Category Archives: Music

Music, Marketing & Memories with Jez Booker [993]

In this episode I reconnect with an old friend after 25+ years of not seeing each other. Expect a chat full of natural English expressions and slang, plus some marketing vocabulary, as Jez and I reminisce and jog each other’s memories of things we did together years ago, and talk about Jez’s career and recent projects.  Check out the premium episode accompanying this conversation: P82 Vocabulary Quiz for LEP992.

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Check out Jez’s channel “Get Out” 👇

https://www.youtube.com/@getoutfilms

Get the PDF transcript 👇

Check out the vocabulary preview/review for this episode in P82 Vocabualry Quiz for LEP993 with Jez Booker – available now with LEP Premium.


914. A Midwinter Ramble ❅ Luke’s English Podcast

An end-of-year rambling episode with some seasonal good wishes 🎄, comments on recent episodes 🎧, an update about upcoming content 📲, anecdotes about seeing Paul McCartney live in concert 🎸, playing music at the British Ambassador’s residence 🇬🇧 and visiting the British Library in London 📚, lots of library jokes (explained) 😂 and a vocabulary review at the end 🙇‍♂️. PDF available.

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Get the PDF with vocabulary quiz 👇

884. British Music: Madness (with James)

A conversation with my brother about one of the most successful British bands of all time – Madness. We talk about the story of the band, our early memories of their music, the songs, the members, their lyrics, their popularity and why we’ve always been big fans!

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Check out this playlist of our favourite Madness music videos 👇

Watch “Take It Or Leave It” – The Madness film 👇

James wearing his old Madness t-shirt (probably in about 1984) 👇

Luke & James 👇

Ambient Anthology (by James)

883. A Last-minute Rambling Episode

A spontaneous monologue about being taken by surprise by public holidays in May (in France), a podcast recommendation, and seeing a hard-rocking and hilarious band perform live in a big arena last week. Includes a song at the end as a tribute.

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Want something else to listen to?

Listen to my interview with my friend Martin on his new podcast “Aarballs” 👇

Podcast links for Aarballs 👇 https://pod.link/1742336735

856. My brother’s new album is out now / Music Chat with James

Here’s a bonus episode, and it’s for fans of my brother’s music. James’ new album is out now and so we decided to record this episode in order to promote it and also to talk generally about music, including a chat about favourite albums, first albums we ever bought, albums we discovered in our parents’ record collection and more.

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Buy Mood Selector by Glytek Audio

Other albums which we talked about in this episode

851. Rambling about The Beatles “Now and Then” 🎸

A listener left a comment on my website asking for my thoughts on the new Beatles song which was released last week, and I was happy to ramble about it for 45 mins. Listen to hear me give my thoughts and tell several stories related to what is being described as “the last Beatles song”. First I talk for about 10 minutes about burning down my apartment and my thoughts on the content I make for this podcast, and then I start talking about The Beatles until the end of the episode. To skip straight to the Beatles bit, go forward to about 12 minutes into the episode.

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https://youtu.be/HodVrx34ihQ?si=rT2_bSFZB08HDNYY

847. RANDOM TOPIC GENERATOR (A 1-Hour Rambling Episode)

Join me for an unplanned rambling episode about various things including: hump day, bed bugs in Paris 🐞, fashion trends I followed when I was younger 👟👖, CDs 💿 vs cassettes 📼 vs vinyl 🎵, the most relaxing place in the world 🛏, Japanese zen gardens ⛩, Hunter S Thompson 🚬, the most disgusting job I ever had 🤮, and more…

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Random Topic Generator 👉 https://capitalizemytitle.com/random-topic-generator/

846. Topic Tombola with James

“The Glib Brothers” reunite on the podcast to discuss more music, films, books, scary AI and UFO sightings. James is my older brother and he’s probably been on this podcast more than any other guest. Listen for another deep and humorous conversation with lots of cultural reference points.

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Some of the things we talked about in this episode 👇

  • Blow Up (1966 mystery thriller film set in London, directed by Michelangelo Antonioni)
  • The Bee Gees (Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb – The Gibb Brothers)
  • Diary of a CEO (Stephen Bartlett’s podcast)
  • Record Play Pause by Stephen Morris (a book about Joy Division / New Order)
  • ChatGPT & AI (you know)
  • 1984 by George Orwell (a famous book about living under a totalitarian regime)
  • Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (another famous book about living under a different kind of totalitarian regime)
  • This Is Spinal Tap (a cult classic comedy film about a fictional rock band)
  • Alan Partridge (a comedy character played by actor/comedian Steve Coogan)
  • Three Amigos (comedy film directed by John Landis, written by Lorne Michaels, Steve Martin and Randy Newman, starring Steve Martin, Chevy Chase and Martin Short – a Thompson family favourite)
  • Green Street (an unintentionally hilarious drama film about football hooligans in the UK, starring Elijah Wood)

James’ Music – Glytek Audio

A TOMBOLA :)

810. Discussing Ambient Music (with James)

A conversation with my brother about a specific musical genre, “ambient”. We discuss Brian Eno’s inspiration and approach to his first ambient albums, talk about the genre’s origins in French 19th century classical music, jazz and the avant-garde and describe ambient trance music from the 80s and 90s including artists like Aphex Twin, The KLF, The Orb and The Irresistible Force. Enter the ambient zone on LEP.

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Video version ⬇️ Some music had to be removed because it was blocked by YouTube. Listen to the audio version ⬆️ to hear all the musical samples.

Get James’ new EP “Ambient Mode” on BandCamp 🎧👇

Brian Eno’s first ambient album “Music for Airports” ⬇️

“Cowboys in space” ⬇️

SIDE 1
SIDE 2

What I listened to while walking through Paris the other day ⬇️

The French classics which were perhaps the first ambient music ⬇️

Take a road trip across your own mind with The KLF ⬇️

The album which I listened to on repeat while recovering in hospital in Japan ⬇️ A trip into space, and beyond

Aphex Twin, the mysterious master of ambient music ⬇️

The German duo ⬇️

Do yourself a favour and listen to Mixmaster Morris ⬇️

An absolute classic, by Mixmaster Morris ⬇️

Everything is music ⬇️ “Some people have often put their fingers in their ears. But I leave my ears open.”

The Legend of Zelda – Ambient Mode ⬇️

Andrew Weatherall’s Strange Story about Ambient Music ⬇️

SLEEVE NOTES FOR “THE POSITIVA AMBIENT COLLECTION” BY ANDREW WEATHERALL

807. Dylan, Lennon, Marx & God (with Jon Stewart PhD)

A conversation about two legends of contemporary popular culture – Bob Dylan and John Lennon, with pop-star academic Jon Stewart (guitarist in The Wedding Present and Sleeper).

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Video Version (does not include my extra ramble at the end)

📖 Get Jon’s book here 👉 https://a.co/d/fPBgTel (other bookshops are available)

Summary

Jon Stewart is an interesting mix. He is both a university lecturer and a pop star. He runs a Masters Degree course in Music Business and Popular Music Practice at the BIMM Institute in London, and he also plays guitar for legendary British band The Wedding Present, AND classic ‘Britpop’ band Sleeper.

So, Jon knows all about the music business from both a personal and academic point of view. In this conversation I ask Jon about his new book “Dylan, Lennon, Marx and God” which is an amazing dual-biography of John Lennon and Bob Dylan, two of the most significant figures in contemporary popular culture.

Jon talks about the way Dylan and Lennon used language in their work, the references they make to the culture they grew up in, including their spiritual and political views.

Jon also talks about his time as a musician, including working with Elvis Costello and George Michael, and a funny story about John Lennon’s “Imagine piano”.

I hope you find this conversation as fascinating as I did. If you like it, consider getting a copy of Jon’s book!

Flashback to the 1990s! This is Sleeper on Top of the Pops in 1995. Jon is playing guitar on the left of the stage. Great song!