The Twilight Turntable

Our 40th episode. Paul offers Tone Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine's rip-roaring second album. Was the early 90s a strange musical hinterland between Madchester and Britpop? Or a period of rich and underrated music, occasionally reflecting the last days of Thatcherism? What was 'grebo' and why did it not become a movement? And what's the connection with Pop Will Eat Itself (...

A special edition as Tone and Paul welcome broadcasting legend Alex Lester to the Turntable. Alex offers the Sensational Alex Harvey Band's second album for consideration. Hear tales of how he came to discovered the band; glamorous venues in Walsall and Wolverhampton; finding his tribe amid a cloud of "patchouli oil and BO"; and the terrifying experience of staring into the eyes of...

Inside the mind of Mark Hollis we go as Tone sets Paul Talk Talk's 1986 album as homework. Over a year in the making. More experimental than their earlier output and more poppy than their future work. Plenty of respected musicians who were afforded "spontaneity and freedom" to create a "very textured arrangement". What will Paul make of it all? To find out...please try lis...

Mercurial and influential, Television's 1977 album gets a spin on the Turntable. Avant-garde? Certainly. Prog? Possibly. Punk? Not on your Nelly. Which of Tone's favourite bands led him to discover Tom Verlaine and friends? What was the deal with nicking members of Blondie? And how much will Paul enjoy all this glorious madness? For the answers...please try listening. 

A very special episode as we welcome author David to the show. Together, we look at his new book - You Won't See Me - which documents the Beatles' ill-fated visit to the Philippines in 1966. It was just a couple of weeks before the release of Revolver. But why was their live set so markedly different from their studio work? What was the story of the then-biggest pop concert in history? A...

In the words of Jayne Middlemiss on Top of the Pops, "Mel, Shaz, Nicki and Nat are gonna sing for wuh". What will Paul make of Tone's offering? Why were there so many producers on the album? How did media attention and intra-group relationships affect the band's trajectory? And what was the All Saints-related incident that prompted Madonna to drop William Orbit (RIP)? For the a...

Tone offers up Belle & Sebastian's 1996 album for consideration at The Turntable. What will Paul make of the inner workings of Stuart Murdoch's mind? How did Murdoch's chronic fatigue syndrome affect the music? And what kind of 'pop' is it anyway: 'baroque', 'chamber', 'twee'? To find out the answers to at least some of these questions...p...

Tone asks Paul to consider arguably the most rock 'n' roll figure in history. Is it possible to appreciate the full-throttle excitement of Mr Penniman's debut album? The moral panic it must've inspired among authorities? The sheer wonder of music the like of which no one had ever heard before? To see if the chaps can answer some of these questions...please try listening.

Tone offers up Leonard Cohen's 1988 album. What will Paul make of Cohen's commitment to synth? What do the vocals of Jennifer Warnes bring to the party? Can we expect a call from the Jazz Police? And what's a persecuted Spanish poet got to do with all of this? For the answers to at least some of these questions, please try listening.

Tone brings Harry Nilsson's 1971 album to the Turntable. Why was he so friendly with the Beatles (Nilsson not Tone)? Which song invented the power ballad? And why does Paul keep getting future echoes of Rufus Wainwright? For the answers to these - and possibly fewer - questions, please try listening.

It's Episode 30, which means role reversal time. Paul offers up Portishead's Mercury Music Prize winner from 1994. The album is often credited with popularising trip hop, a term the band apparently hated. What will Tone make of the filmic soundscape, dense production and yearning vocals? And how horrified will he be to learn that studio techniques included surfing on vinyl discs? To find...

Tone brings Nick Lowe's 1978 box of tricks to the Turntable. Effortless pop sensibility. Biting criticism of the music industry. The occasional gruesome lyric. What will Paul make of this musical smorgasbord? To find out, please try listening.

Tone slips Kate Bush's 1980 LP on to the Turntable. How will Paul receive the Fairlight-inspired work? What schoolday memories will the album evoke for Tone? What will the pair of them make of Kate's legendary 1979 BBC special? For the answers to these questions - and more besides - please try listening.

It's all gone rather dark at The Twilight Turntable as Tone offers the Sisters of Mercy for Paul's consideration. Is Andrew Eldritch an admirable musician or "Gary the Goth"? Are we to take him seriously or is the joke on us? Who or what is Doktor Avalanche? And what's the deal with former bandmates the Mission and leather hats? To find out, please try listening.

Steve Pringle joins Tone and Paul at the Turntable, bringing with him the Isley Brothers' 1973 album. Tales of lazy, hazy days and a glass of something nice; a relatively unheralded guitar hero; the Isleys as a family business; close harmonies; outlandish synth; multiple cover versions; and a "record in transition", bridging the gap between soul and funk. How will Paul fare with two...

"Like a warm summer breeze", the Zombies' 1968 album blows through The Turntable. The pinnacle of a turbulent career? Something of a forgotten classic from a band that had already run its course? To find out...please try listening.

Tone offers up Billy Joel's 1982 album for Paul's consideration. But is he Billy the Balladeer? One of the finest and most under-rated song-writers of the twentieth century? Or a really good John Lennon tribute act? To find out, please try listening.

To kick off the new year, Tone asks Paul to consider Roxy Music's 'retro-futurist' classic from 1973. Is it - as Morrissey has suggested - "the only truly great British album"? Or a triumph of process over product? Please try listening to find out.

The estimable Ian Forth of Sombrero Fallout fame joins Tone and Paul at the Turntable. What will Paul make of The Human League's transition to a more commercial sound? What effect did the departure of two founding band members have? And what on earth happened to Phil Oakey on Tiswas? To find out...please try listening.

Prefab Sprout's founder and bassist Martin McAloon joins Tone and Paul at the Turntable. Incredible technical insight. First-hand accounts of the recording process. Tales of minibar-dwelling musicians. How will the lads react to the presence of one of their musical heroes? Please try listening to this bumper episode to find out.

B.C. Camplight arrives at the Turntable. What on earth will Tone make of it? Please (oh please) try listening.

Slade - the biggest-selling singles act of the '70s in the UK - were also film stars. What will Paul make of this sound track album? How did the band's quest to conquer the USA turn out? And what's Tone's celebrity connection this time? Please try listening to find out.

Tone brings his showbiz friends - charming New York gangsters Fun Lovin' Criminals - to the Turntable. It's a tale of DATs, gats and hats. Stick 'em up, punks, and...please try listening.

Tone slips Jefferson Airplane's psychedelic classic onto the Turntable. And although Paul "wasn't there in '67, man", he willingly dives down the rabbit hole. Turn on, tune in and...please try listening.

Disco didn't suck. And the Turntable welcomed its first guest to prove it. Paul Burke was THERE (by which we mean Wembley Market). Tone and (regular) Paul were giddy with excitement. Please try listening.