The Strange Brew - artist stories behind the greatest music ever recorded

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Latest episodes

• Jimmy Webb

  October 2, 2026 · 39 min

  When Jimmy Webb first saw Joni Mitchell at the Troubadour, he sent roses to her dressing room with a letter asking her to tea. It went unanswered. The following decade, after they had become friends, she told him she had moved the couch…

• Randy Edelman

  September 28, 2026 · 24 min

  Randy Edelman is probably best known to British listeners for the records he made in the 1970s and early 1980s, including Uptown Uptempo Woman and Concrete and Clay. The Carpenters recorded his songs and took him on tour, and his records…

• Youth: From Dub and Killing Joke to The Orb, Paul McCartney & Pink Floyd

  September 25, 2026 · 25 min

  From the dub sound systems of 1970s Ladbroke Grove to Killing Joke, The Orb, Paul McCartney’s Fireman project and Pink Floyd’s The Endless River, few musicians have moved through as many worlds as Youth (Martin Glover). In this…

• Allan Clarke

  September 18, 2026 · 42 min

  Allan Clarke started The Hollies with Graham Nash as a teenager, copying other people’s records at Abbey Road. He left the group, came back, then left again, and along the way his voice carried the group through four decades. Jason…

• John Leckie on XTC and The Dukes of Stratosphear

  September 12, 2026 · 49 min

  John Leckie joins The Strange Brew to talk through the Dukes of Stratosphear story, from his first sight of a young XTC through to the new Dolby Atmos edition of the complete Dukes recordings. Leckie was the Abbey Road staff engineer who…

• Steve Hackett & Steve Rothery

  September 9, 2026 · 29 min

  Steve Hackett and Steve Rothery discuss their joint album The Roaring Waves. They explore creative process behind it, their individual artistic histories in Genesis and Marillion, and their respective plans for future work. The…

• Mari Wilson

  September 8, 2026 · 39 min

  Mari Wilson was the beehived voice behind “Just What I Always Wanted”, the Neasden Queen of Soul who fronted the Wilsations, supported Roxy Music and appeared on Top of the Pops. Then a second album stalled, and she could see where pop…

• Jeremy Clyde – Chad & Jeremy

  August 28, 2026 · 1 hr 24 min

  Ten years on, Jeremy Clyde is back. Chad Stuart left behind decades of unfinished Chad & Jeremy recordings. Jeremy and guitarist Jo Meacham have now finished them off, and the results are being crowdfunded as When All Is Said and Done…