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According to MOJO, Soft Machine frontman Kevin Ayers has died at the age of 68.

The English-born singer-songwriter was one of many pioneers from The Canterbury Scene, alongside fellow progressive rockers Robert Wyatt, Dave Stewart, Steve Hillage, and Peter Blegvad. In 1963, he joined forces with Wyatt and Hugh Hopper to form The Wilde Flowers, and in 1966 he and Wyatt formed jazz-fusion band Soft Machine.

It was with Soft Machine where Ayers found himself collaborating with future Police guitarist Andy Summer, Pink Floyd’s Syd Barrett, and Bob Dylan producers Chas Chandler and Tom Wilson. The band shared the same management team as Jimi Hendrix, and in 1968, they were invited to open for the celebrated rocker on his North American tour.

Ayers would later embark on a successful solo career, releasing over 15 albums and collaborating with Brian Eno, Mike Oldfield, and Lady June. His final record, 2007′s The Unfairground, featured contributions from Hopper, Bridget St John, and Phil Manzanera, as well as members of Neutral Milk Hotel, Teenage Fanclub, Ladybig Transistor, and more.
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Sure, you’ve heard of the Rat Pack, but did you know there was a Caribbean branch of that famous menagerie of Hollywood scene-makers? Even more intriguing, the defacto head of the tropical chapter of Bogie’s bunch was none other than the dashing duellist Errol Flynn. In 1946 Flynn tapped a local act known as the Navy Island Swamp Boys to be the house band for his personal island’s villa and rum bar. Schooled in “mento,” the indigenous music of Jamaica, Flynn renamed the band The Jolly Boys for its feel-good vibe. The group was billed as calypso music to affluent white tourists who flocked to the exotic retreat and carried the laid-back precursor to reggae back to their homelands.
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‘Double Trouble’ (June 1966. 25 tracks, 54 mins).

Elvis’ 24th film and, along with ‘Easy Come, Easy Go’ from the same year, Elvis’ movie career was at rock bottom. Even Elvis self-depreciatingly said, “I wasn’t exactly a James Bond in this movie but then no one ever asked Sean Connery to sing a song while dodging bullets!”

What made it worse was that just one month earlier Elvis had started to redefine his musical roots at the important How Great Thou Art sessions. He had recorded Dylan’s ‘Tomorrow Is A Long Time’ as well as added an exciting R’n’B twist to ‘Down In The Alley’. Fifteen months later Elvis would be recording ‘Guitar Man’ with Jerry Reed and everything would change but here he was, yet again, recording sub-standard movie fare.

The day after the Double Trouble soundtrack session Elvis attended a Jackie Wilson concert and met with James Brown who was in the audience. These were two performers who were spearheading the new Soul movement that was dominating the charts along with The Beatles. And what song had the great Elvis Presley recorded the day before, ‘Old MacDonald Had A Farm’! I bet Elvis didn’t mention that to The Godfather of Soul!

At this point Elvis was still exploring his spiritual side and who could blame him? He told Self-Realization Centre leader Daya Mata at the time that he was sick of the infighting & turmoil in his life.
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“There has always been pop music, but country music was always the avenue out of adolescence and into the grown up world with grown up issues like responsibilities and family. Someone’s got to keep it alive, to preserve that kind of sound. That was our aim with this record.”
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While Billy Paul’s second album, 1970′s Ebony Woman, is home to a number of inspired covers, it’s this – his soul reimagining of Simon & Garfunkel’s lily white “Mrs. Robinson” – that’s worth the trip.
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When Amber Digby sings, people listen. “Amber is a great traditional singer,” says Vince Gill, who knows whereof he speaks, and like his following observation—“which is so hard to find these days”—it’s just the simple truth.

Yet it also doesn’t do his subject real justice, because Amber Digby’s singing touches the heart, not just of anyone who appreciatse a traditional country song, but of anyone who’s ever known heartbreak, happiness, regret, loneliness—or just the compelling desire to get out on the dance floor for a night of fun. And the fact is, with each passing month and year, as she enjoys growing airplay and tours farther and farther from her home in Texas, Amber Digby and her music are reaching out to more and more and more of those hearts.
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Daniel Romano is not a neo-traditionalist in the traditional sense. He’s not trying to regale the modern ear with a new take on the classic country sound. Instead Daniel Romano is like the method actor of classic country, carving his niche by offering a strict interpretation of classic country’s modes with striking accuracy. It’s not a retro sound, it is a strict, methodical re-enactment. Everything fits the period–the words, the instrumentation, the song structure.
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Though Impulse! has been accused by critics of pushing Ayler into making a commercial disc, it seems strange that the label would have, since much of its roster consisted of free jazz artists. They were, after all, responsible for releasing the majority of John Coltrane’s riskiest and most experimental work. After many spins it seems more that Ayler was looking for a new way to explore his music than just making a record that would reach a larger audience. The solos on this record would have never gotten airplay then, nor would they get it now. His squeaks and honks may have R&B riffing, but the solos are too gritty for most to handle.
That is why it is time to re-evaluate this record and accept it for its musical merits. The chops are solid and the arrangements are tight. Sure this may be the first time you hear yourself humming an Ayler tune, but it doesn’t minimize the genius he put into this record. It shows an artist at a turning point, and because of negative feedback it remains an obscure record, instead of a big seller. It is time that we as jazz fans open our minds and be willing to allow artists to try on different suits. Sure quite often the results are horrid, but often the results are like New Grass.
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This great song was written by Bruce Robison together with the two “trishas” Liz Foster & Savannah Welch and also featured on their debut album.

You’d think with their skull covered album, that Psychic Ills would be making more sinister, dark music. Maybe the ’10s have taken back the skull as something beyond just a looming symbol of death, decay and abject terror, because from what I’ve heard, this second album from Psychic Ills is a pleasantly psychedelic bit of rock ‘n’ roll. “One More Time” is so cruised out and laid back, the weed smoke and good energy can almost be seen wafting off of it in to the pink-tinged sky. This is psych at its most relaxed. lackadaisical even – the harsh edges worn down, the song feeling like the waking moments between dream and reality, that snatch of song that just barely climbs out of the dream world, holding on to your mind as you lay curled beneath a pile of blankets.

Psychic Ills new album One Track Mind is out February 19th on Sacred Bones.
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