The CAT Club (Classic Album Thursdays)

THE BAND – The eponymous second album with special guest JOHN NIVEN.

This interview took place before and after we listened to the vinyl album.

The Band’s debut, ‘Music From Big Pink’ and their eponymous second LP are two of the most influential albums ever made.

John Niven’s novella, Music From Big Pink caused the Band’s Robbie Robertson to ask, “Was that guy in the room?”

John is one of the UK’s greatest writers and has published over ten acclaimed books. His latest offering is the truly wonderful O Brother. It’s a brutally honest family memoir about his young brother Gary, that is both hilarious and devastatingly tragic.

CAT Club stalwart, Ian Clayton was in the interviewer's chair.

THE BAND – edited review by Jason Draper (www.udiscovermusic.com)

The self-titled second album by The Band honed everything from ‘Music From Big Pink’ with deft performances and an innate knack for storytelling.

If The Band single-handedly created Americana with their debut album, on their self-titled sophomore effort (aka “The Brown Album”), they honed everything that made ‘Music From Big Pink' so quietly epochal. Initially, the group relocated from their iconic Woodstock home to a New York studio in order to work up the 12 songs that formed their self-titled second album, but the pro facilities didn’t suit the group’s laidback, down-home approach.

Packing up and heading west, they recreated the Big Pink vibe with what lead guitarist Robbie Robertson called “a clubhouse feel” at 8850 Evanview Drive in West Hollywood, a house that had previously been owned by Sammy Davis Jr. The place had enough bedrooms that the group could reside there with their families and a pool house where they set up the studio.

The Band’s second album came after a difficult period. Bassist Rick Danko had broken his neck in a serious car crash and had taken time to recover. The move from East Coast to West Coast proved an invigorating change. Crossing the vast expanse of North America was apt: The Band was almost simply titled America, and its songs are populated with characters from the continent’s past; like the lucky hopefuls who set off west in search of the American Dream in the mid-1800s, The Band struck gold.

Truckers, sailors, Civil War soldiers: it’s the sort of roll call that would feel contrived in lesser hands, but Robertson and co’s deft performances and innate knack for storytelling allowed these disparate characters – like the wide array of instruments the group rotated through – to coalesce, working up a collection of songs that, as Ralph J. Gleason put it in his Rolling Stone review, are “equal sides of a 12-faceted gem, the whole of which is geometrically greater than the sum of the parts.”

This event took place on 30th November 2023 in the Pigeon Loft at The Robin Hood, Pontefract, West Yorkshire.

To find out more about the CAT Club please visit: www.thecatclub.co.uk

This podcast has been edited for content and for copyright reasons.

Happy Trails.

THE BEATLES – A HARD DAY'S NIGHT with special guests Peter Mills & James McGrath.

This interview took place before and after we listened to the vinyl album.

Considering the quality of the original material on 'With the Beatles,' it shouldn't have been a surprise that Lennon & McCartney decided to devote their third album to all-original material. Nevertheless, that decision still impresses, not only because the album is so strong, but because it was written and recorded at a time when the Beatles were constantly touring, giving regular BBC concerts, appearing on television and releasing non-LP singles and EPs, as well as filming their first motion picture. In that context, the achievement of 'A Hard Day's Night' is all the more astounding. Not only was the record the de facto soundtrack for their movie, not only was it filled with nothing but Lennon-McCartney originals, but it found the Beatles truly coming into their own as a band by performing a uniformly excellent set of songs. 

Peter Mills and James McGrath teach in the School of Cultural Studies and Humanities at Leeds Beckett University. They have been friends and colleagues for many years, and Peter supervised James's PhD on the music of Lennon & McCartney. So it seems only right that they have co-edited a book of 14 brand new essays on The Beatles, entitled 'The Beatles in Perspective: A Carnival of Light', published by Equinox Books in 2023. 

They chose 1964's 'A Hard Day's Night' album as their CAT Club subject.

CAT Club stalwart, Ian Clayton was in the interviewer's chair.

Happy Trails.

This event took place on 16th November 2023 in the Pigeon Loft at The Robin Hood, Pontefract, West Yorkshire.

To find out more about the CAT Club please visit: www.thecatclub.co.uk

This podcast has been edited for content and for copyright reasons.

Happy Trails.

GEORGE MICHAEL – FAITH with special guest JOHN ALTMAN.

This interview took place before and after we listened to the vinyl album.

It has to be said that John Altman is one of the great raconteurs and his stories caused many a jaw to drop in what was a truly classic CAT Club gathering. Unfortunately, George Michael didn't get much of a look in, but after listening this podcast you will understand why we've invited John back in 2024 for 'An Evening with John Altman.'

So, back to George Michael's 'Faith' . . .
One of the best selling albums of all time and the first album by a white solo artist to hit number one on the Billboard Top Black Albums chart. 

Faith featured JOHN ALTMAN on saxophone. John is also a composer, arranger and conductor who has worked with Muddy Waters, Jimmy Page, Nick Drake, Tina Turner, Barry White, Chet Baker, Alicia Keys, Amy Winehouse, Chaka Khan, Quincy Jones, Björk, Peter Green and many, many others. His tv and film work includes James Bond Movies, Monty Python, Titanic, The Sheltering Sky, The Rutles and Léon.

In the interviewer’s chair, performing admirably under the circumstances, was JASON BARNARD.

Happy Trails. 

This event took place on 26th October 2023 in the Pigeon Loft at The Robin Hood, Pontefract, West Yorkshire.

To find out more about the CAT Club please visit: www.thecatclub.co.uk

This podcast has been edited for content and for copyright reasons.

Happy Trails.

'THE DOUBLE LIFE OF BOB DYLAN VOLUME 2 (1966-2021) Far Away From Myself' with CLINTON HEYLIN.

We were delighted that author and leading rock journalist, Clinton Heylin chose The CAT Club to mark the official launch of his second volume of 'The Double Life of Bob Dylan.’

Clinton is one of the leading rock historians in the world and, according to Rolling Stone magazine, “the world's authority on all things Dylan.” 

The first half of this event featured readings from the book by Clinton and the evening concluded with a very interesting Q&A.

Happy Trails.

This event took place on 5th October2023 in the Pigeon Loft at The Robin Hood, Pontefract, West Yorkshire.

To find out more about the CAT Club please visit: www.thecatclub.co.uk

This podcast has been edited for content and for copyright reasons.

AN EVENING WITH CHAZ JANKEL

On 31st August 2023 we at The CAT Club were lucky to be in the company of one of the most fertile talents in British pop music, Chaz Jankel was at the epicentre of Ian Dury & The Blockheads, acting as the mercurial Londoner's sidekick, songwriting partner and musical director. If Dury brought the rock and the roll to their music, then Jankel delivered the funk into punk.

But there is another side to Chaz: that of songwriter and solo performer and thanks to cult club hits like 3,000,000 Synths and Glad To Know You, an underground dance hero. Working alongside studio wiz, Phlip Bagenal, who not only engineered many of his best works, and with whom he also founded Eastcote Studios, Jankel was responsible for some of best and most experimental dance records to come from these shores. 

Jankel's first solo collaboration was with veteran songwriter Kenny Young (who co-wrote Under The Boardwalk) whose lyrics had been inspired by a recent and controversial Japanese movie called Ai No Corrida. It eventually ended up in the hands of Quincy Jones, and it was enough to win a deal with A&M, which eventually yielded five albums. Glad To Know You, co-written with Ian Dury (and later covered by Kitty Grant), was a huge club hit in the USA, spending 6 weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100. 

His latest release is the acclaimed Flow album.

Chaz was with us at The CAT Club in 2020 when the featured album was Ian Dury’s New Boots and Panties! Six of the album’s ten tracks were co-written by Dury and Jankel as was the legendary Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll. 

We were delighted to welcome him back for what proved to be a truly wonderful evening with the great man.

CAT Club stalwart JASON BARNARD was in the interviewer's chair.

This episode has been edited for copyright reasons. Original music used in this podcast by kind permission of Chaz Jankel.

To find out more about the CAT Club please visit: www.thecatclub.co.uk

Happy Trails.

SONIC YOUTH – EVOL with special guest Dave Hallam

This interview took place before and after we listened to the vinyl album.

EVOL – Sonic Youth 

Released in May 1986, Evol is the third full-length studio album by Sonic Youth. A raucous but beguiling mix of dissonance, attitude, weird guitar tunings, and beating rhythms (it was their first album with drummer Steve Shelley). Sonic Youth have been lauded by the likes of David Bowie who described them as the most Important group of the 1980s.

Sonic Youth released two further albums in the Eighties, Sister and Daydream Nation, but in the opinion of the website Pitchfork,  Evil is “the true departure point of Sonic Youth's musical evolution … where the seeds of greatness were sown”.

With special guest DAVE HASLAM

Dave Haslam is a DJ and writer whose 2018 memoir ‘Sonic Youth Slept on My Floor’ was hailed as book of the year by Gilles Peterson – he’s also the author of several other full-length and short format books. He staged two Sonic Youth shows in Manchester, in May 1986 and June 1987. He interviewed the band in Leeds for his fanzine and reviewed EVOL for ‘NME’ on its release.

In the interviewer’s chair was RYAN WALKER.

Happy Trails. 

This event took place on 27th July 2023 in the Pigeon Loft at The Robin Hood, Pontefract, West Yorkshire.

To find out more about the CAT Club please visit: www.thecatclub.co.uk

This podcast has been edited for content and for copyright reasons.

Happy Trails.

“This sparky woman has done so much, lived so much, crammed so much in. Most of all, she has informed our appreciation of British and North American folk music, like very, very few people have. Then factor in her multiple roles in illuminating the folk, political song and feminist scenes and how her songs have enriched the folk idiom, and you have somebody worth getting amazed about.” - Ken Hunt / Folk Roots Magazine.

PEGGY SEEGER was born on 17 June, 1935 in New York City. She is one of the most important figures in the history of folk music. An American folk singer who also achieved renown in Britain, where she lived for more than 30 years, as the wife of songwriter and activist Ewan MacColl.

Seeger's father was Charles Seeger (1886–1979), an important folklorist and musicologist; her mother was Seeger's second wife, Ruth Porter Crawford. Ruth Crawford Seeger, who died in 1953, was a modernist composer and was one of the first women to receive a Guggenheim Fellowship.

One of her brothers is Mike Seeger, and the well-known songwriter Pete Seeger is her half-brother.

Among Peggy Seeger's first recordings in 1955 was ‘American Folk Songs for Children’, considered one of her most enduring, and probably the best-selling, collection of children's songs ever recorded.

Together with MacColl, Seeger joined The Critics Group, performing satirical songs in a mixture of theatre, comedy and song. Seeger and MacColl recorded as a duo and as solo artists; MacColl wrote "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" in Peggy's honour.

Her critically acclaimed classic biography, ‘First Time Ever – A Memoir’ was published in 2018.

We were delighted to welcome Peggy to The CAT Club for a memorable evening. A splendid time was had by all.

CAT Club stalwart IAN CLAYTON was in the interviewer’s chair.

This event took place on 16 July 2023 in the Pigeon Loft at The Robin Hood, Pontefract, West Yorkshire.

To find out more about the CAT Club please visit: www.thecatclub.co.uk

Music used in this podcast by kind permission of Peggy Seeger.

Happy Trails.

THE BEE GEES – MAIN COURSE with special guest Bob Stanley

This interview took place before and after we listened to the vinyl album.

It may sound silly to call the twelth album by a group with an eight-year string of gold records behind them a "breakthrough," but that's what Main Course was. Released in 1975, the group's first disco album – and, for many white listeners, the first disco album they ever purchased – Main Course marked a huge change in the Bee Gees' sound. The group's earlier LPs, steeped in a dense romantic balladry, were beautifully crafted but too serious for any but hardcore fans. 

With special guest BOB STANLEY

We were delighted that Bob Stanley was with us to talk about the Bee Gees’ album, the terrific Main Course. Bob’s latest offering is Children Of The World, a unique biography of the Bee Gees. Bob is a writer, musician, dj and film producer. Since founding influential pop group Saint Etienne, He has enjoyed a parallel career as a journalist and is the author of Yeah Yeah Yeah and 2023 Penderyn Music Book Prize Winner, Let’s Do It: The Birth Of Pop.

In the interviewer’s chair was CAT Club stalwart, JASON BARNARD.

Happy Trails. 

This event took place on 29th June 2023 in the Pigeon Loft at The Robin Hood, Pontefract, West Yorkshire.

To find out more about the CAT Club please visit: www.thecatclub.co.uk

This podcast has been edited for content and for copyright reasons.

Happy Trails.

EDGAR ‘JONES’ JONES – SOOTHING MUSIC FOR STRAY CATS with special guest Edgar Jones

This interview took place before and after we listened to the vinyl album.

Soothing Music for Stray Cats is an innovative witches brew of Jazz, R ‘n’ B, Soul, Doo Wop mixed with Edgars’ own special ingredients to create something quite unique. One of this country’s greatest music talents, it seems incredible that this artist and his music are not better known. This gives a flavour of the man and his music:

‘It bent my head, man. It’s probably one of the best records I have ever heard’ Noel Gallagher, The Observer Music Monthly, June 2005.

‘Listening to this becomes an aural history of the world’s coolest music. A true Liverpool hero’ Matt Wilkinson, NME ( The 100 greatest albums You’ve never heard feature ), Jan 2011.

‘A cool brilliant sound all of his own, if there is any justice this will be massive’ Chris Brown Daily Post, May 2005. 

 With special guest, the man himself: EDGAR JONES.

CAT Club stalwart JASON BARNARD was in the interviewer’s chair.

After we listened to the album Edgar gave a blistering solo live performance which culminated in a standing ovation from a delighted sold out audience.

This event took place on 8 June 2023 in the Pigeon Loft at The Robin Hood, Pontefract, West Yorkshire.

To find out more about the CAT Club please visit: www.thecatclub.co.uk

This podcast has been edited for content and for copyright reasons.

Happy Trails.

THE CARPENTERS – A SONG FOR YOU with special guest Lucy O'Brien.

This interview took place before and after we listened to the vinyl album.

Up to the release of A Song for You, the Carpenters' success had seemed an awesome if somewhat fluky phenomenon, built on prodigious talent, some beautifully crafted pop sensibilities, and a very fortunate choice of singles -- their albums Close To You and Carpenters, though they were top-sellers, both seemed just a bit thrown together. 

Then came A Song for You, a seemingly unified concept album written and recorded during a frantic period of concert activity, and brimming with lovely musical ideas even more lovingly executed, laced with good humour, and enough hits of its own to have established any artist's career on its own. And even in between the hits, the album was built on material that could have made a whole career for anyone. 

The duo's best album and a classic in its own right.

With special guest LUCY O'BRIEN.

Lucy O’Brien’s new biography is Lead Sister: The Story Of Karen Carpenter. She has written critically acclaimed books about Dusty Springfield, Madonna, Annie Lennox as well as She Bop: The Definitive History Of Women In Popular Music.

CAT Club stalwart Ian Clayton was in the interviewer’s chair.

This event took place on 18 May 2023 in the Pigeon Loft at The Robin Hood, Pontefract, West Yorkshire.

To find out more about the CAT Club please visit: www.thecatclub.co.uk

This podcast has been edited for content and for copyright reasons.

Happy Trails.

BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS – EXODUS with special guest Chris Salewicz.

This interview took place before and after we listened to the vinyl album.

What was it about Bob Marley that made him so popular in a world dominated by rock ’n’ roll? How is it that he not only has remained the single most successful reggae artist ever, but also has become a shining beacon of radicalism and peace to generation after generation of fans? His magnum opus. Exodus is a stunning testament to the great man himself and a true classic album.

With special guest CHRIS SALEWICZ.

Chris Salewicz, the bestselling author of Redemption Song, the classic biography of Joe Strummer, interviewed Marley in Jamaica in 1979 and had a series of adventures with the reggae king himself. Throughout Bob Marley: The Untold Story, Chris gives a thorough, detailed account of Marley’s life and the world in which he grew up, illuminating everything from the Rastafari religion and the musical scene in Jamaica to the spirit of the man himself. Interviews with dozens of people who knew Marley and have never spoken before are woven through the narrative as Salewicz seeks to explain why Marley has become such an enigmatic and heroic figure, loved by millions all over the world.

CAT Club stalwart Heath Common was in the interviewer’s chair.

This event took place on 27 April 2023 in the Pigeon Loft at The Robin Hood, Pontefract, West Yorkshire.

To find out more about the CAT Club please visit: www.thecatclub.co.uk

This podcast has been edited for content and for copyright reasons.

Happy Trails.

THE SEX PISTOLS – NEVER MIND THE BOLLOCKS with special guest Clinton Heylin.

This interview took place before and after we listened to the vinyl album.

Never Mind the Bollocks perfectly articulated the frustration, rage, and dissatisfaction of the British working class with the establishment, a spirit quick to translate itself to strictly rock & roll terms. The Pistols paved the way for countless other bands to make similarly rebellious statements, but arguably none were as daring or effective. It's easy to see how the band's roaring energy, overwhelmingly snotty attitude, and Johnny Rotten's furious ranting sparked a musical revolution, and those qualities haven't diminished one bit over time. Never Mind the Bollocks is simply one of the greatest, most inspiring rock records of all time.

With Special Guest CLINTON HEYLIN.

Clinton Heylin is the author of one of the defining books about the explosive punk era, Anarchy In The Year Zero: The Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Class of ’76 (published by Route). Clinton is acclaimed as one of popular music’s leading journalists and biographers and we were delighted to welcome him back to The CAT Club for a fascinating insight into one of the most astounding and controversial albums of all time.

This event took place on 13 April 2023 in the Pigeon Loft at The Robin Hood, Pontefract, West Yorkshire.

To find out more about the CAT Club please visit: www.thecatclub.co.uk

This podcast has been edited for content and for copyright reasons.

Happy Trails.

THE SPECIALS – SPECIALS with special guest Paul Williams.

This interview took place before and after we listened to the vinyl album.

 A perfect moment in time captured on vinyl forever, such is the Specials' eponymous debut album; it arrived in shops in the middle of October 1979 and soared into the U.K. Top Five. It was an utter revelation -- except for anyone who had seen the band on-stage, for the album was at its core a studio recording of their live set, and at times even masquerades as a gig.

Fourteen songs' strong, mostly originals, with a few covers of classics thrown in for good measure. That includes their fabulous take on Dandy Livingstone's "A Message to You Rudy," an equally stellar version of the Maytals' "Monkey Man," and the sizzling take on Prince Buster's "Too Hot." If those were fabulous, their own compositions were magnificent. The Specials managed to distill all the anger, disenchantment, and bitterness of the day straight into their music. A true classic album. Globalgroove.

With special guest PAUL WILLIAMS.

Paul ‘Willo’ Williams is the author of the acclaimed ‘You're Wondering Now- The Specials From Conception to Reunion.’ We were delighted that Paul, a close personal friend of the much missed Terry Hall, was with us to talk about the band’s eponymous 2Tone debut album. Paul also fronts ska legends, The Skapones and is the founder of The Specialized Project CIC, which is a social enterprise that aims to help young people in difficult circumstances.

In the interviewer’s chair was CAT Club stalwart, Jason Barnard.

This event took place on 9th March 2023 in the Pigeon Loft at The Robin Hood, Pontefract, West Yorkshire.

To find out more about the CAT Club please visit: www.thecatclub.co.uk

This podcast has been edited for content and for copyright reasons.

Happy Trails.

THE WHO – WHO'S NEXT with special guest Jon Astley.

This interview took place before and after we listened to the vinyl album.

Apart from Live at Leeds, the Who have never sounded as LOUD and unhinged as they do on Who’s Next, yet that's balanced by ballads, both lovely ("The Song Is Over") and scathing ("Behind Blue Eyes"). That's the key to Who's Next – there's anger and sorrow, humour and regret, passion and tumult, all wrapped up in a blistering package where the rage is as affecting as the heartbreak.

This is a retreat from the '60s, as Townshend declares the "Song Is Over," scorns the teenage wasteland, and bitterly declares that we "Won't Get Fooled Again." For all the sorrow and heartbreak that runs beneath the surface, this is an invigorating record, not just because Keith Moon runs rampant or because Roger Daltrey has never sung better or because John Entwistle spins out manic basslines that are as captivating as his "My Wife" is funny.

This is invigorating because it has all of that, plus Townshend laying his soul bare in ways that are funny, painful, and utterly life-affirming. That is what the Who was about, not the rock operas, and that's why Who's Next is truer than Tommy or the abandoned Lifehouse. Those were art – this, even with its pretensions, is rock & roll. Allmusic.

With Special Guest JON ASTLEY.

We were delighted to welcome mastering engineer JON ASTLEY back to The CAT Club. John has worked with The Who for many years and has remastered Who's Next for a deluxe release in 2023. Jon brought along a test pressing of the new vinyl version of Who's Next for The CAT Club to listen to (a world exclusive).

Among the many artists on his impressive cv are the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin, Van Morrison, Paul McCartney, Norah Jones, Peter Gabriel, George Harrison, Abba, Stereophonics and Sting.

In the interviewer’s chair was CAT Club stalwart, Heath Common.

This event took place on 23rd February 2023 in the Pigeon Loft at The Robin Hood, Pontefract, West Yorkshire.

To find out more about the CAT Club please visit: www.thecatclub.co.uk

This podcast has been edited for content and for copyright reasons.

Happy Trails.

VAN MORRISON – MOONDANCE with special guest Peter Mills.

This interview took place before and after we listened to the vinyl album.

The yang to Astral Weeks' yin, the brilliant Moondance is every bit as much a classic as its predecessor; Van Morrison's first commercially successful solo effort, it retains the previous album's deeply spiritual thrust but transcends its bleak, cathartic intensity to instead explore themes of renewal and redemption. Light, soulful, and jazzy, Moondance opens with the sweetly nostalgic "And It Stoned Me," the song's pastoral imagery establishing the dominant lyrical motif recurring throughout the album – virtually every track exults in natural wonder, whether it's the nocturnal magic celebrated by the title cut or the unlimited promise offered in "Brand New Day." At the heart of the record is "Caravan," an incantatory ode to the power of radio; equally stirring is the majestic "Into the Mystic," a song of such elemental beauty and grace as to stand as arguably the quintessential Morrison moment. (Allmusic)

With special guest PETER MILLS.

Peter Mills Is the Senior Lecturer in Media & Popular Culture at Leeds Beckett University. his acclaimed book, Hymns To The Silence, looks into the work of Van Morrison in a detailed & fascinating investigative study. In the interviewer’s chair was IAN CLAYTON.

This event took place on 26th January 2023 in the Pigeon Loft at The Robin Hood, Pontefract, West Yorkshire.

To find out more about the CAT Club please visit: www.thecatclub.co.uk

This podcast has been edited for content and for copyright reasons.

Happy Trails.

THE ROLLING STONES – BEGGAR’S BANQUET with special guest Paul Sexton.

This interview took place before and after we listened to the vinyl album.

In 1968 the Stones forsook psychedelic experimentation to return to their blues roots on this celebrated album, which was immediately acclaimed as one of their landmark achievements.

A strong acoustic Delta blues flavour colours much of the material, particularly “Salt of the Earth” and “No Expectations,” which features some beautiful slide guitar work. Basic rock & roll was not forgotten, however: “Street Fighting Man,” a reflection of the political turbulence of 1968, was one of their most innovative tracks, and “Sympathy for the Devil,” with its fire-dancing guitar licks, leering Jagger vocals, African rhythms, and explicitly satanic lyrics, was an image-defining epic.

On “Stray Cat Blues,” Jagger and crew began to explore the kind of decadent sexual sleaze that they would take to the point of self-parody by the mid-’70s. At the time, though, the approach was still fresh, and the lyrical bite of most of the material ensured Beggars Banquet’s place as one of the top blues-based rock records of all time. (Richie Unterberger, Allmusic). 

With special guest PAUL SEXTON.
We were absolutely delighted to welcome Paul Sexton as our special guest to The CAT Club. Paul’s book, Charlie’s Good Tonight is the acclaimed authorised biography of the truly wonderful Charlie Watts. In the interviewer's chair was IAN CLAYTON.

This event took place on 12th January 2023 in the Pigeon Loft at The Robin Hood, Pontefract, West Yorkshire.

To find out more about the CAT Club please visit: www.thecatclub.co.uk

This podcast has been edited for content and for copyright reasons.

Happy Trails.

AN EVENING WITH P.P. ARNOLD.

A fascinating interview with the soul survivor herself who regaled The CAT Club with many fine tales indeed. P.P. Arnold’s career and life story is one of highs, lows, success and survival. Known for chart hits such as The First Cut Is the Deepest and Angel of the Morning, her amazing career spans five decades of rock’n’roll history.

Starting out in the Ike & Tina Turner Revue as an Ikette, she arrived in London in 1966 to support the Rolling Stones where she caught the eye of front-man Mick Jagger. Since then P.P Arnold’s career has seen her in demand working with such luminaries including The Stones, Rod Stewart, The Small Faces, Eric Clapton, The Beatmasters, Nick Drake, Barry Gibb, Peter Gabriel, The Klf, Primal Scream, Roger Waters, Oasis, Paul Weller, Steve Cradock & Ocean Colour Scene and many others.

A couple years after previously, and highly rated unreleased solo material, hit the market as The Turning Tide, Arnold returned with a new acclaimed album, The New Adventures of P.P. Arnold (2019).

Her autobiography, Soul Survivor, published in 2022 has been hailed as one of the best music books of that year.

In the interviewer's chair was HEATH COMMON.

This event took place on Thursday 9th February 2023 in the Pigeon Loft at The Robin Hood, Pontefract, West Yorkshire.

To find out more about the CAT Club please visit: www.thecatclub.co.uk

This podcast has been edited for content and for copyright reasons.

Happy Trails.

THE BEATLES – REVOLVER (Giles Martin/Sam Okell 2022 remix) with special guest Heath Common.

This interview took place before and after we listened to the vinyl album.

That a new mix exists at all is a testament to contemporary technology; Giles Martin describes the task of "de-mixing" the original tapes to isolate the individual elements.  Despite that herculean effort, Martin admits "there's nothing too extreme" in his and Okell's stereo remix.  Instead, it brings newfound clarity and punch to what was already on the tapes and familiar to longtime listeners. Everything sparkles on this iteration of Revolver while remaining largely faithful to the elder Martin's 1966 blueprint.

HEATH COMMON is - amongst many other things - a journalist, a songwriter and a broadcaster. In the past he has written many articles on The Beatles for Melody Maker, The Guardian and a variety of other publications. In addition, he has recorded on several occasions at (Beatles producer) George Martin’s Air studios on Oxford Circus in London where his songs were produced respectively by CAT Club stalwart John Williams and also by the  legendary music business figure the late, great Charlie Gillett. Heath Common has broadcast several radio programmes devoted to the recordings and the cultural impact of The Beatles and he considers ‘Revolver’ to be their finest hour.

In the interviewer's chair was JASON BARNARD.

This event took place on 15th December 2022 in the Pigeon Loft at The Robin Hood, Pontefract, West Yorkshire.

To find out more about the CAT Club please visit: www.thecatclub.co.uk

This podcast has been edited for content and for copyright reasons.

Happy Trails.

THE CLASH – GIVE 'EM ENOUGH ROPE with special guest Ray Gange.

This interview took place before and after we listened to the vinyl album.

Part fiction, part rockumentary, Rude Boy tells the story of Ray Gange, a young Clash fan who leaves his dead-end job in a sleazy Soho sex shop to become a roadie for the band. The movie was nominated for the Golden Bear Award at the 30th Berlin International Film Festival in 1980.

During the making of Rude Boy, The Clash recorded their second album, the classic Give 'Em Enough Rope. We are delighted that the lead actor, RAY GANGE was with us to talk about the album, the movie and The Clash.

In the interviewer's chair was JASON BARNARD.

This event took place on 24th November 2022 in the Pigeon Loft at The Robin Hood, Pontefract, West Yorkshire.

To find out more about the CAT Club please visit: www.thecatclub.co.uk

This podcast has been edited for content and for copyright reasons.

Happy Trails.

PINK FLOYD – THE PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN with special guest Rob Chapman.

This interview took place before and after we listened to the vinyl album.

The title of Pink Floyd's debut album is taken from a chapter in Syd Barrett's favourite children's book, The Wind in the Willows, and the lyrical imagery of The Piper at the Gates of Dawn is indeed full of colourful, childlike, distinctly British whimsy, albeit filtered through the perceptive lens of LSD. Barrett's catchy, melodic acid pop songs are balanced with longer, more experimental pieces showcasing the group's instrumental freak-outs, often using themes of space travel as metaphors for hallucinogenic experiences.

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn successfully captures both sides of psychedelic experimentation – the pleasures of expanding one's mind and perception, and an underlying threat of mental disorder and even lunacy; this duality makes Piper all the more compelling in light of Barrett's subsequent breakdown, and ranks it as one of the best psychedelic albums of all time.

With special guest ROB CHAPMAN.
Rob Chapman is a renowned musician, broadcaster, music journalist, and author of the acclaimed and definitive biography of Pink Floyd’s Syd Barrett – A Very Irregular Head. In the interviewer's chair was JASON BARNARD.

This event took place on 30th March 2023 in the Pigeon Loft at The Robin Hood, Pontefract, West Yorkshire.

To find out more about the CAT Club please visit: www.thecatclub.co.uk

This podcast has been edited for content and for copyright reasons.

Happy Trails.

DEXYS MIDNIGHT RUNNERS – DON'T STAND DOWN with special guest Helen O'Hara.

This interview took place before and after we listened to the vinyl album.

In March 1985, Kevin Rowland, lead singer and songwriter of Dexys Midnight Runners was facing total ruin. Don’t Stand Me Down, his labour of love and an album he had spent two years of his life writing, recording and mixing, might just have been burned in a fire at the record label’s office in New York, and lost forever. Two years work, and possibly the best album of the eighties might just have gone up in smoke …

As composer, violinist, arranger, producer and muse, HELEN O’HARA is at the very heart of Dexys' masterpiece album Don’t Stand Me Down. Helen Shares the full, tumultuous story of the making of it in her new memoir What’s She Like. We were delighted that Helen was our very special CAT Club guest.

In the interviewer's chair was CHRIS MADDEN.

This event took place on 27th October 2022 in the Pigeon Loft at The Robin Hood, Pontefract, West Yorkshire.

To find out more about the CAT Club please visit: www.thecatclub.co.uk

This podcast has been edited for content and for copyright reasons.

Happy Trails.

THE UNDERTONES with special guest Damian O'Neill.

This interview took place before and after we listened to the vinyl album.

What is a perfect album? One could make an argument that a perfect album is one that sets out a specific set of artistic criteria and then fulfills them flawlessly. In that respect, and many others, the Undertones 1979 debut is a perfect album.

DAMIAN O'NEILL, the band's guitarist was with us to wax lyrical about the record and all things Undertones. Damian was interviewed by renowned broadcaster, author and die hard fan of the band, Bryn Law.

This event took place on 22nd September 2022 in the Pigeon Loft at The Robin Hood, Pontefract, West Yorkshire.

To find out more about the CAT Club please visit: www.thecatclub.co.uk

This podcast has been edited for content and for copyright reasons.

Happy Trails.

THE CAT CLUB (Classic Album Thursdays) presents a long playing vinyl record.

NICK DRAKE – PINK MOON with special guest John Wood.

This interview took place before and after we listened to the vinyl album.

Both bewitching & brilliant, Pink Moon more than anything else is the record that made Nick Drake the ultimate cult figure that he remains.

JOHN WOOD is one of the finest engineers and producers these shores have ever produced. Just some of the major artists has worked with include John Martyn, Cat Stevens, Pink Floyd, Richard & Linda Thompson, Fairport  Convention, Judy Collins, Sandy Denny, Loudon Wainwright III & Nico

In the interviewer’s chair was a friend of us all, IAN CLAYTON.

This event took place on 4th September 2022 in the Pigeon Loft at The Robin Hood, Pontefract, West Yorkshire (Due to popular demand an extra show was added the night before).

To find out more about the CAT Club please visit: www.thecatclub.co.uk

This podcast has been edited for content and for copyright reasons.

THE CAT CLUB (Classic Album Thursdays) presents a long playing vinyl record.

LONDON 0 HULL 4 – THE HOUSEMARTINS with special guest John Williams.

This interview took place before and after we listened to the vinyl album.

London 0 Hull 4 is a varied, tuneful and captivating listen which is as equally enthralling musically as it is thought-provoking lyrically. While you may not necessarily agree with Heaton's leftist views, at the very worst this album will cause you to consider what you believe in and at best encourage you to actively develop your own personal ideology. Or you can close your left-brain for the night and just enjoy the music

Producer of the Housemartins’ 1986 classic debut album, JOHN WILLIAMS has also worked with the Proclaimers, Robert Plant, Jethro Tull, The Waterboys, Debbie Harry and, of course, Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott and many others. The John Williams Syndicate album, Out Of Darkness was released in 2021 and John has recently co-written  xpropaganda’s new album, The Heart Is Strange.

In the interviewer’s chair was a friend of us all, IAN CLAYTON.

This event took place on 25 August 2022 in the Pigeon Loft at The Robin Hood, Pontefract, West Yorkshire (Due to popular demand an extra show was added the night before).

To find out more about the CAT Club please visit: www.thecatclub.co.uk

This podcast has been edited for content and for copyright reasons.

THE CAT CLUB (Classic Album Thursdays) presents a long playing vinyl record.

PRIMAL SCREAM – GIVE OUT BUT DON'T GIVE UP (THE ORIGINAL MEMPHIS RECORDINGS) with special guest Andrew Innes.

This interview took place before and after we listened to the vinyl album.

In 2018 Andrew Innes, Primal Scream's guitarist, found the original tapes of the band's recordings in Memphis of their album, Give Out But Don't Give Up in his basement. The tapes featured the original mixes of tracks recorded by producer Tom Dowd at Ardent Studios, Memphis, with the Muscle Shoals rhythm section in 1993.

The tracks had been reworked for the 1994 release of the album and the original tapes lay forgotten until Andrew's discovery. He played them to the band's singer, Bobby Gillespie who said, "They sounded really beautiful, really clear, well-produced; incredibly performed by all the players and musicians and singer - I was blown away when I heard it.”

ANDREW INNES was our special guest for this wonderful gathering. Primal Scream’s keyboard player, Martin Duffy couldn’t make it for this memorable event with his friend and fellow band member Andrew Innes. Sadly and tragically, Martin died on 18 December 2022.

In the interviewer’s chair was a friend of us all, MR GARY GUESTLIST.

This event took place on 13th July 2022 in the Pigeon Loft at The Robin Hood, Pontefract, West Yorkshire.

To find out more about the CAT Club please visit: www.thecatclub.co.uk

This podcast has been edited for content and for copyright reasons.

THE CAT CLUB (Classic Album Thursdays) presents a long playing vinyl record.

IS THIS IT – THE STROKES with special guest Gordon Raphael.

This interview took place before and after we listened to the vinyl album.

GORDON RAPHAEL produced not only The Strokes’ debut ep but also their first two albums including the seminal Is This It in 2001. His work with The Strokes, The Libertines and Regina Spektor has secured him a place in rock & roll history. His new and eagerly awaited memoir, The World Is Going To Love This: Up From The Basement With The Strokes was published in July 2022.

In this candid and absorbing interview Gordon talks about his time with The Strokes and so much more.

In the interviewer’s chair was Strokes enthusiast RICHARD SHORT.

This event took place on Thursday 23rd June 2022 in the Pigeon Loft at The Robin Hood, Pontefract, West Yorkshire.

To find out more about the CAT Club please visit: www.thecatclub.co.uk

This podcast has been edited for content and for copyright reasons.

Happy Trails.

THE CAT CLUB (Classic Album Thursdays) presents a long playing vinyl record.

DARE – THE HUMAN LEAGUE with special guest Ian Burden.

This interview took place before and after we listened to the vinyl album.

The Human League’s critically acclaimed, genre-defining classic album, Dare from 1981 features some of the most influential synthesiser sounds ever recorded.


IAN BURDEN was the man with his fingers on the keyboards. Ian was with us in conversation talking about the band and a true eighties landmark record.

DAVID M. ALLEN was the engineer on Dare and he joined Ian on stage for the interview.

In the interviewer’s chair was Record Collector contributor and head honcho of Strange Brew podcasts, JASON BARNARD.

This event took place on Thursday 26th May 2022 in the Pigeon Loft at The Robin Hood, Pontefract, West Yorkshire.

To find out more about the CAT Club please visit: www.thecatclub.co.uk

This podcast has been edited for content and for copyright reasons.

THE CAT CLUB (Classic Album Thursdays) presents a long playing vinyl record.

RUM, SODOMY & THE LASH – THE POGUES with special guest Richard Balls

This interview took place before and after we listened to Rum, Sodomy & The Lash, a true classic album from 1985.

RICHARD BALLS wrote the definitive biography of Shane MacGowan: A Furious Devotion: The Life Of Shane MacGowan. We were delighted to welcome Richard to The CAT Club as our special guest to talk about his book and the Pogues’ magnum opus that is Rum, Sodomy & The Lash.

In the interviewer’s chair was musician, poet and former Melody Maker and Guardian music journalist, HEATH COMMON.

This event took place on Thursday 28th April, 2023 in the Pigeon Loft at The Robin Hood, Pontefract, West Yorkshire.

To find out more about the CAT Club please visit: www.thecatclub.co.uk

This podcast has been edited for content and for copyright reasons.

THE CAT CLUB (Classic Album Thursdays) presents a long playing vinyl record.

THE VELVET UNDERGROUND & NICO with special guest Maxine Peake.

This fascinating interview took place before and after we listened to the band's debut vinyl album. 

MAXINE PEAKE, the award winning actress, writer and director of television, film, radio and stage starred as Nico in The Nico Project which was featured at the Manchester International Festival to great critical acclaim in 2019. We were delighted to welcome Maxine to The CAT Club as our special guest.

In the interviewer’s chair was author and storyteller, IAN CLAYTON. It was a stormy night and the sign outside the venue can be audibly heard swinging in the wind, some wag compared it to John Cale's later work.

This event took place on Thursday 24th February 2022 in the Pigeon Loft at The Robin Hood, Pontefract, West Yorkshire.

To find out more about the CAT Club please visit: www.thecatclub.co.uk

This podcast has been edited for content and for copyright reasons.

Mar 8 • 57:40

THE CAT CLUB (Classic Album Thursdays) presents a long playing vinyl record.

NEVER FOR EVER – KATE BUSH with special guest Brian Bath.

This interview took place before and after we listened to the vinyl album.

Released in 1980, Never For Ever was the first album by a British female artist to top the UK album chart. It was also the first album by any female solo artist to enter the chart at number one.

BRIAN BATH is a seminal figure in Kate’s career. He was the guitarist with the KT Bush Band from their formation in April 1977. Brian plays electric and acoustic guitars on Never For Ever.

In the interviewer’s chair was Record Collector contributor and head honcho of Strange Brew podcasts, JASON BARNARD.

ANDREW BRYANT, guitar technician, roadie, driver, factotum, sound man and good friend of Kate Bush and Brian Bath was on the stage throughout the interview offering further insights and stories.

This event took place on Thursday 31st March 2022 in the Pigeon Loft at The Robin Hood, Pontefract, West Yorkshire.

To find out more about the CAT Club please visit: www.thecatclub.co.uk

This podcast has been edited for content and for copyright reasons.