This week we make our first visit to Birmingham to trace the history & early years of Dexys Midnight Runners - how Kevin Rowland & Kevin Archer formed the band, the strict rules for membership, how the various members came to join.

Writer Nige Tassell, talks us through some of the stories, myths & legends from his new book Searching For Dexys Midnight Runners - published by Nine Eight Books.

We start with early punk band project The Killjoys, how they jump to the soul inflected sound of Dexys, how it went against the grain at the time, the various venues the band played around Birmingham including gigs with Joy Division & UB40.

Nige tells us about the brief possibility of Van Morrison coming in to produce the debut album Searching For The Young Soul Rebels - how the record was made, the heist that ensued after the recording with the master tapes.

Bernie Rhodes brief involvement before the first single Dance Stance is released - signing to EMI after his departure. The huge success of Geno which followed & took the band to number 1 in the charts - how the label didn't want it as a single.

We then detail how the bands fragment quickly leading to 5 members of this original lineup leaving at once to form The Bureau.

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Join writer John Niven to have a chat about Bob Dylan & the Band & the time they spent in Woodstock. John talks us through his idea for a fictional book set when the Band were living in Big Pink & recording with Dylan in the basement downstairs. We discuss how Dylan & the various members of The Band came to be in Woodstock, how the Basement Tapes recordings came about, Bob Dylan's prolific songwriting in Woodstock, the lifestyle The Band were living in the relative anonymity of Woodstock & the surrounding area.

We also talk about the new material Dylan wrote which is covered by others before he has even cut any of them himself (This Wheel's On Fire by Julie Driscoll, Too Much Of Nothing by Peter, Paul & Mary, Tears of Rage by Ian & Sylvia, The Mighty Quinn - a number one single for Manfred Mann, a few tracks by The Byrds & Fairport Convention).

We mention some of John's favourite tracks from the eventual release of the Basement Tapes in 1975 & the various bootlegs available over the years, plus the original bootleg release The Great White Wonder.

How the Band's songwriting improved suddenly & exponentially, signing with Capitol for their debut album Music From Big Pink (a deal broker by Dylan manager Albert Grossman), the impact the area ultimately had on their writing both for Dylan & The Band. We give our take on Bob Dylan's painting which ends up as the cover artwork for the first Band album & then we move onto the influence The Band subsequently have on music - the birth of the Americana genre & alt.country plus more.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join writer John Niven to have a chat about Bob Dylan & the Band & the time they spent in Woodstock. John talks us through his idea for a fictional book set when the Band were living in Big Pink & recording with Dylan in the basement downstairs. We discuss how Dylan & the various members of The Band came to be in Woodstock, how the Basement Tapes recordings came about, Bob Dylan's prolific songwriting in Woodstock, the lifestyle The Band were living in the relative anonymity of Woodstock & the surrounding area.

We also talk about the new material Dylan wrote which is covered by others before he has even cut any of them himself (This Wheel's On Fire by Julie Driscoll, Too Much Of Nothing by Peter, Paul & Mary, Tears of Rage by Ian & Sylvia, The Mighty Quinn - a number one single for Manfred Mann, a few tracks by The Byrds & Fairport Convention).

We mention some of John's favourite tracks from the eventual release of the Basement Tapes in 1975 & the various bootlegs available over the years, plus the original bootleg release The Great White Wonder.

How the Band's songwriting improved suddenly & exponentially, signing with Capitol for their debut album Music From Big Pink (a deal broker by Dylan manager Albert Grossman), the impact the area ultimately had on their writing both for Dylan & The Band. We give our take on Bob Dylan's painting which ends up as the cover artwork for the first Band album & then we move onto the influence The Band subsequently have on music - the birth of the Americana genre & alt.country plus more.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.