Kevin Ayers – The Confessions Of Dr. Dream And Other Stories (1974)
Kevin Ayers remains one of the great undiscovered heroes of the 60’s underground scene. Steadfastly ignoring prevailing trends, rarely recording or performing in later years, he is almost the dictionary definition of a cult artist. He had served his apprenticeship with Canterbury pioneers Soft Machine, but had ultimately quit the band and retired to warmer climes – thus beginning his career choice of operating firmly under the radar. Dr. Dream was actually his 4th solo album, and he sounds like the complete artist here, full of confidence and assembling a crack team of musicians to back him.
Opening track Day By Day is an impressive beginning, Ayers half talking the opening lines in his rich baritone, backed by powerful female backing vocals before bursting into an almost joyous chorus. This is a world away from his psychedelic roots. It sounds big, it sounds expensive, it sounds like his new label Island was going all out for a hit record. They didn’t get one of course. The 30 second whimsical nonsense See You Later leads into Didn’t Feel Lonely Till I Thought Of You, the albums standout track. More big backing vocals complement the hard rocking music, while Ollie Halsall provides smokin’ lead guitar throughout the track. Halsall played with Ayers for 20 years, and was his one musical constant before sadly succumbing to heroin.
After such a commercial sounding start, and just as the listener feels they have got a handle on what to expect, the rest of the album bears little resemblance to what has gone before. Two lengthy tracks make up the bulk of the remainder of the album. It Begins With A Blessing combines ominous vocals and a dose of proto-metal with the melancholic whimsy of the Once I Awakened interlude, before coming full circle with the final third’s But It Ends With A Curse. 8 minutes of pure magic. What would have been side 2 on the original LP is taken up with the title track, split into 4 parts. The first part, Irreversible Neural Damage, has an almost nightmarish quality utilising backwards masking on the vocals to disorientating effect. The rest of the track is a series of contrasts – touches of the initial commerciality we heard earlier and a tripped out instrumental passage before drawing to a close with more darkly foreboding sounds. Two Goes Into Four is two minutes of acoustic loveliness that ensures we are brought back to earth gently as the album finishes.
The Confessions of Dr. Dream and Other Stories is an ambitious album, one that is very much a product of its era. It’s not an easy listen certainly, but like all the best albums it’s one that rewards repeated plays. Too wilfully difficult to ever really stand a chance of producing a hit, Ayers eventually returned to the Harvest label and continued to record for his slowly dwindling audience. Most of Ayers 70’s output is worth investigating, with this being the highlight of his long career.
Stuart Preston
Kevin Ayers remains one of the great undiscovered heroes of the 60’s underground scene. Steadfastly ignoring prevailing trends, rarely recording or performing in later years, he is almost the dictionary definition of a cult artist. He had served his apprenticeship with Canterbury pioneers Soft Machine, but had ultimately quit the band and retired to warmer climes – thus beginning his career choice of operating firmly under the radar. Dr. Dream was actually his 4th solo album, and he sounds like the complete artist here, full of confidence and assembling a crack team of musicians to back him.
Opening track Day By Day is an impressive beginning, Ayers half talking the opening lines in his rich baritone, backed by powerful female backing vocals before bursting into an almost joyous chorus. This is a world away from his psychedelic roots. It sounds big, it sounds expensive, it sounds like his new label Island was going all out for a hit record. They didn’t get one of course. The 30 second whimsical nonsense See You Later leads into Didn’t Feel Lonely Till I Thought Of You, the albums standout track. More big backing vocals complement the hard rocking music, while Ollie Halsall provides smokin’ lead guitar throughout the track. Halsall played with Ayers for 20 years, and was his one musical constant before sadly succumbing to heroin.After such a commercial sounding start, and just as the listener feels they have got a handle on what to expect, the rest of the album bears little resemblance to what has gone before. Two lengthy tracks make up the bulk of the remainder of the album. It Begins With A Blessing combines ominous vocals and a dose of proto-metal with the melancholic whimsy of the Once I Awakened interlude, before coming full circle with the final third’s But It Ends With A Curse. 8 minutes of pure magic. What would have been side 2 on the original LP is taken up with the title track, split into 4 parts. The first part, Irreversible Neural Damage, has an almost nightmarish quality utilising backwards masking on the vocals to disorientating effect. The rest of the track is a series of contrasts – touches of the initial commerciality we heard earlier and a tripped out instrumental passage before drawing to a close with more darkly foreboding sounds. Two Goes Into Four is two minutes of acoustic loveliness that ensures we are brought back to earth gently as the album finishes.
The Confessions of Dr. Dream and Other Stories is an ambitious album, one that is very much a product of its era. It’s not an easy listen certainly, but like all the best albums it’s one that rewards repeated plays. Too wilfully difficult to ever really stand a chance of producing a hit, Ayers eventually returned to the Harvest label and continued to record for his slowly dwindling audience. Most of Ayers 70’s output is worth investigating, with this being the highlight of his long career.
Stuart Preston
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