Blessed with a sozzled decadence and a louche, velveteen singing voice, Kevin Ayers was never straight enough for the mass market or experimental enough for the avant- garde crowd.
His precarious but frequently inspired teetering between these two poles is sympathetically gathered in a package featuring his four Harvest period studio albums, all the surviving BBC radio sessions, including some previously unreleased, a 68-page book, live shows, and a Blu-ray of French and UK TV appearances.
Boasting outtakes and extras, the studio albums – wreathed in a post-psychedelic aroma by David Bedford’s eloquent string and woodwind arrangements, occasional Soft Machine augmentations, and a pre-Tubular Bells Mike Oldfield on bass and guitar – remain an absolute delight, brimming with their skewed brew of wonky pop and bubbling and eclectic quirkiness.
Interestingly, the radio sessions and live sets are completely priceless, forming a contemporaneous commentary on Ayers’ enthusiastic, if occasionally wayward, approach to his songs and their malleability.
In the past, hardcore fans had to endured a poor-quality release of Ayers’ 1970 Hyde Park gig. Utterly transformed by engineer Stephen W Tayler, his sonic improvements are a complete revelation, not only restoring the artist’s previously obscured vocals but also in extending significant improvements to the rest of the band, with drummer Robert Wyatt’s frenzied thrash and Mike Oldfield’s snarling bass on We Did It Again being especially thrilling.
A few months later, the same group rubbed shoulders with the London Sinfonietta performing a live 21-minute rendition of Bedford’s serialist-style classical music freak-out, Garden Of Love. Though sounding a little dated now, it illustrates Ayers’ embrace of the unexpected and the charming allure of his maverick inclinations.
• All This Crazy Gift Of Time: The Recordings 1969-1973 is on sale now via Esoteric.
