Not got much to report. Just been slopping the white gloss paint around Chez Lock in an attempt pull the place out of general shabbiness. The other night I was approached to play some guitar on a track for a fellow called Matt Love. I contributed some guitar to a track of his a long time ago. He writes the most peculiar music under many different pseudonyms. I basically spurted electric guitar all over his track. Not sure if he’ll use it but he said we should to it again, so it looks like I have a collaborator of sorts. Of course, if anyone else out there in InterWebLand wants me to ruin your songs with my guitar playing, please get in touch.
Back to YouTube and here’s Kevin Ayers performing “May I?” – probably his signature song. Ayers is one of those people who fell through the cracks in the music biz. Not as iconic as Syd Barrett, nor as prevalent as his peer Robert Wyatt, Ayers remains one of the great unknowns whose style has been ripped off by others. The interesting thing about this track is the bass player, who turns out to be a very young Mike Oldfield:

In the mid 1980s, Oldfield returned the favour and used Ayers on his “Islands” album. He sings the track “Flying Start” which seems like a nice jolly tune, but the lyrics deal with losing your career to the bottle. I always thought this was a bit close to the knuckle as I am sure Ayers himself may have had some trouble with the sauce.

I was lucky to see Ayers perform as one of the opening acts for the “21st Century Schizoid Band” back in 2002 at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. It was a great thrill for me. He is still performing and you can download a free live gig from his website:
http://www.kevin-ayers.com/tibet.html

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