Our pencil-chewing, critical assessment of this week’s news gets mainly * and *** reviews, among them …

…. Sting v Summers & Copeland over Every Breath You Take, the goose that laid the golden egg

… what John Lennon would have thought about the ‘cancelled’ track on Some Time In New York City

… when did “critically acclaimed” come to mean unpopular?

… the knock-about days when a critic was “a jerk, a crank and a spoilsport”

… Jonny Greenwood’s dad was a bomb disposal expert? Pete Doherty’s mum was a Lance-Corporal in the Royal Army Nursing Corps?

… what matters more, the song or the record?

... Anthony Fantano, Rick Beato and the rise of the YouTube rock review

… “negative comments about a famous act’s new album are like graffiti on the walls of a hallowed institution”

… Bob Dylan’s Self Portrait, Andrew Ridgeley’s Son Of Albert (“half a star”) and the lost age of the crushing review

… and “you never mention Depeche Mode!”

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Debsey Wykes was in Dolly Mixture, one of the very few all-girl groups in post-punk London, a time when bands with charisma won the battle for attention and you promoted singles on the back of a truck. Her memoir Teenage Daydream perfectly captures a slice of late ‘70s life, the thrill of playing the pub circuit and trying to storm Radio One. Along with …

… the agony of re-reading teenage diaries

… being supported by U2 then watching their “annoying” ascent

… Girls With Electric Guitars and why rock hacks couldn’t take them

… forming bands for self-expression: “you reach that moment when all you want to do is scream!”

… “when Jean-Jacques Burnel rests his boot on your head you don’t wash your hair for a week”

… early adventures with Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, David Cassidy and Bowie: “Cassidy was normal, Bowie was weird”

… diary entries: “the lead singer of the Only Ones has fantastic legs and glittery plimsolls”

… “Sugary Sweets Cause Youth Decay!”: the NME’s withering interview

 … the satin-and-silk allure of Stevie Nicks

… violence at ‘70s gigs: “we were locked in the dressing-room with the sirens going off”

… “a cross between the Slits and the Nolans”: John Peel’s producer’s loathing for Dolly Mixture

… the vicious rivalry between ‘70s girl singers

… letters from her old boss and headmaster after she appeared on Top Of The Pops

Order ‘Teenage Daydream: We Are The Girls Who Play In A Band’ here: https://linktr.ee/new.modern?utm_source=linktree_profile_share<sid=008bc73f-2400-4a67-81df-04fa9758dc06

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A tub-thumping, snare-cracking, cymbal-simmering, two-way backbeat to this week’s rock and roll news, the on-beats including …

… “Trauma-bonding?” Why being ‘a fan’ is like a love affair

… Ian Brown, Morrissey, Siouxsie, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison … why singers who don’t play an instrument are a different species

… the stadium-rock drummer transfer window

… Sigourney Weaver at Shea Stadium in ’65

… singers who don’t sound like their personalities

… what can a singer-songwriter write about if they get famous at 18?

… the unreleased Beatles Holy Grail?

… can you be a fan of someone younger than you are?

Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

… how do you know a drummer’s knocking on your door?

… plus Leonard Cohen, Phil Oakey and are you ever too old to be wearing a Libertines military tunic?

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How can you not love the Divine Comedy whose inspirations include Tom Lehrer and “Landfill Indie”? And Neil Hannon wrote music for Wonka, Father Ted and the IT Crowd. There’s a new album, Rainy Sunday Afternoon, and a tour in October and all bases are covered in this conversation from Kildare, these among them …

 … seeing U2 at Croke Park “and feeling as though I’d won the Wonka Golden Ticket”.

… favourite bands of the ‘80s and ‘90s - Pixies, Sugarcubes, Sonic Youth and Ride.

… the miserably cancelled Father Ted musical and how he’s recycled the songs he wrote for it.

… a research trip to an Indie Disco with Stuart Murdoch of Belle and Sebastian.

 … how it feels to record at Abbey Road.

 … his teenage band inventing new words to R.E.M songs in an Enniskillen youth club.

… how new songs begin.  

… supporting Carter USM and Suede, “the moment I first felt like a pop star”.

… Mar-A-Lago, a childhood trip to London and further melancholia on his new album Rainy Sunday Afternoon.

… rocks on the street in Derry en route to Primary School during the Troubles.

… Hepworth and Ellen appearing on a Duckworth Lewis album - “nudging and nurdling!”

… his first stab at “witty pseudo-intellectual lyrics”.

… “never leave your tour bus, be rehearsed before you start rehearsals” and other ways touring saves money.

… and the five songs he always plays.

Divine Comedy tickets here: https://thedivinecomedy.com/live

Pre-order Rainy Sunday here: https://lnk.to/RainySunday

Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

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Tanita Tikaram’s second gig had an audience of three – one paying customer and two concert promoters. When one of them wanted to talk to her afterwards she said, “sorry, I’ve got to get the train home.” She was 17. In this podcast she tells us the story of the one of the fastest career ascents on record which stops off at …

… an open-mic night with a girl who cut up newspaper – “what happened to her?”

… Basingstoke alumni –Tanita Tikaram, Jane Austen, Liz Hurley …

… ignoring Wham! in favour of Suzanne Vega and Tom Waits.

… the lure of school theatre groups – “a skive, you could basically be arty and smoke”.

… “Ringo Starr gave me an award!”

… supporting Warren Zevon and Jonathan Richman - and John Martyn (with Tracy Chapman).

… the faint absurdity of promoting Twist In My Sobriety on Kids TV.

… “when you’re young, you’re adaptable”.

… mourning the loss of mainstream music.

… a summer spent miming on European pop TV shows.

… the thrill of hearing Ancient Heart was Top Ten when playing the Cambridge Folk Festival – “they all thought, that’s one of us in the charts!”

… and today’s imbalance between new music and nostalgia.

Order Tanita Tikaram tickets here: https://www.tanita-tikaram.com/live/

Order Liar: Love Isn’t A Right here: https://www.tanita-tikaram.com/music/

Find out how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

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Bob Mould, whose records with Hüsker Dü had such impact on Nirvana and Pixies, is back on tour again, both solo and with a band. “I’ve built this tiny soap box - and if you don’t like it, it’s been nice knowing you!” He talks to us from San Francisco about …

… March 30 1979: “the day that changed my life”

… over-refreshment on the bus to see Rush and Aerosmith, aged 16

… the influence of Hüsker Dü on Nirvana, Pixies and My Bloody Valentine – “it’s a game of hot potato. YOU take this sound now!”

… seeing the Ramones opening for Iggy Pop – “simplistic on the surface but I got all their ‘60s pop references”

… the art of the three-song set-opener

… playing Buzzcocks and Ventures covers in ‘three-two’ bars

… opening for the Foo Fighters, playing for 100,00 people – and for crowds wearing masks during Covid

… “the more the production, the less the spontaneity”

… visual clues playing solo to let the audience know where the beat is

… “I’m one of those others”: inter-song riffs about politics, protest and oppression

Order Bob Mould tickets here: https://bobmould.com/

Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

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Damping down the wildfires of rock and roll news this week we focus on the following …

… Oasis, Taylor Swift and Coldplay and the new age of Winner Takes All

… did Bob Dylan write a song with Gene Simmons, advertise lingerie or appear on a telethon with Harry Dean Stanton?

… movies that need making eg the Molly Drake Story, the Rock And Roll Mitford Sisters (Pattie, Jenny and Paula Boyd)

… surely what makes the rock business ‘unfair’ are the people spending the money on it?

… is the Golden Age of TV over?

… Paul Weller’s magnificent Find El Dorado and the songwriters he’s rebooting - Willie Griffin, Bobby Charles, Duncan Browne, Eamon Friel

… a JR Hartley moment: Brian Protheroe taking his grandson to watch his album being re-mastered at Abbey Road

… ‘Programmes made for older viewers always have a lot of green in them’

… will we ever get another comedy record?

… why did we love Succession, Breaking Bad, the Queen’s Gambit and Six Feet Under yet have no burning desire to ever watch them again?

… how 200 Go-Betweens box-sets came with books from the late Grant McLennan’s library signed by Robert Forster

… ‘Never glad confident morning again!’

… new acronyms – RIYL, anyone?

… do any new TV comedies merit an Xmas Special?

... plus the Trump Awards, main character syndrome, Black Pudding Bertha (the Queen of Northern Soul) and birthday guest Ed Newman on box-set addiction – “this way madness lies!”

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Paul Weller has just covered it on his new album. Morrissey played it to Noel Gallagher who took the idea and ran with it. What explains the enduring appeal of a record that stalled at number 22 all those years ago? Actor/musician Brian Protheroe doesn’t know but he’s certainly grateful that it’s being reissued once again. His story takes us back to:

…the days when young musicians hitch-hiked to London

…the way the sun shone on the day “Sgt Pepper” came out

…when Soho was a village and an out of work actor could afford to live in Covent Garden

…when being dumped by a girl could inspire that actor to diarise his daily routine

…when the jazzman who played the solo on the record couldn’t remember it for “TOTP”

…how it feels to take your grandson to Abbey Road to watch your album being remastered.

Pre-order the Chrysalis Red reissue of the first Brian Protheroe album: https://brianprotheroe.lnk.to/PNB

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Other, weaker podcasts may take the summer off. Not this one.

…the story of Jerry Garcia’s alligator strat, Paul McCartney’s violin bass and the instrument Peter Frampton thought had gone forever

…the long story of Terry Reid, who turned down Led Zeppelin, and the golden afternoon when he was the most charismatic figure in roc

…the real reason why you wouldn’t have wanted to be at Keith Richards’ place on that day in 1967

…why there’s nothing more boring than hedonism

Mick Jagger’s 1967 affidavit is here: https://www.ewbankauctions.co.uk/20250821M1-lot-4008-The-Rolling-Stones-typed-documents-that-appear-to-relate-the-infamous-Redlands?auction

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word-podcast-798-peter-ames-carlin

Friend of the pod and chronicler of the careers of Springsteen, Paul Simon and REM, Peter Ames Carlin has heard all the recordings that went into the album which was Springsteen’s last chance saloon and spoken to the people who were there to put together the story of how it was all done.

….the lucky break that came when the boss’s son went to a Springsteen show

….the man who played on Bruce Springsteen’s greatest record and then left

….how Springsteen learned that the way to make a live-sounding record was not to record it live

….the reconnecting of 70s rock with the great American rock & roll of the 50s

…the thinking behind one of the few album covers deserving of the adjective “iconic”

…what happened when Steve Van Zandt told the Brecker Brothers what to play

….the fundamental difference between American and British music

Tonight In Jungleland: The Making Of Born To Run: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tonight-Jungleland-Making-Born-Run/dp/0385551533

Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

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