Kevin Ayers & The Whole World - Shooting At The Moon (remastered LP)

Following his stint in Soft Machine, a band he helped found, Kevin Ayers went the solo route, and in order to tour following the release of his debut album, he formed the band The Whole World.  The band was comprised of Mike Oldfield, Lol Coxhill, Mick Fincher and David Bedford, and once the tour was over the band went into the studio, and along with guest appearances from Bridget St. John and Robert Wyatt, recorded his sophomore effort Shooting At The Moon.  That album is now the latest of his releases to be remastered from the original master tapes, cut at Abbey Road Studios and reissued on vinyl.  The album is highly acclaimed and is very adventurous and experimental, dabbling in things like free jazz, folk, prog and avant-garde (some more successful than others) in addition to the psychedelic and baroque pop that was prevalent on his debut.  Album opener “May I?," one of his better-known songs, brings to mind his debut, and is a gorgeous, incredibly infectious ballad highlighted by his rich baritone and Coxhill’s sax. “Rheinhardt & Geraldine / Colores Para Dolores” is an interesting cut that starts with two minutes of prog with the keys, sax and rumbling bass mingling together very prominently before shifting into a minute and a half of pure cacophony, sounding like someone twisting the radio dial back and forth through the channels.  It then shifts back to the prog, but with the guitar moving more to the forefront.  The raw, ragged garage rocker “Lunatics Lament” is unlike anything else on the album and features some great organ along with Oldfield absolutely tearing it up on guitar.  At over eight minutes, “Pisser Dans Un Violon” shows their experimental side, and is a noisy soundscape that really doesn’t do anything for me and is a track I will definitely skip in the future.  Heading in a completely different direction, “The Oyster and the Flying Fish” is a bouncy acoustic folk duet with Bridget St. John that makes for a really fun listen.  “Underwater” is another avant-garde instrumental that is fittingly titled but again is prime for the skip button.  Originally written several years earlier for Soft Machine, “Clarence In Wonderland” is a fun, kind of quirky and whimsical pop tune that at times reminds me of the more offbeat songs of Harry Nilsson.  Driven by a gentle bossa nova beat, “Red Green and You Blue” is a more laid-back jazzy tune.  Closing cut “Shooting At The Moon” opens with a heavy Sixties rock sound and then turns into an extended section that is still rock, but with elements of free jazz that gets a little too long and repetitive before it shifts back to more straight-ahead rock for the last thirty seconds.  The original artwork has also been restored for this release that is well worth adding to your vinyl collection. 

(Esoteric Recordings)