Joy of a Toy

Joy of a Toy
Studio album by Kevin Ayers
Released November 1969
Recorded 17 Jun-11 Sep 1969; Abbey Road Studios, London
Genre Rock, Psychedelic Pop
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)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [1]
Rolling Stone [2]
The Times [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 Of A Toy 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 Of A Toy 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.

Contents

Track listing

All tracks are credited to 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 material on 2003 reissue:

  1. Religious Experience (Singing a Song in the Morning) Featuring Syd Barrett [take 9] - 4:46
  2. The Lady Rachael - Extended First Mix - 6:42
  3. Soon Soon Soon [bonus track] - 3:23
  4. Religious Experience (Singing a Song in the Morning) [take 103] - 2:50
  5. The Lady Rachael Single Version [bonus track] - 4:51
  6. Singing a Song in the Morning - Single Version [bonus track] - 2:52

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. We put a couple of tracks down but he just didn't want to do it any more." This casts some doubt as to whether any takes of "Religious Experience"/"Singing a song in the Morning" feature Barrett in spite of the CD's claims. However, a third guitar is present on this track, most noticeably starting around 2:50.

References

  1. ^ Allmusic review
  2. ^ Rolling Stone review
  3. ^ The Times review

External links

Kevin Ayers
Studio albums
Collaboration