Kevin Ayers
Kevin Ayers |
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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 and worked with Brian Eno, Syd Barrett, John Cale, Elton John, Robert Wyatt, Andy Summers, Mike Oldfield, Nico, Ollie Halsall and many others. 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.
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 new Harvest label, along with Pink Floyd's releases. Joy of a Toy established Ayers as a unique talent 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.
One interesting product of the sessions was the single, "Religious Experience (Singing a Song in the Morning)", early recordings of which featured Ayers' close friend Syd Barrett on guitar and backing vocals. 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. However the 2004 CD reissue of Joy of a Toy includes a mix of this song featuring Barrett's guitar as a bonus track.
A second album, Shooting at the Moon, soon followed. For this, Ayers assembled a band that he called The Whole World, including 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.
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, which is regarded as one of his best, featuring the meliflluous eight-minute title track that became Ayers' signature sound.
1974 was a watershed year for Ayers. In addition to releasing his most compelling music in this year, he was helped provide 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, brought Lady June's spoken word poetry together with the music and voice of Ayers, and also had contributions by Brian Eno and Pip Pyle. It was originally released on Ayers' own Banana Productions label (via Virgin/Caroline).
The Confessions of Dr. Dream and Other Stories marked Ayers’ move to the more commercial Island record label and is considered by many to be the most cohesive example of Ayersian philosophy. The production was expensive with Ayers quoting the recording costs in a 1974 NME interview as exceeding £32,000 (a vast figure at the time). On this LP Mike Oldfield returned to the fold and guitarist Ollie Halsall from progressive rock band Patto began a twenty-year partnership with Ayers.
On the 1 June 1974, Ayers headlined a heavily publicised concert accompanied by John Cale, Nico, Brian Eno and Mike Oldfield. Tensions were somewhat fraught at the event since the night before John Cale had caught Ayers sleeping with his wife, prompting Cale to write the bile-soaked paean 'Guts' that would appear on his 1975 album Slow Dazzle. The performace was released by Island Records just a few weeks later on a live LP entitled June 1, 1974.
In 1976 Ayers returned to his original label Harvest and released Yes We Have No Mañanas (So Get Your Mañanas Today). The album was a much more commercial affair and secured Ayers a new American contract with ABC Records. The LP featured contributions from B.J. Cole and Zoot Money. That same year Harvest released a collection entitled Odd Ditties, that assembled a colourful and lively group of songs that Ayers had consigned to single B-Sides or left unreleased.
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 chemical addictions. 1983’s Diamond Jack and the Queen of Pain was, perhaps, a low-point for Ayers. He was quoted in a 2007 BBC radio interview as saying he had "virtually no recollection of making those records". The road back was marked with 1988’s prophetically titled Falling Up, that received his first unanimously positive press notices in years, although his absconding with label boss Richard Branson's wife did little to help the promotion of the LP.
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 by a drugs overdose of his musical partner Ollie Halsall. An acoustic album Still Life with Guitar recorded with Fairground Attraction surfaced in France on the FNAC label and subsequently throughout Europe. 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 after 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 friends and peers 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.
Kevin Ayers Album Discography
| Album Cover | Title | Label | Date of Release |
|---|---|---|---|
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The Soft Machine | ABC/Probe | Dec 1968 |
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Joy of a Toy | Harvest | Nov 1969 |
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Shooting at the Moon | Harvest | Oct 1970 |
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Whatevershebringswesing | Harvest | Nov 1971 |
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Bananamour | Harvest | May 1973 |
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Lady June's Linguistic Leprosy (with Lady June and Eno) | Caroline/Virgin | 1974 |
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The Confessions of Dr. Dream and Other Stories | Island | May 1974 |
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June 1, 1974 (with Nico, John Cale and Brian Eno) | Island | 1974 |
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Sweet Deceiver | Island | Mar 1975 |
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Yes We Have No Mañanas (So Get Your Mañanas Today) | Harvest | Jun 1976 |
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Rainbow Takeaway | Harvest | Apr 1978 |
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That's What You Get Babe | Harvest | Feb 1980 |
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Diamond Jack and the Queen of Pain | Charly | Jun 1983 |
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Deia...Vu | Blau | 1984 |
| As Close As You Think | Illuminated | Jun 1986 | |
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Falling Up | Virgin | Feb 1988 |
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Still Life with Guitar | FNAC | 1992 |
| The Unfairground | LO-MAX | Sep 2007 |
Kevin Ayers Single Discography
| Single Cover | Title | Label | Date of Release |
|---|---|---|---|
| Singing A Song In The Morning / Eleanor’s Cake (Which Ate Her) | Harvest | Apr 1970 | |
| Butterfly Dance / Puis-Je? | Harvest | Oct 1970 | |
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Stranger In Blue Suede Shoes / Stars | Harvest | Aug 1971 |
| Oh! Wot A Dream / Connie On A Rubber Band | Harvest | Nov 1972 | |
| Don’t Let It Get You Down / Oh! Wot A Dream | Harvest (FR) | Nov 1972 | |
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Caribbean Moon / Take Me To Tahiti | Harvest | Apr 1973 |
| The Up Song / Everybody’s Sometime and Some People’s All The Time Blues | Island | Feb 1974 | |
| Day by Day / The Up Song | Island (NL) | 1974 | |
| After The Show / Thank You Very Much | Island | Jul 1974 | |
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Falling In Love Again / Everyone Knows The Song | Island | Feb 1976 |
| Stranger In Blue Suede Shoes / Fake Mexican Tourist Blues | Island | Feb 1976 | |
| Star / The Owl | Harvest | Apr 1977 | |
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Money Money Money / Stranger In Blue Suede Shoes | Harvest | 1980 |
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Animals / Don’t Fall In Love with Me | Columbia (ES) | 1980 |
| My Speeding Heart / Champagne and Valium | Charly | 1983 | |
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Who’s Still Crazy / My Speeding Heart | WEA (ES) | 1983 |
| Stepping Out | Illuminated | 1986 | |
| Am I Really Marcel? / That’s What We Did | Accidentales (ES) | 1988 | |
| The Best We Have / Saturday Night in Deià | Accidentales (ES) | 1988 | |
| Thank You Very Much / There Goes Johnny / Don’t Blame Them | FNAC | 1992 |
Compilations & Live Recordings
- Odd Ditties (Harvest 1976) (a collection of rarities and unreleased tracks)
- The Kevin Ayers Collection (SFM 1983)
- Banana Productions: The Best of Kevin Ayers (EMI 1989)
- BBC Live in Concert (Windsong 1992)
- Document Series Presents Kevin Ayers (Connoisseur Collection 1992)
- 1969-80 (Alex 1995)
- First Show in the Appearance Business: The BBC Sessions 1973-1976 (Strange Fruit 1996)
- The Garden of Love with Mike Oldfield and Robert Wyatt (Voiceprint 1997)
- Singing the Bruise: The BBC Sessions, 1970-1972 [live] (Strange Fruit 1998)
- Too Old to Die Young: BBC Live 1972-1976 (Hux 1998)
- Banana Follies (Hux 1998)
- The Best of Kevin Ayers (EMI 2000)
- Alive In California (Box-O-Plenty Records, November 2004)
- BBC Sessions 1970-1976 (Hux 2005)
External links
- Kevin Ayers (his own site)
- 1998 Kevin Ayers interview at Perfect Sound Forever (online music magazine)
- "Why are we sleeping" (fansite)
- Kevin's daughter Galen's band 'SISKIN' website
- The Wire's 100 Records That Set the World on Fire (When No One Was Listening) (Waybacked)