Word In Your Ear

Paul Weller has just covered it on his new album. Morrissey played it to Noel Gallagher who took the idea and ran with it. What explains the enduring appeal of a record that stalled at number 22 all those years ago? Actor/musician Brian Protheroe doesn’t know but he’s certainly grateful that it’s being reissued once again. His story takes us back to: …the days when young musicians hitch-hiked to L...

Other, weaker podcasts may take the summer off. Not this one. …the story of Jerry Garcia’s alligator strat, Paul McCartney’s violin bass and the instrument Peter Frampton thought had gone forever …the long story of Terry Reid, who turned down Led Zeppelin, and the golden afternoon when he was the most charismatic figure in roc …the real reason why you wouldn’t have wanted to be at Keith Richards’...

word-podcast-798-peter-ames-carlin Friend of the pod and chronicler of the careers of Springsteen, Paul Simon and REM, Peter Ames Carlin has heard all the recordings that went into the album which was Springsteen’s last chance saloon and spoken to the people who were there to put together the story of how it was all done. ….the lucky break that came when the boss’s son went to a Springsteen show …...

Jah Wobble - touring in October - is outstanding company and rattles on here like a steam train, sparking off at tangents in a brilliant, barely steerable monologue with a crackling cast of characters. It’s not often a podcast gets a visitor mid-recording who says, “I’ve put more poison in - but the good news is, there’s nothing in your traps!” Here you will find …   … an afternoon with Antho...

There’s a widely accepted view of the relationship between Elvis and his manager Tom Parker, the one sustained by the recent Baz Luhrmann movie, but a new and fascinating archive of unseen letters makes you see it differently: it was warmer, deeper and infinitely more complicated. Peter Guralnick – rock book royalty! - met Parker towards the end of his life and has just published ‘The Colonel And...

Lowering the magnet of curiosity into the scrapyard of news and seeing what’s attracted, which includes …   … does anyone still write satirical songs?   … Four Sides of the Circle, Margaret On The Guillotine, From Here To Infirmary … real or fictitious working album titles?   … the rarity of hearing new music without knowing what the musician looks like    … the Strokes, t...

The Wedding Present formed 40 years ago – why does that seem astonishing? - and have a new box set and tour to celebrate. David Gedge digs out his old notes about the first gigs he ever saw and played and looks back at what four decades onstage might have taught him. Among the delights …     … Rick Wakeman in full cape attire at Manchester Free Trade Hall in ’76 and how Be-bop Delux...

Bret McKenzie now mainly works on movie soundtracks, the Simpsons, Minecraft and the Muppets among them, which brings the pure delight of hearing his songs sung by Lady Gaga, Benedict Cumberbatch, Miss Piggy and Tony Bennett. He talks here about his early life in Wellington (ballet teacher Mum, racehorse trainer Dad), narrative comedy, songwriting heroes and his new album Freak Out City, and unrav...

Justin Currie recorded and toured with Del Amitri and solo for 30 years and his travelogue The Tremolo Diaries perfectly captures the rhythm of life on the road. He talks to us here about combative crowds, the curious bubble you occupy and a recent shock diagnosis that’s forced some adjustments. This includes …   … hard-won rules for life on tour: “Never leave the boat, stay in the bubble, ne...

Just when you thought it was safe to listen to a weekly rock and roll podcast …   … how Black Sabbath discovered the dark side   … why Elvis went onstage with a pistol in both boots   … rock stars out of their comfort zone   … five perfect things about Jaws we’d never taken onboard   … Ozzy Osbourne, the bungled burglary and the fingerless gloves   … Tony Iommi’s acci...

Cally Colomon looks after the legacy of Nick Drake, who died in 1974 but attracts new teenage admirers all the time. Here he talks to David Hepworth about just some of what that involves, including:   …chancers getting in touch with a bogus live recording when they’ve got a tax bill to pay   … film producers wishing to superimpose their image of Nick Drake on everybody else’s …spending m...

Suzi Quatro’s been onstage from the age of 14 as the bassist in the all-girl showband the Pleasure Seekers and the rock act Cradle. And then moved to England in 1971 when signed by Mickie Most. This podcast is a testament to the power of self-belief – she’s got more front than Woolworths! - and the two things her father told her. She’s just started another world tour and talks to us here about … &...

A rain-splashed, dub-filled, cash-scattering foray into this week’s news and events which happily lands upon …   … meeting Maddy Prior – a Prior engagement? – and the time Steeleye Span showered their audience with £8,000.   … hearing Nick Drake’s demos on a narrowboat in the pitch dark a few hundred feet below London.   … Steve Miller’s cancelled tour, absurdly blamed on the weathe...

Picked up in the great singer-songwriter sweep of the late 60s and signed to Elektra Records, David Ackles made four albums which went over the heads of the record-buying public, attracted over-the-top reviews and earned the undying devotion of fans like Elvis Costello and Elton John. Now Mark Brend’s book brings together an appreciation of his work with an account of his career before and after t...

Our patent fact-from-fiction separator goes into overdrive this week though sometimes, as Robert Wyatt observed, Ruth is stranger than Richard. High in the mix …   … FOMO (Fear Of Missing Oasis), Gen Z’s love of queuing and has there ever been a greater outpouring of joy at a band reunion?   …what’s the greatest musical city?   … Kevin Rowland – cheat, burglar, arsonist, menswear sa...

John Otway – self-billed as “Rock And Roll’s Greatest Failure” - has played 5,260 gigs in 53 years, a record possibly only beaten by BB King. There are more this autumn of course. He simply can’t stop. “People buying me drinks and telling me what a good bloke I am? Why would you stop?” We talk to him here about the art of shambling stagecraft and a life lived almost permanently on the road, which...

Peter Hook, bold pioneer of the high, clambering, tune-filled bassline, is touring this autumn with Peter Hook & the Light. We talk to him in Prestatyn - about to deejay at mate’s birthday - about the first gigs he ever saw and played, heavy-handed club owners, tough crowds on dance floors, the world audience for his two old bands and few key moments of a long life onstage, which involves … &n...

A 40th anniversary special with two of its presenters (Hepworth and Ellen) and old pal and TV critic Boyd Hilton who watched on the day aged 18 (“young, pretentious, idiotic”) and reviews the new BBC documentary. We look back at …   … the ways Live Aid changed television – “not about music but spectacle and scale”.   … would the idea of staging it have ever come about in the world of soc...

Ian Anderson is touring again in 2026 and talks to us here about tweed stage-wear, an audience of four, his teenage heroes and the first shows he ever saw and played. There’s all sorts within, including …     … playing his first gig to Catholic schoolgirls at the Holy Family Youth Club in Blackpool – “we emptied the room”.   … queues round the block at the Marquee in 1968 – “th...

It’s Happy Hour in the Rock and Roll Lounge of News and we’re working our way through anything over 40 per cent proof. Which means ice, a slice and ….   … how the F-Bomb lost its impact.   … Mick Ralphs and Lalo Schifrin RIP – and chapeau to "There's A Whole Lalo Schifrin Goin' On’.   … the Blush-o-meter! Album sleeves that’d get you lynched in the 21st Century – and that means you...

Bobby Bluebell remembers the “cuddly duffle-coat friendship” of Glasgow bands in the early ‘80s and the Bluebells’ second act rebooted by the Volkswagen ad. The band are touring again and an even bigger part of the city’s thriving musical community, and he looks back here at the first gigs he ever saw and played, along with …   … singing “When I’m Dead And Gone’ in an old folks home. &nb...

Dennis Bovell has worked his dub magic on everyone from Janet Kaye to the Slits, the Pop Group, Jarvis Cocker and Thom Yorke & Jonny Greenwood – and his own band Matumbi. He talks here about the thrill and freedom of making dub records, his new album Wise Music In Dub – which reworks ‘Pass The Dutchie’, Minnie Riperton and the Stylistics – and how the phone never stops ringing with requests fo...

Rick Wakeman was onstage from the age of five and looks back with us here on a life of live performance – jazz and blues bands, the Strawbs, Yes – and ahead to this autumn’s tour performing King Arthur and the Six Wives of Henry the Eighth. “I wake up every morning, throw off the duvet and – if nothing else has fallen off – have a great day!” There’s more …   ... how it feels when the rock pr...

Chasing the shade and applying Factor 50 in the wilting heat of this week’s rock and roll news turns the conversation to …   … Kneecap v the Prime Minister. … will any openly anti-Trump musician find it hard to tour the States? … the girl who’s listening to all 10,000 of her late father’s albums, one 60-second Instagram reel at a time. … a bottle of Snoop Dogg rosé, anyone?    ...

The Farm are touring again this summer and have just made their first album for 31 years (with the same-line-up). This sparky and wide-ranging conversation with Peter Hooton stops off at the following …   … the advice Mark E Smith gave him when they were interviewed by Select magazine.   … “Suedeheads v Trogs and Greebos”: early ‘70s tribal warfare in Bootle.   … seeing Cockney Rebe...