Although I was out seeing Richard Thompson on Sunday evening, I was alerted to the fact that Stuart Maconie was broadcasting a tribute to Kevin Ayers so I decided I had to give it a listen courtesy of BBC's iPlayer.
He began his tribute by playing the opening track to Ayers' 1971 album 'Whatevershebringswesing' featuring great orchestral arrangements by David Bedford. However the highlight had to be an interview with Robert Wyatt who had come out of self enforced retirement to pay his own tribute to a man who he clearly liked immensely. Humorous anecdotes were told of their initial meeting as teenagers in east Kent, of Ayers inheriting his poshness from his father and of Ayers' tips on how to choose the best Chinese restaurants. It was great stuff and recounted with great fondness.
If you have an interest in Kevin Ayers and missed the show, I highly recommend that you catch it while it is still available.
Showing posts with label Kevin Ayers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kevin Ayers. Show all posts
Tuesday, 5 March 2013
Friday, 22 February 2013
Kevin Ayers
The music world has heard of two deaths this week. First early Beatles collaborator and mentor Tony Sheridan passed away at the age of 72. Then yesterday I learnt of the death of Kevin Ayers at 68.
It seems fitting that I reproduce here, a tribute from his friend and colleague, Robert Wyatt.
'About 50 years ago, someone said to me that there was another bloke with long hair in east Kent, so I should meet him because we'd be sure to get on. I did, and we did. He wrote songs and sang in an amazingly deep voice for someone so young.
His little record collection included Astrud Gilberto and acoustic jazz guitarist Charlie Byrd. He admired Oscar Wilde and Louis McNiece. His songs were witty and touching.
He and a couple of us decided to try to form a group using just our own tunes. We called ourselves Soft Machine [with William Burroughs' permission]. We played together, in various incarnations, until the end of 68.
By that time, we'd become a mainly instrumental band, in which Kevin played bass guitar. Kevin wanted to get back to song writing, which resulted in a sequence of great records such as Joy of a Toy.
In 1970, I played in his new band, The Whole World, a few times. Playing with Kevin was like basking in sunshine. He was funny, wise and unhurried. I am very lucky to have worked with him all those years ago. Goodbye Kevin'.
I was not a great collector of the music of Kevin Ayers but I do feel that Soft Machine were never as good without him and I did own a vinyl copy of his 1974 album 'The Confessions Of Dr Dream & Other Stories'. I never got round to replacing that on CD but I must rectify that now as well as increasing my collection of his music.
Incidentally while reading through a couple of obituaries, I noticed that his father Rowan Ayers created the BBC music programme, 'The Old Grey Whistle Test'. I never knew that.
RIP Kevin
It seems fitting that I reproduce here, a tribute from his friend and colleague, Robert Wyatt.
'About 50 years ago, someone said to me that there was another bloke with long hair in east Kent, so I should meet him because we'd be sure to get on. I did, and we did. He wrote songs and sang in an amazingly deep voice for someone so young.
His little record collection included Astrud Gilberto and acoustic jazz guitarist Charlie Byrd. He admired Oscar Wilde and Louis McNiece. His songs were witty and touching.
He and a couple of us decided to try to form a group using just our own tunes. We called ourselves Soft Machine [with William Burroughs' permission]. We played together, in various incarnations, until the end of 68.
By that time, we'd become a mainly instrumental band, in which Kevin played bass guitar. Kevin wanted to get back to song writing, which resulted in a sequence of great records such as Joy of a Toy.
In 1970, I played in his new band, The Whole World, a few times. Playing with Kevin was like basking in sunshine. He was funny, wise and unhurried. I am very lucky to have worked with him all those years ago. Goodbye Kevin'.
I was not a great collector of the music of Kevin Ayers but I do feel that Soft Machine were never as good without him and I did own a vinyl copy of his 1974 album 'The Confessions Of Dr Dream & Other Stories'. I never got round to replacing that on CD but I must rectify that now as well as increasing my collection of his music.
Incidentally while reading through a couple of obituaries, I noticed that his father Rowan Ayers created the BBC music programme, 'The Old Grey Whistle Test'. I never knew that.
RIP Kevin
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