Song Of The Day 2/22/2013: Kevin Ayers - "Circular Letter"

Kevin Ayers, co-founder of the Soft Machine, passed away earlier this week. The Soft Machine is one of those bands for whom, if I decide I'm going to give them a listen, I usually have to block out about two hours with as few distractions as possible. That doesn't happen often enough anymore, unfortunately. Maybe later tonight.

"Circular Letter" is from Ayers' 1975 album Sweet Deceiver, something of a half-hearted attempt to turn him into a pop star that nonetheless yielded some fairly interesting work. The piano player on this track is none other than Elton John, with whom Ayers shared a manager at the time. With a heavy reliance on the notes below middle C, this might be the wildest piano performance Elton ever gave, and it was right in the middle of his megasuperstar period. This era of and style of British music gets the short end of the stick, way too often. I think I'll go live there for awhile.