Music Maps - The Rock n Roll Book Club Podcast

Tim Booth joins us this week to talk about his new book 'When I Died For The First Time' out now on Constable (imprint of Little Brown). We talk about his writing influences from Doris Lessing & Patti Smith to Frank Herbert & then how his experiences in James influenced his writing. We also talk in depth about James latest UK number 1 album Yummy as well as their recent appearance at Glastonbury 2024 & their other appearances they have coming up over the summer & an autumn USA tour with Johnny Marr. Moving onto James we start with Tim meeting the band at Manchester University Student's Union, joining initially as a dancer but graduating to lead singer within 4-5 months. Tim talks us through some of the bands early gigs including the first gig in Blackburn along with early appearances at the Hacienda & the International inManchester. We find out how they came up with the name James & signing to Factory Records & Tony Wilson - with more to come in part 2.

Helen O'Hara joins us as we talk through her early career from getting a knock on the door to play with Kevin Archer's The Blue Ox Babes to later joining Dexys Midnight Runners. We talk about being renamed Helen O'Hara by Kevin Rowland & joining Dexys as one of the Emerald Express shortly after & Helen's difficult decision to join the band & turn down an offer to join the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra. recording for the first time with the band at AIR Studios in London with producers Clive Langer & Alan Winstanley. Helen's first gig with Dexys comes at Exhibition Park in Newcastle for a Radio 1 show, where the band also unveiled their new look. Soon after the band recorded & released the Too-Rye-Ay album which spawned the number 1 single Come On Eileen - Helen explains the importance of the Top Of The Pops appearances in breaking the song. The Bridge Tour follows in 1982 & the Jackie Wilson Said single follows & again becomes a hit. Join us for all this and more.

This week we make our first visit to Birmingham to trace the history & early years of Dexys Midnight Runners - how Kevin Rowland & Kevin Archer formed the band, the strict rules for membership, how the various members came to join. Writer Nige Tassell, talks us through some of the stories, myths & legends from his new book Searching For Dexys Midnight Runners - published by Nine Eight Books. We start with early punk band project The Killjoys, how they jump to the soul inflected sound of Dexys, how it went against the grain at the time, the various venues the band played around Birmingham including gigs with Joy Division & UB40. Nige tells us about the brief possibility of Van Morrison coming in to produce the debut album Searching For The Young Soul Rebels - how the record was made, the heist that ensued after the recording with the master tapes. Bernie Rhodes brief involvement before the first single Dance Stance is released - signing to EMI after his departure. The huge success of Geno which followed & took the band to number 1 in the charts - how the label didn't want it as a single. We then detail how the bands fragment quickly leading to 5 members of this original lineup leaving at once to form The Bureau.

FIXED AUDIO - sorry the original audio was the previous episode with Thurston Moore, meaning anyone who had already downloaded before we fixed it cannot update to the new audio. So here is a new version for anyone with the wrong audio. Join writer John Niven to have a chat about Bob Dylan & the Band & the time they spent in Woodstock. John talks us through his idea for a fictional book set when the Band were living in Big Pink & recording with Dylan in the basement downstairs. We discuss how Dylan & the various members of The Band came to be in Woodstock, how the Basement Tapes recordings came about, Bob Dylan's prolific songwriting in Woodstock, the lifestyle The Band were living in the relative anonymity of Woodstock & the surrounding area.We also talk about the new material Dylan wrote which is covered by others before he has even cut any of them himself (This Wheel's On Fire by Julie Driscoll, Too Much Of Nothing by Peter, Paul & Mary, Tears of Rage by Ian & Sylvia, The Mighty Quinn - a number one single for Manfred Mann, a few tracks by The Byrds & Fairport Convention).We mention some of John's favourite tracks from the eventual release of the Basement Tapes in 1975 & the various bootlegs available over the years, plus the original bootleg release The Great White Wonder.How the Band's songwriting improved suddenly & exponentially, signing with Capitol for their debut album Music From Big Pink (a deal broker by Dylan manager Albert Grossman), the impact the area ultimately had on their writing both for Dylan & The Band. We give our take on Bob Dylan's painting which ends up as the cover artwork for the first Band album & then we move onto the influence The Band subsequently have on music - the birth of the Americana genre & alt.country plus more.

Join writer John Niven to have a chat about Bob Dylan & the Band & the time they spent in Woodstock. John talks us through his idea for a fictional book set when the Band were living in Big Pink & recording with Dylan in the basement downstairs. We discuss how Dylan & the various members of The Band came to be in Woodstock, how the Basement Tapes recordings came about, Bob Dylan's prolific songwriting in Woodstock, the lifestyle The Band were living in the relative anonymity of Woodstock & the surrounding area. We also talk about the new material Dylan wrote which is covered by others before he has even cut any of them himself (This Wheel's On Fire by Julie Driscoll, Too Much Of Nothing by Peter, Paul & Mary, Tears of Rage by Ian & Sylvia, The Mighty Quinn - a number one single for Manfred Mann, a few tracks by The Byrds & Fairport Convention). We mention some of John's favourite tracks from the eventual release of the Basement Tapes in 1975 & the various bootlegs available over the years, plus the original bootleg release The Great White Wonder. How the Band's songwriting improved suddenly & exponentially, signing with Capitol for their debut album Music From Big Pink (a deal broker by Dylan manager Albert Grossman), the impact the area ultimately had on their writing both for Dylan & The Band. We give our take on Bob Dylan's painting which ends up as the cover artwork for the first Band album & then we move onto the influence The Band subsequently have on music - the birth of the Americana genre & alt.country plus more.

Thurston Moore returns for the 2nd part of our chat including: bumping into Joey Ramone on the way to CBGBs for the first time, Wayne County, meeting Lee Ranaldo at a gig, being introduced to Kim Gordon via a mutual friend, the downtown art world including Jean-Michel Basquiat, his early band The Coachmen, even Madonna gets a mention. We also detail the formation of Sonic Youth & how he came up with the iconic band name.