RIP Kevin Ayers - Soft Machine

[many a good man]

Kevin Ayers dies aged 68
Singer-songwriter and founding member of pioneering psychedelic band Soft Machine has died

Kevin Ayers, one of the most influential figures in the history of British psychedelia, has died. The singer-songwriter and founding member of the band Soft Machine was 68.

Soft Machine are considered a key psychedelic band: part of the "Canterbury scene", alongside acts including Caravan, Egg, Gong and Hatfield and the North, the group then became a fixture at the UFO Club in London in the late 1960s. The band took their name from a William Burroughs novel, after receiving permission from the Beat author. The group toured with Jimi Hendrix and their 1968 debut, The Soft Machine, is considered a classic of the genre.

After quitting Soft Machine in 1968, Ayers worked with artists including Mike Oldfield and Brian Eno and released 17 solo albums, including his whimsical debut Joy of a Toy, The Confessions of Dr Dream and Other Stories and Falling Up. His most recent album was 2007's The Unfairground, which included contributions from a younger generation of artists, including members of Teenage Fanclub, Neutral Milk Hotel and Gorky's Zygotic Mynci.

Born in Herne Bay, Kent, Ayers was partly brought up in east Asia by his stepfather, a district officer in British Malaysia. At the Simon Langton Grammar School in Canterbury he subsequently met future Soft Machine members Robert Wyatt and Mike Ratledge. It was at one of Ayers's parties in 1973 that the drunken Wyatt fell out of an upstairs window, leaving him permanently paralysed from the waist down.

more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2013/feb/20/kevin-ayers-dies-aged-68

[IcyPeas]

1. Love this album

Many a good time was had while listening to this.

RIP

[IcyPeas]

2. Moon in June

On a dilemma between what I need and what I just want
Between your thighs I feel a sensation
How long can I resist the temptation?
I've got my bird, you've got your man
So who else do we need, really?

Now I'm here, I may as well put my other hand in yours
While we decide how far to go and if we've got time to do it now
And if it's half as good for you as it is for me
Then you won't mind if we lie down for a while, just for a while
Till all the thing I want is need
Till all the thing I want is need

I want you more than ever now
We're on the floor, and you want more, and I feel almost sure
That cause now we've agreed, that we got what we need
Then all the thing us needs is wanting

I realized when I saw you last
We've been together now and then
From time to time - just here and there
Now I know how it feels from my hair to my heels
To have you on the horns of my dilemma
- Oh! Wait a minute! -

Over - Up - Over - Up - ... Down
Down - Over - Up - Over - ... Up

Living can be lovely, here in New York State
Ah, but I wish that I were home
And I wish I were home again - back home again, home again

There are places and people that I'm so glad to have seen
Ah, but I miss the trees, and I wish that I were home again
Back home again

The sun shines here all summer
Its nice cause you can get quite brown
Ah, but I miss the rain - ticky tacky ticky
And I wish that I were home again - home again, home again...

Living is easy here in New York State
Ah, but I wish that I were home again

Just before we go on to the next part of our song
Let's all make sure we've got the time
Music-making still performs the normal functions -
background noise for people scheming, seducing, revolting and teaching
That's all right by me, don't think that I'm complaining
After all, it's only leisure time, isn't it?

Now I love your eyes - see how the time flies
She's learning to hate, but it's just too late for me
It was the same with her love
It just wasn't enough for me
But before this feeling dies
Remember how distance can tell lies!

You can almost see her eyes, is it me she despises or you?
You're awfully nice to me and I'm sure you can see what her game is
She sees you in her place, just as if it's a race
And you're winning, and you're winning
She just can't undertsand that for me everything's just beginning
Until I get more homesick
So before this feeling dies, remember how distance tells us lies...

[The last part comes from Kevin Ayers' "Singing A Song In The Morning"]

Singing a song in the morning
Singing it again at night
Don't really know what I'm singing about
But it makes me feel all right

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

3. I saw them twice in 1968 when they toured with Jimi Hendrix

At the time they were a trio, with bass, drums, and keyboard. I remember their music as being complex and original.