Here’s a clip from a documentary in which the musician recalls an appearance on The Old Grey Whistle Test, followed by a rendition of “May I?” by his incredible Whole World band, which at the time featured Lol Coxhill and Mike Oldfield. My first exposure to the tune was a somewhat more raucous rendition from the legendary concert album June 1, 1974.
The obituary from Mojo is worth a read. I haven’t much to say at the moment except that Ayer’s music meant a lot to me growing up, and continues to.
Lol Coxhill and Mike Oldfield. A sentence you aren’t likely to ever read again. I was so, well jazzed by Soft Machine’s Third-and-onward vigorous prog fusion, I really paid no mind to Ayers’ initial contributions to the band for many years, one more dopey thing I’ve done. The completely demented psych-pop sensibility emanating from his tunes (and his imperturbably deep “keep calm and carry on whilst ripped on LSD” vocals) on the first album are still bracingly wild, like nothing else of its era. It gives credence to Robert Wyatt’s increasing dismay with the direction of the band as it moved quite far away from what Kev and Daev had in mind. There was a nice Invisible Jukebox in The Wire with KA not so long ago – he embraced his dotage gracefully.
So long, Mr. Ayers – & thanks.
(Lol looks like Ming the Merciless in an intergalactico-imperial bathrobe…)
Rest in Peace, Kevin. Thank you for being an honest musician and writer. And thanks for this clip, Glenn. You always were the best at finding great lyric-oriented music.
Glad that some music from Mr. Ayers was given pride of place in “Something in the Air” this year…