E207: Val Mabbs on Record Mirror + Jimi Hendrix + Walker Bros. + Ozzy R.I.P.

For this episode we're joined by the excellent Val Mabbs, who talks to us about writing for Record Mirror in the late '60s and early '70s. We start with our guest's early life as a mod in Hertfordshire – and her memories of seeing the Who/the High Numbers in 1964/5. Val then explains how she got her foot in the door at the Mirror and recalls colleagues such as Norman Jopling, Charlie Gillett and Lon Goddard, not forgetting Peter Jones, the editor who first spotted her potential as an interviewer. Val talks us through her encounters with such legends as Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon and Marc Bolan (not to mention Status Quo, for whose double-denim "outfits" she can take indirect credit). En passant we hear clips from Chris Welch's 2005 audio interview with John Walker, surely the handsomest of the three Walker "Brothers" he first met in 1965. After Barney gives a nod to the week's free feature about Bob Dylan "going electric" at 1965's Newport Folk Festival, Val resumes her story and brings us up to the present day. We also pay tribute to the late Ozzy Osbourne and discuss the real origins of heavy metal. Finally, Mark and Jasper talk us out with remarks on newly-added library pieces about Graham Nash (1967), Lady Gaga (2012) and Billie Eilish (2019). Many thanks to special guest Val Mabbs. Pieces discussed: Jimi Hendrix: "Western Movie For Jimi" Says The Man Himself, T. Rex: Marc's science fiction film, John and Yoko: The Apple and the Grapefruit, The Walker Brothers' John Walker audio, Al Kooper: The On the Tracks Interview, How Bob Dylan And The Holy Trinity Changed Music Forever, Scene of the Crime: Bob Dylan at Newport, Elijah Wald: Dylan Goes Electric! Newport, Seeger, Dylan and the Night That Split the '60s, Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne: How Black Was My Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne: Lord of the Wings, The Hollies: The change in Graham, Lady Gaga: The most extraordinary popstar Mark Ellen has ever met and Billie Eilish at Reading Festival.

You can listen to E207: Val Mabbs on Record Mirror + Jimi Hendrix + Walker Bros. + Ozzy R.I.P. online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

E207: Val Mabbs on Record Mirror + Jimi Hendrix + Walker Bros. + Ozzy R.I.P. is an episode from Rock's Backpages by Rock's Backpages.

This episode is 84:32 long.

This episode was published on Jul 29, 2025.

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