Kevin Ayers classic debut solo album is released in a new remastered and gatefold vinyl edition.

Release date:  Available now

Label:  Esoteric Records/Cherry Red Records

Format:  Remastered Gatefold Vinyl Edition 

Joy Of A Toy was the 1969 debut album by Kevin Ayers. Kevin was one of the founders of the Canterbury scene, with his membership of the band The Wilde Flowers and then Soft Machine, which he formed with Mike Ratledge, Daevid Allen (who went on to form Gong), and Robert Wyatt.

Kevin was a wonderfully gifted songwriter, with a unique deep baritone vocal style. On Joy Of A Toy, he delivered a musically sophisticated debut album, packed with great songs and great playing, supported by an ensemble of fine musicians he had gathered together for the album. Including, Robert Wyatt on drums, Mike Ratledge on organ, and David Bedford on piano and mellotron, and the arranger for the album. 

Opening track, Joy Of A Toy Continued, references an earlier Soft Machine track of the same name. It has a joyous fairground ambiance, with brass instruments to the fore, and is a quirky introduction to the album. Town Feeling, with its woodwind passages and echoing electric guitar, has a beguiling and languid atmosphere, as Kevin contrasts the new beginnings of spring with people locked in their inner worlds. There are some absolutely lovely melodies at work in the song, played alternatively by guitar and oboe. 

The Clarietta Rag, has a ragtime essence, featuring a nice combination of Mike Ratledge’s psychedelic styled organ playing and trombone. Girl on a Swing is built around David Bedford’s delicate piano melody and harpsichord, with shimmering guitar phrases, and is like a soundscape with words. These early tracks perfectly illustrate the sympathetic and creative partnership between Kevin’s songs and David Bedford’s musical arrangements.

Song for Insane Times is a real album highlight, reuniting Kevin with the core Soft Machine band at that time, of Robert Wyatt on drums, Mike Ratledge on organ, and Hugh Hopper on bass, with the added enhancement of David Bedford’s piano. It is a very engaging expression of the Canterbury sound, with a wonderfully expressive vocal from Kevin, and a pastoral jazz-based feel to the band’s playing. Robert Wyatt’s freewheeling drumming is a particular highlight, that kept this track on repeated play. Stop This Train (Again Doing It), is another highlight, with its unrelenting rhythmic drive, reminiscent of the Velvet Underground. Over, a fabulous six minutes, we get one of Kevin’s best surrealistic lyrical creations, and an extended instrumental section with some simply stunning soloing on the organ and piano.

Eleanor’s Cake (Which Ate Her) is a gentle acoustic guitar and flute led ballad, that conveys a sense of the changing seasons and emotional moods. It is followed by one of Kevin’s most iconic songs, The Lady Rachel. It is a song like an impressionist painting, sketching with figurative musical and lyrical strokes, a dream like sense of atmosphere and mood. In many ways it is possible to see the origins of dream pop in this wonderful song and performance.

Oleh Oleh Bandu Bandong is an hypnotic and rhythmic, voices led, musical chant. In a striking final section, a subtly flowing piano solo, leads into a psychedelic melee of crashing instruments. The final track, All this Crazy Gift of Time, features just Kevin and his acoustic guitar and harmonica, and provides a characteristically wistful and reflective conclusion to the album.

Joy Of A Toy was a truly great debut solo album, fully representing the creative talents and potential of a much missed artist. This remastered gatefold vinyl edition is excellent, with a crispness and clarity of sound that lets the music breathe. The wide soundstage allows the listener to really appreciate the breadth of David Bedford’s layered musical arrangements. The remastering, in particular, serves well Kevin’s exquisite voice, bringing out all the subtleties and depth of his vocal work.

If this review is your introduction to the music of Kevin Ayers, do give this great album a listen. Then go to the album that followed, Shooting at the Moon, with The Whole World Band, again with David Bedford featuring, but also joined by some other great musicians, including Mike Oldfield on bass and guitar, and Lol Coxhill on saxophone. Then proceed to the live album, June 1, 1974, where Kevin is joined by long term musical partner and friend Ollie Halsall on guitar. Ollie Halsall was an extraordinary guitarist with a keen sense of melody and his solos on May I and Shouting in a Bucket Blues on this recording just have to be heard.

View here the lyric video for a moving version of Girl On A Swing, performed together by Galen Ayers (Kevin Ayers’s daughter) and Kevin Ayers. Poignantly, it was the last song Kevin recorded:

For more information about the music of Galen Ayers: Galen Ayers

For more information about Esoteric Records: Esoteric Recordings Website

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