Bananamour
Bananamour is the fourth studio album by Kevin Ayers and it featured some of his most accessible recordings, including "Shouting in a Bucket Blues" and his whimsical tribute to Syd Barrett, "Oh! Wot A Dream". After Whatevershebringswesing, 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: "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 in gatefold packaging in 2025; distributed by Esoteric Recordings.
The album marked the end of Ayers' first Harvest Records series.
Track listing
All songs written by Kevin AyersPersonnel
Musicians
- Kevin Ayers – guitar, vocals
- Archie Legget – bass, harmony vocals, lead vocal
- Eddie Sparrow – drums
Additional musicians
- Steve Hillage – lead guitar
- Mike Ratledge – organ
- Robert Wyatt – harmony vocal
- David Bedford – orchestral arrangement
- Howie Casey – tenor saxophone
- Dave Caswell – trumpet
- Tristan Fry – cymbal
- Lyle Jenkins – baritone saxophone
- 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