Word In Your Ear

Freddie Mercury had an affair with a close friend’s wife and, in 1977, became a father. He’s now a grandfather. That’s the foundation of a new book ‘Love, Freddie’ by his highly respected biographer Lesley-Ann Jones which details a four-year, detailed exchange with his daughter ‘B’, now 48, and the contents of the 17 notebooks he gave her before he died in 1991. We talk to Lesley-Ann here about this gripping new tilt on his story w...

All the leaves are brown and the sky’s a bit unruly but mellow fruitfulness abounds in this week’s pick of the rock and roll news. Add to basket …  

… is Morrissey hacked off, broke or just desperate for attention?

… are stadium gigs the new tourism?

… bucket hats, Man City, lads culture … how did America finally ‘get’ Oasis?

… singles that weren’t on albums

… are we sated by an overabundance of m...

Immortalised by Hendrix, ‘Hey Joe’ had its roots in 18th century murder ballads, ‘60s folk and rock clubs before the world got to hear it. Jason Schneider unravels its twisted genesis in ‘That Gun In Your Hand’, and talks to us here about the miracles that allowed it to happen and the sad fate of Billy Roberts, the man who claimed he wrote it. Along with …

… “all pop records are built on the back of other pop records”

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Maddy Prior – folk royalty, an absolute hero of ours – is touring with Steeleye Span again this autumn 66 years after they started, a life someone should make into a movie. She talks to us here about her undimmed love of live performance and …  

… when the height of your ambition is a £3 ticket to Blackpool Pleasure Beach

… “Rod Argent, the first boy I ever kissed”

… her fox-fur-trimmed Lambretta when a tee...

Our pencil-chewing, critical assessment of this week’s news gets mainly * and *** reviews, among them …

…. Sting v Summers & Copeland over Every Breath You Take, the goose that laid the golden egg

… what John Lennon would have thought about the ‘cancelled’ track on Some Time In New York City

… when did “critically acclaimed” come to mean unpopular?

… the knock-about days when a critic was “a jerk, a crank an...

Debsey Wykes was in Dolly Mixture, one of the very few all-girl groups in post-punk London, a time when bands with charisma won the battle for attention and you promoted singles on the back of a truck. Her memoir Teenage Daydream perfectly captures a slice of late ‘70s life, the thrill of playing the pub circuit and trying to storm Radio One. Along with …

… the agony of re-reading teenage diaries

… being supported by U2 t...

A tub-thumping, snare-cracking, cymbal-simmering, two-way backbeat to this week’s rock and roll news, the on-beats including …

… “Trauma-bonding?” Why being ‘a fan’ is like a love affair

… Ian Brown, Morrissey, Siouxsie, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison … why singers who don’t play an instrument are a different species

… the stadium-rock drummer transfer window

… Sigourney Weaver at Shea Stadium in ’65

… singers ...

How can you not love the Divine Comedy whose inspirations include Tom Lehrer and “Landfill Indie”? And Neil Hannon wrote music for Wonka, Father Ted and the IT Crowd. There’s a new album, Rainy Sunday Afternoon, and a tour in October and all bases are covered in this conversation from Kildare, these among them …

 … seeing U2 at Croke Park “and feeling as though I’d won the Wonka Golden Ticket”.

… favourite bands of t...

Tanita Tikaram’s second gig had an audience of three – one paying customer and two concert promoters. When one of them wanted to talk to her afterwards she said, “sorry, I’ve got to get the train home.” She was 17. In this podcast she tells us the story of the one of the fastest career ascents on record which stops off at …

… an open-mic night with a girl who cut up newspaper – “what happened to her?”

… Basingstoke alumni...

Bob Mould, whose records with Hüsker Dü had such impact on Nirvana and Pixies, is back on tour again, both solo and with a band. “I’ve built this tiny soap box - and if you don’t like it, it’s been nice knowing you!” He talks to us from San Francisco about …

… March 30 1979: “the day that changed my life”

… over-refreshment on the bus to see Rush and Aerosmith, aged 16

… the influence of Hüsker Dü on Nirvana, Pixies ...

Damping down the wildfires of rock and roll news this week we focus on the following …

… Oasis, Taylor Swift and Coldplay and the new age of Winner Takes All

… did Bob Dylan write a song with Gene Simmons, advertise lingerie or appear on a telethon with Harry Dean Stanton?

… movies that need making eg the Molly Drake Story, the Rock And Roll Mitford Sisters (Pattie, Jenny and Paula Boyd)

… surely what makes the ...

Paul Weller has just covered it on his new album. Morrissey played it to Noel Gallagher who took the idea and ran with it. What explains the enduring appeal of a record that stalled at number 22 all those years ago? Actor/musician Brian Protheroe doesn’t know but he’s certainly grateful that it’s being reissued once again. His story takes us back to:

…the days when young musicians hitch-hiked to London

…the way the sun shone on t...

Other, weaker podcasts may take the summer off. Not this one.

…the story of Jerry Garcia’s alligator strat, Paul McCartney’s violin bass and the instrument Peter Frampton thought had gone forever

…the long story of Terry Reid, who turned down Led Zeppelin, and the golden afternoon when he was the most charismatic figure in roc

…the real reason why you wouldn’t have wanted to be at Keith Richards’ place on that day in 1967

…why ther...

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Friend of the pod and chronicler of the careers of Springsteen, Paul Simon and REM, Peter Ames Carlin has heard all the recordings that went into the album which was Springsteen’s last chance saloon and spoken to the people who were there to put together the story of how it was all done.

….the lucky break that came when the boss’s son went to a Springsteen show

….the man who played on Bruce S...

Jah Wobble - touring in October - is outstanding company and rattles on here like a steam train, sparking off at tangents in a brilliant, barely steerable monologue with a crackling cast of characters. It’s not often a podcast gets a visitor mid-recording who says, “I’ve put more poison in - but the good news is, there’s nothing in your traps!” Here you will find …

… an afternoon with Anthony Hopkins

… the time Ginger Bak...

There’s a widely accepted view of the relationship between Elvis and his manager Tom Parker, the one sustained by the recent Baz Luhrmann movie, but a new and fascinating archive of unseen letters makes you see it differently: it was warmer, deeper and infinitely more complicated. Peter Guralnick – rock book royalty! - met Parker towards the end of his life and has just published ‘The Colonel And The King: Tom Parker, Elvis Presley...

Lowering the magnet of curiosity into the scrapyard of news and seeing what’s attracted, which includes …

… does anyone still write satirical songs?

… Four Sides of the Circle, Margaret On The Guillotine, From Here To Infirmary … real or fictitious working album titles?

… the rarity of hearing new music without knowing what the musician looks like

 … the Strokes, the Faces and other confident gangs you want...

The Wedding Present formed 40 years ago – why does that seem astonishing? - and have a new box set and tour to celebrate. David Gedge digs out his old notes about the first gigs he ever saw and played and looks back at what four decades onstage might have taught him. Among the delights …  

… Rick Wakeman in full cape attire at Manchester Free Trade Hall in ’76 and how Be-bop Deluxe pointed to the future

… the bo...

Bret McKenzie now mainly works on movie soundtracks, the Simpsons, Minecraft and the Muppets among them, which brings the pure delight of hearing his songs sung by Lady Gaga, Benedict Cumberbatch, Miss Piggy and Tony Bennett. He talks here about his early life in Wellington (ballet teacher Mum, racehorse trainer Dad), narrative comedy, songwriting heroes and his new album Freak Out City, and unravels New Zealand’s double-edged sens...