Kevin Ayers - Joy Of A Toy / Shooting At The Moon / Whatevershebringswesing

Early solo efforts on import

A bohemian creative genius? Almost. Ayers never took himself seriously, a trait which filtered down into his work so much that it didn’t quite hit his supposed potential. A flower of the 60s and lover of the strange, Ayers cofounded the avant-jazz rock group, Soft Machine. In fact, 1969’s Joy Of A Toy, an excellent early prog outing, has a Soft Machine flavour. Robert Wyatt even sits in on the drums. He’s back on 1970’s Shooting…, along with Mike Oldfield and Lol Coxhill on sax. It could have been a pop classic, but the album sounds unfinished. It’s worth a listen, though, as is the classic Whatever…, from 1971. Here, Ayers got himself and his ideas together long enough to produce an album exhibiting some measure of consistency and stability in his (still leftfield) ideas. It’s a classic. Sadly, however, there’s not one single bonus track across all three.

Water/EMI | WATER 188 / WATER 189 / W

Reviewed by Paul Rigby
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