Joy of a Toy

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Joy of a Toy
Ayers537485.jpg
Studio album by Kevin Ayers
Released November 1969
Recorded 17 June–11 September 1969; Abbey Road Studios, London
Genre Psychedelic rock, psychedelic pop, Canterbury scene, experimental rock
Length 41:30 (original issue)
1:07:04 (2003 reissue)
Label Harvest
Producer Kevin Ayers & Peter Jenner
Kevin Ayers chronology
Joy of a Toy
(1969)		 Shooting at the Moon
(1970)Shooting at the Moon1970
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic 3.5/5 stars[1]
Rolling Stone 4/5 stars[2]
The Times 5/5 stars[3]

Joy of a Toy is the debut solo album of Kevin Ayers, a founding member of Soft Machine. Its whimsical and unique vision is a clear indication of how Soft Machine might have progressed under Ayers' tenure. He is accompanied on the LP by his Soft Machine colleagues Robert Wyatt, Mike Ratledge and Hugh Hopper.

After a Soft Machine tour of the USA with the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Ayers had decided to retire from the music business. Hendrix however, presented Ayers with an acoustic Gibson J-200 guitar on the promise that he continue his songwriting. Ayers repaired to a small London flat where he composed and arranged a whole LP which was then presented to Malcolm Jones' fledgling Harvest label where it was recorded by Peter Jenner for the then exorbitant sum of £4000.

Joy features many of Ayers' most enduring songs from "The Lady Rachel" to "Girl on a Swing", the latter still, regularly covered by artists to this day like Candie Payne and The Ladybug Transistor. It was on Joy that Ayers developed his sonorous vocal delivery, an avant-garde song construction and an affection for bizarre instrumentation that would have a deep influence far into the 1970s and indeed the present day.

For the recording of Syd Barrett's first solo album—The Madcap Laughs—Soft Machine was brought in to do overdubs for a few of Barrett's tracks.[4] It was during this time, Barrett did guitar for Ayers on his track "Religious Experience",[5] (later titled "Singing a Song in the Morning") this version wasn't released until the 2003 reissue of Joy.[4]

Track listing

All tracks written by Kevin Ayers

Side 1

  1. "Joy of a Toy Continued" – 2:54
  2. "Town Feeling" – 4:54
  3. "The Clarietta Rag" – 3:20
  4. "Girl on a Swing" – 2:49
  5. "Song for Insane Times" – 4:00

Side 2

  1. "Stop This Train (Again Doing It)" – 6:05
  2. "Eleanor's Cake (Which Ate Her)" – 2:53
  3. "The Lady Rachel" – 5:17
  4. "Oleh Oleh Bandu Bandong" – 5:35
  5. "All This Crazy Gift of Time" – 3:57

Bonus tracks (2003 reissue)

  1. "Religious Experience" [take 9] – 4:46 ("Singing a Song in the Morning")
  2. "The Lady Rachel" – 6:42 (extended first mix)
  3. "Soon Soon Soon" – 3:23
  4. "Religious Experience" [take 103] – 2:50 ("Singing a Song in the Morning")
  5. "The Lady Rachael" – 4:51 (Single Version)
  6. "Singing a Song in the Morning" – 2:52 (Single Version)

Personnel

plus on "Religious Experience" / "Singing a Song in the Morning" :

Shortly after Barrett's death, Ayers told Mojo magazine that when Barrett arrived at the studio: "....he was out-of-it....wasn't able to tune his guitar or find the chords". A third guitar is present on this track [take 103], most noticeably at 0:54-1:03, 1:37-1:42 and 2:34-2:51.

References

  1. ↑ AllMusic review
  2. ↑ Rolling Stone review
  3. ↑ The Times review
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Kevin Ayers by Richard Williams (Melody Maker 25 Apr 1970)
  • Joy of a Toy liner notes by Mark Powell (EMI 2003)
  • Joy of a Toy liner notes by Martin Wakeling (Harvest Sept 2006)

External links

  • Joy of a Toy - Best Albums of All Time by Peter Paphides [1]
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