Still Life with Guitar

Infobox Album |
Name = Still Life with Guitar
Type = Album
Artist = Kevin Ayers


Released = Jan 1992
Recorded = 1991; Chipping Norton, The Church, Townhouse, Marcus Studios, Strongroom, Nomis & Real World Studios
Genre = Rock
Length = 34:30
Label = FNAC
Producer = Kevin Ayers and Dave Vatch
Reviews =
* Allmusic Rating|3.5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=&sql=10:0pfqxq85ldse link]
Last album = "Falling Up"
(1988)
This album = "Still Life with Guitar"
(1992)
Next album = "The Unfairground"
(2007)

"Still Life with Guitar" is the fifteenth studio album by Kevin Ayers. It found him consolidating on his 1988 return-to-form "Falling Up" [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2003/jul/04/artsfeatures The Guardian, July 4 2003] ] with a collection of largely acoustic songs that many critics regarded as being equal to material penned at the perceived heights of his career in the mid-1970s. Ayers produced the album, with his then manager Dave Vatch in England and was accompanied by an impressive cast of musicians, including Mike Oldfield, Ollie Halsall, Danny Thompson, BJ Cole, Mark E. Nevin and other members of Fairground Attraction.

A 2007 reissue of the album on Market Square featured an unreleased song 'Work In Progress' that is perhaps the most revealing performance from the period. Recorded on a Sony Walkman by Vatch during a cab ride in Palma, Majorca, Ayers sounds simultaneously detached, witty and poignant as he comments on the crowds around him. "Still Life with Guitar" was the final recording to feature Ayers close companinon and guitarist Ollie Halsall, who died shortly after its release. Ayers would not record another album of new material for fifteen years.

Track listing

# "Feeling This Way" (Ayers)
# "Something in Between" (Ayers/Mark Nevin)
# "Thank You Very Much" (Ayers)
# "There Goes Johnny" (Ayers)
# "Ghost Train" (Ayers/Peter Halsall)
# "I Don't Depend on You" (Ayers)
# "When Your Parents Go to Sleep" (Ayers)
# "M16" (Ayers)
# "Don't Blame Them" (Ayers)
# "Irene Goodnight" (Trad. arr.Ayers)

Personnel

*Kevin Ayers / Guitar, Vocals
*Kevin Armstrong / Guitar
*Stuart Bruce / Keyboards
*Simon Clarke / Keyboards
*B.J. Cole / Guitar (Steel)
*Ben Darlow / Vocals
*Roy Dodds / Drums
*Simon Edwards / Bass
*Ollie Halsall / Guitar, Keyboards
*Gavin Harrison / Drums
*Graham Henderson / Keyboards
*Richard Lee / Bass
*Steve Monti / Drums
*Anthony Moore / Keyboards
*Mark E. Nevin / Guitar
*Mike Oldfield / Guitar
*Danny Thompson / Bass

References