Word In Your Ear

Seven hundred fans have contributed to ‘Gary Numan: A People’s History’, a lavishly published compendium of memories of discovering, hearing and watching him over the 50 years he’s been making music. As you might imagine, he’s immensely touched, not least because – in this honest and extremely modest conversation – he feels his roller-coaster career was down to “perseverance not God-given talent” and that if he hadn’t come along, that devotional space in his fans’ lives would have been filled by someone else. He talks to us here from his home in Los Angeles and touches on … … the extent of what music can mean to people … how careers pan out – “huge highs then you fall off a cliff for a while” … ‘I made though perseverance more than God-given talent’ … meetings with upstarts and superstars … why he doesn’t listen to new music … ‘Don’t call me, the Gothfather!’ … the press he got in the early ‘80s “that made fans hide their Gary Numan albums” … how hip-hop and Afrika Bambaataa absorbed his music … ‘I’m not unique, I simply supply a service” ... and having your Gary Numan tattoo sketched for you … by Gary Numan! Order copies of ‘Gary Numan: A People’s History’ here: https://burningshed.com/richard-bowes_gary-numan-a-peoples-history_book

David Gray went through the roof with his White Ladder album in 2000 and he’s toured and recorded ever since, ending this summer’s loop at Latitude. He talks to us here about the rigours of seeing bands when you lived in rural Wales and the hilarious, hard-won lessons of the first gigs he played himself and every possible shade of crowd reaction. It’s an absolute whirlwind from start to finish and features ... ... playing weddings, clubs, festivals and a Welsh village regatta … the role of music in the construction of your character … the turning point: “I arrived onstage to more applause than I’d ever had when leaving” … the time gave Morrissey his string of beads … the emotional architecture of live performance and how Elvis programmed his shows … vivid memories of seeing the Cult (“bloody nose”), the Mission (“headbutted”) and the Stranglers (“we left terrified”) … running from stage to stage at Glastonbury in ‘86 and the insular genius of the Cure … his Liverpool punk band in their perishing “Joycean” flat … the unbeatable sound of a crowd singing one of your songs   … Nick Drake’s frail sensibility and the value of growing a hard skin. David Gray tickets here: davidgray.comDavid Gray’s new album Nightjar, a companion to his 2005 No.1 record Life in Slow Motion, is out now via Bella Figura.

Digging deep in the icebox of news to choose the following lightly chilled refreshments … … 500 Miles, Wonderwall, Yes Sir I Can Boogie(?): what does it take to be a football anthem? … Gorillaz brilliant reinvention of the “guest appearance” … Jerry Dammers' father was the Dean of Bristol Cathedral? Siouxsie’s dad milked venom from snakes? … Rod Stewart’s “laryngitis”- aka being on a private jet to watch Scotland play in Boston! … how they’re celebrating Syd Barrett’s 80th … the godawfullest album title in the entire history of popular music … England 2 Colombia 0: Kirsty MacColl’s immaculate sense of melancholy … Faux Fighters, Proxy Music, By Jovi: tribute bands aren’t lesser versions of the band you like but great versions of the songs you like … the worst Boz Scaggs gig followed by the best … teen fizz to chin-stroking introspection: the link between George Michael and the Beach Boys … “Londoners like to feel they’re impossible to impress” … plus 500 Hartlepool fans dressed as Smurfs and birthday guest Blaine Allan.

Peter Frampton, for goodness sake! Part of our lives at Word In Your Ear since we were teenagers. Played guitar on national telly when he was 14. Joined the Herd at 16 and Humble Pie two years later. Had the biggest-selling album in American history in 1976 and now releasing his first new record in 16 years. From his home in Nashville, he looks back here – with great modesty, humour and affection - at how he adjusted to such mountainous success and to “when it all came crashing down” while throwing in a winning impression of George Harrison. This too …   … the Herd pursued by screaming girls across Streatham Ice Rink … when “the Face of 1968” (Frampton) joined “the Face of 1967” (Marriott) … recording with George, Ringo, Billy Preston, Steve Stills and Phil Spector (aged 20) - “where the hell am I and how did I get here?” … “I’d fallen off the radar and Bowie gave me the biggest gift anyone could give me” … the petrifying success of Frampton Comes Alive! - “I felt I’d be like a Rubik’s Cube, here today, gone tomorrow” … the Scout Club gig (aged 12) that lit the fuse and playing Ready Steady Go! when he was 14 (same show as the Stones) … when his father met Mick Jagger … making the doomed Sgt Pepper film with the Bee Gees … working with Sheryl Crow who’d had a poster of him when she was 14 … and revisiting his childhood home in Beckenham. Order ‘Carry The Light’ here: https://www.frampton.com/

‘Graceland’ was an almighty gamble for Paul Simon, a costly, high-risk departure from the music he’d been making and a complex international venture. And a game-changing, worldwide triumph. When Ashley Kahn taught a course about it at New York University, Simon turned up to contribute. His book ‘Days Of Miracle And Wonder’ tells the story of what inspired the album, the way it was recorded and the global reaction when it arrived in 1986. We talk to him here about … … the bootleg cassette of township jive that inspired the Graceland project  … fraying relations with Art Garfunkel and Carrie Fisher ... his habit of playing unfinished tracks to people – David Byrne, Philip Glass, Neil Diamond – while singing the vocal into their ear … the extraordinary way he apologised for the failure of One Trick Pony … how Bakithi Kumalo’s bass solo on You Can Call Me Al is a palindrome – “first half forwards, second half reversed!” … the advice Quincy Jones gave him about South Africa’s cultural boycott … the key role of Roy Halee, engineer and long-time creative collaborator ... the Johannesburg sessions that “started with rhythm and worked backwards” … Kind Of Blue, A Love Supreme, other albums that merit a book to themselves … the details you hear in the tracks’ last seconds … and the Grammy telecast that cemented the album’s US success. Order copies of ‘Days of Miracle And Wonder’ here: https://geni.us/DaysofMiracleandWonder

Kate’s an old pal of ours from Word magazine who writes scintillating columns and profiles for the New Statesman and Observer. We loved her book ‘Men Of A Certain Age: My Encounters With Rock Royalty’ – just out in paperback! – where she relives her meetings with a variety of legends, eccentrics and old lags whose music she finds particularly compelling and wonders what they all have in common. This typically funny and colourful conversation stops off at … … the attractive fallibility of rock stars past their peak … a lifetime’s devotion to Paul Simon … “Olivia Dean is the Carole King of her generation” … the ridiculous expectations we heap on musicians’ creativity … why Arts Criticism is under threat … when the first record you buy (aged five) is the Chicken Song … “One-Hit Wonders have achieved infinitely more than most of us” … Ray Davies and his “eternal sense of apartness” … why George Michael is under-appreciated and the time he found someone living under his floorboards … the days when Jeff Beck modelled PVC jackets for Rave … the genius of Pat Metheny’s Orchestrion … and the new acts who’ll still be huge in ten years’ time. Order copies of ‘Men Of A Certain Age’ here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Men-Certain-Age-Encounters-Royalty/dp/1788705645