Kevin Ayers - Joy of a Toy LP RE

4 Men With Beards

4m229

USA 2012

painava levy 180g

levy M- 

kannet M- paksua pahvia

Kevin Ayers oli englantilainen laulaja-lauluntekijä ja Soft Machine -yhtyeen perustajajäsen. Uransa aikana hän työskenteli muun muassa Brian Eno, Syd Barrett, John Cale, Elton John, Robert Wyatt, Andy Summers, Mike Oldfield, Nico ja Ollie Halsall kanssa.

psych rock psykedeelinen rock

soft machine canterbury

Gatefold cover and 180 gram vinyl

Thanks and praise to: Robert Wyatt who played all drum tracks, except for Stop This Train and Oleh Bandong, on which Rob Tait 'did it' for a couple of tricky figures: The Soft Machine for the backing on Song for Insane Times: Mike Ratledge and Hugh Hopper individually: David Bedford for creative assistance on instrumental, voicings and their arrangement; (also for his groovy piano playing): The Session Men: Jean and Mary who had to sing in Malay - which is a fair achievement for two Scotts girls: The Engineer: Peter Mew: Sean Murphy and Ian Knight: Finally, Peter Jenner, who provided a more than valuable smile throughout, and Malcolm Jones and Roy Featherstone of EMI who said Yes.

netistä: Kevin Ayers had everything it takes to be a pop star. Drop-dead gorgeous, he was possessed of a seemingly effortless ability to compose richly melodic songs which he delivered in a delectably creamy baritone. That he never actually became a pop star can only have been because that particular ambition, or indeed ambition per se, never ranked very high on the list of priorities of this dedicated bon viveur.

Joy of a Toy, Ayers first solo album following his departure from Soft Machine in 1968, is replete with a nonchalant brilliance. It's not that Ayers isn't trying too hard, he doesn't really seem to be trying at all, just rattling off these idiosyncratic gems before getting back to the serious business of partying in Ibiza. With it's dry wit and languid air of bohemian Englishness this is the record Noel Coward would have made had he ever been introduced to the delights of mind-altering drugs. Mixing surreal wordplay with world-weary romance, Ayers was the missing link between Syd Barrett and Bryan Ferry.

The songs are firmly in the tradition of late sixties quintessentially English pop, but the soundworld, with its unusual combination of instruments (Ayers former Soft Machine colleagues are augmented by a wide variety of instruments including cello, oboe, piccolo, celeste, alto melodica, Hawaiian guitar, and even that perennial I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue favourite kazoo - but no swanee whistle, alas) is utterly unique. At times the ensemble sound like a wandering troupe of psychedelic mediaeval musicians. In addition to his pop sensibility, Ayers was also a dab hand at full tilt weirdery, and on this album the two strands of his artistic personality are seamlessly woven together, at once eminently accessible and impeccably avant-garde.

Ayers was responsible for some of the most singular music of the early seventies but he never surpassed the casual perfection of this miraculous debut. For Kevin Ayers being brilliant just came naturally.

Instruments Used: Electric Bass, String Bass, Cello, Piano, Celeste, Drums, Tambourine, Organ, Alto Melodica, Spanish Guitar, Hawaiian Guitar, Italian Guitar, Electric Guitar, Electronics, Trombone, Flute, Piccolo, Recorder, Oboe, Mouth Organ, Kazoo