The greatest duet, rock cameos in Miami Vice and the rebirth of Mississippi John Hurt
Passing the thermometer of conversation over the rock and roll news to see where the mercury rises, which this week includes …
… the new Barbra Streisand duets album. Duets are ‘playlets’, small intense dramas that depend on human interaction, but so many are recorded separately (including, tragically, Ain’t No Mountain High Enough by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell).
… but … duets you HAVE to hear! eg Cash & Carter, Otis Redding & Carla Thomas, Ray Charles & Betty Carter, Siouxsie & Morrissey, Nick Cave & Kylie, Peter Gabriel & Kate Bush.
… the extraordinary story of the rebirth and Indian Summer of Mississippi John Hurt after 40 years of invisibility.
… blues lyrics that now seem unimaginable.
… Frank Zappa as a drug dealer? Miles Davis as a pimp? Cyndi Lauper as a trophy wife? Real or made-up Miami Vice rock star cameos.
… great opening lines – “We got married in a fever …!”
… how you always learn something you never knew about someone from their obituary - like Mike Peters’ involvement in the highest altitude concert ever performed (on Everest with Glenn Tilbrook and Slim Jim Phantom).
… where people listen to the Word In Your Ear “poddy” – eg in the bath, in court, at wedding receptions, by the Allman Brothers’ graveside.
Plus birthday guest John Montagna on rock stars who should be in a TV series.
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Word In Your Ear
Mark Ellen and David Hepworth have been talking about and writing about music together and individually for a collective eighty years in magazines like Smash Hits, Mojo and The Word and on radio and TV programmes like "Rock On", "Whistle Test" and VH-1.
Over thirteen years ago, when working on the late magazine The Word, they began producing podcasts. Some listeners have been kind enough to say these have been very special to them. When the magazine folded in 2012 they kept the spirit of those podcasts alive in regular Word In Your Ear evenings in which they spoke to musicians and authors in front of an audience.
Over these years they've produced hundreds of hours of material. As of the Current Unpleasantness of 2020, they've produced yet hundreds of hours more with a little help from guests kind enough to digitally show them around their attics such as Danny Baker, Andy Partridge, Sir Tim Rice and Mark Lewisohn. For the full span of the Word In Your Ear world, visit wiyelondon.com.
Get bonus content on PatreonHosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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