The greatest guitarist & the strange tale of Mike Raven - plus a leaked Radio One memo!
We spin the reels of the rock and roll fruit machine this week and get the following pay-outs …
… the preposterous present they gave Bobby Charlton when he retired.
... “the leaning man from Alabam”.
… ‘Skinny Minnie Shimmy’ by Lattie Moore And The Emperors and other apparently fictitious rock and roll hits.
… a Radio One DJ who was also an actor, erotic sculptor, travel writer, sheep farmer, flamenco guitarist and ballet dancer. Why has no-one made a film of the life of Mike Raven?
… why Born To Run was “a quantum leap”, the record where Springsteen wanted “to sing like Roy Orbison and write like Bob Dylan on an album that sounded like it was produced by Phil Spector”.
… a leaked 1982 Radio One memo of ground rules for DJs! “Don’t resort to ‘common talk’ in a pathetic attempt at humour.” “You can say Cornflakes but not Shredded Wheat …”
… how rock is adopting the Gilbert & Sullivan business model.
… Richard Thompson, Steve Cropper, John Fahey, Hubert Sumlin … : who’s the greatest guitarist of all time?
… the story-spinning genius of John Prine.
… the afterlife of the Love Affair.
… Ernest ‘Boom’ Carter’s brief but marvellous moment of glory.
… and birthday guest Giles Fraser wonders at what point a band shouldn’t use their original name.
Rolling Stone’s top 250 guitarists …
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-guitarists-1234814010/nile-rodgers-5-1234814197/
The amazing story of Mike Raven …
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Raven
Everybody’s in the Mood by Howlin’ Wolf …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XV0gDlzEnYU
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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.
- No. of episodes: 796
- Latest episode: 2025-04-23
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