This is an album I knew from the mid/late seventies, and already had on CD, when I was tempted to buy the 5CD collection of early Kevin Ayers' albums - this version, a 2003 CD reissue, has a few bonus tracks, not on the original.
It was his 4th solo album, and Ayers was by now well settled in the lifestyle of making an album, playing a few gigs, then retreating to somewhere sunny with the proceeds to enjoy fine wines, fine women and write an occasional song if his more favoured activities allowed time. And like most Ayers albums, it's a bit of a mixed bag. Opening song Don't Let It Get You Down is a characteristically upbeat message from Ayers, only spoiled for me by the backing vocal chorus, which grates, but it's followed by the fantastic Shouting In A Bucket Blues, an Ayers classic, enhanced by the guitar skills of guest Steve Hillage. When Your Parents Go To Sleep is a big bluesy number sung by bassist Archie Legget, probably requiring more of a growl than Ayers could manage, and it's a decent enough song, without over-exciting. Interview is a very subdued song, with a lovely noodling middle section over a repetitive theme, and it runs into a short choral section, International Anthem.
The second half opens with Ayers' tribute to Nico, Decadence, lyrics floating over a repeated four note guitar theme, and he follows it with another tribute, Oh! Wot A Dream, his song about his friend Syd Barrett, written in Syd's style, and absolutely enchanting - for me the highpoint of the album. Duck, comb, ding, ding.
Hymn follows, much gentler, and less interesting, still pleasant, and the final song is Beware Of The Dog, a throwaway short one verse, almost one-liner piece preceded by a brass intro which takes up two thirds of the track. But a cute little finale.
On this CD reissue, there's a couple of bonuses - the B side of the not a hit single, Oh! Wot A Dream, the reggae Connie On A Rubber Band - a bit twee, but enough Ayers eccentricity to carry it off, despite the 1960's backing vocals which irritate me so much; then an early mix of Decadence, only marginally different from the album version, then the two sides of the attempt at a hit single (not a hit), B side Take Me To Tahiti, a straight pop rock song, and A side, the over-atmospheric Caribbean Moon, an ill-advised cod Jamaican vocal.
This is probably one of Ayers' more accessible albums, without becoming bland (I once owned his 1975 album, Sweet Deceiver. Dear reader, give it an almighty swerve), and it contains enough moments of genius to make it great.
4* - some of Kevin's finest moments here
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