It's 1977 and punk has just hit Liverpool.  

The legendary Eric's club is home to the city's rebels and posers - many became pop stars.

Penny Kiley became a music journalist.

Atypical Girl - Punk rock, Liverpool and trying to be normal' is Penny's homage to the city's re-emergence as a musical force which had lain dormant since the Beatles upped sticks and left in the 60's.

The book is also the highly personalised tale of an autistic woman in the male-dominated world of music journalism - working for Melody Maker, Smash Hits and the Liverpool Echo, reviewing gigs by Echo and the Bunnymen and Dead or Alive, and interviewing Jonathan Richman and the rest.

"If anyone can paint a true picture of those glorious days, Penny can." - says Will Seargent.

In this we hear from Mike Badger - one of the founder members of the legendary Liverpool band The La's and an established artist in his own right.

Mike recently released  'Devils, Ghosts & Firearms', his first studio album in 5 years.

Mike's continues to have a successful career as a film-maker (cult folk-horror movie,"The Vaden") and as an acclaimed sculptor whose current exhibition with Jeff Young at the Kirkby Gallery has received rave reviews.

You can hear Mike's and artistic passion in every word he speaks.

The latest episode of the 'Misadventures in Music' podcast (number 39) with Ian Prowse and Mick Ord features some of the highlights from the last 12 months including revealing and controversial comments from some of their top guests including Mike McCartney, "Nasher" from Frankie Goes to Hollywood and the brilliant Merseyside-born singer Beryl Marsden who's been wowing audiences since the early 60's when she supported the Beatles on tour and played in Hamburg aged just 16.

The guys also discuss Ian's own musical highlights from past year and reveal some of the exciting plans they have for the podcast in 2026, with a few meaty teasers thrown in about his forthcoming album due for release in the summer.

James Campion is the author of a new fascinating and revealing book about Prince - one of the greatest songwriters and musicians of his era who passed away much too soon in 2016 aged 57.

His new book 'Revolution - Prince, the band, the era" focuses on his prolific and ground-breaking music from the 80's when he and his band took the music world by storm.

James makes a really strong case that Prince should be considered one of our greatest ever pop artists - in the same league as Bowie and The Beatles ; crucially, he emphasizes the huge influence that the other members of the band, The Revolution, had on the music.It's a warts and all portrait of an enigmatic, hugely gifted individual who drove himself and his musical family to the limits and beyond.

Prince and the Revolution's is a tale worth savouring, told by a master storyteller.

Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6UQLDLxQBRnal3O8hq8r0V?si=ce35dc720aea440cBook:  https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/revolution-9781493080847/

In this episode of Misadventures in Music, we sit down with the incredible Beryl Marsden who is one of the original voices of the Merseybeat era and a true powerhouse of British R&B and soul.

From blowing away Cavern Club crowds at just 14 to touring with The Beatles (yep, those Beatles), Beryl’s story is packed with music history, friendships with legends, and a voice that could shake the rafters. John Lennon famously dubbed her “the mighty mite”—and you’ll quickly hear why.

We talk about:

Her early rise in the Liverpool sceneTouring the UK with The Beatles in ’65Singing alongside Rod Stewart and Mick Fleetwood in Shotgun ExpressWhy she’s considered one of the best voices of her generationThe highs, lows, and wild tales of a six-decade careerStill performing today and finally getting the recognition she deserves, Beryl brings heart, humour, and soul to everything she does, including this brilliant chat.

Listen to Beryls playlist here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2Ij9hJGY0Mf7vWK2TEY9BQ?si=e5d5b72b046a4e4e&nd=1&dlsi=ed514660d105442c

He had a raft of big hit singles in the 1960’s and 70’s and many of his acclaimed photographs are held the National Portrait Gallery.

In the Misadventures in Music podcast episode 36, Mike talks to Ian and Mick lovingly about life in the McCartney family home and about some of the larger than life characters he encountered over the years including Keith Moon, Burton and Taylor and of course, the Beatles.

Indeed, his band The Scaffold made their own unique contribution to our pop culture – so much so that Cherry Red Records have released a 5 CD/DVD Box Set of their recordings, including many unreleased tracks.

If you enjoy listening to REAL stories from a genuine participant and eye witness to the golden era of pop music this episode is for you.

Enjoy."

As the football season gets underway, there's an air of excitement among fans as they look forward to their team's prospects for the next 9 months.

At Liverpool's world-famous Anfield, there've been big changes ON the pitch, but it's fair to say that none have been as significant as those OFF the field - because for the first time in more than 50 years, a familiar voice will NOT be heard announcing the team changes or playing record dedications before the match.

George Sephton is known as "The Voice of Anfield " and last season he hung up his microphone for the final time, having started as announcer in 1971. But he is much more than a familiar voice to Reds' fans - he was a champion of

Merseyside music that generations of music fans got to know and love over the years.

George also has some fantastic stories to tell from his time at Anfield, as Ian Prowse and Mick Ord discovered in this latest episode of the Misadventures in Music podcast.

As the saying goes, "They don't make 'em like George nowadays" - more's the pity.Enjoy."

Find George's Book -  https://atlantic-books.co.uk/book/the-voice-of-anfield/

Here's George's playlist  - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1wNxAIUyypPZOWKlMPKIND?si=25baf89d4c184856

It's difficult to imagine now but back in the early sixties, soul was  'underground' music in the UK - rarely played on the radio, and only appreciated by a small number of aficionados. 

Within a few years, records by artists on the Tamla Motown label would sell in their millions but in the very early 60s, very few people had heard of it.

Among a small cult of fans was a Liverpool teenager Frank Collins who went on to form a blue-eyed soul band The Excels who later played at the Cavern Club, not singing rock n roll or Merseybeat, but soul music with intricate harmonies.

Frank's 60-year career would take him onto the singles chart with the band Arrival then the British soul/funk pioneers Kokomo and later working with Bob Dylan, Bryan Ferry, Tom Robinson and many more.

He's still writing and performing regularly today.

We're delighted to have Frank as our special guest on this month's Misadventures in Music with Ian Prowse and Mick Ord

'Bill Harry's Sixties Snapshots - on Arrival/Kokomo' -  https://sixtiescity.net/Mbeat/mbfilms191.htm

BBC Four soul documentary- 'When Motown Came to Britain'.

Urbanista Music Podcasts

Playlist :

Money  - Barrett Strong

Be My Baby - The Ronettes

Friends - Arrival

I Will Survive - Arrival

A Little Bit Further Away - Kokomo

Romance in Durango -Bob Dylan

Swansong - Kokomo

In 1969 they sold more records in America than any other band including the Beatles and the Stones but within a few years Creedence Clearwater Revival had split up with a bitterness rarely matched, even in the topsy-turvy world of rock music.

Fast forward 50 years, and former leader and main songwriter John Fogarty is back on tour, including the UK and Ireland, so now seems as good a time as any to look back on his former group's unique musical legacy and discover what made them one of the biggest bands in the world....and what destroyed them.

In 1993 Bruce Springsteen said that CCR  were "not the hippest band in the world, but the best".

Writer John Lingan has written a critically-acclaimed biography of the band - 'A Song for Everyone - the Story of Creedence Clearwater Revival.' It's an engrossing tale.

John's our special guest in this month's episode of Misadventures in Music,  with Ian Prowse and Mick Ord."

Our guest in the new Misadventures in Music podcast with Ian Prowse and Mick Ord is the writer Jeff Young, whose critically-acclaimed 'Wild Twin' has been nominated for the TLS Ackerley Award for the best biography of 2025.

Set in Liverpool and Amsterdam in the late 70's and early 80's, the book centres on Jeff's wild experiences as a would-be bohemian writer - a sort of 'Portrait of the Artist as a Young Scally'.His adventures as "a down and nearly out in Amsterdam" are infused with wit, squalor and some fantastic portraits of his friends and housemates as they attempt to scrape a living by fair means and foul - not necessarily in that order.

The music of that period was, and remains, a huge inspiration to Jeff - so much so that a friend compiled a playlist of music referenced in the book, and it’s over twelve hours long!

Enjoy the ride.

You can listen to the music discussed in this podcast here:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6eHTvfZB8vDCaTHB45SB22?si=WfxQRoK7QP2O5sB9piKq5Q