Kevin Ayers C/D - RIP Feb. 20th, 2013

Kevin's ashes were laid to rest in Deya last weekend, on what would have been his 69th birthday. He was placed next to Ollie Halsall, in a ceremony led by his daughters Galen and Rachel (video link), and followed by a concert at a local bar. Bridget St John sang "May I", Mike Oldfield linked up via Skype, and Bob Geldof was in attendance.

Bridget St John sang "May I",

;_;

He was placed next to Ollie Halsall

;_;

Listening to the "Songs For Insane Times" box. Disc 3 does a great job cherry picking from the inconsistent later albums and the live show is a treat.

And, yes, his voice is a cozy warm blanket.

Andy Williams. An exploding piano. And Kevin Ayers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ix-Jrni28uY

I liked his Soft Machine contributions, but don't think I played his side of June 1, 1974 very much, still need to check several of his albums---did end up liking The Unfairground well enough to unsuccessfully pitch it to Whiney at the late and sometimes great Paper Thin Walls (where we based coverage around a posted advance track:

Kevin Ayers, “Unfairground”
From The Unfairground (Gigantic)
vintage violets //Out Now

Aye, ‘tis the almost-title track (“The” dropped to make the protest more emphatic?)
from Kevin Ayers' first album since 1992's Still Life With Guitar, a title that would be all too appropriate for several tracks in this set, despite the all-star accompaniment (Hugh
Hopper, Phil Manzanera, Architecture In Helsinki, Euro Childs, many
more). At first he confines himself to a gruff petulance, and the
backup's deferential, not to mention genteel and drippy (despite my
loving some of the guests' own albums). But "Wide Awake" pulls him into the
music, of his writing and the ensemble, "and when I'm dancing and
singing along, it doesn't matter if it's right, doesn't matter if it's
wrong," which suits both his stoical and hedonistic tendencies
(his own press kit mentions---well, never mind 'til edit).The song ends with a jolt.
But he's still awake, and has a "Brainstorm": "So you shout, so you scream,
'Give me back my dream,' but if it's lost if it's gone, I won't keep hanging
on, so the storm, can blow me away," with cracking loose-wire guitar
after that, waiting for him, although not quite
dangerous-enough-seeming for the context, to my taste, anyway. But
then "Unfairground" finds him lured back into the sporting life, prowling the
galleries, seeking a prize, 'til the carnival music slides him back
into the country daylight, another sucker observing "birds in singing
in a cage. You understand you lost one. You step outside your
rage"(yeah, because we get a jolting, loping beat on this song, a
shrug, an elbow, a number of turns, also with guitar strum and
bouncing bass bow for a while, and he's past the aforementioned
petulance) "But what's left to believe in. The children in the lake? I
didn't see them go under. Let's try, another take." Told you there
were some jolts and turns! Not that he's that far from the tunnel of
love or his beloved (bottle) or "you", whom he's murmuring all this to,
the old terseness serving him well for the moment(in balance with imagery and
stealthy progress). If we didn't get to use this song, those others
would be okay, and I could still talk about this 'un (oh yeah, and in the
last one, "Run Run Run", he seems to be married again, and handling it
okay, face-to-face-wise; some good terse vitality here too).

His part of June 1, 1974 is awful, please don't judge him by that.
Spurred on by the talk of brass in pop songs, I was listening to Whatevershebringswesing today, still astounding from start to finish.

It's not awful.

Shooting at the Moon is so good, maybe the perfect Harvest LP (actually maybe that’s 3EB but anyway)

Has anyone read anything good about the recording of this album?

I couldn't call any record perfect that wastes eight minutes on "Pisser Dans un Violon", but otherwise it's great! (Never heard Third Ear Band, my favourite record on Harvest might be... Drastic Plastic?)
There's only a few paragraphs on the recording of the record in the liner notes to the 2003 CD. I bet there's some information in Mike Oldfield's memoir, he held Ayers in high regard as a mentor.

ha for some reason i really like the self-indulgent farting about on this album - for reasons I don’t understand it feels like it flows really nicely between the songs and the “experimentation” and (for me) it all works as a coherent listen

thanks for the Mike Oldfield lead, good idea, i will keep an eye out for that one

I’d be over the bananamoon if someone did an Ayers bio.

https://www.charlesmarlow.com/blog/2017/02/14/kevin-ayers-and-deia-all-that-crazy-gift-of-time/

Good stuff.

Keep thinking about this one Robert Sheckley novel about Ibiza, SOMA BLUES, which really stayed with me.

I love the idea that Kevin lacked ambition. It makes him appear far cooler than today’s nakedly thrusting rock and rollers. But I don’t believe it’s true. I would say it was more the case that Kevin lacked direction. Or perhaps that there were no route maps for his generation of musicians.

This was a weird detail:

‘He actually first came in 1964,’ one person told me, ‘because Robert Wyatt’s mum Honore used to come to Deia.’

I really fucking love Kevin Ayers but there was a massive drop in quality around 1974/1975 which he never seemed to return from, and June 1, 1974 is far from the peak Ayers referred to in the article.

(but this is nitpicking, it was a lovely bit of writing and wonderful to hear the locals' stories)

Otm on all counts.

To me, Kevin often sounds like a vair British

xxxpost Over on the Wyatt thread, somebody mentioned that young Robert came there with his Mom, so maybe they brought Ayers, or told him about it.
xxxxxpost Though Ayers did make objets d'art, while Swann's only art was his life, as depicted by Proust (Ayers did some life-art too, apparently).

Robert Graves was a family friend of the Wyatt/Ellidge's. "Vair" is an attempt to at transcribing a peculiarly upper class English version of "very".

"I was very very drunk..."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Cwyq3XWeHE

The bugger in the short sleeves visited my mum.

Also---Thomas Pynchon to thread! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vair

^Also a disciple of Robert Graves, to some extent apparently.

Also also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vair_(disambiguation) (V. was becoming a remarkably scattered concept..." but think most of this relates, one way or another? Some of TP's characters no doubt think so too.)

aw that Deia article is really sweet, thanks

Yeah, really enjoyed reading that. I spent a nice 20 mins wandering around it on Google Maps too.

The Robert Wyatt bio makes no mention of his mum, Honor, going to Deia, just Robert and then the rest of the Softs going to visit family friend Robert Graves.

that video upthread has me wanting to listen to "Why Bother?" by Peter Cook and Chris Morris again

"Vair" is an attempt to at transcribing a peculiarly upper class English version of "very".

very effectively used by cartoonist John Allison in his Tackleverse comics (/derail)

I thought it might be some reference to Heathers U.K.

TIL the meaning of "vair" thx all

Vair
The moment I met you
I swear

Let’s see if this works:
https://scontent-lga3-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.18169-9/1016999_620689121285602_1671609400_n.jpg?stp=cp0_dst-jpg_e15_fr_q65&_nc_cat=101&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=e007fa&_nc_ohc=2MAtvK5xFdIAX8F6ffn&_nc_ht=scontent-lga3-2.xx&oh=00_AfCziAvPoGE6s2AuRq5cQANkQSD8hgFjlk58PBQ5emN5Ww&oe=643F1197

That’s seems to be a photo of Ayers’s daughter(s) with some musicians that also played with John Cale and Ollie Halsall at Kevin Ayer’s memorial, including Ollie’s ex.

https://www.facebook.com/GalenAyersMusic/photos/a.620688967952284/620689121285602/?type=3

Meh, I got it right once but I kind of knew I’d put at least one apostrophe on the wrong side of the “s.”

Reposting the Andy Summers Ollie Halsall guitar duel from the Patto thread. Hadn’t even realized that was Kevin in the middle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJIDNkha_M4

^ love the cars interpolation!

amazing revive all around.

speaking of vair british accents:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPyUr_TkT74

he has a lovely voice, of course, one of my very favorites! shame he didn't seem to think much of it

Clemenza's news about an Ayers box nice-priced on Amazon has led me back to other good stuff on this thread I'd forgotten: Kevin Ayers - The First Four LPS - Whatevershebringswepoll

Good conversations here w new albumists Paul and Galen (who have released an advance track of "Lonely Town," following those of Dylan and MacCartney, according to James Blechh, and I recently heard the good 2022 version by Richie Furay), and also

Aside from this collaboration, what else do you have planned?

GA: February was the 10th anniversary of Kevin’s passing and I manage his catalogue, so I’ve joined up with Cherry Red to re-release Joy Of A Toy [Ayers’ 1969 solo debut] on vinyl. That’s happening in August and we’re super-excited about it. We’re also re-releasing Falling Up [1988] and there’s a box set coming too.

Aptly enough Keven Ayers left Soft Machine because the music was getting too complex.

all fine and good, but it's long overdue for a vinyl reissue of The Unfairground.