Word In Your Ear

Leo Sayer burst onto national telly in 1973 dressed as a Pierrot with the Show Must Go On launching a 50-year career in colourful company – songwriters, boxing legends, swindling managers, scurrilous socialites – and learning a great deal in the process. “Don’t underestimate the idiots!” is the hard-won advice. He’s touring in October and joins us here from Australia to look back at … … how he and Linda Ronstadt escaped from Trump’s gruesome penthouse … walking through Memphis dressed as a clown … seeing Lonnie Donegan invent skiffle, Dylan at the Albert Hall and Bob Marley at the Lyceum from the side of the stage … when Paul Kossoff asked him to audition for Free … designing record sleeves for Marley, Roger Daltrey, Humble Pie and Quintessence … “I’m the Forrest Gump of the music industry – nearly there!” … “working with Adam Faith was like having Marlon Brando as your acting coach” … the advice Paul McCartney gave him in 1973 … “Do you mind if I vomit in your shoe?” … and a week in a training camp with Muhammad Ali. Order Leo Sayer tickets here: https://tix.to/LeoLive26 Order the ‘Leothology’ box-set here: https://www.roughtrade.com/product/leo-sayer/leothology-the-studio-albums-1973-nowHelp us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

Chasing the shade and slapping the Sunscreen on this week’s overheated news, we pour a tinkling drink and reflect upon the following … … British people in hot weath-ah! … when rock stars you haven’t seen for 50 years pop up on Zoom … Lennon’s tooth? Timberlake’s toast? Mooney’s school report? Weird things sold at auction … Paul Horn playing in the Taj Mahal, Sonny Rollins on the Williamsburg Bridge, U2 in Slane Castle … are new vinyl albums now ‘luxury goods’ and old ones ‘antiques’? … where you can hear the Abbey Road building on the Dark Side of the Moon … the cinematic records Daniel Lanois made in an abandoned movie theatre near Santa Barbara … Summer In The City: the Lovin’ Spoonful’s road-drill and Regina Spektor’s cleavage … Cat-calming music! Gym motivation! Stress-busting songs for Spurs fans on Judgement Day! The age of the prescriptive playlist … the new dawn of instrumental music, “a public utility like turning on a tap” … and the single Sinatra recorded for Maureen Starkey (only one copy made!).Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

Daniel Lanois built a studio in his basement in Quebec and began producing local acts when a teenager. Through work with Brian Eno, he went on to record U2, Bob Dylan, Arcade Fire, Emmylou Harris and scores of others with a method that’s unique, cinematic and utterly extraordinary, a brand of sonic architecture that creates settings to accommodate the songs, often in exotic and stimulating places. And he's made nine albums of his own, the latest the magical instrumental suite ‘Belladonna Nocturne’ – “hear this and you may never go home again”. This rich and fascinating conversation includes … … how the place you record affects the way you think ... producing Dylan and Willie Nelson in an abandoned Mexican cinema … why the first record he bought was Wipe Out by the Surfaris … the process of “printing sound” and his Music Minus One theory … “Songs are doorways to another dimension” … Eno’s working method: “he walked round the studio for 45 minutes ringing bells to map out the length of the album” … drawing song sketches to stop everyone having to crowd round a laptop … making the Unforgettable Fire with U2, “expanding Slane Castle ‘til there were little critters crawling out of the walls!” … conjuring the tropical heat of Robbie Robertson’s Somewhere Down the Crazy River … and what Hells’ Angels like to do to his music. Order Belladonna Nocturne here: https://artsmusic.lnk.to/BelladonnaNocturneHelp us to keep The Longest Conversation In Rock going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

Cathi Unsworth was a teenage Goth, enthralled as much by Joy Division and the Banshees as by the Brontës, Bram Stoker and Aubrey Beardsley. We loved her book ‘Season of the Witch’ and she’s since put together a soundtrack album, ‘Dressed In Black’, featuring the Goth divas she most admires and adores. And talks to us here about everything from murder ballads, the Industrial Revolution and Victorian literature to … … John Peel, Siouxsie, Joy Division and her teenage Goth conversion among the “hedge-goths” and “field-goths” of rural Norfolk … the phenomenal life, lyrics and mysterious disappearance of ‘Swamp-witch’ Bobbie Gentry … has Goth eaten Punk? … why BBC banned Billie Holiday’s “Gloomy Sunday” … the ‘death discs’ of John Layton, the Shangri-Las and Twinkle … how Cabaret and Julie Driscoll coloured Siouxsie and the Banshees … Shirley Collins’ Death And The Lady – “now that’s what I call a pandemic!” … did Liz Fraser speak fluent Faerie? … Nico – “if I had a machine-gun I’d kill you all!” … and how Juliette Gréco looked the devil in the face. Order copies of ‘Dressed In Black: Goth Divas From The Dark Side’ here: https://acerecords.co.uk/various-artists-dressed-in-blackHelp us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

Clem Burke joined Blondie in 1975. He started writing his memoir 20 years ago and just managed to finish it before he died in 2025, encouraged and assisted by his old friend Kathy Valentine of the Go-Go’s, “a chance to reflect on all he’d achieved”. We’re thrilled she’s joined us here to talk about his dramatic life and ‘The Other Side of the Dream’, a conversation stopping off at … … falling for her “teenage crush” when she saw Blondie on TV, the man who wore red shoes at his audition … Clem Burke, eternal fan who idolised the Beatles, Bowie and the Stooges, and the brief moment he became Elvis Ramone ... do bands talk to each other?… Blondie was not a democracy … “in fact bands are an example of how democracy doesn’t work” … Clem’s powerhouse drumming and showmanship: “you couldn’t take your eyes off him” … “the night we met we each had a limo and he introduced me to Andy Warhol” … how it felt to hear Blondie record one of her songs … how their lives connected: “we both achieved a dream and had it taken away from us” … why drummers tend to see groups differently … and life in the Go-Go’s - “married to four girls!” Order copies of Clem Burke’s ‘The Other Side of the Dream: My Life in And Out of Blondie’ here: https://lnk.to/theothersideofthedreamHelp us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

Panning for gold in the murky waters of this week’s news, we found the following … … is Sabrina Carpenter’s aunt the voice of Bart Simpson? … is punk now just a small room in the giant apartment block of Goth? … why band life was different for Ringo, Kathy Valentine and Clem Burke … Barack Obama’s songs that define America and how you can’t do the same for Britain … what you notice about the Who’s ‘Tommy’ 47 years later … the night Tom Fogerty’s widow brought his ashes to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame … Hurrrggggh! Aah-haaaa!: the vocal trademarks of Clarence Carter, Bob Wills, James Brown and Bobby Bland … did Select magazine REALLY once give away a giant inflatable Jarvis? (spoiler: yes) … plus Shleep and Rock Bottom by Robert Wyatt and Sam Cooke humming. Sam Cooke humming:https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-e&channel=entpr&q=sam+cooke+thumming+youtube+#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:7e9fec7d,vid:ZYd8DFI5CJg,st:0Order copies of David Hepworth's new paperback 'Hope I Get Old Before I Die' here:https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hope-Get-Old-Before-Die/dp/1804991996Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

The Damned are – yes! - 50 years old with three of the originals still onboard. And just starting a world tour. In this immensely funny and touching podcast, Rat Scabies (who’s smoking!) points up the repercussions of life in a band. He looks back at their first shows, their devoted audience, “old-fashioned rules”, highlights, regrets, the value of friendship, “putting on the black suit again” and how it felt to rejoin after 30 years on the outside. And all this too … … playing drums in an Essex panto while pelted with boiled sweets … Dave Vanian when he was a grave-digger … punk rock strongholds the world over – “South America was like being in the Beatles” … Mexico and other places you can still torch a drumkit … Mr Scabies, aged 70. “Even my mother calls me Rat. The name’s done me well over the years” … going to the Isle Of Wight aged 14 (with the Danish nanny) and running a hot-dog stand during Hendrix … supporting the Pistols at the 100 Club: “like letting a greyhound out of a trap” … Tim Burton, the Goth revival, the Young Ones, steampunk and other factors that keeps the Damned in motion … “One band’s an oddity, two’s a fashion, three’s a movement” … rejoining the Damned after 30 years – “like a great stain had been lifted” … Green Day, algorithms and how they acquired a whole new following. Order Damned tickets here: aegp.uk/the-damnedHelp us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

A whole new age of psychedelia kicked off in the mid-‘80s, of dream-weavers and glorious underachievers, a complete rejection of the standard rock approach to stagecraft, sound and self-promotion. Simon Reynolds was at the heart of it, writing for Melody Maker and piping aboard the pioneering noise-mongers aiming to entrance and disorientate, as recalled in his new book ‘Still In A Dream: Shoegaze, Slackers and the Reinvention of Rock 1984-1994’. He looks back with us here from his home in Los Angeles at its key bands, events and spiritual godfathers, these among them … … the return to childhood via Syd Barrett and Jonathan Richman to Sarah Records  … is ‘feeble little horse’ the most Shoegaze band name ever?  ... what it was about Morrissey that made Smiths singles sink after Top Of The Pops  … the reason Bowie formed a band  … charming/infuriating interviews with the Cocteau Twins: “words only have any meaning when they’re sung” … how Britpop brought down the curtain of the wall of sound   … Shoegaze, Dreampop, Lovelynoise, Wide-Brimmed Hat Music and the rock press attempt to impose order: “if a band was on the cover they could double their fee”  ... the divine arrogance of Lawrence of Felt who “didn’t want ordinary people buying my records” … the ever-extending “noise chasms” of My Bloody Valentine …  “shattering quartz”: reviewing music that’s about sound not words  … Shoegaze DNA in the 21st Century ... and the greatest album of that decade, “each track like a session beer”. Order copies of ‘Still In a Dream’ here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/still-in-a-dream/simon-reynolds/9781399618373Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

This week’s news gets a thorough shake-down to see what falls out of its pockets. Which includes … … cupcakes, mobiles, rubber ducks, a dead swan: weird things thown at rock stars … “polka-dotted micro-tonal space-rock from the planet Zog”: Alex gets the Angine de Poitrine live experience! … is Shoegaze the Adrian Mole of pop? … “Hands off my Husker Du!” Joint record collections and who gets what when you split … Sun Studios, the Albert Hall stage, the Savile Row roof: places where we’ve shivered with excitement … why don’t they put an old phonebox back in Heddon Street so Bowie fans can take pictures? … Ocean Blue, Washed Out, Skimming Stones, Pelt: Dreampop band or Farrow & Ball paint colour? … Physical Graffiti, Anticipation, New Boots and Panties: album sleeve tourist locations … plus burning wedding photos, when uncles gave you cash and the house Jackson Browne’s grandpa built.Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear