Jump to content

Kevin Ayers: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
Line 50: Line 50:


Despite the critical acclaim [[Falling Up (Kevin Ayers album)|Falling Up]] received, Kevin by this point had almost completely withdrawn from any public stage, a state of being further compounded by the sudden death of his musical partner [[Ollie Halsall]]. An acoustic album recorded with [[Fairground Attraction]] surfaced in France. Some collaborations with Ayers fanatics Ultramarine and a concert tour with Liverpool's Wizards of Twiddly completed his output in the 90's.
Despite the critical acclaim [[Falling Up (Kevin Ayers album)|Falling Up]] received, Kevin by this point had almost completely withdrawn from any public stage, a state of being further compounded by the sudden death of his musical partner [[Ollie Halsall]]. An acoustic album recorded with [[Fairground Attraction]] surfaced in France. Some collaborations with Ayers fanatics Ultramarine and a concert tour with Liverpool's Wizards of Twiddly completed his output in the 90's.

{{Peacock}}


In the late 90's Kevin was living the life of a [[recluse]] in the South of France. At a local art gallery he met and befriended American artist Tim Shepard. As recounted in an interview with BBC Radio 2 in May 2007, Shepard had studio space nearby providing a place and some company to hang out and share bottles of local wine. When asked by Shepard what he did Kevin responded vaguely with "I used to do music" and nothing more was said. Eventually Kevin started to show up with a guitar and by 2005 as the two had become close and firm friends, Ayers passed some new recordings onto Shepard, most taped on a cassette recorder at his kitchen table. The songs were by turns "poignant, insightful and honest" and Shepard "deeply moved" by what he heard started to wonder how he could let more people hear these songs.
In the late 90's Kevin was living the life of a [[recluse]] in the South of France. At a local art gallery he met and befriended American artist Tim Shepard. As recounted in an interview with BBC Radio 2 in May 2007, Shepard had studio space nearby providing a place and some company to hang out and share bottles of local wine. When asked by Shepard what he did Kevin responded vaguely with "I used to do music" and nothing more was said. Eventually Kevin started to show up with a guitar and by 2005 as the two had become close and firm friends, Ayers passed some new recordings onto Shepard, most taped on a cassette recorder at his kitchen table. The songs were by turns "poignant, insightful and honest" and Shepard "deeply moved" by what he heard started to wonder how he could let more people hear these songs.

Revision as of 18:21, 8 July 2007

Kevin Ayers

Kevin Ayers (born 16 August 1944 in Herne Bay, Kent) is an English songwriter and major influential force in the early English psychedelic movement. John Peel wrote in his autobiography that "Kevin Ayers' talent is so acute you could perform major eye surgery with it."

Ayers was a founding member of the pioneering psychedelic band Soft Machine in the late 1960s, and was closely associated with the Canterbury scene.

He has recorded a series of albums as a solo artist. Long resident in Deya, Mallorca he returned to the United Kingdom in the mid 1990s. He now lives in the south of France and is completing work on a new album recorded in New York City, Tucson, Arizona and London. In the past he worked with Mike Oldfield, Andy Summers, Ollie Halsall and many others.

Early life

Ayers is the son of BBC maverick producer Rowan Ayers, but following his parents' split and his mother's subsequent marriage to a British Civil Servant spent most of his childhood in Malaysia. The tropical atmosphere and unpressured lifestyle had an impact, and one of the frustrating and endearing aspects of Ayers' career is that every time he seemed on the point of success, he would take off for some sunny spot where good wine and food were easily found.

Ayers returned to England at the age of twelve, and in his early college years took up with the burgeoning musicians' scene in the Canterbury area. He was quickly drafted into the Wilde Flowers, a band that featured Robert Wyatt and Hugh Hopper as well as future members of Caravan. Ayers has stated in interviews that the primary reason he was asked to join was that he probably had the longest hair. However, this prompted him to start writing songs and singing.

Soft Machine

The Wilde Flowers morphed into Soft Machine with the addition of keyboardist Mike Ratledge and guitarist Daevid Allen. Ayers switched to bass (and later both guitar and bass following Allen's departure from the group), and shared vocals with the drummer Robert Wyatt. The contrast between Ayers' baritone and Wyatt's reedy tenor, plus the freewheeling mix of rock and jazz influences, made for a memorable new sound that caught on quickly in the psychedelic 1960s. The band often shared stages (particularly at the UFO Club) with Syd Barrett's Pink Floyd.

Solo career - 1969 - present

After an exhausting and extensive tour of the United States opening for Jimi Hendrix, a weary Ayers sold his white Fender Jazz bass to Noel Redding and retreated to the beaches of Ibiza in Spain with Daevid Allen to recuperate. While there, Ayers went on a songwriting binge that resulted in the songs that would make up his first album, Joy of a Toy. The album was one of the first released on the fledgling Harvest label, along with Pink Floyd's releases. Joy of a Toy established Ayers as a force to watch, with music that varied from the circus march of the title cut to the pastoral "Girl on a Swing" and the ominous "Oleh Oleh Bandu Bandong", based on a Malaysian folksong. Ayers' old mates from Soft Machine backed him, with the addition on some cuts of Rob Tait, sometime Gong drummer.

A second album, Shooting at the Moon, soon followed. For this, Ayers assembled a band that he called The Whole World, which featured a young Mike Oldfield on bass and occasionally lead guitar, and avant-garde composer David Bedford on keyboards. Again Ayers came up with a batch of engaging songs interspersed with avant-garde instrumentals and a heavy dose of whimsy.

One interesting product of the Shooting at the Moon sessions was the single, "Singing a Song in the Morning", early recordings of which featured participation from Syd Barrett. The lead guitar that appears on the final mix was often thought to have been played by Barrett, even appearing on various Barrett bootlegs, but Ayers has said that he played the solo, emulating Barrett's style. The 2004 CD reissue of Joy of a Toy includes a mix of this song featuring Barrett's guitar as a bonus track.

The Whole World was reportedly an erratic band live, and Ayers was not cut out for life on the road touring. The band broke up after a short tour, with no hard feelings, as most of the musicians guested on Ayers' next album, Whatevershebringswesing, regarded as one of his best.

On the 1 June 1974, he headlined in a concert that was later released as a live album and became known under the acronym ACNE. The line-up of the concert was Kevin Ayers, John Cale, Nico and Brian Eno. Mike Oldfield, by then having found fame with a string of solo recordings starting with Tubular Bells, played as well.

1974 was a watershed year for Ayers. In addition to releasing his most compelling music in this year, he was also instrumental in providing other artists with access to a wider stage, most notably Lady June (June Campbell Cramer). The recording, titled Lady June's Linguistic Leprosy, made in a front room of Cramer's home in Vale Court, Maida Vale, was a collaboration that brought Lady June's spoken word poetry together with the music and voice of Ayers, and also featured contributions by Brian Eno and Pip Pyle. Originally released on Ayers' own Banana Productions label (Virgin/Caroline C1509), it was reissued on compact disc in 1992. A most memorable track closes the album. Titled Touch-Downer it can best be described as the kind of answering-machine message that June might have left friends to announce her return to London Town after a long visit to Canterbury. The entire recording project and subsequent album release was underwritten by Ayers.

1974’s The Confessions of Dr. Dream and Other Stories is the most cohesive example of Ayersian philosophy – that moonlit netherworld between sleeping and wakefulness where tears and laughter unite within a single continuum. The album marked Ayers’ move to the more commercially-oriented Island record label – the production was expensive (£32,000) and the quality shows. Mike Oldfield returns from earlier days and the sublime Ollie Halsall makes his debut in a pact of brotherhood that would see him stand at Ayers side for the next 20 years. Tracks like ‘Didn’t Feel Lonely’, ‘Everybody’s Sometime Blues’ and the re-titled ‘Why Are We Sleeping’ are among Ayers’ most magnificent and enduring songs. The release was closely followed by the live June 1st 1974 collaboration with Nico, John Cale and Brian Eno but this record as Kevin maintains owes its reputation perhaps more to the hype that surrounded the event than to the quality and production of its contents.

In 1976 Ayers released Yes We Have No Mañanas (So Get Your Mañanas Today) - an album that could almost stand as a set of ten perfect Ayers singles. Ayers was back with Harvest for a brief Silver Age – slightly more at ease with the slower EMI air of tradition than the pace, razzamatazz and unreal expectations of Island. Opening track ‘Star’ defines Ayers’ angst – the ceaseless wheel of dilemma that places the artist beneath a spotlight whose heat will eventually consume him.

From the same year came the compilation Odd Ditties, released on Harvest’s budget Heritage label. Still widely unavailable on CD (a Japanese import exists), this is a salad of Harvest outtakes and B-sides that remains the personal and unerring favourite of many fans.

The late 70’s and 80’s saw Ayers as a self-imposed exile in warmer climes, a fugitive from changing musical fashions and a hostage to turbulent emotional circumstances. 1983’s Diamond Jack and the Queen of Pain was, perhaps, a low-point for Ayers. Indeed, losing control over his own music is still a sore point with Kevin today. The road back was marked with 1988’s prophetically titled Falling Up, a consistent and professional record with a sympathetic mix that returns Kevin’s voice to the forefront. ‘Am I Really Marcel’ bares the soul of Ayers naked.

Despite the critical acclaim Falling Up received, Kevin by this point had almost completely withdrawn from any public stage, a state of being further compounded by the sudden death of his musical partner Ollie Halsall. An acoustic album recorded with Fairground Attraction surfaced in France. Some collaborations with Ayers fanatics Ultramarine and a concert tour with Liverpool's Wizards of Twiddly completed his output in the 90's.

In the late 90's Kevin was living the life of a recluse in the South of France. At a local art gallery he met and befriended American artist Tim Shepard. As recounted in an interview with BBC Radio 2 in May 2007, Shepard had studio space nearby providing a place and some company to hang out and share bottles of local wine. When asked by Shepard what he did Kevin responded vaguely with "I used to do music" and nothing more was said. Eventually Kevin started to show up with a guitar and by 2005 as the two had become close and firm friends, Ayers passed some new recordings onto Shepard, most taped on a cassette recorder at his kitchen table. The songs were by turns "poignant, insightful and honest" and Shepard "deeply moved" by what he heard started to wonder how he could let more people hear these songs.

Hooking up with London’s LO-MAX Records, Shepard found equal enthusiasm for the demos and aafter making some tentative enquiries, discovered a hotbed of interest for Kevin’s work amongst the current generation of musicians. New York’s Ladybug Transistor set up rehearsals for a possible recording organised by bandleader Gary Olson, and Kevin flew out to New York. When the rehearsals gelled, the entourage which had now swelled to include horn and string players flew out to Tucson, Arizona where the first sessions were recorded in a dusty hanger known as Wavelab Studios.

Encouraged with the results from the first sessions, Shepard set about completing the album in the UK, where by now word had spread and a host of musicians started gravitating to planet Ayers. Shepard recounted meeting Teenage Fanclub at a Go-Betweens party and hearing their passion for Ayers’ music and wrote a letter to singer, guitarist Norman Blake. Mojo magazine (July) reported that, within a couple of weeks Ayers was in a Glasgow studio with Teenage Fanclub and a host of their like minded colleagues who had all assembled to work with their hero. Bill Wells from the Bill Wells Trio rubbed shoulders with Euros Childs from Gorkys Zygotic Mynci. Francis Reader from the Trash Can Sinatras added his voice and provided a safe house for Kevin to return to each night.

Beloved ghosts from the past also visited the sessions. Robert Wyatt provided his eerie Wyattron in the poignant ‘Cold Shoulder’, Phil Manzanera flailed his axe on the brooding ‘Brainstorm’, Hugh Hopper from Soft Machine played bass on the title track and Bridget St. John, a British Folk singer beloved of John Peel who signed her to his Dandelion Records, duetted with Kevin on ‘Baby Come Home’, the first time they had sung together since 1970 on Shooting at the Moon. The Unfairground is scheduled for release in September 2007.

Discography

Compilations & Live Recordings

  • Odd Ditties (1976) (a collection of rarities and unreleased tracks)
  • Alive In California (recorded live in Los Angeles and San Francisco in 1993, 1998 and 2000) (Box-O-Plenty Records, November 2004)


Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Kevin_Ayers&oldid=143333493"