Word In Your Ear

‘January,’ a revered pop lyricist once wrote, ‘sick and tired you've been hanging on me.’ And if that’s the mood down your way, this might help crank up the heat, alighting as it does upon the following … … Guns N’Roses and the imperial age of the pop video: director Nigel Dick remembers the $750,000 budget … ‘lost elfin Scots superstar’: missing Incredible String Band member found after 40 years! … comparing the original West End Girls to the re-made worldwide hit: “like a Top Of The Pops album doing the same song” … the three ages of Bowie and why he’s becoming a religious cult … gangster-wall-papering the Melody Maker office as an Ian Dury promo stunt ... the magic of stars’ childhood bedrooms … “he’s got a tinfoil pal and a pedal bin”: Star Wars in a nutshell … Tales of Brave Ulysses: psychedelia in under three minutes …. and has there ever been a fictional band as convincing as McGwyer Mortimer? Andy Miller on Licorice McKecknie here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/incredible-band-146577648 Nigel Dick’s wonderful video for God Only Knows here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXhEkug1G-QHelp us to keep The Longest Conversation In Rock going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cartwheeling into 2026 with the usual cast of rock and roll heroes and pantomime villains. Behind you this week you’ll find … … Boy George? Rick Wakeman? Chas Smash? Vanilla Ice? Pop stars who’ve done panto … will there ever be another Rock Knighthood? … Dylan, Elton, Chrissie Hynde and Lil Wayne mention Brigitte Bardot in songs: but who’s seen any of her films? … “the Brigitte Bardot idea of beauty was conceived at the same time as the idea of rock and roll” … Chris Rea’s obsession with Miles Davis – and the tale of Benny Santini … Billy Joel’s ‘We Didn’t Start The Fire’ and ‘Hello’ by the Beloved and their roll calls of saints and sinners … David saw Bob Marley at the Lyceum but now thinks he’s seen a show that was even better … the great attraction of cinema is “our furtive dreams in the dark” … what Van Morrison owes Hugh McCracken for the intro to Brown-Eyed Girl … and birthday guest Andrew Slattery’s Hepworth v Ellen SmashWaddy reviews quiz!Help us to keep The Longest Conversation In Rock going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Peter Hammill has spent nearly six decades building the most devoted following imaginable – Bowie, Peter Gabriel and Mark E Smith among them. ‘Rock And Role’ tells his invigorating story, beautifully illustrated with photos, cuttings, artwork and memorabilia. Author Joe Banks looks back at his life, impact and captivating way with words, and stops off at … … the value of looks and charisma in the days when labels hadn’t the faintest idea of the future … how Hammill “created a world to live inside and broadcast from” … psychedelic cabaret with wolf masks and blood capsules … meeting Hammill’s muse and former girlfriend Alice: “50 years later, each still think the other one left them” … “songs that ask the big questions about life” … discovering VDGG in 1984 (via Marillion) and piecing together their story in the days before the internet … public school, Gilbert & Sullivan and the Hallelujah Chorus … the influence of A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers on Genesis’ Supper’s Ready … his plans with Mark E Smith and how Bowie had every new album delivered to him all his life … Charisma, Tony Stratton-Smith and the freedom to experiment … the intensity of his following in Japan and Italy: “there’s no such thing as a casual Hammill fan”. Order ‘Rock And Role’ here: https://burningshed.com/store/kingmakerHelp us to keep The Longest Conversation In Rock going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Deck the halls with cheese and Bolly! … and a dish of the usual rock and roll distraction which this week throws the following logs on the fire … … the greatest Xmas single ever? … Metal Machine Music, Cut the Crap, Two Sides of the Moon … can panned records ever be rehabilitated? … how Roxy Music invented ‘rock brand-value’ and turned it into pictures … Joe Ely and the romance of songs about the American landscape … Rob Reiner and why that scene in When Harry Met Sally is the greatest marriage of people and ideas … the real-life moment that inspired Spinal Tap … “most American pop music is about geography” … "I keep my fingernails long so they click when I play the piano" … Jordan Carl Wheeler Davis? Michael Holbrook Penniman Jr? Mystery acts playing Wembley Arena … the British think America is “fabulous and otherworldly”. Americans think Britain is “quaint” … plus the magnificent McGarrigles’ Christmas Hour, farewell Hofner and we name the Finnegan’s Wake of rock music!Help us to keep The Longest Conversation In Rock going: https://www.patreon.com.wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Beloved Australian songwriter Paul Kelly has just turned 70 – “it sounds Biblical, threescore years and ten.” He looks back here at the road he took to get there, from early days in Adelaide to the pub circuit to his catalogueof stirring and eloquent songs about the big issues of life and love, as Neil Finn says, “with not a trace of pretence or fakery”. You’ll find … … the moment he felt he’d arrived … the story of How To Make Gravy – “a Christmas song with no chorus about a man in prison” – and Rita Wrote A Letter, its ghostly sequel … early records he loved – Tommy Roe, Peter Paul & Mary, Yes, Deep Purple, Frank Zappa, the “chaotic” Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong … life on the Melbourne pub circuit playing Neil Young, Gram Parsons and Hank Williams … touring with Leonard Cohen – “a masterclass in performance, like a prayer, a ritual, like a Vaudevillian Rabbi” .. the storytelling songs of the Stanley Brothers, the Louvin Brothers and Buck Owens ... the great Calypso cricket tradition and the track he wrote about Shane Warne … “the odd-sock drawer”: the file in his computer where he stores early sketches … I’m In Love With A Blue Frog, the five chords that underpinned 50 years of songwriting! … the intricacy of Neil Finn’s impressionistic lyrics … and the things you hear in your songs when someone else sings them. Order Paul Kelly’s ‘Seventy’ here: https://paulkelly.lnk.to/seventyHelp us to keep The Longest Conversation In Rock going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.