Last fall, The Unfairground reminded me how much I once loved British eccentric Kevin Ayers. His early 1970s albums were a part of a body of art rock in the sense that it was shaped by art school, more than being of a piece with bands such as Yes, Genesis and King Crimson. Out of seemingly nowhere, The Unfairground appeared and it was as if no time had passed; the melodies on it are immediate, and “Only Heaven Knows” has stayed with me since I first heard it – the sort of melody that periodically runs through your mind for no good reason and doesn’t outstay its welcome when it shows up. Like most of his music, it draws from a broad, eclectic palate – folk, psychedelic rock, soul and British music hall, adding mariachi horns for good measure. It moved me to go to iTunes, where Ayers’ Harvest Records albums are for sale, and pick up 1973’s Bananamour and revisit other bands from that period, most recently 801.

With that background, I was disappointed when Ayers’ What More Can I Say … crossed my desk. It’s a collection of demos recorded for The Confessions of Doctor Dream and Other Stories, and you have to really, really, really care about Ayers to find these tracks more than academically interesting. You can hear him sketch out ideas for parts as he hums spots for horns or organ over his guitar and vocal, but it’s pretty raw listening. The title track presents Ayers sketching out the album, playing and talking about it and the rationale behind it, but you only need to hear it once.

Nothing about the release suggests that Ayers had much to do with the release beyond give them to someone years ago who he thought might want the tape for his own recordings. For Ayers, these were rough notes he was ready to trash. View them as an appendix to Ayers’ career and he was wrong; think of them as a listening experience and he was right.