Kevin Ayers

[SteveDave]

It amazes me how a man with such a posh voice could be called Kevin.

I've been rinsing his albums for the past few weeks now and I can not get enough of him. I especially love the mental BBC sessions included as bonus songs that have got the rest of the Soft Machine dicking around on. Like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcEyb1OJELI

(That might not be the same one I've been listening to all day...does someone dedicate the song "To my mother, wherever he is"? I can't see YouTube in work)

"Singing A Song In The Morning" is almost the perfect pop song.

I'm currently listening to "Sweet Deceiver" and gazing at his lovely face.

My friend put a gig on by him in Cardiff in the early 2000s and she said he was lovely. Which is nice. 

[PlanktonSideburns]

Much time for his strange toffy almost hollow voice

[the science eel]

A wasted talent. An underachiever.

I love the first SM album, and whatevershebringswesing. And maybe one or two other songs. But he never aims to do anything other than please himself, subtly.

Fucking stoners, honestly.

[BlodwynPig]

I saw him play Renfrew Ferry in Glasgow and was bored to tears, sadly. I enjoy his collaborative efforts a lot more.

[Deyv]

whatevershebringswesing is great, yeah, but Joy of a Toy is also a delight. From the opening title track to All This Crazy Gift of Time. Love it.

I read what was apparently the last interview he gave and it was a bit sad, so I stuck on Stranger in Blue Suede Shoes. Wonderful stuff.

[ASFTSN]

banana

[Sin Agog]

If he'd done a whole album of songs from the bottom of a well, it would surely have been one of my favourites of all time.

[Bennett Brauer]

His father devised the Old Grey Whistle Test, and he got all Pepé Le Pew¹ with an uncomfortable Kate Mossman when she interviewed him in France for Word Magazine. Take that to your dinner party.

Haven't listened to him in ages, but this thread means I will soon.

  _{1.  I don't mean he shat himself - although seeing as he drank two bottles of wine before driving her back to his house at lunchtime and pouring himself a pint of Pernod, who knows?}

[Pauline Walnuts]

He never made an album called Pubic Ayres.

A waste.

[holyzombiejesus]

I got one of his albums because Gorkys said it was the best album ever made. It wasn't. I like that live thing with John Cale and Nico though. Bye!

[SteveDave]

I got one of his albums because Gorkys said it was the best album ever made. It wasn't. I like that live thing with John Cale and Nico though. Bye!

What one did they think that about?

Fun fact, Kevin Ayers is the "bugger in the short sleeves" who "fucked his wife, did it quick then split" from the song "Guts" by John Cale. Cale found this out on the 31st of May 1974, the night before that live album was recorded.

[rasta-spouse]

Fan of the Shooting the Moon album. But really dig Wyatt, or Soft Machine even more.

[Sin Agog]

Fan of the Shooting the Moon album. But really dig Wyatt, or Soft Machine even more.

"The bugger in the long sleeves fell out of a window."

[Sin Agog]

Always thought this Ayers-led b-side to the Soft Machine's first single was a great bit of basso weirdness: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QBPW73o4Wjc

[SteveDave]

It's good to see that Kev wasn't immune to doing awful reggae like every other white rock star in the 70s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-C2Ar4gpi8

Sweet Jesus, that's awful. Fake Mexican Tourist Blues is only slightly better:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTXRJs7wJEE

Mostly for not being a reggae song.

[the science eel]

Always thought this Ayers-led b-side to the Soft Machine's first single was a great bit of basso weirdness: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QBPW73o4Wjc

sooooo great!

[Pauline Walnuts]

What one did they think that about?

Fun fact, Kevin Ayers is the "bugger in the short sleeves" who "fucked his wife, did it quick then split" from the song "Guts" by John Cale. Cale found this out on the 31st of May 1974, the night before that live album was recorded.

Cale or Kevin's wife? And did he bugger her?

[SteveDave]

Cale or Kevin's wife? And did he bugger her?

Kevin did Cale's wife. No info about buggering. Probably. The posh are devils.