Word In Your Ear

A lifelong Beatles obsessive, Gary Kemp bought Epstein’s black leather address book at auction and (with Simon Halfon) researched its 404 names to construct a picture of him, “a 360-degree look” built around musicians, managers, impresarios, hustlers, grifters, ‘walkers’, tricksters, writers, deejays, scene-makers and assorted fashion and media folk. It’s fascinating. As is this podcast where he talks about what he discovered compiling ‘1967: the World of Brian Epstein and the Beatles’ and how the contacts were like “an Advent Calendar leading to his death in August 1967”. We touch on …… what he paid for the address book (but couldn’t tell his wife!)… the last person Brian spoke to… how the Age of Innocence became the Age of Experience… the legal, contractual and social problems overwhelming him in 1967… cracking the code that hid the Beatles’ phone numbers… “these days Lennon would be cancelled many times over”… the crisis just before Shea Stadium in 1965… why Brian missed the last Beatles show and his absurd idea for the Sgt Pepper cover… and “how different all our lives would have been if he hadn’t walked down those steps to the Cavern”.Order copies of ‘1967: the World of Brian Epstein and the Beatles’ here: https://harpercollins.co.uk/products/1967-the-world-of-brian-epstein-and-the-beatles-the-address-book-that-defined-an-era-gary-kempsimon-halfon?variant=56206336885115

David Holzer was a Lou Reed fan from the moment he saw Walk On The Wild Side on Top Of The Pops but avoided Metal Machine Music for 42 years as it was supposedly unlistenable. He was transfixed when he finally heard it, began playing it daily and felt so strongly about “the most radical rock record ever made” he tracked down 60 fellow obsessives and wrote the enthralling ‘Lou Reed: Metal Machine Mystic’. And talks to us here from his home in Mallorca about …… why Reed released MMM. To escape a ruinous contract? To boost his avant garde status? To torpedo his career?… how it was made with two guitars feeding back and a one-note ‘Ostrich’ tuning… the multiple rumours – “Part 4 is Part 1 played backwards!”… its inspirational ingredients – Judaism, spirituality, Alice Bailly and Iannis Xenakis… how he hated the reviews of its forerunner Sally Can’t Dance and the people who bought it (and made it his biggest album)… the vindication of its first live performance, in Berlin in 2002… its brutal reception by rock critics who “thought they were hipper than Lou”… “Reed spent money like a sailor on shore leave”… and what the record reveals when you’ve heard it 1,000 times.Order copies of ‘Lou Reed: Metal Machine Mystic’ here: http://jawbonepress.com/metal-machine-mystic/

A long-running conversation that shifts from major to minor, back to major and all notes inbetween, this week’s lyrics including …… can people who write ‘happy’ ever be cool?… the best drummer who isn’t a drummer?… when will Oasis buy Man City?… why is Taylor Swift unmemorable?… when’s “too old to mosh”?… weird double-bills: Jimi Hendrix and the Monkees. Cat Stevens and Engelbert. Black Sabbath and … Neil Diamond?… huge stars who barely had any hits… what Todd Rundgren said about the New York Dolls, XTC and Bat Out Of Hell (“a parody of Springsteen”… why black musicians had white gangster managers… Mark paid £2.75 for six bands at Knebworth in 1974. What’s Alex getting for £500 in 2027?… and “songs about Los Angeles are always about failure”Plus Radiohead, Laughing Len, Kylie and birthday guest Phil Turner.

Jon Savage detested the UK’s mid-‘70s hits with a vengeance, “records so bad they made you want to strangle every deejay on Radio One, especially Dave Lee Travis”. Which is why he’s compiled ‘Jon Savage’s 1976: Something Was Going To Happen’, 24 ground-breaking tracks released the same year that paved the way to the future. He looks back here from his home in Anglesey at the thrill of hearing them the first time aged 22, the many highlights including …… hilarious memories of the nauseating Jeans On, Fernando, No Charge, Combine Harvester and Save Your Kisses For Me… and his undying love for Eddie and the Hot Rods, Pere Ubu, Candi Station, Burning Spear, Miami and the Flamin’ Groovies… cheap Ronco and K-Tel compilations and Radio One’s stranglehold on popular taste… what happened at parties when you took off Steely Dan and played the Ramones… “reggae records never seem to date”… seeing the Runaways at the Roundhouse and the Clash at Fulham Town Hall with the future Poly Styrene… the first review he ever had published… the early ‘70s ‘underground’ - psychedelia, prog, metal, glam, reggae and disco… and hunting for records at One Stop, Dobells and Harlequin.Order copies of Jon Savage’s 1976 album here: https://www.acerecords.co.uk/jon-savages-1976-something-was-going-to-happenAnd look out for Jon’s brilliant books, among themEngland’s Dreaming (about to be republished with a new Derek Jarman cover), Teenage and 1966.

The two-man conversational canoe paddles the rock and roll tideway, stopping off this week at …… Van Morrison’s set-opener is Kidney Stew Blues by Eddie ‘Cleanhead’ Vinson. Do people have to play their big hits?… what’s the key ingredient in success?... “all great albums automatically have great sleeves. Bar one!”… does Beyonce have a horsefly named after her? Is there a Jerry Garcia wood roach? A Sting tree-frog?… U2’s new album cover is an Abbey Road pastiche. So … is this their swansong?… “dress for the job you want, not the job you have”… Elvis, Stones, psychedelia, Be Bop Deluxe, power pop, punk, Pete Doherty: rock stars in ‘statement’ ties… the many ways Songs In The Key Of Life was a masterpiece… plus “fibrous weaves, over-stuffed loons”, the Plimsouls, the Roaring Boys, Josh Rouse and birthday guest James Ewen.

While Mark Ellen visits his Scottish estates, David Hepworth and Alex Gold keep the home fires burning with a wide-ranging conversation, taking in:•⁠ ⁠why every band containing a pair of brothers seems to inevitably succumb to fraternal warfare •⁠ ⁠how Ed Sheeran found himself caught in the cross-fire between a multi-millionaire and a bunch of support acts keen not to get caught on the wrong side of a social media war•⁠ ⁠the fine line that divides a British cheese from a motorway service area•⁠ ⁠what are the best cases of “mailbox money” in show business?•⁠ ⁠does anybody else think gigs finish too early?

A whole new format we’ve invented for people who’ve been guests before and were so entertaining we wanted them back. So we’ve devised some random questions to spark a few memories and revelations. First up, Sid Griffin of the Long Ryders, touring the UK this autumn, who looks back here at his early life before he “went to L.A. to quote-unquote make it”. You’ll love this as much as we did, especially … … the Beatles song he knew he’d understand when he was older … his teenage band rehearsal when the drummer got a hammer in his head … the rock star he always wanted to be … what happens when you wear the bug-infested cap you find on a bus … DJ Carl ‘Weird Beard’ Markert burping in Pepsi commercials on WAKY Radio … Gregg Turner and the Angry Samoans – “bad songs in bad taste” … things he can still recite from childhood … the best use of music in a movie … how arch-rival Norrie Paramor made George Martin even richer … and the greatest B-side ever written. Plus English teacher Mrs Atlas and his deathless crush on Mimi Babcock.   Long Ryders tickets here … thelongryders.com/tour

“Good hair, good shoes, something to say” were the requirements of Indie Sleaze whose vanguard lit up the fading music press in the first decade of the 21st Century – acts like Franz Ferdinand, the Rakes, the Cribs, Kaiser Chiefs and Bloc Party. Janine Warren saw the Strokes in Camden in 2001 and life took a whole new direction. Her book ‘The World Was A Mess But His Hair Was Perfect’ looks back at old-school rock PR, unmanageable bands, and the summit and collapse of the last scene she thinks we’ll ever see. You’ll enjoy … … Morrissey at St George’s Hall, Blackburn … deejaying at Liquidation in Liverpool playing psychedelia and Northern Soul … the impossible task of being Pete Doherty’s PR: “like sand running through your fingers” … the day its editor realised the NME was doomed … the indie dilemma: wanting fame and publicity while appearing not to care … the rise of Arctic Monkeys, the first big digital success story … the financial crash, big label panic, illegal file-share and other woes of the 2010 music business … why rock scenes are a thing of the past … and the greatest Indie Sleaze record ever made. Order copies of ‘The World Was A Mess But His Hair Was Perfect: the Last Indie Music Scene 2000-2010’ here:https://www.roughtrade.com/product/janine-warren-foreword-by-alex-kapranos/the-world-was-a-mess-but-his-hair-was-perfect-the-last-indie-music-scene-2000-2010?algolia_query_id=5510672a106c0f77be3b364fe1f570ce&algolia_object_id=57550933459275&algolia_index=shopify_prod_products&algolia_position=

This week’s news in three separate files - the Good, the Bad and the Befuddling. Which involves … … have Oasis created their own economy? … are stadium gigs now like historical re-enactment? … “people listen to music more intently in Manchester as they’re inside while it rains” … ‘includes All Things Must Pass miniature garden gnomes!’ The mad money-draining joy of the luxury box-set … when bands don’t change but audiences do …Sun = Happiness, Rain = Sorrow: lyrics as an emotional weather forecast … the pianist who wouldn’t play minor chords … Nicky Hopkins on records by the Kinks, Beatles, Who and Stones (“She’s A Rainbow was like a music-box Mozart”): has any session player made a more vital contribution? … “Lose two teeth in German nightclub brawl, go back to Burnage”: real and fictitious rock band Monopoly sets! … Blue Nile, Ann Peebles, Beautiful South, Paul Simon? What’s the best song about rain? Plus J Blackfoot, Paul Simon’s Kathy from Brentwood and birthday guest Matthew North.