''Bananamour'' is the fourth studio album by

Kevin Ayers Kevin Ayers (16 August 1944 – 18 February 2013) was an English singer-songwriter who was active in the English psychedelic music movement. Ayers was a founding member of the psychedelic band Soft Machine in the mid-1960s, and was closely asso ...

and it featured some of his most accessible recordings, including "Shouting in a Bucket Blues" and his whimsical tribute to

Syd Barrett Roger Keith "Syd" Barrett (6 January 1946 – 7 July 2006) was an English singer, guitarist and songwriter who co-founded the rock band Pink Floyd in 1965. Until his departure in 1968, he was Pink Floyd's frontman and primary songwriter, ...

, " Oh! Wot A Dream". After ''

Whatevershebringswesing ''Whatevershebringswesing'' is the third solo album by Kevin Ayers, on Harvest Records. Background In 1971 Kevin Ayers started recording what would become his most acclaimed album, ''Whatevershebringswesing'' accompanied by members of Gong an ...

'', Ayers assembled a new band anchored by drummer Eddie Sparrow and bassist Archie Legget and employed a more direct lyricism. The centrepiece of the album is "Decadence", his withering portrait of

Nico Christa Päffgen (; 16 October 1938 – 18 July 1988), known by her stage name Nico, was a German singer, songwriter, actress, and model. Nico had roles in several films, including Federico Fellini's '' La Dolce Vita'' (1960) and Andy Warhol's ...

: "Watch her out there on display / Dancing in her sleepy way / While all her visions start to play / On the icicles of our decay / And all along the desert shore / She wanders further evermore / The only thing that's left to try / She says to live I have to die." The song was later covered by the Australian psychedelic rock band The Church on their 1999 album '' A Box of Birds''. The album was remastered to vinyl (no bonus tracks) in gatefold packaging in 2025; distributed by Esoteric Recordings. The album marked the end of Ayers' first

Harvest Records Harvest Records is a British-American record label belonging to Capitol Music Group, originally created by EMI in 1969. History Harvest Records was created by EMI in 1969 to market progressive rock music, and to compete with Philips' Vertigo ...

series.

Track listing

All songs written by Kevin Ayers

Personnel

Musicians

* Kevin Ayers – guitar, vocals * Archie Legget – bass,

harmony vocals Vocal harmony is a style of vocal music in which a consonant note or notes are simultaneously sung as a main melody in a predominantly homophonic texture. Vocal harmonies are used in many subgenres of European art music, including Classical ...

, lead vocal (track 3) * Eddie Sparrow – drums

Additional musicians

Steve Hillage Stephen Simpson Hillage (born 2 August 1951) is an English musician, best known as a guitarist. He is associated with the Canterbury scene and has worked in experimental domains since the late 1960s. Besides his solo sound recording and reprodu ...

– lead guitar (track 2, track 6) * Mike Ratledge – organ (track 4) * Robert Wyatt – harmony vocal (track 8) * David Bedford – orchestral arrangement (track 9) *

Howie Casey Howard William Casey (born 12 July 1937) is a British rhythm and blues and rock saxophonist. He came to prominence in the early 1960s as a member of Derry and the Seniors, the first rock and roll band from Liverpool to play clubs in Germany, a ...

–

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (whi ...

* Dave Caswell – trumpet * Tristan Fry –

cymbal A cymbal is a common percussion instrument. Often used in pairs, cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys. The majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs sou ...

* Lyle Jenkins –

baritone saxophone The baritone saxophone (sometimes abbreviated to "bari sax") is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass saxophone, bass. It is the lowe ...

* Ronnie Price – piano * Barry St. John, Liza Strike, Doris Troy – backing vocals

Technical

* Kevin Ayers – producer * Andrew King – producer * John Kurlander – engineer * Bob Lawrie – cover art * Richard Imrie – photography

Notes

References

* Original LP sleevenotes 1973 albums Kevin Ayers albums Harvest Records albums Sire Records albums Albums produced by Kevin Ayers {{1970s-rock-album-stub