crowd show at Brazil’s Maracana Stadium in 1988. And the fine art of dancing in high heels.Tickets for Word In The Park in London on June 3rd here!: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/576193870377 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Put through the boil-wash of enquiry and hung upon the washing line of truth this week you’ll find the following one-size-fits-all garments … … which acts are fading from memory and who’ll be remembered in 50 years’ time? … how Paul Simon, Leonard Cohen and Warren Zevon addressed mortality – (‘My Ride’s Here', ‘Enjoy Every Sandwich’ ...). … actors who’ve made albums. … the photo that changed the perception of Johnny Cash. … why you should watch the Pet Shop Boys’ new BBC interview, Reel Stories. … the prog star who stage-invaded Jacob Rees Mogg’s speech at the Conservative conference. … “Nothing will ever beat the first time you hear yourself on the radio”: Sting and the law of diminishing returns. .. how Will Self capsized his own career. … how Shakespeare and Robert Johnson’s reputations were both made by a ‘Greatest Hits’. … Brian Jones’s fall from grace. ... who invented the term ‘goth’? .. and the genius of Andy Rourke.Tickets for Word In The Park in London on June 3rd here!: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/576193870377 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Further nutritious items on the pod’s tasting menu this week include … … the story of Tubular Bells and how the Exorcist sent its sales through the roof. … beneath the surface of every band is a drama waiting to kick off: the View’s reunion gig was “a brotherly bust-up that went too far”.   … one of the following didn’t endorse a credit card, but which? – Beyoncé, Michael Jackson, Kiss, the Wu-Tang Clan, U2 and the Sex Pistols. … crimes in rhyme perpetrated by Tom Waits, Bruce Springsteen and Boney M - plus do YOU know a better one than ‘You told me love was too plebeian/ Told me you were through with me an’ …”? … Beyoncé’s tour is “a celebration of black queer dance music” but that didn’t stop her playing a private gig in Dubai for $24m. … plus stadium tour profits, singing bassists and 2001: A Space Odyssey and the Blue Danube.Tickets for Word In The Park in London on June 3rd here!: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/576193870377 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Where the Gold Bracelets of Sincerity and Wisdom and the Rod of Equity and Mercy meet the piping hot music news agenda in a weekly podcast and alight upon the following …. … the greatest singer of sad songs we’ve ever heard. … the extraordinary tale of the B-side of ‘13 Women And Only One Man’. … songs you couldn’t record these days. … Rufus Wainwright’s re-recording of Neil Young’s Harvest – but CAN modern technology possibly make it sound any better? … Noel Coward in the Italian Job.  ... the mystifying UK pop charts at the time of the last Coronation. … old records we’ve re-discovered: this week, Bonnie Raitt’s magnificent Give It Up (and especially Love Has No Pride). … John Prine’s Angel From Montgomery. … Gordon Lightfoot: why Dylan adored him and the tale of The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald. … the return of Frankie Goes To Hollywood and the excellent current occupation of Brian ‘Nasher’ Nash.------Tickets for Word In The Park in London on June 3rd here!: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-happy-return-of-word-in-the-park-tickets-576193870377------Grab your EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal by going to https://nordvpn.com/yourear to get up a Huge Discount off your NordVPN Plan + 4 months for free! It’s completely risk free with Nord’s 30 day money-back guarantee!------Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon and receive early - and ad-free! - access to all of our content: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Encountering the cheerful ping-pong bats of conversation this week you’ll find … … the most unprepossessing rock band on God’s green earth. … Ed Sheeran v Marvin Gaye – “the case continues”. But does anybody genuinely copy anyone else these days? … Springsteen and Michelle Obama and their irresistible thirst for publicity.   … the return of the Stack Waddy game: Spencer Birtwistle? Wilfred Mott? … Bernard Cribbins sitcom character or former member of the Fall? … Santana’s Caravanserai still sounds like it was made yesterday. … what Paul McCartney and Coldplay were paid to play Glastonbury. … if you tell people they’ll like things they tend to look for reasons to disagree but can we (cautiously) recommend the Australian comedy Colin From Accounts? … Happy 70th, Bill Drummond. We remember his deafening ‘retirement’ exit at the BRITS in 1992 and his exotic activities since. … the delicate rhythms of the funniest lines by PG Wodehouse.   … a chilling stat involving football academies. … Harry Belafonte, the original “singer and activist”, and the time he was in a drama class with Walter Matthau and Marlon Brando. … plus Shakespeare, a light-fingered Noel Gallagher and amplified busking.------------Tickets for Word In The Park in London on June 3rd here!: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-happy-return-of-word-in-the-park-tickets-576193870377------------Grab your EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal by going to https://nordvpn.com/yourear to get up a Huge Discount off your NordVPN Plan + 4 months for free! It’s completely risk free with Nord’s 30 day money-back guarantee!------------Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for early and ad-free access to all of our content!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Items run up the flagpole this week include … … our memories of the exquisite agony of teenage dances, especially Dave’s at the Mecca Ballroom in Wakefield, 1965. ... unforgettable things said and done by Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson. … rock stars with Brian Jones’s hair. … do we care more about the people who make music than the music itself?… a point from Massive Attack – “is the discussion ‘should AI recreate music?’ or is it ‘Why is contemporary music so homogenised & formulaic that it’s really easy to copy?’” … songs that never fail to fill dancefloors. … a “Ladies’ Prosecco Afternoon” with a Robbie Williams impersonator. … what’ll be the next music revival? … when did you last see a Teddy Boy? … Dave’s story about why Take It Easy by the Eagles meant so much to him. … and the eternal appeal of Mod. … plus birthday guest Andrew Newbury – “was We Can Work It Out the Beatles’ tipping point?”Tickets for Word In The Park in London on June 3rd here!: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-happy-return-of-word-in-the-park-tickets-576193870377Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for early and ad-free access to all of our content!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.