I’ve been a big fan of Wreckless Eric since fairly near the start of what is now a long career. ‘Big Smash’, in fact. It’s funny how you remember these things, but it was the first double album I ever bought. Probably on the strength of a VFM special offer from the local record shop in Keynsham – don’t listen to the music, look at how many songs you‘re getting! I don’t actually think I’ve purchased more than five other double albums in my record buying career, and certainly none that contained so many joyously catchy pop songs, but there you go. Ever since then I’ve been a sucker for his love of loud guitars, ear for a well turned phrase, and latterly a well honed appreciation for the absurdities of the music business.
All of which come together in his delightful series of podcasts, ‘The Wreckless Eric Radio Show’. Each lasting (approximately) a zippy half hour and recorded at his base in rural France, they contain a fantastic collection of well picked music, some very entertaining opinions on everything from space travel to the Rolling Stones, and the occasional reading from his (very funny) autobiography ‘A Dysfunctional Success’.
Kevin Coyne, The Velvet Underground, Tony Christie, and Parliament/Funkadelic all make appearances, as do more surprising artists such as Donna Summer and Hot Chocolate. Some shows are themed – the Space Travel one is a fantastic listen – while others just freewheel through the man’s rather fine record collection. Eric’s got an excellent, understated presentation style, and some hilariously dead pan stories about on stage power cuts and appalling promoters, along with a wide range of bizarre spoken word antique radio jingles and ‘How to set up your stereogramme’ records which are judiciously sprinkled throughout.
He would probably run a mile from any such offer, but this is really what a station like 6Music should be doing, providing a platform for a truly original and talented voice. But they’d rather have George Lamb and Craig Charles. It really does make you weep.
