{"id":17809,"date":"2013-02-21T23:07:09","date_gmt":"2013-02-22T04:07:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/?p=17809"},"modified":"2013-02-21T23:07:09","modified_gmt":"2013-02-22T04:07:09","slug":"how-did-kevin-ayers-fit-into-soft-machine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/how-did-kevin-ayers-fit-into-soft-machine\/","title":{"rendered":"How Did Kevin Ayers Fit Into Soft Machine?"},"content":{"rendered":"<iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/oaxPJ_V3kvE?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe>\n<p>I am by no means the Hall&#8217;s expert on <strong>Kevin Ayers<\/strong>, but since he died recently and he is of interest to a few of my favorite Townspeople, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/all-star-jam-214#comment-81946\" target=\"_blank\">relatively new<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/all-star-jam-214#comment-81936\" target=\"_blank\">old<\/a>, and since these very same folks have been chipping in their memories of enjoying the man&#8217;s music, let me open up a formal discussion for the benefit of those of you who know almost nothing about the guy and, even more so, for my own education.<\/p>\n<p>I first came across Ayers in college through 2 sources. First, there was that <em>June 1, 1974<\/em> album, which I hungrily borrowed from a friend for the chance to hear Eno, John Cale, and Nico in a band with Mike Oldfield (whose music I only knew through sneaking into my first R-rated movie, <em>The Exorcist<\/em>) and this Ayers guy, about whom I knew nothing. The album was OK, as I spun it over the next few days, trying like mad to get high enough to feel like it was great, but I returned it to my friend and never felt tempted to buy it for myself.<\/p>\n<p>Next, over the last few weeks of my freshman year, I became friends with this tall, geeky, super-underground weirdo-prog guy, John. We initially bonded over artists like Captain Beefheart, the Velvet Underground, psychedelic Beatles, and King Crimson, the last of whom I&#8217;d recently been introduced to by another friend. He took this as a sign that I may be ready for exploring the deeper hippie-prog territory he specialized in, stuff like Henry Cow, Van Der Graaf Generator, and Gong. I wasn&#8217;t thrilled about all of those underground prog bands, but it was cool to hear new stuff and try to get a handle on this proto-Thurston Moore look-alike I&#8217;d suddenly befriended.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/pU1ZZW0oyqY?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe>\n<p>One night he got excited to play me some <strong>Soft Machine<\/strong>. I knew nothing about this band but liked their name. (This was a little before I was cool enough to get the William S. Burroughs reference and before I was trying so hard to be cool that I actually read that entire book and felt, in between bong hits, like I actually liked it!) He thought I should start with a self-titled album. The die-cut cover was cool. The music was mostly horrible to my prog-insensitive ears: a lot of noodling on instruments I was not a big fan of hearing noodled. There was one song at the end, if memory serves, &#8220;Why Are We Sleeping?&#8221; I kind of liked that one, especially the set-up of the verses, with the talk-singing and the cool drumming. Then it got to the dramatic choruses and I had to laugh.<\/p>\n<iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jwc_gosvQ_A?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe>\n<p>&#8220;They&#8217;re ruining this song!&#8221; I complained. My new friend John was hurt. He took this stuff very seriously.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s corny,&#8221; I tried to explain. &#8220;Everything is cool, then they go into that corny hippie chorus. It&#8217;s like something that belongs in &#8216;Venus&#8217; or some other gimmicky AM psych song.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;But what&#8217;s wrong with &#8216;Venus&#8217;?&#8221; John asked. &#8220;That&#8217;s a great song.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It is, but this song sets itself up as if it&#8217;s going to deliver something new and possibly insightful,&#8221; I tried to explain, &#8220;then it retreats into stoned, groovy nonsense that&#8217;s better fit for the Moody Blues!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>John never got what my problem was with that song. He was fine with me having no interest in the rest of that album, but damn, I was so close to liking one of the songs a lot only to have the rug pulled out from under me. This bugged John as much as it bugged me. We moved on and continued smoking pot and pushing each other into new obscuro dreams that can be so important to explore at 18. Eventually we cracked open a Residents album I&#8217;d acquired earlier that day, <em>Third Reich &#8216;n Roll<\/em>. We laughed our asses off as we tried to decipher which garage-rock songs were being deconstructed. Toward the end of side 2, as their &#8220;Hey Jude&#8221; coda built, we looked at each other and one of us said, &#8220;Wouldn&#8217;t it be great if they went into &#8216;Sympathy for the Devil&#8217;?&#8221; Then they did! It seemed we were friends for life.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/MVdS1F4MRwQ?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe>\n<p>I only saw John one more time that spring, then he switched schools the next year. I have no idea where he went. I can&#8217;t even remember his last name, in case it was distinct enough to find on Facebook or elsewhere on the web. I&#8217;d love to high five that guy for those couple of weeks of turntable bonding.<\/p>\n<p>Anyhow, many moons later, when I finally decided to re-examine this Kevin Ayers character, I thought of John and wished he&#8217;d played me some of his solo albums. I liked that stuff a lot better. He sounded like a mix of a lighter John Cale with a touch of Syd Barrett. What the hell was he doing in Soft Machine? The solo records I heard and have since cherrypicked in the mp3 download age weren&#8217;t full of people noodling on instruments not fit for noodling. The songs had moments of levity, but nothing as unintentionally funny as the chorus on &#8220;Why Are We Sleeping?&#8221; (This is the moment when <strong>The Great 48<\/strong> reappears to smack me down for not getting that &#8220;Why Are We Sleeping?&#8221; was a humorous song in the first place.) There&#8217;s much I would like to learn about that Canterbury prog scene some day, and I regret that we no longer have <strong>tonyola<\/strong> to educate me.<\/p>\n<p>Is there an English equivalent of Key West? Sometimes Ayers&#8217; solo songs make me think of a quirky, raise-a-toast-to-life&#8217;s-ironies American artist, like Warren Zevon or, good heavens, Jimmy Buffett.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/4pp60h6KFc4?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe>\n<p>Here&#8217;s another solo performance that typifies what I think of when I think of the dozen or so Ayers songs I know well. Very &#8217;70s!<\/p>\n<iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7DPqfcN9eSY?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe>\n<p>I think we&#8217;ve posted the following 1981 live clip with frequent collaborator and lefty guitarist <strong>Ollie Halsall<\/strong> (Patto, The Rutles) and another bottle-blond guitarist you may recognize from a popular trio of the era.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rAJt5s0RIm4?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe>\n<p>Here&#8217;s an interesting solo Ayers band version of that song that&#8217;s nagged at me all these years.<\/p>\n<iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/6T9NFEyzB7o?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe>\n<p>So many of you know more about this guy than I ever will. Help me catch up on what I missed. Most importantly, help me catch up on more of your experiences with the man and his music.<\/p>\n<nav class=\"page-links\"><strong>Pages:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/how-did-kevin-ayers-fit-into-soft-machine\/\" class=\"post-page-numbers\"><span class=\"page-num\">1<\/span><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/how-did-kevin-ayers-fit-into-soft-machine\/2\/\" class=\"post-page-numbers\"><span class=\"page-num\">2<\/span><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/how-did-kevin-ayers-fit-into-soft-machine\/3\/\" class=\"post-page-numbers\"><span class=\"page-num\">3<\/span><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/how-did-kevin-ayers-fit-into-soft-machine\/4\/\" class=\"post-page-numbers\"><span class=\"page-num\">4<\/span><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/how-did-kevin-ayers-fit-into-soft-machine\/5\/\" class=\"post-page-numbers\"><span class=\"page-num\">5<\/span><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/how-did-kevin-ayers-fit-into-soft-machine\/6\/\" class=\"post-page-numbers\"><span class=\"page-num\">6<\/span><\/a><\/nav>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I am by no means the Hall&#8217;s expert on Kevin Ayers, but since he died recently and he is of interest to a few of my favorite Townspeople, relatively new and old, and since these very same folks have been chipping in their memories of enjoying the man&#8217;s music, let me open up a formal <a href='https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/how-did-kevin-ayers-fit-into-soft-machine\/' class='excerpt-more'>[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[342],"tags":[170,38,127,96],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17809"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17809\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}