Afleveringen
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The Beach Boys’ SMiLE was abandoned by Brian Wilson in 1967 and eventually performed at an emotional gathering of the faithful in London 37 years later. For writer and lecturer David Leaf it became an obsession. He made a documentary about it in 2004 and has just published ‘SMiLE: The Rise, Fall and Resurrection of Brian Wilson’ drawn from detailed conversations with the people involved. He talks to us here about his discoveries, which include …
... the Rolling Stone story that kick-started his obsession.
… “a bicycle ride from Plymouth Rock to Hawaii” and other early plans for the album.
… how Leonard Bernstein, the Beatles and Derek Taylor racked up the pressure in the studio.
… why the other Beach Boys – and Capitol and Murry Wilson - felt the new music was a threat to their livelihood.
… how Brian composed the “teenage symphony for God” that became an albatross around his neck.
... “Ray Davies needed a deadline”: the perils of endless recording time.
… the magnetism of Van Dyke Parks, a man who “talks in paragraphs”.
... the imagined impact on the world and the band’s career if SMiLE had come out in 1967.
… the birth of “art rock” versus the strictures of the music business.
… the value of the SMiLE myth in the eventual rebirth of the Beach Boys.
… the reaction to its long-awaited performance at the Festival Hall in 2004.
... why Brian thought shelving the album would save the group yet “they went from a No 1 single to an act nobody cared about in under a year”.
... and the greatest Beach Boys record of all time.
Order SMiLE: the Rise, Fall & Resurrection of Brian Wilson here: https://omnibuspress.com/products/smile-the-rise-fall-and-resurrection-of-brian-wilson-published-10th-october-2024?_pos=1&_psq=smile&_ss=e&_v=1.0
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Slapping the beanburger of news on the sizzling grill of scrutiny and served with relish by Alex Gold and Mark Ellen (David’s in Spain with his bucket and spade). This week’s specials include …
… Springsteen’s unprecedented speech onstage in Manchester about his nation’s “corrupt, incompetent and treasonous administration” and the Dixie Chicks’ career-popping anti-Trump manoeuvre of 2003.
… John Niven’s upcoming play ‘The Battle’ and the Blur/Oasis soundclash it celebrates.
… the 50th anniversary of the Stones’ (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction: from motel bed to finished recording in six days.
… “Lennon’s all about the legs”: the art of playing the Beatles, Keith Richards and all four of the Small Faces onstage (involves “ducking, bobbing and dipping”).
… brilliant songs written in seconds – by Lady Gaga, the Beastie Boys, James Brown and the White Stripes.
… the tour circuit and the trouble at borders.
… “the sound of dental floss being pinged by a squirrel”: Bill Bailey’s impression of the Edge with a power failure.
… Elvis v Cliff, Beatles v Stones, Hendrix v Clapton, Bowie v Bolan, Clash v Pistols, Duran v Spandau, Blur v Oasis: what was the last great rock rivalry?
... and Elvis Costello’s inspired use of the Ansaphone.
Fast Show clip ‘Mr Wells’:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FRAeFyBX1w
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Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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Dennis Greaves took a week off from Nine Below Zero in 1980 but otherwise kept his nose firmly applied to the grindstone. They broke up in 1983 when he formed the Truth, who broke up in 1989 when he rebooted the old band. He looks back here at the first gigs he ever saw and played – a world with the attractive scent of spilt beer and tobacco – stopping off at various points, among them …
… why blues and R&B flourished in South London, police and villains drinking together at the Thomas A Becket and the folklore of the Old Kent Road.
... the great advantage of never having a hit.
… taking his parents to see Chuck Berry in 1972.
... the lasting appeal of R&B in a world of processed music.
… what he learnt from Glyn Johns when he produced them at Olympic Studios, “the man who invented phasing with Itchycoo Park”.
… buying singles at A1 Records in Walworth – “Progressive, Reggae, Artists A-Z …”
… seeing Blackfoot Sue and Scarecrow on the pub circuit, and the Groundhogs and Rory Gallagher at the Rainbow.
… Pete Townshend watching Nine Below Zero from the wings - “you remind me of us in the ‘60s”.
… seeing the Jam 11 times – “900 people in a 400 capacity venue!”
… “getting gyp is good as you learn how to control an audience.”
… 2am service station food and how touring has changed in 45 years.
... performing in the pilot for The Young Ones in 1982.
… “the song you should study for A-Level Pop”.
… memories of Mylone LeFevre, Capability Brown, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGee, BB King, Muhammad Ali, Henry Cooper, Uriah Heep, The Little Roosters, Deep Purple, Gary Moore, Greg Lake, Love Sculpture, Free, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Alvin Lee, Dr Feelgood and Charlie McCoy playing Lady Madonna on the harmonica on the Val Doonican Show …
… and the greatest record ever made!
Nine Below Zero tickets and tour dates here: https://www.ninebelowzero.com/tour
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Peter Capaldi – aka Malcolm Tucker, Dr Who, the universal screen delight and an Oscar-winning film director – was the singer in the punk band the Dreamboys in the late ‘70s who put out a single when he was at the art school in Glasgow. And then became an actor. And then - in the grand tradition of actors who’ve made albums, Hugh Laurie, Scarlett Johansson, Jeff Bridges and Keanu Reeves among them – released St Christopher in 2021. He’s just recorded a second, Sweet Illusions, and talks to us in this extremely funny and entertaining pod about …
… how his sole motivation was “a burning desire to be on the telly”.
… the difference between fronting bands and being in plays.
… how he grievously stitched up support band the Cocteau Twins at a gig in Grangemouth.
… a teenage love of Slade - “a bit terrifying but still a bit safe”.
… first-hand evidence of the connection between Blakey from On the Buses, Adolph Hitler and Beatles.
… “you have to write a hundred songs before you can write a good one”.
… arriving at art school in ’76 a Neil Young fan and his overnight transformation – “peroxide hair, PVC trousers and bright red crepe sole shoes”.
… seeing Simple Minds at the Mars Bar in Glasgow, Jim Kerr with his Shakespearian haircut, “strange, powerful, imaginative, post-glam”.
… forming the Dreamboys and “trying to be big, clever and Kafka-esque”.
… the stigma of being virtually the only band in Glasgow not to get a John Peel session.
… writing the “bizarro pulp” lyrics for the Dreamboys – “we couldn’t decide if we were the Cramps or Talking Heads”.
… what’s required, “apart from a terrible Scouse accent”, in playing John Lennon onstage and George Harrison onscreen.
… auditioning (comedian, actor, TV host) Craig Ferguson as the band’s drummer.
… how Bill Forsyth launched his acting career: “one minute you’re supporting Altered Images, the next in a movie with Burt Lancaster”.
… forming a duo with Keanu Reeves when filming Dangerous Liaisons in Paris – powdered wigs in the daytime, guitar/bass punk-thrash at night.
.. the romantic Edward Hopper charm of Glasgow in the ‘70s - proto-goths, street lights, rain.
… how Dr Robert of the Blow Monkeys and four months filming The Suicide Squad in Atlanta spurred him into writing songs.
… the greatest record of all time.
Order the Sweet Illusions album here:
https://shop.lastnightfromglasgow.com/products/peter-capaldi-sweet-illusions-vinyl-lp-cd-lossless-dl
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The teenage Alan Parsons was hired as a tape op by EMI and worked with the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Steve Harley, orchestras, comedians, Pinky And Perky and countless others in the control room at Abbey Road, and saw almost 60 years of technical revolution. He’s just finished a 50th anniversary box set of Harley’s the Best Years Of Our Lives and talks here from his Santa Monica home studio about …
… the things you find buried in old recordings.
… how AI will allow anyone to remix their favourite record.
… the miraculous transformation of Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me) from a vindictive dirge to a No 1 pop hit, its backing vocalists and its DJ-baffling false ending.
… cutting the tape with John Lennon to end I Want You (She’s So Heavy).
… seeing himself - ‘in an orange shirt and black knitted tie’ - in the Get Back movie 52 years later. ‘It proves I was there!’
… recording the clocks, footsteps and airport announcer for The Dark Side Of The Moon - ‘playing Abbey Road studios as an instrument’.
… recording He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother with Reg Dwight on piano.
… the magical ‘60s technology that made Pinky And Perky.
… opening the door at Savile Row and first seeing the Beatles and all their girlfriends.
… recording Pilot, the Hollies and the Joe Loss Orchestra.
… the story of Clare Torry and The Great Gig In The Sky.
… Abbey Road recordings stored at a nearby squash court.
… working with David Gilmour on an Earls Court show from the 1990s.
… touring with the Alan Parsons Project (who never toured originally).
… why Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone is the greatest record of all time (clue: the hi-hat and bass figure).
Pre-order Steve Harley’s ‘The Best Years of Our Lives’ here:
https://SteveHarley.lnk.to/TBY
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Perched outside the Vatican Of News awaiting puffs of white smoke, which this week arrive in the following fashion …
… Brandi Carlile’s Mothership Weekend and her genius for publicity.
… Jim Morrison is alive and living in Syracuse, New York!: barrel-scraping new rock documentary incoming.
… Hip Hop Wealth v Rock Wealth: the $57m house Kayne West bought, gutted and left to disintegrate.
… real or fictional ‘religious’ musicians – Saint Pepsi, Cardinal Rex, Pope Plastique, the Reverend Horton Heat?
…. Lady Gaga at Cobacabana Beach and is there anywhere in the UK you could feasibly hold a concert for two million people?
… “Crafting smiles for today’s legends’: Kayne West’s devious dentist.
… is Elvis still ‘sighted in Brent Cross Shopping Centre’?
… the Noel Gallagher sunglasses range! The ‘She’s Electric’ train route to Wembley!: the eternal churn of the Oasis rumour mill.
… the life and luck of Peter Capaldi, one minute supporting Altered Images, the next in a movie with Burt Lancaster.
… is there music for everyone anymore or is it all repackaged for subsects of the population?
… ‘the towering gates of Sean Combs' estate have flaming torches burning day and night’.
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Dennis McNally was the Grateful Dead’s publicist in the mid-‘80s, one of many reasons why he’s supremely qualified to write his new book about the birth of the counterculture in America’s West and East Coast and Britain. ‘The Last Great Dream: How Bohemians Became Hippies And Created the Sixties’, a celebration of music, beat poetry, radical thinking, free speech and artistic liberty, seems even more precious now in the light of recent events. All sorts are discussed here, these being some of the highlights …
… how the Summer of Love of ‘67 actually happened in the Fall of ‘66 in Haight-Ashbury.
… “rigid, stagnant, terrifying”: early ‘60s America before the revolution.
… the three key cities that “experimented with freedom”.
... how San Francisco “cherished strangeness” and had a self-proclaimed ruler, Emperor Norton, who created his own currency.
… how the Grateful Dead - “the ultimate example of the bohemian pulse writ large in music” – spent $1m building a sound system when they were earning $125 a week.
… the influence of Private Eye, Beyond The Fringe and That Was The Week That Was on British culture. And of Lenny Bruce, the Hungry I club, Bill Cosby, Woody Allen and Mort Sahl in America.
… how Rebel Without A Cause and the Wild One helped establish the West Coast as rebellious.
… “there are two flags of freedom – one to make as much money as possible, the other to be as open-minded and thoughtful about everything”.
… Eisenhower said “in God we trust!” But which God?
… the entire security for the 25,000 crowd at the Human Be-In in Golden Gate Park was two mounted policemen.
… “nothing is more fun than researching”.
... how the counter-culture was created with very little money or technology.
Order the Last Great Dream here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Last-Great-Dream-Bohemians-Hippies/dp/0306835665
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Passing the thermometer of conversation over the rock and roll news to see where the mercury rises, which this week includes …
… the new Barbra Streisand duets album. Duets are ‘playlets’, small intense dramas that depend on human interaction, but so many are recorded separately (including, tragically, Ain’t No Mountain High Enough by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell).
… but … duets you HAVE to hear! eg Cash & Carter, Otis Redding & Carla Thomas, Ray Charles & Betty Carter, Siouxsie & Morrissey, Nick Cave & Kylie, Peter Gabriel & Kate Bush.
… the extraordinary story of the rebirth and Indian Summer of Mississippi John Hurt after 40 years of invisibility.
… blues lyrics that now seem unimaginable.
… Frank Zappa as a drug dealer? Miles Davis as a pimp? Cyndi Lauper as a trophy wife? Real or made-up Miami Vice rock star cameos.
… great opening lines – “We got married in a fever …!”
… how you always learn something you never knew about someone from their obituary - like Mike Peters’ involvement in the highest altitude concert ever performed (on Everest with Glenn Tilbrook and Slim Jim Phantom).
… where people listen to the Word In Your Ear “poddy” – eg in the bath, in court, at wedding receptions, by the Allman Brothers’ graveside.
Plus birthday guest John Montagna on rock stars who should be in a TV series.
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In which comedian Al Murray and historian James Holland talk about their new book Victory ’45 and our twin national obsessions, the Second World War and The Beatles. Includes:
….how being emotionally shut down enabled Montgomery to collect the surrender at Luneburg Heath
….how a profound sense of duty helped Harry Truman make the most dreadful decisions anyone has ever faced
…how German soldiers could keep on invoicing right until the end
…what all this has to tell us about our present predicament
…why thousands of blokes in camo (and a surprising amount of women) attend their We Have Ways Fest every summer: https://wehavewaysfest.co.uk/
….what it is that continues to fascinate us about World War II.
….how its story is being told in new ways
…how they both came to The Beatles
Buy Victory '45 here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Victory-45-history-bestselling-historians/dp/0857507958
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Derek Shulman was at the heart of two great transformations – Simon Dupree & the Big Sound switching to psychedelia, and then sensing the prog-rock trade winds and becoming Gentle Giant. One minute he was singing Kites, the next Pantagruel’s Nativity (Gentle Giant’s rebooted ‘Playing The Fool: The Complete Live Experience’ is just out). After which he was a record label president signing Bon Jovi, Slipknot and Nickelback and rebooting AC/DC and Bad Company. It’s a phenomenal story and involves …
… three pieces of advice for any band today.
… playing the ‘64 circuit in his R&B band the Roadrunners.
… the fictitious character he invented as Simon Dupree.
… when Dudley Moore was their session pianist.
… memories of Marc Bolan (“flat on his back playing guitar”), Tony Iommi, Tony Visconti, Don Arden, Gerry Bron and “the English mob”.
… what they borrowed from Traffic in the Great Psychedelic Scare of 1967.
… auditioning for George Martin and the lab-coated sound engineers at Abbey Road.
… being phoned on a ship returning from Sweden to be told ‘Kites’ was Top Twenty and doing Top Of The Pops with Status Quo and the Kinks.
… “cars and bags of jewels”: the advantage of being “the darlings of the Isle of Wight Mafia” (which included the Krays).
… watching Bowie recording The Man Who Sold The World at Trident.
… Elton John’s advice that helped form Gentle Giant.
… the catastrophic US tour with Black Sabbath (on their “chemical romance”) where the audience threw cherry-bombs onstage: “you learnt how to work a crowd!”
… George Underwood’s cover for the first Gentle Giant album.
… what he saw in Slipknot and why he signed them.
You can order GENTLE GIANT – PLAYING THE FOOL: THE COMPLETE LIVE EXPERIENCE here: https://gentlegiantuk.lnk.to/PTF
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While Mark Ellen is hanging out with the other old ruins in Athens, David Hepworth and Alex Gold compare and contrast the organisation of the London Marathon with the Travellodge in Frimley and wonder…
…Rolling Stone cover stars or members of Trump’s clown cabinet?
…if you were interviewed as often as a rock star would you too make stuff up?
…was Max Romeo’s innocent explanation of “Wet Dream" convincing?
…where do you listen to the Word In Your Ear Podcast?
All this and more in your favourite podcast.
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Moon Zappa grew up in what appeared, on the outside, to be an enviably free-wheeling and creative household in Laurel Canyon. On the inside, not so much. Her extremely funny, soul-baring and colourful account of dysfunctional family life in her memoir Earth To Moon is as gripping as it’s unsettling. A typical day: “Your mother’s on the rampage, I need you to hide the gun!” Only other children with famous parents can fully gauge the emotional turmoil. She talks here about her memoir Earth To Moon – just out in paperback – and the impact of Frank’s work and tours on the frail domestic set-up and the years they all spent “stewarding his genius”. Along with …
… “is genius worth the collateral damage?”
… fond memories of rare moments with her workaholic father.
… the Zappa family’s perilous finances: “Could he write a pop song or did he just choose not to?”
... how she was shut out of the control of Frank’s estate “plus a clause saying if I found religion I’d get no money at all”.
… the nurses’ reaction when they discovered her new-born brother was named ‘Dweezil’.
... recording Valley Girl, the song that made her a teenage star and changed the family fortunes but got no gratitude from her parents.
… why Frank found Valley Girl’s success “mortifying”. And how her one catastrophic live version put her off stage performance for life.
… and that unique bond you have with other celebrity offspring: “Jakob Dylan and I just cackle with laughter. ‘That happened to you too?’”
Order ‘Earth To Moon’ in paperback here:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Earth-Moon-Unit-Zappa/dp/1474623859/ref=asc_df_1474623859?mcid=ae11e321cea83f4486c71a35dd95a9ea&th=1&psc=1&hvocijid=15982814295882496701-1474623859-&hvexpln=74&tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=696285193871&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=15982814295882496701&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9072502&hvtargid=pla-2281435176458&psc=1&gad_source=1
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We like to think of Daryl Hall as a kindred spirit, his home-recorded Live At Daryl’s House series with its magnificent roster of guests now racking up 90 episodes. He’s about to tour in May and talks to us here from his house in the Bahamas – straw hat, roosters crowing! – looking back at the first gigs he ever saw and played and other delights such as …
… travelling with his mother’s Broadway dance band when he was three.
… seeing the Temptations, Smokey Robinson, Patti LaBelle and the Bluetones in the Uptown Theater, Philadelphia, in the early ‘60s.
… Three Men In A Boat: a barge trip through London with Dave Stewart and Bob Dylan.
… “My teenage rule: I will only wear dark green or black and needlepoint shoes. I had balls in those days!”
… why Hall & Oates is “in the past” - “He initiated the split and neither of us want to resolve it”.
… songs he always plays - Sara Smile, I Can't Go for That (No Can Do) – and why you’ll never hear She’s Gone again.
… making his first records on a four-track in Virtue Studios, Philadelphia, and recording with MFSB. “I still like to keep it lean and mean.”
… playing session piano with the Delfonics and making a single with Chubby Checker.
… his first cheque for songwriting - $15.
… “I brought rock and roll to my High School!”
… the success of Live At Daryl’s House and the episodes with Todd Rundgren, Smokey Robinson and Glenn Tilbrook.
… his sideline in restoring 18th Century houses.
Live From Daryl’s House here: https://livefromdarylshouse.com/
Daryl Hall tour dates and tickets here: https://hallandoates.com/tour/
Buy/stream the ‘D’ album here: https://ingrv.es/DarylHallD
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The chocolate Easter bunny of rock and roll news in highly nutritious and digestible fragments, such as …
… the Who’s very public sacking of Zak Starkey.
… why no band ever wants to play quietly.
… how a magazine in a shop window sparked the Neil Tennant/Mark Springer album.
… Katy Perry’s space ‘mission’ and the trenchant observations by her and the ‘crew’ – “I can’t put it into words but I looked out the window and we got to see the moon!”
… The Thing In The Cellar, Dogs Are Everywhere, Roadkill … Pulp song or episode of The Good Life?
… the brilliant new ‘One To One: John & Yoko’ documentary and how we miss the days when rock stars went on live chat shows and said the first thing that came into their heads.
… why musicians are fundamentally different from other entertainers.
... perilous domestic gadgets of the ‘60s.
… the allure of songs about space.
… “Ray’s at the controls!” When Ray Charles went walkabout on the band’s private plane.
… Pete Townshend: “We need bigger weapons!”
… Ben Watt DJ-ing in ear defenders.
… Ray Davies, Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman …? Who grew the first psychedelic moustache?
Plus birthday guest Al Hearton on Kris Kristofferson, John Travolta, Bruce Dickinson, Gary Numan and the rock and roll/aviation crossover.
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Dave Pegg joined Fairport Convention 56 years ago and fully deserves some sort of medal. They’re playing their 49th Cropredy in August and touring the UK later in the year. He talks to us here about the first gigs he ever saw and played which, delightfully, involves …
… the night Hank Marvin took him to see Bjork.
… an all-nighter in Birmingham with John Mayall, Eric Clapton, Chris Farlowe and Spencer Davis.
… memories of his “school hero” Denny Laine.
… the fine art of getting it together in the country: life at the Angel pub in Little Hadham – “flea-bitten, enough hot water for one person and a lorry crashed through the wall into Dave Swarbrick’s bedroom”.
… the link between ticket sales and high blood pressure.
… what not to do when you meet McCartney.
… a night on the whisky with Rick Danko that ended in hospital.
… how a band lasts 58 years without falling out.
… the Island albums that made their reputation but never earned them any money.
… unsung Birmingham acts: Denny Laine & the Diplomats (Bev Bevan on drums), Steve Gibbons in the Uglys, Jeff Lynne in the Idle Race.
… narrowboats, pewter ale jugs, outdoor settees, Matty Groves, Meet On The Ledge and other cornerstones of the Cropredy experience.
… Dave Swarbrick’s “small holding” and further assorted knob gags.
Fairport Convention tickets here: https://www.davepegg.co.uk/gigs/fairportgigs/
Cropredy tickets here: https://www.fairportconvention.com/
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Boldly pursuing tariff-free trade in rock and roll news, nostalgia, gossip and old hokum since 2007 and, this week, featuring …
… the romantic allure of life as a critic.
… Sting’s part in the success of ‘Adolescence’.
… Mick Jagger’s long engagement to Melanie Hamrick (born when Steel Wheels came out!)
… "Contained within these grooves are twelve convincing arguments against the capitalist system" and other vicious reviews revisited.
… when Bob Marley recorded ‘Sugar Sugar’ by the Archies.
… Al Bowlly’s menacing ‘Midnight, The Stars And You’ and how film soundtracks change your relationship with music.
… what Mike Chapman had to tell Blondie to make ‘Parallel Lines’ a hit.
… little-known pop fact no 97: Dave Pegg was at the same school as the man who invented the internet!
… "I can lose weight but you will always be the director of Brown Bunny” – cracking film review one-liners from Roger Ebert.
… the Jaws film and the Jeeves musical: both came out 50 years ago, both riddled with catastrophe. One broke box office records, the other died like a louse in a Russian’s beard.
… Gabrielle Drake - “If you’re going to be in a flop, best it be a huge one.”
… why Elvis Costello and Al Stewart should hit the lecture circuit.
… and David Hemmings, inconsolable, in a shower.
Plus birthday guest Chuck Loncon stages a quiz.
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Sparks are touring – playing dates in the UK and Ireland in June and July – and with a new (and 28th) album, Mad!. Russell Mael looks back at the first shows he ever saw and played which entails …
… sitting on the floors of LA clubs watching Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, the Move, the Faces, the Who and Tyrannosaurus Rex.
… his Mum taking him to see the Beatles in the Hollywood Bowl among “10,000 screaming girls”.
… “there was a faux honesty about the Laurel Canyon bands – ‘it’s just me and my guitar’ – whereas the British acts had the clothes and put on a performance. Which is just as honest.”
… what Todd Rundgren saw in the early Sparks.
… Edgar Wright’s “love letter” movie ‘The Sparks Brothers’ and how it’s expanded their audience.
… rehearsing for four months to perform all 21 of their albums in their entirety in 2008 (in Islington) and the people who came every night.
… playing pizza parlours in the ‘60s – “we were paid in pizza”.
… and how the Mael brothers’ creative relationship has worked - indeed thrived – for over 60 years.
Sparks tour dates and tickets: https://allsparks.com/
Order Sparks’ new album Mad! here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/MAD-Sparks/dp/B0DY9JD1TX
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The runners and riders in the rock and roll steeplechase first past the post this week include …
… how Ed Sheeran protects himself against song theft claims.
… ‘lost’ Hendrix, Beach Boys, Amy Winehouse and Jeff Buckley records: is anything unfinished ever any good?
… “The Unauthorised Breakfast Item”: can YOU tell a Bob Newhart sketch title from a Caravan song?
… US Office versus the UK original and the genius of Steve Carrell.
… The West Wing, Frasier, the Good Life and how romance is the root of all great sitcoms.
… rock and roll lighting: “you can do whatever you want now but that doesn’t mean you should”.
… Judge claims busking is “noise pollution”!
. … Pink Floyd: “it’s not going to work without the gong!”
… and a giant poster of David Hepworth and Mark Ellen pinned to a tree outside Wareham.
Plus birthday guest Stephen Lambe on the downside of the age of spectacle.
Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear
Get bonus content on PatreonHosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Ed Tudor Pole entered punk rock from stage school and always felt he was playing a part. After being hired to act in the Great Rock’N’Roll Swindle, he formed Tenpole Tudor and had a brief and dramatic moment in the sun, all recorded in his rollicking memoir ‘The Pen Is Mightier.’ He talks here about …
… his “quite posh” ancestry and a great-grandfather bankrupted by the Wall Street Crash.
… a “Damascene conversion” to the Rolling Stones and ten hours in the burning sun at their Hyde Park show, aged 14.
… being at RADA with Timothy Spall, Imelda Staunton and Juliet Stevenson.
… The Great Rock’N’Roll Swindle audition and the “really horrid” Nancy Spungen’s striptease.
… how everyone’s related to Edward 111.
… the secret of a One-Man Show – adopt the voice of Will Hay and “let the audience do the work!”
… why “most actors are awful people and all crippled in some way” and his time in theatre was “like being a cow in a field of sheep”.
… how Stiff’s Dave Robinson hated punk and wanted Tenpole Tudor to be a novelty act.
… three months with five acts in a coach on the Stiff Tour.
… how the success of Swords Of A Thousand Men didn’t affect their ticket sales - “it was bought by 350,000 12 year-old boys who weren’t old enough to go to gigs”.
… why the Tenpole Tudor split broke his heart.
… as Socrates said, “the unexamined life is not worth living.”
Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear
… surprise paydays like the use of Who Killed Bambi? in the Zero Day soundtrack to accompany Robert De Niro’s nervous breakdown.
Order ‘The Pen Is Mightier’ here …
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pen-Mightier-Autobiography-Punk-Rocker/dp/0857306057
Get bonus content on PatreonHosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Scanning the rock and roll ether with our patent heat-seeking Ripple-Detector®️ to see what rings the bell. Which this week includes …
… how reformed ‘90s pop groups all look like Paul Whitehouse characters from the Fast Show.
… the mutual agony of parents taking kids to concerts.
… “Tap! Tap! Tap!”, the “gacked up” sound of the Heartbreakers’ at work in Fort Petty.
… “Two old voices crack through the static/ Vinyl souls dissected so erratic”: AI’s nerve-jangling interpretation of Word In Your Ear – in song!
… the four stages of showbiz … and three stages of hearing music.
… the miracle birth of Don Henley’s ‘The Boys Of Summer’.
… why we tend to run the other way when people insist we’d like something.
… records that make sense 40 years later – and a message from Brian Eno.
… EMF and the graffiti, Carter USM rugby tackling Phillip Schofield, Radiohead playing ‘My Iron Lung’: bands “too cool” for the Smash Hits Poll Winners’ Party.
… how simpler music appeals as you get older.
Plus the new Patreon roll-call and, from Les, the unsettling AI-generated tribute to Word in Your Ear:
https://suno.com/song/ba364f5a-1b39-4d77-8f5b-bcdb9bad6760?sh=N3TMfcz8YUIxPIyl
Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear
Get bonus content on PatreonHosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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