Word In Your Ear

The Zombies formed before the Stones and had huge hits with She’s Not There and Time Of The Season. Their baroque masterpiece Odessey and Oracle now gets ranked beside Revolver and Pet Sounds. Colin Blunstone has a solo tour in 2026 and looks back here in his wood-panelled den at the first shows he played, the people he met and being No 1 in America aged 19. This too … … when your career starts at 16 “and you think it’s over at 21” … seeing the Beatles at Luton Odeon and the Stones at Studio 51 Leicester Square “sitting on stools playing acoustic R&B” … winning the talent contest that got them a record deal and a worldwide hit with “the third song Rod ever wrote” … playing Murray the K’s Christmas Show when No 1 in America with “all our heroes” - the Shirelles, Patti LaBelle and Ben E King … his father’s warning when he wanted to go to Art School … the misspelling of Odessey And Oracle and its rushed recording at Abbey Road – “in mono when everyone wanted stereo!” … “only Kenny Everett and Penny Valentine liked it”: the album’s afterlife, “now ranked alongside Revolver and Pet Sounds” … how he still hits “my suicidal top notes” and the old trick of pointing the mic at the audience if you don’t want to sing them … life in an insurance office when the Zombies split and “the three writers had made all the money” … and Al Kooper, Denny Laine, Russ Ballard, Rod Argent and the time Mike Hurst inexplicably relaunched him as ‘Neil MacArthur’. Order tickets for the Believe In Miracles Tour here: https://www.colinblunstone.net/Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Richard Morton-Jack, an author and compiler of 'Led Zeppelin: The Only Way to Fly,' dives deep into the fascinating early days of Led Zeppelin. He sheds light on the band's struggle for recognition, the amusing early misprints of their name, and the bizarre venues they played. Morton-Jack discusses how Jimmy Page tailored their sound for American audiences and challenges the myth of universal critical disdain, highlighting many enthusiastic reviews. Additionally, he reveals Robert Plant's clever publicity stunts that shaped their early image.

Shifting the pass-the-parcel of news and removing the wrapping when the music stops. Which this week happens here … … will rock bands get offered the Saudi money? … “there could be no British nightclubs in 2030” … Diane Keaton and why all men were besotted … the day Led Zeppelin played an Aqua Theatre for an audience swimming and in boats … “the optimum number of band members is either three or loads” … did Easy Rider invent the music video? … Trainspotting, Reservoir Dogs, Midnight Cowboy, Almost Famous – soundtrack moments that made their movies … 12 million more UK tickets were sold than in 2019 yet 150 small venues closed in two years: “scale is now part of the appeal” … the genius of John Sebastian … the end of MTV UK and how video changed the landscape … “Here’s to you Mrs Roosevelt”: how Simon & Garfunkel got into the Graduate  … can anyone fathom Ghost Town Blues by Prefab Sprout? Plus Tim Hardin, Harry Nilsson and birthday guest Matthew Elliott on why three is the magic number.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.

The look, sound, story and dynamic of the Beatles can’t be imagined without him. Nor can their success. Tom Doyle, author and drummer, examines the unexplored depths of the one at the back from 70 different angles, one per chapter, in his new memoir ‘Ringo: A Fab Life’ and talks to us here about …. … how he learnt to read by looking at his Dad’s Beatles singles and the one that first made him notice the drumming ... what you learn re-watching him in Peter Jackson’s Get Back … why Ringo gave them universal appeal and his key role in their conquest of America … supernatural brilliance: exceptional moments such as the un-slowed original Rain and “the way he makes the sound of the holes in Blackburn, Lancashire” … the delicious Britishness of comparing Rishikesh to Butlins and the mantra the Maharishi gave him he still uses every day … the pre-Beatles time he applied to emigrate to Texas and what stopped him doing it … the only Beatle who could dance: the proof! … the Lost Years and the day he had his head and eyebrows shaved … the mortifying fate of the first recording of the four Beatles together (in 1960) … how all four spent the rest of their lives in recovery … what Sam Mendes might accentuate in his upcoming portrait of Ringo ... and the clip that’ll be all over the news on the day he bows out. Plus our campaign to buy the Sentimental Journey pub starts here! Order Tom Doyle’s ‘Ringo: A Fab Life’ here: https://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/books/Ringo/Tom-Doyle/9781917923132Help us to keep The Longest Conversation In Rock going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Steering the supercar of enquiry round the rock and roll racetrack with the occasional stop for a tyre change. Foot-to-floor moments this week include… … why are the British so hung up about posh pop stars? … the 10-second moment of his stage routine that Springsteen must find addictive … the flaming bra, the flying dress, the human horse: Lady Gaga’s most OTT entrances .. would YOU want Madonna as a sister-in-law? … Fleetwood Mac, the Grateful Dead, the Bee Gees: bands the NME said were finished in 1975 … John Paul Jones in Marks and Sparks … musicians’ houses we’d most like to live in (actually one’s a lifeboat) … the goth/fantasy allure of Steve Nicks on TikTok … and the still-haunting times we died onstage “like a louse in a Russian’s beard”. Plus Noel Coward, Julie Andrews, Jem Finer, birthday guest Phil Turner and Tony Bennett’s favourite meal.Help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

London’s Blitz club in 1980 had a huge impact on the way the decade looked and sounded, the launchpad for Boy George, Spandau Ballet, a new age of electro-pop and many writers, designers and photographers. The author and broadcaster Robert Elms was one of its cornerstones, “a place for people who’d outgrown the 20th Century”. We talk here about his book ‘Blitz: the Club That Created the ‘80s’ with all of this on the dancefloor …   … the Blitz Club rules, “unspoken until Steve Strange spoke them”. And the door policy: “Look at yourself, darling. Would YOU let yourself in?” … first nights “with a Space Cossack shirt and asymmetric wedge” and the origin of the term New Romantic … the rise of the “home-made Macaronis” (dictionary definition: “over-dressed popinjays of dubious sexuality”) … Bowie’s Starman, Roxy, soul, disco, Weimar, Max Ernst, Otto Dix, Edith Piaf, Swinging London, Andy Warhol and other keys strands of Blitz DNA … its anti-rock stance and impact on the mid-‘80s American charts … the news-friendly night Mick Jagger was barred entry … “I was spat at by an old lady at a bus stop for wearing eyeliner and a kilt” … when Island offered Spandau a deal after just three numbers   … the role of the Face, Smash Hits and the new full-colour media … the author’s “dilettante” passage through skinhead, suedehead, soul boy and punk … and the night Bowie appeared, “like Jesus walking into your local church and sitting in a pew”. Order ‘Blitz: The Club That Created the 80s’ here:https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/blitz-the-club-that-created-the-eighties-robert-elms/e672041a84e0cde9?ean=9780571394180&next=t&next=tFind out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Prince’s commercial peak was Purple Rain but John McKie thinks Sign O’ The Times was his creative masterpiece and tracked down over 200 collaborators, girlfriends, “Prince whisperers”, assistants and admirers to piece together the story of its construction (without allowing himself to use the word “genius”). Which leads us up some colourful, spot-lit alleys, among them … … “a man in suspenders playing funk”: why a disastrous support slot on the ‘81 Stones tour was pivotal moment   … Mozart/Salieri levels of rivalry: he once told a Paisley Park engineer to stop singing Culture Club “as that’s the competition” ... battles with Warners president Lenny Waronker: “he believed he was right and the rest were wrong” … “creative incontinence”: an autocrat in need of an editor … bodyguard “Big Chick” Huntsberry, performative stunts and the BRITS moment that immortalised him … the controlling, manipulative nature of anyone who can play 27 instruments … “he changed his cars to match the colour of his album campaigns” … artistic parallels with his hero Joni Mitchell … why he loved comedians in the way he loved jazz musicians … what we know about his “secret” wives Mayte Garcia and Manuela Testolini … and the four acts with eternal mystery – Prince, Bowie, Dylan, Dolly Parton. Order ‘Prince: A Sign O’ The Times here:https://www.waterstones.com/book/prince-a-sign-o-the-times/john-mckie/9781785121944Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Paul Gorman, biographer of Malcolm McLaren and friend of the pod, tells the extraordinary story of the three young hipsters behind Granny Takes A Trip, the Kings Road store that was a magnet for rock’s glitterati in the late 60s.•⁠ ⁠Sheila Cohen, the first queen of cool; she invented the whole idea of vintage•⁠ ⁠Nigel Waymouth, who never went to art school but changed the face of London with his posters•⁠ ⁠John Pearse, who could make a jacket out of anything - and did•⁠ ⁠The days of aatering to the 200 fashionable people in London•⁠ ⁠Why the Beatles, Stones and Pink Floyd beat a path to Granny’s door•⁠ ⁠How the three walked away in 1969, the shops were exported to the USA•⁠ ⁠How GTAT became the outfitter of choice for the rock aristocracy•⁠ ⁠Some of its clothes are immortal thanks to album covers from Lou Reed, the Isleys and Todd Rundgren•⁠ ⁠All the rest are in secure storagePaul’s book, which is lavishly illustrated and contains a pictorial catalogue of the wardrobe of the Rolling Stones, is here:https://www.amazon.co.uk/Granny-Takes-Trip-Fashion-Boutique/dp/1399623613You can read a preview here: https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Granny_Takes_a_Trip/_SZSEQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PT6&printsec=frontcoverThe Rolling Stones London 1962-71 map can be found at: https://www.herblester.com/products/down-the-road-apiece-the-rolling-stones-londonFind out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

News, rants, theories, stories and assorted old hokum which this week stumbles into … … Kate Bush, Thunderbirds, Tim Buckley, the Blind Boys of Alabama … the magical bass adventures of Danny Thompson (and the time he headlined over the Beatles) … how Claudia Cardinale wound up on the sleeve of Blonde On Blonde … would Roxy Music have made it if their albums had been released in brown paper bags? … how TikTok is destroying the “superfan” … do late night TV hosts need us more than we need them? … Boris Johnson chose the Clash? Charles Kennedy chose Toploader? Theresa May chose ‘In These Shoes’ by Kirsty MacColl? MPs on Desert Island Discs … packaged goods: how CDs removed music’s greatest marketing tool … the peculiar life of Johnny Carson … have you ever bought an album solely on the strength of its cover? … and Carmel, Andrew Ridgeley, Jay Leno’s pay packet and birthday guest Jon Pickles on high-impact sleeve art.Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We’ve always liked Thea Gilmore who once crossed America with Joan Baez in a pre-Election campaign tour and has released 21 albums (“I’ve got musical ADHD!)”. She looks back here at the first shows she ever saw and played which involves …   … a deep dive into Jake Thackray – “Last Will And Testament still makes me cry” … spotting her dad in the crowd in the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival movie and why “My dad treated Dave Pegg’s dog” jump-started her career… … what Joan Baez did on their pre-Election American tour the night George W Bush won a second term … “Thea Gilmore looks Borstal-bound”: her first review, in Mojo in 1998 … two weeks’ life-changing work experience at Fairport’s Wormwood studios … “there’s no point writing songs if you don’t perform them” … which are easier, small gigs or big ones? … Ani DiFranco getting the audience to harmonise on When Doves Cry, “an epiphany” … intense stage fright versus the “precocious teenage belief that I was interesting” … the impact of first hearing It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding) … and when someone leaving “reduces your audience by a fifth” Tickets for Thea Gilmore’s tour here: https://www.theagilmore.net/live Order ‘Thea Gilmore - My Own Private Riot 2008-2015,' 7CD Box Set here: https://www.cherryred.co.uk/thea-gilmore-my-own-private-riot-2008-2015-7cd-box-setFind out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.