What a beautiful song...so many unexpected changes- that work well. Discovered Kevin Ayers about a year ago after becoming a huge early Soft Machine fan. Great song writer, RIP
I saw these guys playing at the Astoria in 1975 supported by the loudest band i've ever heard...... fastbuck I think they were called. They made my ears bleed... orrible. Kevin was a one off. It was the last few shows with Andy Summers when he was a hippy. I'd seen him playing with Kevin Coyne and the Zoot Money big roll band too. The next time I saw him was in 1977 at Salisbury City Hall when he had turned into a short haired blond policeman secretly playing chords with added 9ths and 12ths.. that was never ever going to cut it with the real punks so they had to escape to America until clever chords! became acceptable again.... Ayers.... An eclectic bag of eccentric songs. I remember May I & Stranger in blue suede shoes were stand outs and some other songs mainly about bananas. A bit mad but a memorable talent & that is some mighty accordion playing..
My favorite drunk British pop singer w/ French overtones. Love seeing Lol Coxhill pay in a crimson bathrobe! Anyone notice there's pre Tubular Bells Mike Oldfield on bass? It's all just such a pleasure on every front.
I suddenly feel very sentimental and very English ( which I am) listening to this .Why did they have such thick hair in the 70' s ,was it all the chlorine the water board went bananas with pumping it into English drinking water? ..lol. I always thought Kevin Ayers looked bloody fantastic ,same with Nick Drake there was no mistaking where they where from before they even opened their mouths to sing.. That clarinet player is wearing a fruity little number isn't he..sort of Flash Gordon meets Hugh Hefner in one dressing gown ..the joys of LSD 🌞
Wonderful. Saw him several times from 1972 in Edinburgh and latterly 2006ish in Sheffield backed by a devoted young Belgian backing band. By the way that is the Genius composer David Bedford in crutches following a mishap. BIG G....Glory,Glory to the Hibees
bruce , kevin was properly celebrated by a lot of people and his wonderful daughter galen but absoultely agree a fantastic voice and person ignored for so too long every song gorgeous
....any other Kevin Ayers people out there who are also bead people, and notice the necklace of large elbow shape millifiore beads he's wearing?.........pretty cool....in addition to a great song......
WOW! That was great! I love the French version too. I just bought the CD re-masters of his early LPs. Kevin along with Peter Hammill are my fave singers, they both have such unique voices. Anyone else notice the resemblance between the young Kevin and the young Helen Mirren?!
Me too my friend ..a ' muse' to sit there and let me paint him/ her ..they would have to be able to make a great greed of tea & play guitar for mention mind ;) lol
Oh for sure ! Finest China tea cups full of psilocybin mushroom tea and fine English sultana & Moroccan hash scones ( my recipe :) with cream & jam to wash it down with ;) lol
@@sophiew1967 [22 April 2022] I hope that you weren't making fun of Ayers with the above comment. Truth be told, I think a psychedelic mad tea party with Kevin Ayers and all his grooviest musician friends would be really a lot of fun.
[13 July 2021]Kevin Ayers: "🎶💕Il etait un homme fatale💕🎶..." I once read something in a magazine where someone called Kevin "a Home Counties Lou Reed", but to me, that doesn't come nearly close enough to describing what Ayers really was. If he was anything (besides his sui generis self) he was not the English equivalent of Lou Reed, but (if such a thing can be) the male equivalent of Nico (hence the line above, about him being "un homme fatale"; you know, as opposed to a femme fatale). R.I.P. P.S: The clip above, of Ayers performing "May I", must count as one of the most heart-melting visions ever captured on *THE OLD GREY WHISTLE-TEST* . He looked so good, just singing there, I can hardly believe it. I even think that, in this clip he (arguably)(vaguely) *resembles* Nico.
Fabulous all round. We all know and love Kev, and Lol, also Mike Oldfield is pretty cool on bass, but who, I say WHO!!??? is the bloke on the accordion??
It might be Mick Fincher (who drummed on “Shooting At The Moon”), though he might have left before they shot this clip (and the photo of him on the SATM cover doesn’t look like this chap). If it *is* Mick… he has apparently vanished without trace, making Mike Oldfield the only-known surviving Whole World member.
Yup: it’s Mike… it would’ve been around the time this clip was shot (1971), that he started recording the demos for “Tubular Bells” (on Ayers’ tape-recorder)
