Kevin Ayers - Joy Of A Toy (Remastered Vinyl Edition)

After getting his start with Robert Wyatt, Hugh Hopper and future members of Caravan in the band Wilde Flowers, Kevin Ayers left the band, and along with Wyatt and Hopper formed Soft Machine.  Following the release of their debut album and an extensive tour of the United States, Ayers left the band and went to Ibiza to recuperate.  While there he ended up doing a lot of songwriting which led to his first solo album, 1969's Joy of a Toy.  Now, thanks to Esoteric Records, the album has been remastered from the original master tapes, cut at Abbey Road Studios, and released in a gatefold sleeve that fully restores the original artwork.  “Joy Of A Toy Continued” kicks things off and is a fun, chipper, la la la singalong, enhanced with trombone, kazoo, piccolo and more, that sounds like something you would hear as the opening theme to a children’s TV show.  It definitely makes for a very interesting way to introduce a solo career.  “Town Feeling” is a gorgeously arranged, baroque track with a stellar performance from Ayers showcasing his deep, almost lazy, bass vocals accompanied by cello and oboe.  With a strong Beatles vibe, “The Clarietta Rag” is an upbeat, bouncy psychedelic pop tune with some mellotron and trombone accompaniment along with a short fuzz guitar solo in the middle.  “Girl on a Swing” is another gorgeously arranged track that’s very mellow and hypnotic, but still has a lot going on with vibrating guitar, delicate piano and mellotron.  Featuring the Soft Machine lineup, “Song For Insane Times” closes out side one and is a bit different than the rest of the album.  It’s a laid-back jazzy pop tune that really let’s everyone shine with plenty of soloing, especially the jazzier dumming and organ, plus a fuzzed out guitar solo at the end.  Opening side two is “Stop This Train (Again Doing It)”, a six plus minute track that’s kinda simple sounding, but disjointed and intense.  The rhythm is driven by a simple drum beat, piano and organ, mimicking the rhythm of a train and repeating until the end when the tape speeds up to a fast paced finish, while the lyrics are about a bizarre train trip going nowhere.  “Eleanor’s Cake (Which Ate Her)” is a nice, slower acoustic ballad that’s more on the folk side with a bit of a medieval touch.  With the brilliant use of the oboe, “The Lady Rachel” is dark and haunting.  It starts with a trilling organ and strummed guitar then adds a drumbeat to accompany his darker vocals, which during the chorus have a disturbing, slightly distorted sound.  The song closes with a dark, noisy instrumental section.  Based on a traditional Malaysian folk song, the avant garde “Oleh Oleh Bandu Bandong” is by far the strangest cut on the album.  It has a plodding rhythm and odd time signatures with squeaking and squawking blips and beeps, piano that is discordant at times and key banging at others, screeching violin strings and Joe Meek like space sounds.  As if that isn’t strange enough, there are no vocals with the exception of the chorus, which is credited to Jean and Mary, who were supposedly two members of The Ladybirds singing group from the Benny Hill show.  Closing the album out is “All This Crazy Gift of Time”, a nice, Dylan-like track with Ayers deep, warm vocals accompanied by strummed guitar and harmonica.  The remastering here sounds great, making this a great addition to your vinyl collection.  

(Esoteric Recordings)