Word In Your Ear

Philip Norman has written books about the Beatles – and John, Paul and George - and now turns the spotlight on the man who launched them and the extreme personal and professional obstacles in the dramatic path of his short life, the man who built a shield around them but couldn't protect himself. We talk to him here about ‘Mr Moonlight: Brian Epstein and the Making of the Beatles’ with particular attention to … … how he changed Britain’s image and was mortified to get no recognition for it … the Beatle whose demands he was always fastest to execute … the level of homophobia and anti-Semitism he had to absorb … his reckless pursuits in the days when homosexuality could mean life imprisonment … contract killers, blackmail, rigged roulette wheels and why the Krays said “it wasn’t us” when they heard he’d died … the way he fashioned his own myth and airbrushed others who’d helped the Beatles succeed … why McCartney’s 21st birthday party could have ended the band … his genius (and fraudulence) as a salesman    … the double catastrophe of Brian’s US merchandising deal … John, Aunt Mimi and “a story about the British class system” … and the chaperone on George and Pattie’s first date. Order copies of ‘Mr Moonlight’ here: https://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/books/Mr-Moonlight/Philip-Norman/9781398542266

When the pedalo of perusal cruised the lagoon of news this week, it paused to inspect the following ... … the particular magic of the late-night DJ … a Get Well card to dear Bob Harris … is Global Beatles Day a bridge too far? … the exquisite Britishness of the Manics, the Fall and the Small Faces … Cyprus Avenue, Soho, Asbury Park … the best places to visit to help you understand an artist who lived there … how T.Rex and Roxy Music were “too fancy” for America … Jagger, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Johann Sebastian Bach? Musicians with the most children … All You Need Is Love – work of genius or “ropey old doggerel”?  Plus birthday guest Paul Thompson, Foghat and watching the One World global-cast on a black and white telly.

Old friend of the podcast Lloyd Bradley wrote Bass Culture, the defining account of reggae, and he’s now turned his attention to funk, from its deepest roots and via the jazz, arts, TV, radio and pop culture that flavoured it. The main 10-year focus of ‘Funk Has Its Own Reward’ is from James Brown’s ‘Say It Loud - I’m Black and I’m Proud’ to Michael Jackson’s ‘Off The Wall’ but free your mind and all this will follow! … … the importance of radio being “colourblind” … Cab Calloway’s Jive Dictionary and the impact of DJs Martha Jean ‘the Queen’ Steinberg and Daddy-O Daylie … how James Brown floor-tested his records and saved a fortune making them   … funk’s deep roots in America’s marching bands … why jazz is funk’s closest relative and what it stole from white rock   … how the Family Stone’s Larry Graham made bass the place … how solo singers gave way to the ‘funk gangs’   … how Richard Pryor gave mainstream America a window on a whole new world. … the influence of Soul Train and Sesame Street (19-year-old Nile Rodgers on guitar!) in bringing funk to the masses … George Clinton – “I can’t dance, can’t play, people tell me I can’t sing … but without me none of this would have happened!” … plus the Chambers Brothers, Herbie Hancock, Funkadelic, Bootsy, Quincy Jones, Parliament and the greatest funk record ever made. Order copies of ‘Funk Is Its Own Reward’ here: https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/lloyd-bradley-2/funk-is-its-own-reward/9781472123411/Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

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