an Broudie and the Lightning Seeds are about to set out on their 35th Anniversary Greatest Hits Tour – aka “beery parties”. He talks to us here about the first bands he ever saw and played in, which involves …

… memories of the Liverpool School of Language, Music, Dream and Pun.

… the secret of seeming enigmatic: “Never finish your sentences …”

… how Three Lions brought a whole new audience and the irony of a singer who didn’t front his biggest hit.

… why the Ramones and Talking Heads made him sell his old records.

… first requirement for success: “being able to make a fool of yourself”.

… when Captain Beefheart forgot he was booked for an art show and painted all the pictures the night before.

… how a part in a Ken Campbell play launched his career.

… seeing the Beatles, aged seven – “Shut your eyes and put your fingers in your ears”.

… when Eric’s in Mathew Street seemed the centre of the universe.

… “for the first time ever I’m not suffering from Imposter Syndrome – I AM THE SINGER!”

… Free, Pink Floyd, Elvis Costello, XTC, Big In Japan and the Sausages From Mars.

… making records that are “an Andy Warhol pop-art splash of colour on a wall”.

Lightning Seeds tickets here:

https://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/lightning-seeds-tickets/artist/735512

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Our crack pair of inquisitors tackle the week’s events and sift out the good, the bad and the riveting, which includes …

… whatever happened to savage reviews?

… “For God’s sake, keep the robots out of music!”: the 50th birthday of Kraftwerk’s Autobahn.

… a Naked Nick Cave Plush Doll (£24) and some Jonny Greenwood olive oil.

… strange tales about the making of Disraeli Gears.

… what keeps Kamala Harris awake at night.

… the staggering bill at Murray the K’s ‘Music In The Fifth Dimension’ in 1967.

… Teri Garr, Diane Keaton and other fantasy girlfriends.

... “Twas nought but an skellington covered in skin”.

… rock stars never seen without shades.

… and birthday guest Cathal Chu cooks up another 45 ways to leave your lover – ‘Give two weeks’ notice, Otis’.

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Elliot Mintz, then a West Coast radio presenter, met the Lennons in 1971, the start of a close, unique and extraordinary friendship and hours of late-night phone calls. And he’s finally written a book about it, We All Shine On: John, Yoko & Me, which records the isolated, complicated life they led imprisoned by their celebrity, at times joyous and outlandish, at others bleak and uncomfortably revealing. All bases covered here, among them …

… “his view of Paul changed with days and temperature – brotherly love, jealousy, discomfort …”

… how they dealt with the FBI bugging their apartment.

… being present at John and Paul’s eventual reunion and what might have happened if they’d picked up guitars.

… how he heard the news of Lennon’s death.

… booking hotels as ‘Fred and Ada Gherkin’.

... the Lost Weekend and Lennon reverting to his Hamburg days.

… how it felt to sort and catalogue John’s possessions.

… abandoned by his father, abandoning his son: Lennon going on holiday with Brian Epstein two weeks after the birth of Julian.

… ordering in pizzas from across the road in New York’s most exclusive restaurants.

… “all he could see onstage was McCartney’s face when they shared a microphone”.

… John’s thoughts about the competition – Dylan, the Stones, McCartney.

… “a friendship to the exclusion of all else”.

Order Elliot’s book here:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/We-All-Shine-extraordinary-friendship/dp/0857506072

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

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