Music from Distant Corners of the World

Before literature and film; before buddha-dharma, there was music. This passion for music was either a natal gift or simply implanted early but it has been a never-disappointing passion for all my life. My mom got me my first victrola (as it was called back then) when I was either five or six years old. But before that, I had already been regaled with stories and the music of Count Basie, Chick Webb and other Jazz greats she had known. She introduced me to the Queens of Jazz: Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughn, Dinah Washington, Nina Simone, and Ella Fitzgerald.

And she also introduced me to the greats of Country such as Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline, Charley Pride, and Faron Young. And, once I got my own victrola, I started my own exploration, beginning with the first album I bought with my allowance money: Meet The Beatles. So, when I think of those albums that had the biggest influence or impact (not necessarily the same thing, though there is an obvious overlap) there is no way I cannot place that Beatles album toward the top, though I went way beyond The Beatles, relatively early. While I did follow them till the end with Let It Be, other albums had had much greater impact on my musical taste and journey, taking me off the path of mainstream popularity. 

If I were pressed to name which album or song has had the greatest influence or impact, I think there are just a few that would be in contention. George Harrison's "Within You, Without You" from Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band may just be the single most impactful song in introducing me to Indian Classical music when I was ten years old and I totally ran with it! I mean, for a few years it was everything Indian! I read about India, I tried Indian food as soon as I was old enough to travel to "the city" on my own. While many of my friends laughed and thought Harrison's song "strange" (the laughter at the end of the track seems to point to the expected response the song would get from most listeners) I began to seek out records by Ravi Shankar, Ali Akbar Khan, Vasant Rai, Allah Rakha and others. In Freshman year of High School, as part of Social Studies, I did a presentation on Indian Classical music (this was in 1971) and my classmates snickered and laughed.

Discovering John Cage's Variations IV in 1968 was my introduction to the western avant-garde from Stockhausen to Ives, Partch, Subotnick, Glass, Wuorinen, and many more. When I was in High School, that led me to attend many concerts of NY "New Music". Finding the Velvet Underground's second and third album in the Woolworth cut-out bin when I was twelve was the single discovery that moved me out of the mainstream rock world (where I was listening to bands like Ten Years After, Led Zeppelin, and Cream) toward exploring music from people like Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart, and Love.

In 1971, this compilation of music from twenty-six albums from the Nonesuch Explorer Series, discovered in the "Various Artists" bin at E.J. Korevette's absolutely blew my mind wide open! So many "new to me" sounds! Side One opens with an excerpt from "The Ramayama Monkey Chant" (Ketjak) which sounded like nothing this fourteen-year old had ever imagined! This opener was followed by two dramatically different Gamelan pieces, evidencing the distinct traditions of Balinese and Javanese Gamelan. Still on Side One, I was introduced to Japanese shakuhachi and koto music as well as music from Kabuki and the Japanese folk tradition. 

Side Two was devoted to Indian music, and while I had already been exploring such music, I learned from this album the difference between the Hindustani and Carnatic traditions of Indian Classical music. Amongst classical pieces featuring vocalizing, the saranghi, the vina and bansuri flute, there is a wonderful piece of Indian street music from the album The Bauls of Bengal. 

Side Three presents music fro Africa and the Americas which presented my first exposure to the musical traditions of Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil, Mexico, the Bahamas, and the mother continent with a song from Rhodesia. This exposure led me to seek out other music from these and related cultures such as Cumbia, Mariachi, Calypso, Soca, and Afro Beat.

Side Four offers music from Europe beginning with an exuberant instrumental piece followed by the amazingly ethereal diaphonic vocal harmonies of Bulgarian music. A wonderful bouzoukee song from Greece follows, but as my sister had married a Greek man, I was already quite familiar with (and really loved) Greek music. The Village Music of Yugoslavia offers a song that has a female vocal that sounds like just this side of sane! I mean that as a compliment as this tune rocks! The last cut concludes this musical jounrey around the world with some fiddle tunes from Sweden.

While I don't know if this album counts the most impactful or influential album upon the development of my musical tastes, it certainly must be one of the top three or four. And if I remember correctly, it was offered at a discounted price for promotional purposes. A lifetime of discovery and joy cost me $3.00 which I am told would be about $23.00 today. But take my word for it, in 1971, a fourteen-year old kid had much greater access to $3.00 than I'd have to $23.00! Times have changed....

Wanna Buy A Bridge?

This Lp, a compilation of singles that had been released by the early Rough Trade label may be the single Lp that introduced an incredible array of creativity to a larger public. Though I had already known of many of these artists, it did turn me on to two of them that I had not. What is wonderful about this album is how cohesively it works despite its variety of musical visions.

The Lp opens with the punk anthem, "Alternative Ulster" from Stiff Little Fingers. This is a straight-on thrasher, with a strong vocal from Jake Burns, who is also responsible for some sharp lead guitar playing. This is immediately followed by what is often referred to as the "post-punk" band, Delta 5's funky and driving "Mind Your Own Business." 

It's always struck me as a bit funny how a single from 1979 (a year after "Alternative Ulster") is already evidencing a "post-punk" movement, but the dissonance and rhythmic funk bass would never have been seen in a straight-out punk song. 

Then there's the unique female led band, The Slits with "Man Next Door". The Slits and The Raincoats are two related bands that offer a truly unique vision even in the song structures they create. I am no sex essentialist, but it's always been difficult for me to image any group of boys making music like this.

Essential Logic follows with "Aerosol Burns" featuring Lora Logic's "Sax and Warbling" but warbling best describes her loopy sax playing. I love it!

These three are followed by a three-punch sequence from T.V. Personalities, Swell Maps, and The Pop Group. Hardly a show went by when I didn't spin at least one or two of these when I was dj-ing in Queens, NY.

After these two quirky songs, The Pop Group's critique of our complicity in global capitalism pulls no punches.

Mark Stewart spits the lyric:

Capitalism is the most barbaric of all religions

Department stores are our new cathedrals
Department stores are our new cathedrals
Our cars are martyrs to the cause
Our cars are martyrs to the cause

And so ends side one!

And for something quite different, side two opens with the one-hit wonder (but it's a real wondrous track) from Spizzenergi that got the dance floor heated up. "Soldier Soldier" is grounded by a throbbing bass line and some crazed keyboards, and some electronic influences, along with Spizz's vocals:

Soldier soldier - soldier!

Soldier soldier - with your polished rifle butt
Soldier soldier - thumping into my gut
Soldier soldier - I wanted to believe
Soldier soldier - so you jumped on to my feet

Soldier soldier - soldier!

Soldier soldier - you brought me to my knees
Soldier soldier - stop it! stop it! please!
Soldier soldier - with your millions of men
Soldier soldier - to march and die again!

This is followed by the Swiss all-female band Kleenex which eventually had to change their name to Lilliput due to the threat of legal action by Kimberly-Clarke who owned the name Kleenex. 

There is nothing like Cabaret Voltaire to be found on this album. Their name a homage to the birthplace of Dada. "Nag, Nag, Nag" may be their most familiar song and I remember the dark imagery of the video that went along with the song playing in dark rock venues in the East Village. 

The sistah band to The Slits, The Raincoats follow with "In Love". This is reputed to be Curt Cobain's favorite band and I have to say getting to see them at The Kitchen in Soho, NYC remains one of the highlights among the many performances I've been fortunate to have attended (and that includes The Velvet Undergound, Ornette Coleman, Glen Branca at Aluminum Nights, and the last ever performance of Thelonious Monk). 

I've already written here about Young Marble Giants whose only album remains an influential contemporary classic. Two of the members of this band went on to form Weekend, which I've written about here as producing one of the rare "perfect" albums. After the noisy creations of bands like Cabaret Voltaire and Spizzenergi, and the scratchy violin fro  Vicky Aspinall of The Raincoats, "Final Day" comes as a quiet, reflective pop tune.

Scritti Politti (which translates from the Italian as "political writing") follows with "Skank Bloc Bologna". 

Stuck around the home and they haven't a clue
Thames at Six and it isn't an answer
Now, they haven’t got a notion and they haven't got a hope
The Rockers in the town, the magnificent six
Rockers in the town with an overestimation
Now they're livin' on a notion and they're working on a hope
A Euro vision and a skank in scope

My favorite song from Scritti Politti is "Jaques Derrida" but they ended up going in a disco fashion direction that I couldn't follow.

Finally, the album closes with a cover from Robert Wyatt, whose career I had been following from when he was a founding member of Soft Machine. Wyatt has done some amazing covers from "Strange Fruit" to "Shipbuilding" but this is a loving interpretation of Nile Rodger's and Chic's "At Last I Am Free".

If you've listened along with me I hope you agree with me that this works as a cohesive document of a most fertile period in contemporary music.

Frank Christian: "Where Were You Last Night?"

 As I make my way through my vinyl after finally getting a turntable, I'm working from A to Z while also working back from Z to A, so this afternoon, I pulled Suzanne Vega's eponymous debut from 1985. This is the LP from which her 'breakout' tune, "Marlene On The Wall" comes. It didn't really chart in the US, but did become a hit in the UK and other European countries. However, it did get some solid airplay on MTV and some alternative and college radio stations, so it ended up on my turntable.

I'm writing today though because the amazing songwriter-guitarist Frank Christian appears on three of the cuts and seeing his name brought up so many memories and emotions. In the early 90s, I tended bar at the famous Ear Inn on Spring Street. It was a well-frequented bar for musicians, often they'd come in after gigs. In this way, among others, I served Laurie Anderson, Stevie Winwood, Joey Ramone, Stuffy Shmitt, Suzanne Vega, and many others. One of the regulars was Frank Christian, who would also sometimes play there at the bar, either solo or with some other locals.
 

His playing and original songs moved me deeply. And he and I became, if not friends, more than acquaintances and certainly more than a simply customer/bartender relationship. This included some heartfelt conversations over time and there were a few times we drank together. He had a low-key charm, dry wit, and could be a bit of a curmudgeon as I can be. Yet, at no time did he put on any airs. I had to learn slowly and mostly through others that he was a well-respected musician, one of those musicians loved and respected by other musicians, more than ever becoming a popularly recognized name outside the folk and blues community. 

In fact, chances are if you never heard of Frank Christian, you've heard his music. Nanci Griffith recorded his "Three Flights Up" on her Grammy winning 1992 release, Other Voices, Other Rooms. Besides his work on Suzanne Vega's LP, Christian played on dozens of LPs by people like John Gorka, Jack Hardy, The Smithereens, and Dave Van Ronk among others. 

Christian also recorded four solo LPs. In 1992, he gifted me a copy of his second album, Where Were You Last Night since he knew I loved the song after hearing him perform it at The Ear Inn. That was the year he turned 40. I stopped tending bar by 1995 and lost touch with the scene and with Frank. It was a sad day when I learned that he died from pneumonia on Christmas Eve, 2012 at the young age of 60. 

"Where Were You Last Night" captures a lonely, in my mind, rain-drenched noir atmosphere. In fact, after hearing Frank play this at the Ear, I asked him a day or two later for the name of the "noir-like song" and he immediately knew which I meant. It begins with an exquisite 1:30 second acoustic guitar intro that sounds a bit like a Spanish classical lute vibe. Then a jazz-tinged vibraphone, and soft brushed drum comes in. Frank's vocal comes in, with the cinematic image straight from a classic film noir like Sam Fuller's Underworld USA: "Cigarettes and coffee black on a rainy Tuesday morn...."  

and it continues with imagery that is as stark as the black and white of the great films noir:

Tolling bells and brief farewells
Newspapers stuck on thorns
A winding breeze 'round crippled trees
Tossing notes of light
Where were you last night?

The moonlight like a dagger shines
Through Venetian blinds
Showing yearning shadows
Starting to unwind
partly eclipsed the quiet traffic
Scars the asphalt with tatoos
And I sit and think of you

But now I only stare through windows
Scratched with veils of rain
And I see a sky bleached white
And I wonder will I ever forget the pain
That you were a lie

I remember your smile
Elastic on your face
Put me in a viscious sweat
I grasp you in the haze
And your eyes so soft and warm
You delighting in your harm

Maybe pour yourself a wee dram of bourbon or rye, dim the lights, and give this a listen:

La Varieté by Weekend

 
La Varieté: the French term for popular radio, everything that's not heavy rock; music drawing on diversity and depth. This album is a meeting of songs and improvisations....

Thus this album of sonic perfection was described by the band on the back cover of its sole album. Weekend was a Welsh band made up of Alison Statton on bass and vocals, Simon Booth on guitar, and Spike on guitar and viola. The other guest "weekenders" included Roy Dodds on drums, Dave Harwood on double bass and violin, Dawson Miller on Percussion, Larry Stabbins on some wonderful tenor and soprano sax soloing, Annie Whitehead on trombone and Phil Moxham adding bass on a few cuts.

Weekend in fact, came out of the dissolution of Young Marble Giants who also produced one contemporary classic, Colossal Youth. Young Marble Giants were Alison Statton, Phil and Stuart Moxham. That band's album, released in 1980, is a minimalist masterpiece that sounds like a "bedroom record" if you know what I mean. Intimate, simple, unadorned, and perhaps a bit dark at times.

La Varieté, on the other hand, is warm, evocative of sunny skies, warm temperatures, and gentle breezes. As described, there's a diversity here with nods to Caribbean and African rhythms akin to the floating flowing sound of someone like Sunny Ade.

When this lp came out in 1982, I was living in NYC's East Village, in a tenement walkup on the corner of First Ave and E 4th Street. My girlfriend, Pat and I, not making a lot of money, at one point were listening to tapes of music on our answering machine. The album came with a little booklet of water color drawings by Wendy Smith and some featured lyrics we would peruse while listening.

From the breezy guitar work that introduces the opening track, "The End of the Affair", this album was a perfect soundtrack to lazing around the apartment on sunny summer days, making love in the afternoon in between naps, perhaps snacking on the brie and champagne she'd bring home from her catering job at SNL. 

The soulful sax that is featured on the instrumental, "Weekend Stroll" was a song I loved to have on while driving along country highways during those times we were able to get away from the city to upstate or on one road trip to Maine. "Summerdays" paints a picture of such summer indolence:

                    Summer morning bright and hazy,
                    I lie in bed I'm feeling lazy

                    And up over the trees, high in the breeze,
                    The kestrel hovers with graceful ease.
                    Thoughts of earlier days come to me,
                    The light came flooding through the trees.

This is followed by the Calypso-tinged "Carnival Headache" with a rollicking trombone solo and then "Drumbeat For Baby." A pop tune, its lyric tinged with some ominous color:

                    Confirmed were the deepest fears
                    And through they eyes blurred with tears,
                    Was there nothing you could say,
                    All that you could do was play
                    A drumbeat for baby.

Side One ends with the Nigerian Afro Pop-like instrumental "A Life In The Day Of... Part One". And of course, Side Two opens with Part Two. Then, a turn towards a darker side of the weekend with a haunting string arrangement behind the mysterious lyric of "surreal dreams" and the reocurance of "childhood fears" leading to its concluding verse:

                    Wasting time talking to reflection
                    Don't know where to go or what to say
                    Times of change rearrange your world
                    And challenge minds with bleak destruction
                    Wasting so much time.

"Women's Eyes" picks up the tempo, and "Weekend Off" is another rousing instrumental featuring Stabbins' jazzy sax work. 

The final two songs close the album with the darker side of indolence, ennui, and nostalgia. The sun has set, and you are alone at night with a solitary dim lamp burning. "Red Planes" ends with:

                    Absent now the silent home,
                    Missing people vacancies.
                    Past dreams and wishes frozen view,
                    Fades away for calling new.

That line, "missing people vacancies" captures for me the concept of saudade described as a feeling of longing, melancholy, or nostaliga said to be characteristic of the Portuguese or Brazilian temperment. What makes it different though, from simple melancholy, is that it can be for that which has never really been. It's all about absence, whether the literal absence of a loved one or something never really possessed to begin with. 

Saudade is often associated with an understanding that one may never again encounter the object of longing. It is colored by the sweet-bitter recollection of emotions, experiences, places, or events (like the memory of lightning bugs on a summer night) that cause a sense of separation from the joyful sensations they once caused. This is an emotional feeling deeply prized in Brazil to the point that The Day of Saudade is officially celebrated on January 30th.

"Nostalgia", the cut that closes the album is pure perfection:

                    The photo on your wall
                    Is a record of the past
                    Things you had forgotten
                    Things that couldn't last,
                    Now that things are different,
                    A moment on your own brings back memories,
                    And the thought will make you crave for old friends,
                    Some of them you see sometimes
                    Some of them are dead.

And isn't that just what this post is about? What the reason I even started this blog is? Every album is a record of a life that no longer is. That tenement is an expensive condo now and the East Village way beyond my capacity to afford! My lover, a woman I had thought of as the "love of my life" is married and thankfully we are still in contact with each other after all these years! So many of those I knew then, some very intimately are either dead or lost to time. 
 
So the concluding verse that ends the album may be a piece of advice for those who get too caught up in nostalgia:

                    Don't forget the bad times
                    You swore not to forget,
                    The anger, mental violence,
                    The worries and the threats,
                    Sometimes it's nice to see people
                    Who used to be really close to you,
                    But now you've escaped from your dependence
                    Don't get another dose.

                  

Albert Ayler

The first time I heard Albert Ayler's playing, I felt exhilaration that such a sound was even possible! HUGE! Sonorous! Cutting! Penetrating! Coming up through R&B and Bebop, Ayler became a true titan of the avant-garde Free Jazz movement in the 1960s. If you've never heard his playing, before diving into his truly 'outside' music, give his performance of the classic "Summertime" a listen. All of it is there to be heard in a recognizable melody which helps one to situate themselves in the essentials of his technique: strong vibrato, some overblowing, and large leaps in timbre. 

While immersed in the culture of Free Jazz, Ayler was unique. In some ways, his music harkened back to the earliest days of New Orleans Jazz, with frequent marching band melodies (as in the blistering Bells), as well as his integration of children's songs and gospel hymns. Ayler grew up in a religious family, and spiritual concerns were always present in his music, as his titles clearly show. However, Ayler deconstructed the melody and harmony and presented his playing as a deep exploration of the actual physicality of the saxophone and the physical act of blowing a sax. His use of a thick plastic reed too brings its own physicality to the overall sound and volume!

Ayler, like Eric Dolphy, was also interested in microtonality, trying to find the sounds between the notes of any particular scale or mode. Similarly, he sought to do the same rhythmically, resisting rigid time signatures for a more breathy pulsing, which fell right in line with the approach of his drummer, the legendary Sunny Murray! Jazz historian, Ted Gioia, writes about Ayler as a "virtuoso of the coarse and anomalous" and claims that Ayler aimed to break away from the constraints of playing notes and instead to "enter into a new realm in which the saxophone created 'sound'" When I first read that, I recognized what thrilled me about Ayler's playing: I've always been more interested in music as sound -- the sound of music -- more than any other aspect, and Ayler definitely produced sounds no one else before him ever had. Of course, there were also those who only heard noise where I heard joy-infused soul music!

My first exposure to his music was through the records released by ESP-Disk Records. His trio featuring Gary Peacock on bass and Sunny Murray on drums recorded Spiritual Unity in 1964 and was released in early 1965. This album includes his signature theme, "Ghosts" which he recorded frequently over the years. "Ghosts" was one of the first pieces I learned to play on sax, though I played alto. Give a listen and you can here his emphasizing of timbre as a central aspect of his improvisation, along with melody and harmony. 

That same year, Ayler recorded an improvised soundtrack for Canadian filmmaker, Michael Snow's New York Eye And Ear Control. For this album, Ayler had Don Cherry on trumpet, John Tchicai on alto sax, and Roswell Rudd on trombone added to his band. And then later that year, Ayler, Peacock, Murray, and Cherry traveled to Scandinavia for a tour where they recorded another three albums!

The next year's Spirits Rejoice features a rousing march that explodes into some furious jamming, featuring an expanded band with his brother Donald on trumpet, Charles Tyler on alto sax, Call Cobbs on harpsichord on "Angels" and adding Henry Grimes on bass alongside Gary Peacock. 

On May Day, 1965, at Greenwich Village's Judson Hall Church, Ayler recorded a 20-minute frenetic improvisation which once again features his signature military-march influenced melody. The one-sided album that resulted from this, Bells,  features liner notes from a Downbeat review written by Dan Morgenstern writing "... there seems to be a great deal of wild humor in Ayler's music. Though often vehement, it is a celebration rather than a protest: much of it has the sheer 'bad boy' joy of making sounds."

At the urging of John Coltrane, a big fan of Ayler's music, Impulse Records signed Ayler in 1966. But even with the support of a larger and more respected label, Ayler never achieved a substantial audience. His first album was a live recording, Albert Ayler Live In Greenwich Village.  John Coltrane was in attendance, and Ayler played a song in honor of his friend, "For John Coltrane" in which Ayler played alto sax for the first time in years. 

Coltrane died in 1967 from liver cancer, and before his death he requested that Ayler perform at this funeral. Twice during his performance, it was reported that Ayler pulled the sax from his mouth. The first time was to emit a cry of anguish, and the second time a cry of joy to symbolize his friend's ascension into heaven. Ayler later reported: "John was like a visitor to this planet. He came in peace, and he left in peace; but during his time here, he kept trying to reach new levels of awareness, of peace, of spirituality. That's why I regard the music he played as spiritual music -- John's way of getting closer and closer to the Creator."

There were other albums, some of which hewed more closely to tightly written compositions, some including vocals and a glance back to his early R&B days. His last, Music Is The Healing Force Of The Universe, even features rock musicians like Henry Vestine of Canned Heat. 

Ayler went missing on November 5, 1970 and was found dead in New York City's East River on November 25, a presumed suicide. Ayler had, indeed, shown some increasing mental instability for some time before he disappeared. 

Kevin Ayers

 The British rock journalist, Nick Kent, summarized the importance of Kevin Ayers by writing: "Kevin Ayers and Syd Barrett were the two most important people in British pop music. Everything that came after came from them." And both were big influences on me, but currently I'm concentrating on those whose name begins with "A". 

Kevin Ayers grew up in Malaysia and the relaxed, unpressured tropical lifestyle led him toward an approach to life that eschewed the competitive and angst-ridden nature of so much rock culture. He was, in other words, a hedonistic slacker intellectual -- of a sort. I remember meeting him for the first time in the restroom at Mudd Club in 1980. We ended up talking about Ibiza, where he had been living. In fact, it was because of some large financial loses involving poker that led Ayers to the States to play some cash-infusion gigs. For Ayers, sunny climes, good wine and food, and beautiful women always seemed to take precedence over pursuing musical career success.

That said, he still managed to create a career of great importance and creativity, working at times with such collaborators as Brian Eno, Syd Barrett, John Cale, Elton John, Robert Wyatt, Andy Summers, Mike Oldfield, Nico, and Ollie Halsall. In his early college years, he became active in the progressive Canterbury scene when he was invited to join The Wilde Flowers, a band featuring Robert Wyatt and Hugh Hopper. That band evolved into Caravan when Ayers and Wyatt left to form Soft Machine with Mike Ratledge and Daevid Allen. Their integration of rock and jazz was a unique form of psychedelia and they would often share stages with early Pink Floyd. Their debut single, "Love Makes Sweet Music/Feellin' Reelin' Squeelin'" was released in 1967 making it one of the first British psychedelic records. (You can hear Ayers' baritone on the B-Side and Wyatt's tenor on the A-Side) In 1968, the debut album, The Soft Machine, is considered a classic of the genre.

Soft Machine toured the States, opening for The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Ayers became disillusioned with the frenetic craziness of rock touring so as soon as the tour ended he retreated to the beaches of Ibiza after selling his Fender Jazz Bass to Noel Redding. While in Ibiza, Ayers went into a song-writing binge resulting in his fist solo LP, Joy Of A Toy, an album that, along with Pink Floyd's Ummagumma were the first releases from the then newly formed Harvest Records label. Ayer's expansive creativity is evident as the LP includes circus marching music, pastoral folk tunes, some avant-garde noise, and a cut, "Oleh Oleh Bandu Bandong" based upon a Malay folk song.

Shooting At The Moon (1970) soon followed and his band, called The Whole World, introduced a teenaged Mike Oldfield on bass and guitar, and featured avant-garde composer David Bedford on keyboards and Lol Coxhill on sax. It too fascinatingly integrates pure pop pleasure (with "May I", the opener capturing the whole Ayers sunny, slacker vibe) with avant tonalities and structures. Whatevershebringswesing, his next release is regarded by many of his fans as among his very best, though for me, it's his fourth (and final LP for Harvest at this time), Bananamour that I tend to prefer, featuring a blistering sax solo in the randy "When Your Parents Go To Sleep". This one also includes Ayer's portrait of Nico, "Decadence."

Now on Island Records, Ayers released The Confessions of Dr. Dream and Other Stories, marking Ayers' move to a more commercial sound. A short country hoedown "See You Later" asks koan-like (and reflecting his on-going Pataphysical interests) "How can you see me later when don't see me now?" flows right into the rocking "Didn't Feel Lonely Till I Thought Of You". It is with this album that he began his 20-year collaborative partnership with guitar wizard, Ollie Halsall. Then, on June 1, 1974, Ayers headlined a concert in London where he invited several of his friends -- John Cale, Nico, Brian Eno, and Mike Oldfield to participate. A wonderful album came of it with Eno performing the consummate version of "Baby's On Fire" and John Cale reinvented the Elvis Presley hit, "Heartbreak Hotel" highlighting the darkness of the lyric. That said, it apparently was a tension filled affair as the night before the concert, John Cale caught Ayers in bed with his wife, which became the genesis of Cale's bitter "Guts" that opens his Slow Dazzle LP released the following year.

In 1976, Ayers returned to Harvest for Yes We Have No Mañanas (So Get Your Mañanas Today) on which Halsall turns in a truly transcendent solo in the album's closer, "Blue" (This linked version features Andy Summers, the original is unavailable on YouTube). I can remember blasting it while standing in front of my stereo speakers, preparing for a night out. Rainbow Takeaway followed in 1978 and That's What You Get Babe in 1980 which features three of my favorite pop tunes from him: "Given And Taken" (a song that celebrates the anti-romantic idealism of those who are 'warriors in love') "I'm So Tired", and the closing "Where Do The Stars End" which may be the most honest love song ever written with this great verse opening: "Floating on moonbeans, with my head on your knee/But once again babe, I'm thinking about me./And though we're feeling close, and touching too/You have to admit babe, you're thinking 'bout you." It was at this time that I met him in NYC. 

In 1983, Diamond Jack and The Queen of Pain proved to be a low point with Ayers admitting he had no recollection of making the record! 1984 found him releasing Dejà... Vu and two years later, As Close As You Think. Neither received much attention. Finally, in 1988, Falling Up received the first positive reviews in years. This was followed by an acoustic album, Still Life With Guitar, recorded with folk band, Fairground Attraction.

In the late 90s, Ayers had fallen into reclusion and writing songs described by others who got to hear them as "poignant, insightful, and honest." Through the mechanizations of friends, some recording sessions were organized here in Tucson, Arizona at Wavelab Studios. A whole new generation of musicians influenced by Ayers came together (including members of Teenage Fanclub and Trash Can Sinatras), along with old friends Robert Wyatt, Phil Manzanera, Hugh Hopper, and Bridget St John to recored what became The Unfairground, released to critical acclaim in 2007. This proved that in a just world, and one in which Ayers just tried a bit harder, would have made him a much more popularly known musician songwriter. 

The Unfairground would be his last album. Kevin Ayers died February 18, 2013, at the age of 68.

This photo was taken in April, 1980 at Hurrah's in NYC. An example of the laid-back attitude Kevin embodied, he invited a friend of mine, a vocalist, to join in on stage having never heard her sing!

Avec Pas d'Casque

I first came to know of the Montreal "folk" band, Avec pas d'casque in 2013 when I came across their third album, Dommage Que Tu Sois Pris. The very notion of a French Canadian cowboy/country band, as perhaps as absurd as it may sound, was intriguing to me. I don't speak a word of French, so I've not a clue as to what any of their songs are about, but for weeks after my return home, every evening wouldn't be complete without this cd finding its way into my player as I sat with a wee dram or two of good ole American whiskey.

The band's name literally means, "with no helmet" referring to hockey players who don't wear helmets! They started out as a duo made up of film directors Stéphane Lafleur and Joël Vaudreuil who recorded a self-produced LP in 2004. Their first "official" release was Trois Chaudières De Sang, which came out in May, 2006. On a subsequent trip to Montreal, I picked up their debut and found it a bit less cowboy and being a duo effort, a bit more sparse in sound and arrangement.

In 2008, they gained a third member, Nicolas Moussette, and released their second album, Dans La Nature Jusqu'au Cou. With the later addition of Mathieu Charbonneau, they became the quartet that has continued, releasing Astronomie in 2012, which was a Juno nominee for Francophone Album of the Year, and features the addition of some horns on a few of the songs. 

Since the release of the album that grabbed my attention in 2013, they seem to have released only one other album in 2016 entitled Effets Spèciaux. Ironically, in my opinion it's their strongest release, the most fully realized, a romantic soundtrack to an evening at home in either wistful solitude or as a sweet love-making background soundtrack.