Word In Your Ear

Richard Thompson first appeared onstage aged 14 playing Beatles covers in a school group “so bad we were pelted with pennies”. Sixty years later his range of operations includes touring solo and with his band, occasional reunions with Fairport Convention, residencies on Adriatic cruise ships and running a Guitar Camp in the Catskill Mountains (along with his sons and grandson). Much has he seen and learned about live entertainment along the way and he talks to us here from his home on the American East Coast on the day of the solar eclipse. Among the highlights …   … memories of the Marquee in 1965 – the Who, the Yardbirds, the Spencer Davis Group: “if you wanted to see both sets, you’d have to walk ten miles home”. … seeing Nick Drake and the value of being “a silent, tortured genius”. … life as a support act and how to “attack an audience”. … Carl Perkins and Chuck Berry at the Finsbury Park Astoria in 1963 “when Chuck was at the height of his attention span”. … Segovia at the Festival Hall. … the perils of playing on sea cruises in rough weather. … old and current album sleeves. “Dressed as a fly and now dressed as a fisherman … that’s progress.” … how Ian Anderson and Captain Beefheart told the audience who’s boss. … and watching the Band at the Albert Hall from a box with Fairport Convention.---------------------- Richard Thompson tour dates: https://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/richard-thompson-tickets/artist/736296 Order the new album Ship To Shore here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ship-Shore-Richard-Thompson/dp/B0CVXHMFPB-----------------------Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for early - and ad-free - access to all of our content, plus a whole load more!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Neil’s an old friend from our days back at Smash Hits in the early ‘80s. The first Pet Shop Boys demos were played on the office tape machine, though he was a bit self-conscious about “the one with the rap on it”, and he’s one of the few people who’s seen the music press from every angle - as a reader in the ‘70s, as a writer and interviewer and as a musician on its front covers. We had so much great material from this wide-ranging conversation that we’ve turned it into a two-part podcast. Here’s a taste of what you’ll find in this first half ...  … the NME article he and his brother pinned to their bedroom wall. … the event at a Sex Pistols show “which stopped me going to gigs for about three years”. … the first time he saw his name in print. … interviewing Marc Bolan in his “fat phase”. … a barbed chat with Morrissey. … the pop press shift from “super-showbiz to super-counter-culture”. … Television, the Clash and other music he discovered through the NME. … meeting John Taylor 35 years after interviewing him.   … the pop decade when “something extraordinary happened every day”. … his mother’s horrified reaction when he left Smash Hits to start the Pet Shop Boys. … the Human League in their Imperial Phase. … Phil Collins showing him round Abba’s studio in Stockholm. … and why ‘80s pop stars were “the most controlling”.------------------------------------- PSB tour dates: https://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/pet-shop-boys-tickets/artist/735852 Order the new Pet Shop Boys album ‘Nonetheless’ here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/nonetheless-Deluxe-2CD-Shop-Boys/dp/B0CTKKBBVF-------------------------------------Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for early - and ad-free! - access to all of our content, plus a whole load more!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We lobbed the cracked wooden ball of enquiry at the rock and roll coconut shy this week and a few choice items dropped off their perch, among them …… was Kate Bush ‘the Queen of Prog’? … ELP, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple playing to 350,000 people on a Speedway track. … the three things that sparked the Abba revival. … the Further Adventures of Desmond and Molly Jones, Mean Mr Mustard, Polythene Pam, Father McKenzie, Rocky Raccoon, Maxwell Edison, Rose and Valerie, Sweet Loretta Martin, Vera, Chuck and Dave … Beatles characters awaiting development deals. … was Britpop the moment the engine went into reverse? … the two years went rock went ‘fancy dress’. … why the Stones in 1964 were five walking fashion statements. … Bookends by Simon & Garfunkel and its Yes connection. … how the Beatles were in uniform on every album cover. … David Vine at the 1974 Eurovision: “if all the judges were men, this lot would get a lot of votes and you’ll see why in a moment!” … plus a birthday guest party - Al Hearton’s life in a Kate Bush tribute band and Stephen Lambe on the complicated birth of 90125 by Yes.Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for early - and ad-free - access to all of our content, plus a whole load more!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We’ve applied our celebrated sheep/goats separation technique to the rock and roll pasture and shepherded the following into this week’s pod … … Beyoncé and why it’s hard to connect with songs written by committee. … are we too old for biopics? … Marvel films, the Arctic Monkeys and other things you either love or avoid.   … reviewing Human Touch and Lucky Town in a high-security studio (and how you can only tell if an album’s any good if you’ve lived with it for two months). … why Tony Blackburn is the greatest British DJ. … “Bing was no more Bing than Sinatra was Sinatra”. … hoary old tales that were the engine of the rock press - the Clash shooting pigeons, Kevin Rowland stealing his own master-tapes, Cliff v Elvis, Beatles v Stones, Hendrix v Clapton, Bowie v Bolan, Clash v the Pistols, Spandau v Duran, Oasis v Blur. … are Oasis songs mostly about being Oasis? … “fame is no longer enacted in the public space”. … indie cliches – escaping the drudgery of the Man and mundanity of Small Town life. … “the harder I practice, the luckier I get”. … Scots punk act get movie soundtrack windfall! … Alex is arranging a woke stag do - “you go to places where ladies put clothes ON”. … plus birthday guest Andrew Newbury wonders if Country is more than “the three Ds - driving, dogs and divorce”.Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for early - and ad-free - access, plus a whole load more!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Paul Cook’s post-Pistols band the Professionals were once, rather surprisingly, on the cover of Smash Hits - “the pinnacle of our success!” – and they’re including the 100 Club on their upcoming tour, the location of another career highlight. He talks to us here about how the first time he played live was also the Pistols’ first appearance (Saint Martin’s College of Art - “utter chaos”), how their old Denmark Street rehearsal room is now an AirBnB (Rotten’s cartoons still on the wall), old punks in the audience, Danny Boyle’s TV series and the very slim chance of a reunion (“never say never”). But much of this is about climbing through back windows to see bands in the early ‘70s, Stevie Wonder, the Four Tops, Queen and Mott the Hoople among them. And seeing Alex Harvey on the day the whole of Scotland descended on London for the match against England at Wembley. The Professionals are playing four UK dates (and often chuck in a couple of Pistols' tunes):https://www.ents24.com/uk/tour-dates/the-professionals-1-1Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for early - and ad-free - access to all of our content, plus a whole load more: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

exas are touring in the autumn and she talks to us here about what’s required to make it all look easy, a conversation that includes …  … why working in a Glaswegian hair salon was the perfect preparation for pop stardom. … the difference between the first second onstage and everything that follows.  … the advantage of being a singer with an instrument.   … seeing Jim Kerr in his mother’s blouse at Tiffany’s in Glasgow when she was 15. … how Dusty Springfield remembered lyrics. … Chrissie Hynde, Siouxsie, Depeche Mode, Cameo and the Clash. … the overpowering spectacle of Prince’s Sign O’ The Times tour in Paris. … playing racecourses and the unsettling sight of an audience wearing fascinator hats. … supporting Fleetwood Mac (her second gig) and something useful learnt from Stevie Nicks. … and the nocturnal sound of lions “going at it full swipe” near her house by Regents Park. Texas tickets here: https://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/texas-tickets/artist/742180 Texas & Spooner Oldham sessions: https://www.texas.uk.com/Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for early - and ad-free - access to all of our content, plus a whole load more!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The all-seeing telescope of truth scanned this week’s rock and roll heavens and noticed a few patterns emerge, among them … … the real story of the writing of Layla and who nicked what from where. And who didn’t get paid. … why Sally Grossman was on the cover of Bringing It All Back Home.   … album sleeves with overflowing ashtrays that screamed ‘welcome to my bohemian world!’ – Soft Machine’s Third, Man’s Rhinos, Winos + Lunatics, Back Street Crawler …   … album sleeves that said “meet my girlfriend!” – McDonald And Giles, the Madcap Laughs, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, Love Chronicles, the Paul Simon Handbook …   … album sleeves suggesting the powerful aphrodisiac of music and the allure of ‘the bachelor pad’ … .. our night out at a Leo Sidran show and what we’ll expect – indeed insist upon - at all gigs in the future. … when rock stars read 12th Century Persian poetry. …the time Lucinda Williams toured with Dylan and Van Morrison and never met either of them. … the glorious squalor of ‘70s flats. … “comedy is tragedy at a different speed”. … mentioned in despatches: Sharleen Spiteri, John Mellencamp, James Burton, Bobby Whitlock, Daniel Kramer.   The Everly Brothers’ Walking The Dog. Is that the original Layla riff at 2.20? …https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=072OpLw-l_sSubscribe 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.

Phil Manzanera – who thought “every day in the band felt like Christmas” – has just published his memoir, Revolución to Roxy, and talked to us about it in front of a rammed and captivated audience at London’s 21Soho, an evening so full of detail, intrigue and revelation we’re putting it out as two podcasts. This is the second. He lifts the bonnet of the Roxy Music “art collective” in its various line-ups and shows you how the engine worked and why the idea of Eno onstage was “frightening”. He remembers working with a whole range of people – David Gilmour, Robert Wyatt, Heroes De Silencia, Quiet Sun, 801, David Bowie, Keith Richards, Jack Bruce and Tim Finn among them. He talks about the five seconds of guitar he knocked off in 1975 that’s made him “more money than all my Roxy earnings put together”. He reflects – and very poignantly – that bands never talk to each other and how he hopes the other members read his memoir as they’ll discover things about him they never knew. And he tells the fantastic story of the Guitar Legends festival in Seville and the way he managed Bob Dylan.   And you can order a copy of ‘Revolución to Roxy’ here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Revoluci%C3%B3n-Roxy-Phil-Manzanera/dp/1783242817Subscribe 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.

Phil Manzanera – whose relatives include a Colombian pirate, a spy and an Italian opera musician - has just published his memoir, Revolución to Roxy, and talked to us about it in front of a packed and enthralled house at London’s 21Soho, a life so fascinating, detailed and colourful we’re releasing the conversation as a two-part podcast. Here’s Part One which looks back at an exotic childhood in Hawaii, Caracas and Cuba – with first-hand memories of Castro’s revolution in 1959 – and then his school days, early bands (the Drag Alley Beach Mob, Pooh & the Ostrich Feathers, Quiet Sun), the audition for Roxy Music, how they were styled, supporting David Bowie and their rapid and eventful ascent to the first hit single. When he joined the band, he said, “every day felt like Christmas”. Part Two to follow! Order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Revoluci%C3%B3n-Roxy-Phil-Manzanera/dp/1783242817Subscribe 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.

Fish has announced a Farewell Tour in 2025. “I’ve been there, done that and sold the t-shirt.” He’s moving to a croft on a remote Scottish island with nesting eagles, a flock of sheep named after the Hibernian FC team of 1972 and part-ownership of what’s just been voted “the best beach in the world”. Getting there is like the journey in Brigadoon. This covers a wide range of bases, among them … … how the fall of the Berlin Wall changed the tour circuit.   … his first gig as “a big, gangly, geeky teenager” at the Golden Lion in Galashiels playing Steely Dan and Ry Cooder covers. … the lies boys tell when trying to get into bands. … supporting Queen for an audience of 200,000 and how he “over-toured” Europe. … how it feels to be “the Anti-Christ in the Church of Marillion” and their very public divorce in 1988. … seeing Yes at the Usher Hall in for £1.25 and Genesis on the Lamb Lies Down On Broadway tour. … the music press v the New Wave of British Prog. … girls called Kayleigh whose mothers fancied the singer from Marillion. … irate fans on social media. … the fine art of “guerrilla touring”.    … plus the Faces, Sven Hassel, Edgar Rice Burroughs and a curious analogy about Sioux Indians. https://fishmusic.scot/UK tour dates here …https://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/fish-tickets/artist/740885Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for early - and ad-free - access to all of our content, plus a whole load more!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.