Word In Your Ear

Picked up in the great singer-songwriter sweep of the late 60s and signed to Elektra Records, David Ackles made four albums which went over the heads of the record-buying public, attracted over-the-top reviews and earned the undying devotion of fans like Elvis Costello and Elton John. Now Mark Brend’s book brings together an appreciation of his work with an account of his career before and after the three period when he was going t...

Our patent fact-from-fiction separator goes into overdrive this week though sometimes, as Robert Wyatt observed, Ruth is stranger than Richard. High in the mix …

… FOMO (Fear Of Missing Oasis), Gen Z’s love of queuing and has there ever been a greater outpouring of joy at a band reunion?

…what’s the greatest musical city?

… Kevin Rowland – cheat, burglar, arsonist, menswear salesman – and his capacity for self-sabota...

John Otway – self-billed as “Rock And Roll’s Greatest Failure” - has played 5,260 gigs in 53 years, a record possibly only beaten by BB King. There are more this autumn of course. He simply can’t stop. “People buying me drinks and telling me what a good bloke I am? Why would you stop?” We talk to him here about the art of shambling stagecraft and a life lived almost permanently on the road, which involves …

... a burning desir...

Peter Hook, bold pioneer of the high, clambering, tune-filled bassline, is touring this autumn with Peter Hook & the Light. We talk to him in Prestatyn - about to deejay at mate’s birthday - about the first gigs he ever saw and played, heavy-handed club owners, tough crowds on dance floors, the world audience for his two old bands and few key moments of a long life onstage, which involves …

… why you should never read your...

A 40th anniversary special with two of its presenters (Hepworth and Ellen) and old pal and TV critic Boyd Hilton who watched on the day aged 18 (“young, pretentious, idiotic”) and reviews the new BBC documentary. We look back at …

… the ways Live Aid changed television – “not about music but spectacle and scale”.

… would the idea of staging it have ever come about in the world of social media?

… being in the room for...

Ian Anderson is touring again in 2026 and talks to us here about tweed stage-wear, an audience of four, his teenage heroes and the first shows he ever saw and played. There’s all sorts within, including …  

… playing his first gig to Catholic schoolgirls at the Holy Family Youth Club in Blackpool – “we emptied the room”.

… queues round the block at the Marquee in 1968 – “the moment I knew we’d arrived.”

… h...

It’s Happy Hour in the Rock and Roll Lounge of News and we’re working our way through anything over 40 per cent proof. Which means ice, a slice and ….

… how the F-Bomb lost its impact.

… Mick Ralphs and Lalo Schifrin RIP – and chapeau to "There's A Whole Lalo Schifrin Goin' On’.

… the Blush-o-meter! Album sleeves that’d get you lynched in the 21st Century – and that means you Roxy, UFO, BowWowWow, Blind Faith, Tom Wa...

Bobby Bluebell remembers the “cuddly duffle-coat friendship” of Glasgow bands in the early ‘80s and the Bluebells’ second act rebooted by the Volkswagen ad. The band are touring again and an even bigger part of the city’s thriving musical community, and he looks back here at the first gigs he ever saw and played, along with …

… singing “When I’m Dead And Gone’ in an old folks home.  

… on the town with Siobhan F...

Dennis Bovell has worked his dub magic on everyone from Janet Kaye to the Slits, the Pop Group, Jarvis Cocker and Thom Yorke & Jonny Greenwood – and his own band Matumbi. He talks here about the thrill and freedom of making dub records, his new album Wise Music In Dub – which reworks ‘Pass The Dutchie’, Minnie Riperton and the Stylistics – and how the phone never stops ringing with requests for an echo-filled clattery sonic re-...

Rick Wakeman was onstage from the age of five and looks back with us here on a life of live performance – jazz and blues bands, the Strawbs, Yes – and ahead to this autumn’s tour performing King Arthur and the Six Wives of Henry the Eighth. “I wake up every morning, throw off the duvet and – if nothing else has fallen off – have a great day!” There’s more …

... how it feels when the rock press call you ‘Tomorrow’s Superstar!’ ...

Chasing the shade and applying Factor 50 in the wilting heat of this week’s rock and roll news turns the conversation to …

… Kneecap v the Prime Minister.

… will any openly anti-Trump musician find it hard to tour the States?

… the girl who’s listening to all 10,000 of her late father’s albums, one 60-second Instagram reel at a time.

… a bottle of Snoop Dogg rosé, anyone?  

… why Carol Kaye turned down ...

The Farm are touring again this summer and have just made their first album for 31 years (with the same-line-up). This sparky and wide-ranging conversation with Peter Hooton stops off at the following …

… the advice Mark E Smith gave him when they were interviewed by Select magazine.

… “Suedeheads v Trogs and Greebos”: early ‘70s tribal warfare in Bootle.

… seeing Cockney Rebel, the Sensational Alex Harvey Band and G...

Carol Decker - another Smash Hits cover star on the podcast! T’Pau are playing dates this summer and autumn and she talks here – hilariously - about life on the ‘80s package tour circuit and the first shows she ever saw and played, which stops off at ….

… does any audience beat a Butlin’s Mid-Weeker on their third pint?

… from Black Mirror to PG Tips: the afterlife of a hit.

… seeing Rod & the Faces in Stoke-On-T...

As the great Warren Zevon said, ‘Enjoy every sandwich’. The two-man canoe navigates this week’s rock and roll rivulet which sadly entails reflections on a pair of towering musical giants ‘whose legend occupied the space where activity should have been’. Things considered include …

…are you born with genius or does a set of circumstances allow it to flourish?

… the impossible task of living up to people’s expectations and ...

Liam Gallagher calls Ted Kessler and Hamish MacBain “the Peter Cook and Dudley Moore of music journalism”. Both worked at the NME (and Ted at Q), both interviewed the band many times and have just published ‘A Sound So Very Loud’ which, in the grand tradition of Revolution In The Head, tells the story of every Oasis song ever recorded. They talk to Mark here about …  

… why Oasis struck such an almighty chord and wer...

Elkie Brooks was on a package tour aged 15, supported the Beatles and the Animals, made a single when she was 19, joined the jazz-rock Dada, then Vinegar Joe (with Robert Palmer) and has since made 20 albums. She’s now out on her ‘Long Farewell Tour’ and looks back with us here from her home in Devon at …

… supporting the Beatles in ’64 and an audience already screaming for the headliners.  

… memories of Dusty,...

Facing down the leg spinners of rock and roll news while trying to wallop the odd shot across the pavilion roof. On the scoreboard this week …

… has there ever been a rock feud as bitter as Trump v Musk?

… what Ray Charles, Taylor Swift and Dave Clark have in common.

… the 30-year golden age music video.

… things Van Morrison can’t forget.

… how some songs about lying in hammocks necking cocktails ended up ...

Stuart Maconie – broadcaster, prolific author – has a brilliant and original new perspective on the Beatles. His latest book With A Little Help From Their Friends identifies the 100 people who had the greatest impact on their story, from the inner circle to bit-part players – schoolfriends, girlfriends, managers, muses, support acts, advisors and exploiters. It’s immensely entertaining – and revealing, even for obsessives like us. ...

Rob Caiger is one of those special people who turned their teenage obsession with music into a job

… from being the only one in ELO’s office who knew where the old tapes were

… to learning that what it says on the outside of the box isn’t always what’s on the tape

… through embarking on a ten-year project to put out the last Small Faces album from 1970 in its proper form  

… via blindfolded journeys to...