Episódios
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In which we feed the week’s events through our heat-seeking Fun-Filter®️ to see what makes the bell ring. Which includes …
… Richard Ashcroft in the new John Lewis Christmas ad.
… U2 v Coldplay, the Beatles v Pink Floyd – rock bands and the “diploma divide”.
… why can we still recite entire song lyrics we learnt when teenagers but can’t remember the shopping list we wrote this morning?
… “they couldn’t find their backside with the flashlight”.
… the new form of tribute group: the Fall, Thin Lizzy and Talk Talk and the bands made up of ex-members who are recording their ‘new music’.
… Elvis, Noel Coward, Churchill, Dylan, Jack Nicholson, Michael Caine, Bowie, the Stones, Frank Sinatra … who should Craig Brown write about next?
… the very few people more famous than Paul McCartney.
… our search for the poshest pop star.
… Beatles fans v the National Anthem.
… is this the only podcast on God’s green earth to mention the Wars Of Spanish Succession?
… and birthday guest Giles Fraser on Phil Manzanera, Neil Tennant, Clare Grogan, Midge Ure and other musicians with fabulous speaking voices.
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He’s written some of the darkest entries in the American songbook but became world famous with a sunny celebration of friendship on the soundtrack of “Toy Story”. Inbetween can be found a staggering range of songs dealing with everything from short people to Vladimir Putin, from performing bears to the Louisiana Flood., from ELO to the Great Nations Of Europe, all of which show up in this authoritative new biography from Robert Hilburn, for years the rock writer of the Los Angeles Times. Topics touched on in his chat with David Hepworth:
… when you called your book “A Few Words In Defense Of Our Country”, did you know it was coming out in Election week?
… why Robert’s review of Elton John at the Troubadour in 1970 transformed the life of one piano player from Pinner while his review of Randy in the same same venue in the same year didn’t have the same effect on this local hero.
… how Randy finds his inspiration by sitting in front of the TV with a big stack of hardback books.
… what his famous uncles taught him and how he has spent a lifetime trying to follow their lead.
… how he got his first break from Cilla Black, Alan Price and the British chart,
… what he said when he finally got as Oscar after years of nominations.
… why he can write quickly when commissioned but moves agonisingly slowly when relying on inspiration.
… why he’s the only biographical subject to insist his children are interviewed.
… what he thinks of Donald Trump.
Order Robert’s book here:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Few-Words-Defense-Our-Country/dp/1408720361
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After many years of invisibility, Peter Perrett of the Only Ones is out, about and on tour again and talks to us here about the first gigs he ever saw and played, which involves …
… what time he goes to bed.
… “he writes better lyrics than Elvis Costello and is prettier than Billy Idol”: why Nick Kent’s review was an insult.
… seeing the Small Faces in 1966, the Floyd with Syd at Middle Earth, Dylan at the Isle of Wight, Fairport Convention, Geno Washington, Lou Reed in 1972 (“a hero”), Sex Pistols in 1975.
… the Ally Pally Love-In in 1967 with Pink Floyd, the Animals, Julie Driscoll and Arthur Brown (“doing Alice Cooper five years before Alice Cooper”).
… supporting Global Village Trucking Company at the Marquee in 1975 with Glenn Tilbrook and Jools Holland.
… memories of Vivienne Westwood, the Bromley Contingent and leopardskin vinyl trousers.
… the first gig he ever played, doing the Velvet Underground’s What Goes On with a four-string guitar at a college dance.
… the tangled tale of Another Girl Another Planet.
… “I never thought I’d retire at 28 and come back as a septuagenarian’.
… the role reversal of being produced by your own son.
… and how the Snow Station Vadsø festival in Norway – with Peter Buck, Lenny Kaye, Fritz Catlin and Mark Bedford – gave him the courage to go back on tour.
Peter Perrett tour dates here:
https://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/peter-perrett-tickets/artist/5238432
Order his new album The Cleansing here:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cleansing-Peter-Perrett/dp/B0DB8VMBDL
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Things this week that sent the needle into the red included …
… the last dance craze the whole world noticed.
... “Rock stars used to be anti-establishment. Now they ARE the establishment.”
… artworks, flags, bespoke I-Ching Coins … would YOU pay £1,350 for a box set?
… why Quincy Jones made records like a movie director.
... how Dylan’s Biograph and Springsteen’s live box started a gold rush.
… “an unprecedented event in popular recording".
… Hot Night, Starlight, Give Me Some Time, Lights Out and other working titles for Thriller.
… “We’re here to save the record business!”
… the speed of the Beatles: two years between Ed Sullivan and Tomorrow Never Knows; two years from the Cavern to Shea Stadium.
Plus birthday guest Phil Hopwood: moments in rock history you’d like to have witnessed to see what really happened.
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The most streamed Beatles song – 700 million plays more than any other – is not by Lennon/McCartney but George who, as author Seth Rogovoy points out, is still widely considered “an economy-class Beatle” though his contributions were central to the success of their records. Seth’s new book ‘Within You Without You: Listening to George Harrison’ sets out to right this monstrous wrong! As does this conversation with the two of us which covers …
… did My Sweet Lord’s court case puncture his sense of ambition?
… how he changed Taxman for American audiences.
… the statement made by starting All Things Must Pass with a Dylan/Harrison composition.
… how he was fleeced by not one but two managers - Allen Klein and Denis O’Brien.
… what we learnt from watching ‘Get Back’.
… Broadway ballads, Vaudeville, jazz and the solo on ‘Til There Was You.
… remortgaging Friar Park for Life Of Brian and pushing for the Anthology “payday”.
… his glorious spiritual/material contradiction – “the Pisces sign is two fish going in opposite directions”.
… a social mobility that John and Paul both envied.
… falling out of love with live performance.
… the beliefs of his early ‘20s he sustained all his life.
… and the staples of George Harrison’s Jukebox.
Order Seth’s book here:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Within-You-Without-Listening-Harrison/dp/019762782X
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Ian Broudie and the Lightning Seeds are about to set out on their 35th Anniversary Greatest Hits Tour – aka “beery parties”. He talks to us here about the first bands he ever saw and played in, which involves …
… memories of the Liverpool School of Language, Music, Dream and Pun.
… the secret of seeming enigmatic: “Never finish your sentences …”
… how Three Lions brought a whole new audience and the irony of a singer who didn’t front his biggest hit.
… why the Ramones and Talking Heads made him sell his old records.
… first requirement for success: “being able to make a fool of yourself”.
… when Captain Beefheart forgot he was booked for an art show and painted all the pictures the night before.
… how a part in a Ken Campbell play launched his career.
… seeing the Beatles, aged seven – “Shut your eyes and put your fingers in your ears”.
… when Eric’s in Mathew Street seemed the centre of the universe.
… “for the first time ever I’m not suffering from Imposter Syndrome – I AM THE SINGER!”
… Free, Pink Floyd, Elvis Costello, XTC, Big In Japan and the Sausages From Mars.
… making records that are “an Andy Warhol pop-art splash of colour on a wall”.
Lightning Seeds tickets here:
https://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/lightning-seeds-tickets/artist/735512
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Our crack pair of inquisitors tackle the week’s events and sift out the good, the bad and the riveting, which includes …
… whatever happened to savage reviews?
… “For God’s sake, keep the robots out of music!”: the 50th birthday of Kraftwerk’s Autobahn.
… a Naked Nick Cave Plush Doll (£24) and some Jonny Greenwood olive oil.
… strange tales about the making of Disraeli Gears.
… what keeps Kamala Harris awake at night.
… the staggering bill at Murray the K’s ‘Music In The Fifth Dimension’ in 1967.
… Teri Garr, Diane Keaton and other fantasy girlfriends.
... “Twas nought but an skellington covered in skin”.
… rock stars never seen without shades.
… and birthday guest Cathal Chu cooks up another 45 ways to leave your lover – ‘Give two weeks’ notice, Otis’.
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Elliot Mintz, then a West Coast radio presenter, met the Lennons in 1971, the start of a close, unique and extraordinary friendship and hours of late-night phone calls. And he’s finally written a book about it, We All Shine On: John, Yoko & Me, which records the isolated, complicated life they led imprisoned by their celebrity, at times joyous and outlandish, at others bleak and uncomfortably revealing. All bases covered here, among them …
… “his view of Paul changed with days and temperature – brotherly love, jealousy, discomfort …”
… how they dealt with the FBI bugging their apartment.
… being present at John and Paul’s eventual reunion and what might have happened if they’d picked up guitars.
… how he heard the news of Lennon’s death.
… booking hotels as ‘Fred and Ada Gherkin’.
... the Lost Weekend and Lennon reverting to his Hamburg days.
… how it felt to sort and catalogue John’s possessions.
… abandoned by his father, abandoning his son: Lennon going on holiday with Brian Epstein two weeks after the birth of Julian.
… ordering in pizzas from across the road in New York’s most exclusive restaurants.
… “all he could see onstage was McCartney’s face when they shared a microphone”.
… John’s thoughts about the competition – Dylan, the Stones, McCartney.
… “a friendship to the exclusion of all else”.
Order Elliot’s book here:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/We-All-Shine-extraordinary-friendship/dp/0857506072
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Brushing aside the cobweb spray and luminous flashing skulls, we ring rock and roll’s doorbell in pursuit of both tricks and treats. Among which you’ll find …
… the gothification of entertainment … Harry Potter, Creedence Clearwater and Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings.
… Donald Trump dancing to Jeff Buckley.
… why Phil Lesh was the heart and soul of the Grateful Dead.
… John Cooper Clarke playing a 23,000-seater and the rise of Spoken Word.
… Bah! Humbug! The full horror of Halloween and its infernal TV specials.
… Allen Ginsberg’s International Poetry Incarnation at the Albert Hall in 1965.
… Rihanna’s dietician, therapist, spiritual advisor and hospitality liaison manager.
… the auditions for the Radio City Christmas Spectacular.
… the curse of having everything you want.
… John Lennon imprisoned in the Dakota – without the internet! And his mishandling of an Austin Maxi.
… Helen Mirren’s thing about Kurt Cobain.
… why Phil Lesh, John Entwistle, Jack Casady and Paul McCartney were a breed apart.
… when Mark King’s father kicked him out of the family home.
… plus Abraham Lincoln, Fields of the Nephilim, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Eraserhead, the Batcave and birthday guest Matthew Elliot wonders if anyone had greater love songs written about them than Rosanna Arquette (by Toto and Peter Gabriel)?
Mama Tried by the Grateful Dead. Just LISTEN to Phil Lesh’s bass playing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MP4gy0TBDfU
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Mark King and Level 42 have just announced 2025 tour dates and he talks to us here about …
… the value of what you learn in covers bands from being ignored.
… why being thrown out of home for being thrown out of school was the best thing that ever happened to him.
… Level 42’s first gig, kicked off after four songs.
… Chile, Turkey and other new markets on the “flatter world” tour circuit.
... supporting the Police, Tina Turner, Queen and Madonna in the ‘80s.
… how John McLaughlin (from Doncaster) and Allan Holdsworth (Bradford) inspired other people “from far-flung places like us”.
… Rockin’ Robin, Long-Haired Lover From Liverpool and playing three nights a week in an Isle of Wight novelty act, aged 11.
… the onstage dynamic between Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins.
… the complications of having to book big venues two years in advance.
… being the bassist in the Prince’s Trust house band backing Bowie and Mick Jagger.
… Billy Cobham, Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke and “the genius” of Steve Winwood.
Level 42s World Machine 40th Anniversary Tour here:
https://www.level42.com/
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This is an extraordinary story on many levels – about the power and sanctuary of music, about what it took for bands to get noticed in the ‘70s, about how a teenager obsessed with King Crimson eventually joined the band and about the struggles of “a rabid Henry Cow fan trying to get on Top of the Pops”. Jakko Jakszyk is a fabulous storyteller, both in his memoir ‘Who’s the Boy With The Lovely Hair?’ and on this podcast with the two of us. Among the highlights …
… two things musicians need to know.
… why the divisive appeal of music and comedy is so similar.
… life in a band where “Stravinsky meets the Barron Knights”.
… “Who’ll be the singing Jack Russell?” Doing voice-overs as a piece of toast and a baked potato with a Yorkshire accent.
... the quaint Englishness of Soft Machine, Caravan and King Crimson and why they were like “a holiday resort no-one knew about”.
… why there are even more idiots in advertising than the music business.
… the rigours of the Melody Maker Folk Rock Contest, aged 17, judged by Tommy Vance, Bob Harris and Brian May of Queen.
… the militant wing of the Adrian Belew Fan Club.
… Dave Robinson’s sage advice after telling him he was “unfashionably heterosexual”.
... why Robert Fripp is more Miles Davis than Frank Zappa and the longest audition in history.
…the complications of the King Crimson reunion caused by one person who shall remain nameless – “though let’s call him Greg Lake”.
… “two screaming lead guitars and a trumpet, what could possibly go wrong?”
… and working with Pete Sinfield, Peter Hawkins, Sam Brown and Nigel Planer.
Order Jakko’s book here:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lovely-Unlikely-Memoir-Jakko-Jakszyk/dp/1838491864
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Applying our patent wheat-chaff separator to recent rock and roll events, we filter out the following …
… “They’ve got the guns but we got the numbers”: whatever happened to political songs?
… the life of Libby Titus and the afterlife of Love Has No Pride.
… when gigs become stalking with a musical component.
… how Taylor Swift Tickets became the new currency.
… the most disappointing album of all time (we know the answer).
… who’s the Zeppo Marx of rock and roll?
… the old music/football analogy revisited.
… when fans think they own a band.
… the New York Rock And Soul Revue that revived Steely Dan.
… has any American star beguiled Britain more than Taylor Swift?
… when Lennon failed to swing the vote.
… does anyone convey loneliness better than Bonnie Raitt?
… our own personal rock and roll fantasies – eg Dr John recycling and Bob Dylan in his Star Wars jim-jams.
… plus birthday guest Phil Turner - Bill Berry, Gene Clarke, Vince Clarke and the irreplaceable magic ingredient of one band member.
ROLLING STONE’S MOST DISAPPOINTING ALBUMS OF ALL TIME:
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/most-disappointing-albums-ever-1235111528/
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You’ll know Miranda Sawyer from the Observer and the radio and, possibly, from her days at Smash Hits and Select magazines that form the foundation of her new book, Uncommon People: Britpop and Beyond in 20 Songs, a time spent watching, interviewing and hanging out with the collection of misfits and outsiders fast becoming the last great musical movement this country ever saw. This pans in on the period between April 1993, Select’s ‘Yanks Go Home’ cover, and August 1997 when Oasis released Be Here Now. A ton of highlights, among them …
… why bands hated the term Britpop – and who invented it.
… when your life in your 20s becomes history and period drama.
… are Oasis conservative or just “classically Northern”?
… why Britpop was the last hurrah of the traditional media.
… the long slow burn of Jarvis Cocker and the rise of the Beta Male.
… the impact of Select’s famous Union Jack ‘Yanks Go Home’ cover.
… why Edwyn Collins was the Godfather of Indie (and Britpop) and the song that never stopped selling.
… Ric Blaxill at Top of the Pops, Matthew Bannister at Radio One and other unsung architects of Britpop.
… lava lamps, swirly rugs, space hoppers and the charity shop tat that replaced the matt black shiny ‘80s.
… Jarvis v Jackson, Blur v Oasis and other great engines of the tabloid press.
… “Manchester had the bands and the mythmakers (Tony Wilson, Paul Morley) …”
… why the weekly music press was the Twitter of its time.
… comparing Blur in ‘90s clubs to Wembley Stadium in 2023.
… will Oasis be the last ‘household name’ band?
… could Britpop have happened without the press?
Order Miranda’s book here:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Uncommon-People-Britpop-Beyond-Songs/dp/1399816896
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Our record-breaking partnership faces a fresh set of spin bowlers on the rock and roll pitch but rifles a few shots over the pavilion roof, among them …
… the time Elvis let his daughter ride her pony through the house.
… when Moon Zappa (10) found naked hippies making candles in the garden.
… “Can you get that? It might be someone important.” The Queen when her mobile rang.
… Billy Joel’s daily commute to work by helicopter.
… John Peel, Elton John, Robert Christgau … who’s listened to the most music in the history of the planet?
… “Choice is a tax, a penalty”: the faint sense of nausea you get from Netflix’ fathomless sense of abundance.
… how Elvis became a hillbilly with an unlimited budget.
… are ChatGPT’s music recommendations actually quite useful? We test the Beatles, Joni Mitchell and Miles Davis.
… “what kind of a genius doesn’t have medical insurance?”
… old WW2 movies v the new Netflix series? There’s only one winner …
… plus Abba, Steampacket, Steeleye Span and Humble Pie: supergroups that worked.
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Hugh Cornwell is preparing for his “All The Fun Of The Fair” tour which begins in November and here he talks to David Hepworth about:
….why rehearsals are best in bursts
….why he no longer carries keyboards
….the special magic of going to see Chuck Berry with Richard Thompson
….how the two of them have recorded “Tobacco Road” for an Alzheimers benefit record
…being at the Marquee when Clapton, Beck and Page all played with the Yardbirds
….playing the Golders Green Ionic with Helen Shapiro
….how there are nights when the guitarist think it’s been a disaster but the drummer knows it’s been a triumph
…the film podcast (http://mrdemillefm.com/) that started as a hobby
…what you can expect when his tour (http://www.hughcornwell.com/tour/) hits your town.
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We aimed the airgun of enquiry at this week’s rock and roll side-stall and dislodged the following coconuts …
… sports star, Rhodes scholar, bohemian: why Kris Kristofferson was a whole new breed of American hero.
… the letter his parents wrote disowning him.
… how he invented the crossover hit.
… echoes of his life in Five Easy Pieces.
… Fellini’s La Strada and the story of ‘Me And Bobby McGee’.
…. ‘(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman’ and other songs written to order.
… why the past is the age before mobile phones.
… Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Leonard Cohen, Carly Simon: the kiss and tell school of songwriting.
… why Tracey Thorn misses the age of the autograph.
… who’d be famous in the 21st Century?
… “What do you think about when you’re playing the drums?” Cameron Crowe’s lost 1983 time capsule.
… in a lift with Ken Barlow.
Plus birthday guest Paul Cook and the furthest you’ve ever travelled for a gig.
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Christine McVie - one of only two British girl rock musicians in the ‘60s and part of the greatest pop soap opera of all time. Neither in the backline or the frontline but occupying a unique middle ground. Packed it in for 16 years then returned to the fold. Lesley-Ann Jones’ fresh and emotional memoir Songbird follows “the trajectory of a male rock star played by a woman”, the home she was keen to escape, the outer limits of life in Fleetwood Mac’s “toxic Camelot” and the rigours of holding her ground in a man’s world. We cover all sorts here including …
… the lasting effect of not having “an ordinary mother”.
… the night in Sunderland that made her think again.
… when your best friend sleeps with your fiancée.
… supporting the Shadows when she was 15 at the 2I’s in Soho.
… Etta James, Chicken Shack and playing the Reeperbahn.
… why rock stars can never be part of a village community.
… Fleetwood Mac’s West Coast Elysium: “they were all as bad as each other”.
… “cute and dangerous” meets “lifeline and anchor”: the love affair with Dennis Wilson.
… why she and John McVie both needed a wife.
… and her lifelong connection with the blues, “a sadness you can’t cure”.
Order Songbird here:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Songbird-Intimate-Biography-Christine-McVie/dp/1789467217
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Nick Heyward was one of our favourite cover stars when we were at Smash Hits in the ‘80s, the days when hardcore Haircut One Hundred fans turned out in Fair Isle sweaters and Sou’Westers. He now lives mostly in Florida, he’s made nine solo albums – one magnificently titled Open Sesame Seed - and he’s toured again with his old band after ten years’ painful separation. Touring the UK in October, he couldn’t be more upbeat about the road ahead – “I can do anything!” – and looks back here at the first shows he saw and played himself. Which involves …
… seeing Count Basie, Ray Charles and Oscar Peterson on the same bill when he was 12.
… “if you stop playing music you’re like the boxer that gave up the fight”.
… pop dress codes, knock-off pop merchandise and trips to Shellys Shoes.
… growing up in Beckenham where Bowie was “the lighthouse beam that made being a pop star possible”.
… old schoolfriends and Haircut One Hundred members Les and Graham and how “we got our friendship back”.
… why seeing XTC was “like plugging into electricity”.
… Buzzcocks and Boomtown Rats at the Croydon Greyhound.
… how he was saved by management.
… singing Love Plus One in Salisbury Cathedral.
… and the lingering thrill of his first reviews (by Graham K Smith and Adrian Thrills).
Nick’s tour dates here:
https://nickheyward.com/
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“There was no Command-Zed back then!” John Wood engineered or produced some of the most magical, timeless and affecting records ever made - by Nick Drake, John Martyn, the McGarrigles, Fairport Convention, Sandy Denny, John Cale, Squeeze and many more. He’s 85 now and looks back here at a luminous career that started with mastering singles at Decca and transferred to Sound Techniques, the mecca he co-founded in an old cowshed in Chelsea when takes were spontaneous and even the tape-op was part of the performance. He misses those days, when albums were organic and the labels had less control, and talks here about …
… “the age when sound had perspective and seemed three-dimensional”.
… Nick Drake’s confidence and his guiding lights - eg the Beach Boys and Randy Newman (“who I’d never heard of”). And his final nighttime sessions.
… the way Fairport recorded – “We’re only going to do it once” – and why they could make three albums a year.
…managing the girls in the Incredible String Band, “especially when Licorice played drums”.
… John Cale in “maniac mode” and his sudden and unexpected friendship with Nick Drake.
… Cale and Nico at the Chelsea Hotel.
… and why ‘Geoff Muldaur Is Having A Wonderful Time’ was the job he remembers the fondest.
Also mentioned: the Downliners Sect, Judy Collins, The Marmalade, Graham Gouldman and Squeeze.
John’s got nothing to plug and just wanted to talk to us. Thanks, John, and bless your cotton socks.
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Ian Hunter – an image so familiar you’d recognise his silhouette - now lives in Connecticut and he’s just released expanded versions of two of his best-selling solo albums, You’re Never Alone With A Schizophrenic and Short Back N' Sides. He’s 85, born before any of the Beatles. We talk to him here about life growing up in the ‘40s and ‘50s when your father’s a copper and “music wasn’t allowed in the house”, and touch upon …
… the debt he owes Freddie ‘Fingers’ Lee.
… café jukeboxes full of Little Richard, Chuck Berry and Fats Domino.
… beating 165 acts at a talent contest at Butlins.
… the record that made the Beatles (which they didn’t write).
… “a two-piece corduroy suit, open-toed sandals, overweight …”: the Mott the Hoople audition.
… Bowie playing All The Young Dudes – “a monster” – cross-legged on the floor in Denmark Street after they’d turned down Suffragette City.
… why Hendrix was thrown out of Regent Sound studios.
… playing the Reeperbahn in 1963.
… recording ‘Schizophrenic’ with three members of the E Street Band.
… “Do you want a cuddle?” The Mick Ronson recording method.
… the good thing about Covid.
… watching punk bands with Mick Jones.
… plus a ‘dyed-black’ Ford Anglia and the Greatest Record Ever Made.
Order Ian’s re-released albums here:
Buy link: https://ianhunter.lnk.to/sbns
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