In the studio with Nick Drake, Fairport, John Martyn & the String Band: John Wood remembers a golden age

“There was no Command-Zed back then!” John Wood engineered or produced some of the most magical, timeless and affecting records ever made - by Nick Drake, John Martyn, the McGarrigles, Fairport Convention, Sandy Denny, John Cale, Squeeze and many more. He’s 85 now and looks back here at a luminous career that started with mastering singles at Decca and transferred to Sound Techniques, the mecca he co-founded in an old cowshed in Chelsea when takes were spontaneous and even the tape-op was part of the performance. He misses those days, when albums were organic and the labels had less control, and talks here about … … “the age when sound had perspective and seemed three-dimensional”. … Nick Drake’s confidence and his guiding lights - eg the Beach Boys and Randy Newman (“who I’d never heard of”). And his final nighttime sessions. … the way Fairport recorded – “We’re only going to do it once” – and why they could make three albums a year. …managing the girls in the Incredible String Band, “especially when Licorice played drums”. … John Cale in “maniac mode” and his sudden and unexpected friendship with Nick Drake. … Cale and Nico at the Chelsea Hotel. … and why ‘Geoff Muldaur Is Having A Wonderful Time’ was the job he remembers the fondest. Also mentioned: the Downliners Sect, Judy Collins, The Marmalade, Graham Gouldman and Squeeze. John’s got nothing to plug and just wanted to talk to us. Thanks, John, and bless your cotton socks.Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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