Hoary old tales retold – ideally in an Irish accent - and new ones prized from the giddy carousel of rock and roll news which, this week, features …

 

… was there a better stage name than Rick Derringer?

 

… Linda Ronstadt, Ronnie Spector, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and other new biopics under construction.

 

… genuinely ‘iconic’ rock images – the Ziggy lightning stipe, Johnny Cash at San Quentin, Elvis dancing in Jailhouse Rock, Dylan and Suze Rotolo in Jones Street …

 

… our old pal Barry McIlheney, his Belfast band Shock Treatment and the time he asked U2 to draw a duck.

 

… the thin wall that separates hilarity and grief.

 

… how TikTok and a 1962 B-side booted the 87-year old Connie Francis.  

 

… Banned words! – ‘iconic, circle back, reach out, Ramones-esque, eponymous sophomore effort’ and other clichés that MUST be banished!

 

… “Sgt Pepper: it’s like the Beatles on acid!”

 

… why 80 per cent of the stadium experience is beyond our control.

 

... how Freddie Mercury still makes headlines beyond the grave.

 

… the real Rikki in ‘Rikki Don’t Lose that Number’.

 

… and when you find yourself at a Springsteen gig next to a Trump supporter.

 

Watch the Barry McIlheney podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cjw-6HZWa-E

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Martha Wainwright is a key member of the Wainwright/McGarrigle clan, all of them big favourites of ours. She’s currently on her 20th anniversary tour and looks back here at the first shows she ever saw and played which involves …

 

… growing up in a folk dynasty in Montreal.  

 

… the sight of Perla Batalla and Julie Christensen, backing singers on Leonard Cohen’s I’m Your Man tour, “who made me want to be onstage too”.

 

… the story of ‘Matapedia’, the song Kate McGarrigle wrote when an old boyfriend thought she was her teenage daughter.  

 

… her first shows playing Elvis, Dylan and Woody Guthrie songs on the coffeehouse circuit.

 

… singing with her brother Rufus and her cousins with Kate & Anna McGarrigle at folk festivals.

 

… onstage at the Roches’ Christmas shows in New York.

 

… the time her brother stole the show over Emmylou Harris: “I thought I want that kind of attention!”

 

… seeing Pink Floyd’s The Wall in a Montreal hockey stadium, aged 9 – “a very marking experience”.

 

… the songs of her mother’s she always plays: “I’m obsessed with her legacy”.

 

Martha Wainwright 20th Anniversary tour tickets here: https://marthawainwright.com/shows

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Small boy begins breeding budgerigars in Liverpool, makes enough to buy a drum kit and becomes the power behind Big In Japan, the Slits, the Creatures and Siouxsie and the Banshees. And one half of punk rock’s most famous couples. The immensely engaging Budgie has finally written his memoir, ‘The Absence’, and talks to us from Berlin about …

 

… are bands only as good as their drummers?

 

… Siouxsie, the Ice Queen goth-in-waiting who was actually “a cackling crazy tomboy from Chiselhurst”.  

 

 … playing Shadows instruments in a nightclub cabaret, aged 13.

 

… the gnawing pain of not being asked to play Live Aid – “we just weren’t part of that all-pals-together-in-the-wonderful word of music”.

 

… “World Exclusive!”: seeing Bill Nighy in a band in the ‘70s singing Rosalita.

 

… the Apache and Wipeout drum patterns in the rhythms of the Slits and Banshees.  

 

… in praise of drummers: Bill Buford, Phil Collins, the Glitter Band, Humble Pie’s Jerry Shirley.

 

… the peculiar world of the teenage budgerigar breeder.

 

… the dynamic of the Slits – “Palmolive, off-the-scale crazy”.

 

… ‘You're The Biggest Thing Since Powdered Milk’ by Burke Shelley’s Budgie, Humble Pie’s ‘Rockin’ the Fillmore’ and when you only have one cassette in your car and it’s ‘Wonderworld’ by Uriah Heep.

 

… Siouxsie’s Jim Morrison fixation and lack of ambition.

 

… the advantage of being in a band with a girl singer.

 

… and the likelihood of a Banshees’ reunion.

 

Order Budgie’s memoir ‘the Absence’ here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Absence-Memoirs-Banshee-Drummer/dp/1399621564

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The two-man pedalo of enquiry sets out on the Bank Holiday boating lake of news pausing to consider …  

 

… Florence Welch, Dua Lipa and the rise of the rock and roll book club.

 

… the 92 year-old that Bob Dylan supported at the Cascades Amphitheatre, Ridgefield.

 

… the Beatles had 18 drummers!

 

… the sad end to Billy Joel’s tour schedule.

 

… is Hollywood dead?

 

… what’s your relationship with reading if your first experience of literature is dressing up as a wizard on World Book Day?

 

… why is there something unfailingly comic about drummers being fired?

 

… “No nudity! No voluminous outfits!”: Cannes new red carpet ruling.

 

… is Chimes Of Freedom Bob Dylan at ‘peak wordage’?

 

… are books and record sleeves the new antiques, items to furnish a room?

 

… Sherlock Holmes, Hunter S Thompson: Corey Hart of Slipknot’s recommended reading.

 

… and how Springsteen is taunting Trump.

 

Plus Starry Eyed And Laughing, old drummer gags and who the hell’s seen Ne Zha 2 or Mickey 17?

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Dylan Jones – writer, former editor of i-D, Arena and GQ - was 15 in 1975 and dressed like Jimmy McCulloch of Wings (“a lot of denim and silk scarves”), a time he thinks had enormous influence on the following five decades. There are many highlights in his latest book ‘1975: The Year The World Forgot’, a lot of them discussed here with David and Mark, including …

 

… the lasting impact of the cover of Patti Smith’s Horses.

 

… the “frightening” Millie Jackson, 50 years ahead of her time.

 

… why Blood On The Tracks was the first middle-aged rock album. 

 

… the information black-out and the value of the ‘70s rock press - particularly Street Life – for such experimental music.

 

… how the sarcasm of Steely Dan still feels contemporary – “Donald Trump is a figure they could have made up 50 years ago”.

 

… the three key rhythms of the ‘70s – Fela Kuti’s afro-beat, James Brown’s funk and Klaus Dinger’s Neu!-beat.

 

… the reason Donna Summer’s Love To Love You Baby is 17 minutes long.

 

… how Brian Eno’s accident led to the birth of ambient music. 

 

… “writing about pop music allows you to write about anything”.

 

… how the sophistication and intellect of the mid-‘70s was pilloried in Punk’s Year Zero.

 

… the Quiet Storm genre - aka “foreplay music” – from Sade to Smokey Robinson and Marvin Gaye.

 

... the unrecognised power of the female record-buyer and the sexism of the rock press.

 

… and the greatest record of 1975!

 

Pre-order ‘1975: The Year The World Forgot’ here:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/1975-World-Forgot-Dylan-Jones/dp/1408721988

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The Beach Boys’ SMiLE was abandoned by Brian Wilson in 1967 and eventually performed at an emotional gathering of the faithful in London 37 years later. For writer and lecturer David Leaf it became an obsession. He made a documentary about it in 2004 and has just published ‘SMiLE: The Rise, Fall and Resurrection of Brian Wilson’ drawn from detailed conversations with the people involved. He talks to us here about his discoveries, which include …

 

... the Rolling Stone story that kick-started his obsession.

 

… “a bicycle ride from Plymouth Rock to Hawaii” and other early plans for the album.

 

… how Leonard Bernstein, the Beatles and Derek Taylor racked up the pressure in the studio.

 

… why the other Beach Boys – and Capitol and Murry Wilson - felt the new music was a threat to their livelihood.

 

… how Brian composed the “teenage symphony for God” that became an albatross around his neck.

 

... “Ray Davies needed a deadline”: the perils of endless recording time.

 

… the magnetism of Van Dyke Parks, a man who “talks in paragraphs”.

 

... the imagined impact on the world and the band’s career if SMiLE had come out in 1967.

 

… the birth of “art rock” versus the strictures of the music business.

 

… the value of the SMiLE myth in the eventual rebirth of the Beach Boys.

 

… the reaction to its long-awaited performance at the Festival Hall in 2004.

 

... why Brian thought shelving the album would save the group yet “they went from a No 1 single to an act nobody cared about in under a year”.

 

... and the greatest Beach Boys record of all time.

 

Order SMiLE: the Rise, Fall & Resurrection of Brian Wilson here: https://omnibuspress.com/products/smile-the-rise-fall-and-resurrection-of-brian-wilson-published-10th-october-2024?_pos=1&_psq=smile&_ss=e&_v=1.0

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Slapping the beanburger of news on the sizzling grill of scrutiny and served with relish by Alex Gold and Mark Ellen (David’s in Spain with his bucket and spade). This week’s specials include …

 

… Springsteen’s unprecedented speech onstage in Manchester about his nation’s “corrupt, incompetent and treasonous administration” and the Dixie Chicks’ career-popping anti-Trump manoeuvre of 2003.

 

… John Niven’s upcoming play ‘The Battle’ and the Blur/Oasis soundclash it celebrates.  

 

… the 50th anniversary of the Stones’ (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction: from motel bed to finished recording in six days.

 

… “Lennon’s all about the legs”: the art of playing the Beatles, Keith Richards and all four of the Small Faces onstage (involves “ducking, bobbing and dipping”).

 

… brilliant songs written in seconds – by Lady Gaga, the Beastie Boys, James Brown and the White Stripes.  

 

… the tour circuit and the trouble at borders.

 

… “the sound of dental floss being pinged by a squirrel”: Bill Bailey’s impression of the Edge with a power failure.

 

… Elvis v Cliff, Beatles v Stones, Hendrix v Clapton, Bowie v Bolan, Clash v Pistols, Duran v Spandau, Blur v Oasis: what was the last great rock rivalry?

 

... and Elvis Costello’s inspired use of the Ansaphone.

Fast Show clip ‘Mr Wells’:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FRAeFyBX1w

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Dennis Greaves took a week off from Nine Below Zero in 1980 but otherwise kept his nose firmly applied to the grindstone. They broke up in 1983 when he formed the Truth, who broke up in 1989 when he rebooted the old band. He looks back here at the first gigs he ever saw and played – a world with the attractive scent of spilt beer and tobacco – stopping off at various points, among them …

 

… why blues and R&B flourished in South London, police and villains drinking together at the Thomas A Becket and the folklore of the Old Kent Road.

 

... the great advantage of never having a hit.

 

… taking his parents to see Chuck Berry in 1972.

 

... the lasting appeal of R&B in a world of processed music.

 

… what he learnt from Glyn Johns when he produced them at Olympic Studios, “the man who invented phasing with Itchycoo Park”.

 

… buying singles at A1 Records in Walworth – “Progressive, Reggae, Artists A-Z …”

 

… seeing Blackfoot Sue and Scarecrow on the pub circuit, and the Groundhogs and Rory Gallagher at the Rainbow.

 

… Pete Townshend watching Nine Below Zero from the wings - “you remind me of us in the ‘60s”.

 

… seeing the Jam 11 times – “900 people in a 400 capacity venue!”

 

… “getting gyp is good as you learn how to control an audience.”

 

… 2am service station food and how touring has changed in 45 years.

 

... performing in the pilot for The Young Ones in 1982.

 

… “the song you should study for A-Level Pop”.

 

… memories of Mylone LeFevre, Capability Brown, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGee, BB King, Muhammad Ali, Henry Cooper, Uriah Heep, The Little Roosters, Deep Purple, Gary Moore, Greg Lake, Love Sculpture, Free, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Alvin Lee, Dr Feelgood and Charlie McCoy playing Lady Madonna on the harmonica on the Val Doonican Show …

 

 … and the greatest record ever made!

 

Nine Below Zero tickets and tour dates here: https://www.ninebelowzero.com/tour

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Peter Capaldi – aka Malcolm Tucker, Dr Who, the universal screen delight and an Oscar-winning film director – was the singer in the punk band the Dreamboys in the late ‘70s who put out a single when he was at the art school in Glasgow. And then became an actor. And then - in the grand tradition of actors who’ve made albums, Hugh Laurie, Scarlett Johansson, Jeff Bridges and Keanu Reeves among them – released St Christopher in 2021. He’s just recorded a second, Sweet Illusions, and talks to us in this extremely funny and entertaining pod about …

 

… how his sole motivation was “a burning desire to be on the telly”.

 

… the difference between fronting bands and being in plays.

 

… how he grievously stitched up support band the Cocteau Twins at a gig in Grangemouth.

 

… a teenage love of Slade - “a bit terrifying but still a bit safe”.

 

… first-hand evidence of the connection between Blakey from On the Buses, Adolph Hitler and Beatles.

 

… “you have to write a hundred songs before you can write a good one”.

 

… arriving at art school in ’76 a Neil Young fan and his overnight transformation – “peroxide hair, PVC trousers and bright red crepe sole shoes”.

 

… seeing Simple Minds at the Mars Bar in Glasgow, Jim Kerr with his Shakespearian haircut, “strange, powerful, imaginative, post-glam”.

 

… forming the Dreamboys and “trying to be big, clever and Kafka-esque”.

 

… the stigma of being virtually the only band in Glasgow not to get a John Peel session.

 

… writing the “bizarro pulp” lyrics for the Dreamboys – “we couldn’t decide if we were the Cramps or Talking Heads”.

 

… what’s required, “apart from a terrible Scouse accent”, in playing John Lennon onstage and George Harrison onscreen.

 

… auditioning (comedian, actor, TV host) Craig Ferguson as the band’s drummer.  

 

… how Bill Forsyth launched his acting career: “one minute you’re supporting Altered Images, the next in a movie with Burt Lancaster”.

 

… forming a duo with Keanu Reeves when filming Dangerous Liaisons in Paris – powdered wigs in the daytime, guitar/bass punk-thrash at night.

 

.. the romantic Edward Hopper charm of Glasgow in the ‘70s - proto-goths, street lights, rain.

 

… how Dr Robert of the Blow Monkeys and four months filming The Suicide Squad in Atlanta spurred him into writing songs.  

 

… the greatest record of all time.

 

Order the Sweet Illusions album here:

https://shop.lastnightfromglasgow.com/products/peter-capaldi-sweet-illusions-vinyl-lp-cd-lossless-dl

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The teenage Alan Parsons was hired as a tape op by EMI and worked with the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Steve Harley, orchestras, comedians, Pinky And Perky and countless others in the control room at Abbey Road, and saw almost 60 years of technical revolution. He’s just finished a 50th anniversary box set of Harley’s the Best Years Of Our Lives and talks here from his Santa Monica home studio about …  

 

… the things you find buried in old recordings.

 

 … how AI will allow anyone to remix their favourite record. 

 

… the miraculous transformation of Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me) from a vindictive dirge to a No 1 pop hit, its backing vocalists and its DJ-baffling false ending.

 

… cutting the tape with John Lennon to end I Want You (She’s So Heavy).

 

… seeing himself - ‘in an orange shirt and black knitted tie’ - in the Get Back movie 52 years later. ‘It proves I was there!’

 

… recording the clocks, footsteps and airport announcer for The Dark Side Of The Moon - ‘playing Abbey Road studios as an instrument’.

 

… recording He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother with Reg Dwight on piano.

 

… the magical ‘60s technology that made Pinky And Perky.

 

… opening the door at Savile Row and first seeing the Beatles and all their girlfriends.

 

… recording Pilot, the Hollies and the Joe Loss Orchestra.

 

… the story of Clare Torry and The Great Gig In The Sky. 

 

… Abbey Road recordings stored at a nearby squash court.

 

… working with David Gilmour on an Earls Court show from the 1990s.

 

… touring with the Alan Parsons Project (who never toured originally).

 

… why Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone is the greatest record of all time (clue: the hi-hat and bass figure).

 

Pre-order Steve Harley’s ‘The Best Years of Our Lives’ here:

https://SteveHarley.lnk.to/TBY

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