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E2: Massive Attack + Rosanne Cash + the night Johnny Thunders died: "Massive Attack [...] bores me to tears", says Mark Pringle ahead of their 20th-anniversary tour of Mezzanine. Following some discussion of the Bristol Scene, he and Barney Hoskyns consider this week's featured writer Terry Staunton. They then present an excerpt from a 2014 interview with Roseanne Cash in which she talks to Adam Sweeting about revisiting the south of the USA, which plays at the end of the podcast. Talk then turns to Joan Baez, Steve Marriott of The Small Faces and Marianne Faithfull, the latter of which turns out to be the starting point for a conversation about addiction and drug abuse, further fuelled by Susin Shapiro's withering review of Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers. Produced by Jasper Murison-Bowie Pieces discussed: Massive Attack and their album Mezzanine, Cocteau Twins' Liz Fraser, Rosanne Cash, Joan Baez, The Small Faces' Steve Marriott, Marianne Faithfull, Geoffrey Cannon on the arts i by Rock's Backpagesratings:
Length:
76 minutes
Released:
Nov 9, 2020
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
In this episode we welcome acclaimed playwright Jez (Jerusalem) Butterworth into RBP's virtual cupboard to talk mainly about The Band – but also about Dolly Parton and other musical tastes shared with hosts Mark, Barney & Jasper. Barney gets the ball rolling by asking Jez how an early '90s conversation with Malcolm McLaren led to his first play Mojo – and how music has long played a part in his work. A Butterworth screenplay based on John Niven's peerless novella Music from Big Pink prompts discussion of The Band, taking in clips from Barney's 1991 audio interview with Al Aronowitz, the New York Post writer who first visited Big Pink to report on Bob Dylan's former backing group.A tangent takes the episode into the terrain of Jerusalem, not to mention Brexit and the rural vs. urban polarisation exemplified by the U.S. presidential elections (still bitterly undecided at the time this episode was recorded). A neat segue leads to a deep appreciation of Dolly Parton, about to publish her autobiography Storyteller. An early Parton interview on RBP's home page provides a perfect springboard for consideration of her unique voice, her politics (or lack thereof), and her cosmetic augmentations.There's no easy pivoting from Parton to Perry Farrell: suffice to say that – in 1996 audio clips about his Lollapalooza festival and the "spirits" of heroin and cocaine – the former Jane's Addiction and current Porno for Pyros frontman is barmy, brilliant and typically engaging. Last but far from least, Mark talks us through his personal highlights from the week's new intake of great interviews and reviews from the golden age(s) of music journalism – including the Daily Express' Ivor Davis dropping in on John Lennon during his "lost" L.A. weekend in 1973, the Village Voice's Richard Goldstein on the "meaning" of Bette Midler in 1975, NME's Paul Morley coaxing quotes out of Joy Division's Ian Curtis in 1979… and that same rag's Steven Wells lambasting pale and uninteresting Velvet Underground devotees in 1993. Jasper takes us out with quotes from a fabulous early interview with Ms. Amy Winehouse…Many thanks to special guest Jez Butterworth.The Rock's Backpages podcast is proud to be part of the Pantheon Podcast Network.Pieces discussed: The Band, Bob Dylan, Al Aronowitz audio, Dolly Parton, Dollier Parton, Dolliest Parton, Perry Farrell audio, Bob Dylan & the Hawks, Steve Winwood, John Lennon, Bette Midler, Manchester bands, Luther Vandross, Velvet Underground, Public Enemy, Amy Winehouse and Baron Wolman.
Released:
Nov 9, 2020
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (100)
- 45 min listen