Podcast Episodes

Comedy records, TV gold & have Oasis and Coldplay hoovered up all the cash?

Episode 801

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 Si…

Published on 3 weeks, 3 days ago

Brian Protheroe on the eternal life of his 1974 hit “Pinball”

Episode 800

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 …

Published on 3 weeks, 5 days ago

Terry Reid, the man who really invented Led Zeppelin, & guitar fetishism

Episode 799

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 …

Published on 4 weeks, 2 days ago

Peter Ames Carlin on the record that made Bruce Springsteen

Episode 798

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…

Published on 1 month ago

Jah Wobble - 40 hilarious unedited minutes interrupted by a pest control officer

Episode 797

Jah Wobble - touring in October - is outstanding company and rattles on here like a steam train, sparking off at tangents in a brilliant, barely steerable monologue with a crackling cast of character…

Published on 1 month ago

Elvis, the Colonel & how unseen letters changed Peter Guralnick’s view of their partnership

Episode 796

There’s a widely accepted view of the relationship between Elvis and his manager Tom Parker, the one sustained by the recent Baz Luhrmann movie, but a new and fascinating archive of unseen letters ma…

Published on 1 month ago

Are the Nineties the new Classic Rock? And whatever happened to comedy records?

Episode 795

Lowering the magnet of curiosity into the scrapyard of news and seeing what’s attracted, which includes …

… does anyone still write satirical songs?

… Four Sides of the Circle, Margaret On The Guillo…

Published on 1 month ago

The Wedding Present turns 40, memories of John Peel & ‘the only time I ever pogo-ed’

Episode 794

The Wedding Present formed 40 years ago – why does that seem astonishing? - and have a new box set and tour to celebrate. David Gedge digs out his old notes about the first gigs he ever saw and playe…

Published on 1 month, 1 week ago

Bret McKenzie on Flight of the Conchords, Hollywood and writing songs for frogs and unicorns

Episode 793

Bret McKenzie now mainly works on movie soundtracks, the Simpsons, Minecraft and the Muppets among them, which brings the pure delight of hearing his songs sung by Lady Gaga, Benedict Cumberbatch, Mi…

Published on 1 month, 1 week ago

Del Amitri’s Justin Currie has faced every tough crowd imaginable. Lessons were learn

Episode 792

Justin Currie recorded and toured with Del Amitri and solo for 30 years and his travelogue The Tremolo Diaries perfectly captures the rhythm of life on the road. He talks to us here about combative c…

Published on 1 month, 1 week ago