1970 - why are we sleeping 1970 - Clarence In Wonderland 1972 - May I ? 1972 - Oh My 1972 - why are we sleeping 1973 - Oh Wot a Dream ! 1973 - Shouting In A Bucket Blues 1975 - Lady Rachel 1976 - May I ?
This is still awfully exciting to watch and hear. Kevin Ayers seems like a good role model for young people- well read, doesn't take himself seriously, bilingual, few hang ups, and a nice line in hats.
this dandy of the 68revolution he was unique a bohemian troubador a pierot lunaire his style was a mix of pychadeia calypso free jazz space rock and chanson je taime forever monsieur banana moon
The Kevin Ayers catalog was a big part of my musical upbringing from Joy of the Toy onward. An eclectic mix of eccentric English songs almost like a musical trip through alice in wonderland with a ever so strange banana obsession!!!! I got to see him live in 1975 at the Astoria in London with Andy Summers & Zoot Money just before the punk thing kicked off & just about when Summers met Stingo & Copeland to do their pretend punk band. As a musician myself I recorded a cover version of May I for my brothers funeral as he was a big fan. Ayers songwriting was always very amusing and he even got quite poppy in his later material. He never quite broke out commercially partly, I think because he was so laid back himself. He was always surrounded by a group of very talented musicians from Oldfield, Summers, Coxhill, Bedford, Wyatt, Halsall etc. Whatevershebringswesing and Confessions of Dr Dream albums are stamped in my head from a young age. He was a one off with music full of vision and humour but possibly fuelled by the occasional substance, mainly red wine. A bit mad but a memorable talent. Too old to die young!
Saw him in a tiny club in Glasgow in this era ,1969/70, when his band had Mike Oldfield, Lol Coxhill and others. Amazing - I later travelled to London to see the Ayers Cale Nico Eno June 1st 1974 show. He should have been a big star.
Great band..KA always surrounded himself with great players Oldfields lead is brillant. The whole world band. Love the casual approach. Way to go...thankyou very much.
@@frankolsson6130 I think that both Mike Oldfield and Ollie Halsall, in their very different ways, were more idiosyncratic guitarists than Steve Hillage. Hillage, though, was a very fluent and accomplished guitarist in a blues-rock vein. I'm surprised that John Mayall never bagged him for the BluesBreakers!
Canadian Cal Bachelor doing the Hillage stuff for tv on Shouting in a Bucket Blues there. Also saw him with John Baldry's Barracuda, supporting the best Ayers gig I ever saw (one of the best gigs I ever saw full stop) at York Uni c1975.
I bought Kevin Ayers & The Whole World's Shooting At the Moon at bargain price in late 1972. I remember Mike Oldfield's lead solo hitting me like a storm on that brand new but low-quality stereo I had. And then Kevin's humourous and tender vision of a French girl in a French café (see 11:30) and that oyster and its flying fish. I instantly became addicted to this low voice and all. And still am. Same happened with Frank Zappa and Neil Young, and Daevid and so many of those heroes of my youth.
What a guy Kevin. Had the pleasure of seeing him a few times in the 70s and early 80s. His best work was, in my humble opinion, with Robert Wyatt. A role model for young people ?. Don't think John Cale would agree. Keep stum on that one, but many know the tale, can't afford the potential legal fees.
Le dandy décadent du rock psychédélique... mais un vrai génie derrière son côté "à l'aise dans ses pompes".... il a gardé ce "je ne sais quoi" de sa période crazy de Soft Machine ! et un humour décalé d'arracheur de dents... A redécouvrir !!
Sa chanson hommage à Syd Barrett est juste horrible. J'me suis dit marrant on dirait JugBand Blues.... Puis ça m'a mis mal à l'aise dans mes chaussures en plastique bleu... ça doit être moi... c'est ce que je suis... c'est ce que je vois.... Pas comme Syd ou Mac Demarco pourraient.... Une gêne allez savoir pourquoi. Et puis ses chansons ersatz du Velvet.
@@excession30 :( This is sad news to me that I wasn't aware of if it's true. I try hard to keep my artistic admiration separate from personal life and beliefs, political, religious or otherwise, but super disappointing nonetheless. I've tried to confirm this myself but haven't been able to. The only remotely political things I read about him is how happy he is not being in Britain anymore and paying the high taxes. Do you have sources to share?
@@peterfreeman6677 -- Thank's for the backup Peter. The guy's right, Ayer's was born in England. If he listened to the album's, most of them, anyway. He fell in Love with the South of France: Even the mood of his music was laid back and mellow, reflecting the S.O.F. in the 60's & early 70's. It's also in the liner notes'. You're right my friend: KEVIN AYER'S. was born in England, but bred in France. TOM
@@peterfreeman6677 I enjoyed your reply to my post, and thank you for the live performance. Did he actually play to a French Audience? Did he actually speak in the French Language? Yes, he did. Brian, you were right, 'Kevin Ayer's' might've been born in England, but his ❤ belonged in France.
Thanks so much for posting this. Happy to find it! Sounds n looks great. Wish I'd had a chance to see Kevin+ live. Had a show (promoted) in Los Angeles with John Cale and Steve Hillage. We gave them a ride from Hotel in Hollywood. That was interesting. Hillage didn't believe we knew who he was. Had to try to convince him. Even told him had Fish Out of Water. Cale thought had we yelled at him to hurry but it was a truck yelling at us for parking. Tried to convince him too. The show was just the 2 of them. Like '85 in a small club, The Music Machine in Santa Monica.
WOW ! Amazing ! I worked promoting the 90s GONG return to the states ...which meant driving for hours , eating dinner , airport pick ups...all kinds of amazing personal time spent with Daevid, Gilli , Pip, Bloomdido...Tim Blake .even got to hang with Tally for a bit ...They were such real people ...not rock stars at all . I miss my very cool friends , I thought they'd be here forever.
"Révolution doit être pour faire la vie plus simple et plus plaisirable". Not a 100% french sentence, but "plaisirable" is a charming brand new word. Adopted !
I was lucky to see him in the Gulbenkian theatre at UKC around 1974 - his first words were "get those God damn lights out of my eyes". Great concert in his home town.
@@alisoncarpenter232 Two numbers only were filmed for the TV programme "Rockenstock". The other one was "Stranger in Blue Suede Shoes". It might be out there somewhere but I haven't found it yet.
What does education have to with it? Drug addiction has isn’t picky and usually targets the best and the hypersensitive talents. It is a shame but addiction is not confined to class, intelligence or pedigree l Nick Drake?? . It’s a disease. A cancer if you will.
w e ll the music was/is marvelous. here you can notice: he Knew he needed a good guitar player, but he maybe got useless jealous. imagine kicking stuart copeland out of a nand with such relevance as the soft machine. then vontinuing the fit and walking out. soft machine waited years before getting a guitar player --
@@jorgegonzalez-larramendi5491 Please listen to the first two Soft Machine albums (again? ) and then tell me what you think of the bass sound. For me it was the best!
Stuart Copeland and Soft Machine? Huh? He was the drummer in Curved Air. I don’t think Kevin stomped out of Soft Machine, either. He continued to make music with Wyatt and Ratledge. But the original trio is the best IMHO.@@jorgegonzalez-larramendi5491
Does anyone else remember a song (I believe by Kevin and ensemble) which was played on the radio 1 several times making a minor hit during the summer of 1974 and it mentioned something about a party. I'm well into my 70s and I'd so love to hear it again if it's at all possible.
“Fake Mexican tourist blues” was very popular but was banned from the Radio due the, for that era, risky lyrics. Please get it on Spotify, it doesn’t sound at all dated 😀
memories of a long forgotten youth but as Dylan so wisely sang "Forever Young" is how I feel in my heart ,If only the physical part would think so too....Karma is such a bitch when it comes 2 having lived the fast lane for too many years, fuck ,who am I kidding .....still going strong as ever 250 mph down the fast track listening to Stomping Ground from Gallagher blazing through the speakers.Only nowadays you have them @&!*@?!! hidden cameras everywhere so the fun is over making speed on the FAHREN
@@LordMelbury1953 Between September 6th and 24th 1972 he did a series of performances at the Hampstead Theatre Club in North London, with the name of "Banana Follies". For the last one he had with him Robert Wyatt, Lol Coxhill, Didier Malherbe, George Wilson, and David Bedford. The one on the 20th was recorded for BBC's "In Concert", and the lineup then was Kevin Ayers (vocals, guitar), Archie Legget (bass). Lol Coxhill (sax), Johnny Clifford (congas). That concert is available, not as one video but as a playlist of tracks, from the Kevin Ayers RU-vid account (ru-vid.com/group/OLAK5uy_kN0a75-jzZn8a5xyL5kQyrHWsG8uZLmFE).
With that one a lot of it was like the others innit they do all that and then puff this puff that and make so much of cheese and wotnot ooh Lala others go from behind and try different ways to smoke and go like boooof hows that oh yes
That's a good question. It's a short-scale Fender of some kind, but it doesn't look like a Mustang, a Bronco, a DuoSonic or a MusicMaster. I need to research this one!
