Kevin Midnick

Kevin Borich is a New Zealand born Australian guitarist and singer-songwriter who was a founding member of The La De Das, the leader of The Kevin Borich Express, and a founding member of The Party Boys, as well as a session musician for numerous acts. He recorded two albums for the Image Group in 1977 at the beginning of his solo career, after he disbanded the La De Das in 1975. “Celebration” was credited to The Kevin Borich Express, while the follow up .”Lonely One”, was credited as simply Kevin Borich. The best of those two albums have been distilled into this Avenue CD.

Not long after Island had disposed of his contract, Kevin Ayers hooked up with Harvest once again, releasing the mainstream-sounding Yes We Have No Mañanas in 1976. Although Ayers' symbolic banana references find their way into the title (the banana being his outlet for representing silliness in such a serious world ), the ten tracks find him singing some rather conventional pop/rock. Both "Star" and "Mr. Cool" were released as singles, with some noticeable guitar work from Ollie Halsall adorning both. Ayers made a name for himself by incorporating a unique brand of genial eccentricity into his music - 1970s Joy of a Toy and 1973's Bananamour, for example, as "The Ballad of Mr. Snake" and "The Owl" are typical of Ayers' discounted vaudeville-like fair…

Not long after Island had disposed of his contract, Kevin Ayers hooked up with Harvest once again, releasing the mainstream-sounding Yes We Have No Mañanas in 1976. Although Ayers' symbolic banana references find their way into the title (the banana being his outlet for representing silliness in such a serious world ), the ten tracks find him singing some rather conventional pop/rock. Both "Star" and "Mr. Cool" were released as singles, with some noticeable guitar work from Ollie Halsall adorning both. Ayers made a name for himself by incorporating a unique brand of genial eccentricity into his music - 1970s Joy of a Toy and 1973's Bananamour, for example, as "The Ballad of Mr. Snake" and "The Owl" are typical of Ayers' discounted vaudeville-like fair…

Melancholic and reflective, Kevin Ayers' third solo effort, Whatevershebringswesing (this time sans the Whole World as a collective), finds the ultimate underachiever languishing in a realm of ballads, free (for the most part) from the façade and pretensions of prog rock that plagued the previous project. Released in January 1972, Whatevershebringswesing was Ayers' most commercially accessible album to date. The opening track, the "There Is Loving" suite, was both apropos and deceptive. The song picks up nicely from the previous album, linked by its Soft Machine/prog rock sound and fronting the lyrics from the single "Butterfly Dance"; however, for the very same reason, this was a deceptive opener for an album that was far removed from the prog subgenre…

As the Soft Machine's first bassist and original principal songwriter, Kevin Ayers was an overlooked force behind the group's groundbreaking recordings in 1967 and 1968. This, his solo debut, is so tossed-off and nonchalant that one gets the impression he wanted to take it easy after helping pilot the manic innovations of the Softs. Laissez-faire sloth has always been part of Ayers' persona, and this record's intermittent lazy charm helped establish it. That doesn't get around the fact, however, that this set of early progressive rock does not feature extremely strong material. Ayers' command of an assortment of instruments is impressive, and his deep bass vocals and playful, almost goofy song-sketches are affecting, but they don't really stick with the listener…

Bananamour is ripe with Kevin Ayers' most mature and accessible compositions to date. Ayers grounded himself in a newly formed trio for his follow-up to Whatevershebringswesing. With bassist Archie Leggett and drummer Eddie Sparrow at the hub, Ayers selected guest artists for a handful of the tracks: Whole World colleague Dave Bedford ("Beware of the Dog"), Gong's new guitarist Steve Hillage ("Shouting in a Bucket Blues"), and former Soft Machine mates Robert Wyatt ("Hymn") and Mike Ratledge ("Interview"). "Interview" is easily one of the album's strongest, most original tunes, charged with a rugged, positively electrifying guitar sound courtesy of Ayers and psychedelic organ flourishes by Ratledge. And "Shouting in a Bucket Blues" is Ayers' inspired pop/blues groove…

It is indeed an oddity that, for all the considerable ambition of his albums, this collection of singles and unreleased outtakes may be Ayers' most satisfying LP. Why? Perhaps because when he's constrained within the 45 format, he taps his strongest and most endearing qualities: easygoing, singalong melodies, droll, nonchalant (even non sequitur) lyrics, good-natured sotto voce vocals, even female backup harmonies. There's little trace of the inaccessible, difficult (usually instrumental) passages that occupy much of the space on his early albums. Spanning 1969 to 1973, this includes eight tracks that wound up on flop singles, as well as six outtakes from the albums he recorded during this period, though there were no obvious reasons for their exclusion (too pop oriented, perhaps?)…

2014 Original Albums Series release. Includes the albums: Joy of a Toy, Shooting at the Moon, Whatevershebringswesing, Bananamour & the Confessions of Dr. Dream and Other Stories. Kevin Ayers was one of rock's oddest and more likable enigmas, even if he often seemed not to operate at his highest potential. Perhaps that's because he never seemed to have taken his music too seriously – one of his essential charms and most aggravating limitations. After the late '60s, he released many albums with a distinctly British sensibility, making ordinary lyrical subjects seem extraordinary with his rich low vocals, inventive wordplay, and bemused, relaxed attitude.