Word In Your Ear
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Word In Your Ear
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 la...
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Elliott Smith, his life, his afterlife and the friends who believed in him
A sense of melancholy hangs over the music of songwriters whose lives were tragically short – Nick Drake, Jeff Buckley, Eva Cassidy, Judee Sill - and...
How Kylie became the whole world’s sweetheart
Michael Cragg’s devotion to all things Kylie once led him to Melbourne in search of the actual carousel horse she rode in a pop video. He got a tattoo...
Sandy Denny’s life and luminous talent celebrated by Linda Thompson
‘Sandy Denny: A People’s History’ has just been published, memories from fellow musicians, old friends, producers, writers, fans and admirers. Linda T...
The Abbey Road photo miracle, Glen Hansard and TV we’d pay to watch
The news slapped on the conversational barbecue and served with a side of old hokum. This week’s mixed grill includes …
… our favourite...
Bowie, the Cure, Neil Young and the golden age of the video shoot
Tim Pope caught the video wave in 1981 and made hundreds of promotional clips, often three or four a week, edited at night and on-air days later. You’...
Pauline Black of the Selecter, the girl who invented the Rude Girl
Pauline Black was seen singing Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell songs in Coventry folk clubs and recruited by a local reggae band. Then converted to sk...
Tony Fletcher - teenage label boss! – remembers the Jam, the Tube and the ‘80s pop explosion
Tony Fletcher launched Jamming! when he was 13, wrote for the Face at 16, ran a label with Paul Weller at 17 and a year later was presenting the Tube....
Jonathan Richman, on-the-road songs and the best-known solo ever recorded
Testing the temperature of this week’s news to see what trips the fire-alarm, which includes …
… does having a Number One still matter?<...
Jonathan Richman, on-the-road songs and the best-known solo ever recorded
This week’s news in a conversational cocktail-shaker and served with ice and a little paper parasol. Those Happy Hour highlights include …
Georgie Fame, Ben Sidran and the golden age of ‘60s Soho
Ben Sidran was in a teenage band with Steve Miller and Boz Scaggs, a session pianist with the Stones in 1969 and carved a brilliant career as a jazz m...
Steve Hackett remembers batwings, blues clubs and Genesis on £15 a week
Steve Hackett’s seven years in Genesis get re-explored when he tours in October, along with ‘solo gems’ from the records he’s made since, the latest ‘...
Mari Wilson, our favourite girl about town, takes Neasden to Chelsea
Mari Wilson has drunk deep of all that London nightlife has to offer, from a London Transport social club in Wembley to a posh venue in Chelsea via th...
All music is dance music! – and the best stage name ever
Another over-heated week put through the conversational air-conditioner, which involves …
… the man who got rich writing words that coul...
Adam & the Ants, pop stardom and Marco Pirroni’s brief spell in the spotlight
Marco Pirroni’s moment in the sun was big, lucrative but incredibly short. It was under a year from Adam & the Ants’ first hit to their last and immed...
The Specials are no more! Horace Panter remembers days when it was ‘like walking on air’
The Specials have officially disbanded, bowing out with a swansong album recorded in the ruins of Coventry Cathedral in 2019. Horace Panter looks back...
Is Indie the new Good Old Days? And why are there no British country stars?
As this week’s news hurtles over the net, we sort the aces from the double-faults. The final score …
… Madonna, Shakira, Chris Martin a...
Kevin Rowland, the new Dexys and what he's learnt from life
We first saw Kevin in ‘77 wearing jodhpurs onstage with his art-punk band the Killjoys! He’s formed a new version of Dexys, made an album, starts a to...
Great rock feuds of Manchester, TV comedy & the man who invented the pop song
This week’s penalty shoot-out of news sorts the surefire hits from the over-the-bar misses. That final score again …
… what Morrissey’s only go...
Joan Armatrading, Tom Robinson and the great music meltdown of Summer ‘76
The blistering heat of 1976 burnt various things onto the memory – standpipes, strikes, Entebbe, ‘Confessions’ movies, Jeremy Thorpe – but most of all...
Prefab Sprout - a tale of mystery, eccentricity and pop’s most famous motorbike
Nige Tassell fell in love with the literary allusions of Prefab Sprout when at school and his new book ‘Truly Gifted Kids’ tells their unique and insc...
Madonna smoking, the first indie PM and have we just witnessed the nadir of pop?!
Tapping the barometer of news to see what’s blistering or stormy, which this week includes …
… “The Man can’t bust our music!”: the crim...
Gary Numan’s reality check – ‘I’m essentially a guy who wears make-up for a living’
Seven hundred fans have contributed to ‘Gary Numan: A People’s History’, a lavishly published compendium of memories of discovering, hearing and watch...
David Gray’s priceless memories of lessons learned the hard way
David Gray went through the roof with his White Ladder album in 2000 and he’s toured and recorded ever since, ending this summer’s loop at Latitude. H...
Why George Michael’s life is a movie plus Syd, Kirsty, Gorillaz & the worst album title ever
Digging deep in the icebox of news to choose the following lightly chilled refreshments …
… 500 Miles, Wonderwall, Yes Sir I Can Boogie(...
Peter Frampton – ‘the Face of 1968’ looks back!
Peter Frampton, for goodness sake! Part of our lives at Word In Your Ear since we were teenagers. Played guitar on national telly when he was 14. Join...
Paul Simon’s Graceland and how the masterpiece was made
‘Graceland’ was an almighty gamble for Paul Simon, a costly, high-risk departure from the music he’d been making and a complex international venture....
Kate Mossman has strong feelings about rock stars past their prime
Kate’s an old pal of ours from Word magazine who writes scintillating columns and profiles for the New Statesman and Observer. We loved her book ‘Men...
Pop stars’ weddings and why Noel Gallagher’s right about World Cup music
Amid much parping of vuvuzelas, the week’s news stories sprint onto the pitch. And these make it to the quarter-finals …
… Dua Lipa’s me...
Dave Balfe remembers the Teardrops, Blur and a very big house in the country
Dave Balfe was a key player in late ‘70s Liverpool, joined Big In Japan and the Teardrop Explodes, co-founded Zoo Records and, later, Food who signed...
Star Ratings - do we love/hate/need them? Five-star debate here! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Star Ratings are now ubiquitous and inescapable and it’s not just music, films and books. Everything we encounter tends to be rated which colours our...
Brian Epstein & the Beatles - what he did and what he hid
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 extre...
Are we nearing Beatles Overload? plus the rock star with the most children (41!)
When the pedalo of perusal cruised the lagoon of news this week, it paused to inspect the following ...
… the particular magic of the la...
The glorious story of Funk from James Brown to Off The Wall
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 deepes...
Leo Sayer has met everyone – rock legends, sport superstars, future presidents …
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 – songwriter...
Songs about sweltering heat, Willie Nelson’s braids and is vinyl now ‘luxury goods’?
Chasing the shade and slapping the Sunscreen on this week’s overheated news, we pour a tinkling drink and reflect upon the following …
…...
How Daniel Lanois made those adventurous records with Dylan, U2 and Willie Nelson
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 reco...
Siouxsie, Nico, Cocteaus, Shangri-Las, Bobbie Gentry … a celebration of the sound of Goth!
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 h...
Blondie and Clem Burke remembered by devoted pal Kathy Valentine of the Go-Go’s
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 ass...
Nick Lowe’s miracle payday, Rock feuds and a giant inflatable Jarvis
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 Simps...
The Damned at 50 and the memories (and regrets) of Rat Scabies
The Damned are – yes! - 50 years old with three of the originals still onboard. And just starting a world tour. In this immensely funny and touching p...