E109: Simon Reynolds on Melody Maker + Saint Etienne + Heaven 17 + Lee 'Scratch' Perry

In this episode we're thrilled to host Simon Reynolds , beamed in from his adopted Southern California. One of the most outstanding music writers of the past three and a half decades, Simon talks to us about his formative pop years; his own early fanzines Margin and Monitor ; and the sea-change he (and others) brought to Melody Maker in the late '80s. Simon's fascinating and passionate Pitchfork piece 'Worth the Wait' (2014) is the springboard for a general discussion of the peak years of the MM , the NME and the general phenomenon of the UK's weekly music press . The conversation turns to what's been lost in the digital/internet era, but also what's been gained. One of Simon's fellow Melody Maker scribes was Bob Stanley , which affords us the excuse to rhapsodise about Bob's neo-retro meta-pop trio Saint Etienne . With their latest album I've Been Trying To Tell You due for imminent release, Simon and Barney reminisce happily about the impact of their glorious 1991 debut Foxbase Alpha . The week's new audio interview — Adam Blake's 1988 conversation with Heaven 17 — takes us even further back in pop time, to the Sheffield group's 40-year-old (and still highly impressive) Penthouse & Pavement album... and to a more general discussion of proto-synthpop and the first edition of the Human League . We hear two clips of (mainly) Martyn Ware speaking: one about the challenges of promoting themselves, the other about their scorn for the Top 40 radio fodder of the day (with particular venom reserved for Messrs. Stock, Aitken & Waterman ). There's a brief but related digression on the previous week's audio, Steven Daly's 1990 interview with hitmaker-for-hire Diane Warren . From there it's a not-so-seamless segue to the sad losses of maverick Jamaican producer Lee "Scratch" Perry and Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts , with attendant discussions of dub & roots reggae — and of the central importance of Mr. Watts to everything that was great about peak-period Stones. Mark talks us out with his thoughts on (and quotes from) new library pieces about Dylan at Forest Hills , Bowie at Winterland , Donna Summer and the Smiths , and Jasper concludes matters with remarks on St. Vincent and the wonderful cover of Marvin Gaye's I Want You . Many thanks to special guest Simon Reynolds; find his blog at blissout.blogspot.com . Pieces discussed: Worth the Wait , Saint Etienne , Heaven 17 audio , Diane Warren audio , Lee "Scratch" Perry (Vivien Goldman) , Lee "Scratch" Perry (Simon Reynolds) , Charlie Watts , Kim Fowley , David Bowie , The Faces , AC/DC , Donna Summer , Bob Dylan , Laura Nyro , The Smiths , St. Vincent , Marvin Gaye and Tessa Violet .