This episode, Tim is joined by one of the most influential music acts of all time, Sparks. Ron & Russell Mael's imprint on the musical world can be seen across decades and genres, thanks to their extensive, enigmatic, witty and impossible to define back catalogue. 

For over 50 years they have broken the boundaries of musical categories and creativity, and that is no different with their latest release, The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte. It was released on 26th May 2023 on Island Records.

Sparks

Tim’s Listening Party is the new podcast from The Charlatans’ Tim Burgess as he brings his world-famous Twitter Listening Party to Absolute Radio. Back during lockdown with everyone missing live music, Tim realised we all had the opportunity to take part in one great big listening party. What has followed is over a thousand album playbacks in real time, together with the people who made them. Now, Tim will bring these listening parties to podcasts as he celebrates records alongside some of his favourite artists. We’ll hear unique stories and exclusive insights to albums as Tim once again creates the world’s biggest listening party.

Music

Music Commentary

This episode Tim is joined by Caleb & Jared Followill, half of Kings of Leon. A band who have headlined pretty much every musical festival worldwide, playing the biggest stages across the globe. They are multi-Grammy award winning and multi-platinum album selling. Just play Sex on Fire wherever you are in the world, and everyone will know that song. It’s safe to say they are one of the biggest bands of the last 2 decades. Their last 6 albums have gone to number 1 in the UK, and they are back with their 9th record, Can We Please Have Fun. Caleb & Jared chat to Tim about Nashville, how their producer provided a link to Harry Styles and how Britpop (including the Charlatans) influenced their new album. Can We Please Have Fun was released on 10th May 2024 on LoveTap and Capitol.

Kings of Leon

Tom Chaplin and Tim Rice-Oxley from Keane join Tim to talk about their debut album, Hopes And Fears, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary. One of the best-selling albums in UK history, it went 9xplatinum in the UK, selling over 10 million copies worldwide, and wracking up billions of streams online. The year of the album’s release, 2004, saw Keane hold the crown of being the biggest selling British artist in the country. The following year they won two BRIT Awards: Best British Album and British Breakthrough act. Tom & Tim discuss the effect of performing a huge song like Somewhere Only We Know to a crowd, which vocalists influenced Tom’s singing, and how his parents responded to hearing Bedshaped for the first time. Hopes And Fears was released on 10th May 2004 on Island.

Keane

Kate Pierson & Keith Strickland from the B52s are Tim's guests this episode for a Listening Party about their 1989 album, Cosmic Thing. The B52s are a band so unique, so unorthodox yet completely distinctive, it’s not often you get to say that a musical artist is totally original, and that is exemplified by this weird and wonderful album in its 35th year. Kate & Keith talk about how they wrote their huge hit, Love Shack, how a psychic helped to make the album and how the band came together in the wake of the passing of original B52s guitarist, Ricky Wilson. Cosmic Thing was released on 27th June 1989 on Reprise.

The B-52s

This episode Tim is joined by Fran Healy & Dougie Payne from Travis to talk about the Man Who on its 25th anniversary. The Man Who is one of the most successful British albums of the last 25 years, spending 11 weeks at Number One, a further 134 weeks in the Top 100, and going 9 times platinum in the UK. It has sold 3.5 million copies worldwide. The album garnered critical recognition with 2 Ivor Novello Awards and 2 BRIT Awards for Best British Band and Best British Album, and led to them headlining Glastonbury in 2000. The Man Who remains an album that helped to define the British alternative music sound that followed. In this Listening Party, they talk about that Glastonbury performance that made them, how a breakup informed the album, how Fran nearly forgot Driftwood, and Fran recalls a night hanging out with Michael Stipe, Courtney Love & Morrissey. The Man Who was released on 24th May 1999 on Independiente.

Travis

This episode, Tim is joined by one of the stars of the 1980s, Martin Fry. With a career spanning over 4 decades, since the release of his band ABC’s dazzling debut in 1982, he continues to sell out concert halls up and down the country. The Lexicon of Love is an incredible debut record, going to number 1, achieving platinum in the UK, and it remains a captivating listen to this day, 42 years on. He speaks to Tim about Recording the Look of Love in front of David Bowie, the Sheffield scene in which ABC emerged alongside Def Leppard and the Human League, and working on the album with Trevor Horn.  The Lexicon of Love was released on 21st June 1982 on Neutron.

Sparks

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