Mark Ellen and David Hepworth have been talking about and writing about music together and individually for a collective eighty years in magazines like Smash Hi...
The rise of David Bowie and the Spiders From Mars through the eyes of Woody Woodmansey
The teenage Woody Woodmansey was offered the job of under-foreman in the Vertex spectacle factory in Hull but then got a call from Bowie inviting him to move to London and play drums on his new album - “plus food and somewhere to stay”. It took him all weekend to decide. And involved some cultural readjustment when he did. 56 years later he’s a founding member of Holy Holy and touring the UK in May – along with Tony Visconti and Glenn Gregory – performing songs from Bowie’s breakthrough early ‘70s albums. He talks here about … … the life-changing sound behind the silver door of an air-raid shelter in Driffield. … supporting the Kinks in Bridlington and the Herd at Leeds University - and why Peter Frampton told him, “I’ll see you at the top”. ... his first paid gig at the local girls’ school. … the Spiders’ instructional group outings to see ballet, mime and theatre. ... “never more than three takes”: how Bowie wrote and recorded and the sketches he drew for their stage gear. … life at Haddon Hall and its “Gone With The Wind staircase”. … Yorkshire to London and the cultural collisions involved. … what Bowie realised was “the missing ingredient”. … Woody’s checklist to assess Bowie’s talents when he met him: “He wasn’t Paul Rodgers or Roger Daltrey. He could write. He could communicate.” … “I’m not wearing that!” The day Mick Ronson packed his bags and left. Order Holy Holy tickets here:https://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/tony-visconti-tickets/artist/2003254Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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36:41
So Long, Marianne Faithfull plus the Shipping Forecast as read by Nick Cave
In a courageous stand against AI technology, a pair of old lags communing via two cocoa tins and a piece of string attempt to put the rock and roll world to rights. Which this week involves … … what David saw in the HMV record store in Oxford Street “that shook me to the ground”. ... music that only works played loud. … Marianne Faithfull - there’s no middle ground between Sacred Figure and Outrageous Diva. … why ‘60s fame is like no other fame. … is there a more enduring example of bad press than Sting’s tantric sex? … John Mendelssohn’s West Coast adventure with David Bowie. … which is musically more significant: punk or disco? … Tom Waits reading the weather forecast. … which musicians make convincing actors - Sinatra, Lady Gaga, Elvis, Beyonce, Justin Timberlake, Costello, Mick Jagger? … Bowie singing Jacques Brel songs on a waterbed in Hollywood. … why we miss the great press ‘hatchet jobs’. … do slogans last longer than music? … what kind of world plays When The Levee Breaks softly and in a Chelsea café? … why rock music is like the Catholic Church before the Reformation. … plus birthday guest Kevin Rose wonders which musicians made the best actors. Order John Mendelssohn’s ‘Peculiar To Mr Bowie’ here:https://www.nortonrecords.com/a4-peculiar-to-mr-bowie-by-john-mendelssohn/Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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53:40
Did Britain invent the rock band? - plus our new laws about music & Garth Hudson RIP
When we get off of this mountain, you know where we want to go? Straight down the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico. While surveying the week’s events as we paddle, which involves … … the genius of Garth Hudson and the magnificent way he looked - “part lumberjack, part Old Testament prophet, part Brahms.” … how Glyn Johns invented the sound of the Eagles. … Carrie Underwood’s Inauguration catastrophe. … only male voice choirs or gospel groups should be allowed to perform National Anthems! … fiery, magnificent, sexy, vaguely threatening – the appeal of the great British rock bands. … does a protest track have to be a good song to be effective? … “screw up your eyes and Guns N’Roses, Aerosmith and Van Halen all look preposterous”. … how the Band hooked up with Dylan. … was there ever a more dramatic drop-off from hit singles to album filler than in the Eagles? … can any song called Visions ever be any good? … why there should be more Band tribute acts. ... “any busker within 35 yards is noise pollution!” ... plus birthday guest Roger Millington wonders why we love the Band Aid single but not We Are The World. That touching clip of Garth Hudson playing and singing in 2023:https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BtfvpS0EyO8Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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37:25
Howard Jones has ‘the best job in the world’
We put Howard Jones on the cover of Smash Hits in 1983 billed as ‘the Most Promising New Act’ and, 15 albums and 42 years later, he’s about to set out on another tour, a double-bill with ABC. He looks back here at the first shows he ever saw and played which involves …… rehearsing his Live Aid slot backstage to an audience of one: David Bowie. … pioneering the “one-man show” in the early days of Moogs and drum machines. … Emerson Lake & Palmer firing cannons onstage at the Isle of Wight in 1970 (his first gig, aged 15). … rough treatment from the British “pundits”.… school band Warrior – sample track title, Squashed Cat’s Intestines.… being in Ringo’s All-Starr Band and the ELP number he’d play with Sheila E and Greg Lake. … “bad spectacles, terrible haircut”: early solo gigs in Oxford pubs. … the current tour with ABC: “lifting people’s spirits, the best job in the world”. Mentioned in passing: China Crisis, Hendrix, Bill Payne of Little Feat. Howard Jones tour dates here:http://howardjones.com/Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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20:49
Andy Fairweather Low’s teenage psychedelic stardom
Another great hero on the podcast! We first heard Andy Fairweather Low with Amen Corner on jukeboxes in the late ‘60s and he’s touring the UK from February. Ten albums and countless collaborations later, he looks back here at teenage life on the psychedelic circuit and the first shows he saw and played, stopping off at … … the Stones in Cardiff in ’64 - “they opened with Talkin’ ‘Bout You and it hit me like a virus.” … Amen Corner – “you gauged how good a gig was by how many people fainted.” … being The Face of ’69 when Peter Frampton was the Face of ‘68. … getting Otis Redding’s autograph. … the package tour with Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, The Move, Eire Apparent and the Nice “all in one charabanc together”. … his first band the Firebrands playing to “literally no audience”. … buying magical soul singles at Spillers in Cardiff. … the days when you had a 26-inch waist and played Knock On Wood eight times a night. … what people loved about Wide-Eyed And Legless. … recording 50 Words For Snow with Kate Bush. … the songs that “make the phones come out”. … the rigours of getting old: “halfway through the set she asked, when’s Andy Fairweather Low coming on?” ... and Don Arden, Andrew Loog Oldham, disappearing cash and the significance of the Spider Jiving sleeve. Andy Fairweather Low tour dates:https://andyfairweatherlow.com/about-us/ Order Andy’s The Invisible Bluesman album here:https://www.amazon.co.uk/Invisible-Bluesman-Andy-Fairweather-Low/dp/B0DKSN2CDZFind out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Mark Ellen and David Hepworth have been talking about and writing about music together and individually for a collective eighty years in magazines like Smash Hits, Mojo and The Word and on radio and TV programmes like "Rock On", "Whistle Test" and VH-1.Over thirteen years ago, when working on the late magazine The Word, they began producing podcasts. Some listeners have been kind enough to say these have been very special to them. When the magazine folded in 2012 they kept the spirit of those podcasts alive in regular Word In Your Ear evenings in which they spoke to musicians and authors in front of an audience. Over these years they've produced hundreds of hours of material. As of the Current Unpleasantness of 2020, they've produced yet hundreds of hours more with a little help from guests kind enough to digitally show them around their attics such as Danny Baker, Andy Partridge, Sir Tim Rice and Mark Lewisohn. For the full span of the Word In Your Ear world, visit wiyelondon.com. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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