INTERNOTIONAL ANTHEM has come about through a few readers' letters whose stories of how they came to hear of Kevin Ayers were so fascinating they had to be published. In the first of the series, PETER KURTZ writes from America....

As all Kevin Ayers aficionados know, keeping abreast of the man's whereabouts and activities is no easy task. It's especially difficult for one living overseas. Woefully ignored in his own home country, Ayers had even less impact in America, even during his commercial peak in the mid-70's. He toured the States with Soft Machine in 1968, returned for a few gigs in New York City in 1980, and that was it. "Oh yeah, that banana guy" is the typical response I receive from record store managers.

Ayers is principally remembered here for his involvement with Soft Machine, the first album being released immediately in the US, available only on import in the UK. June 1st, 1974 opened a few eyes in the US rock press, primarily due to the collection of guest artists on the album, while the remainder of his releases were either banished to the bargain bins or never released here at all. Therefore I fell like a bit of an anomaly: a hard-core Ayers fan who happens to live in this 'melting pot' called America. I've chosen to write about my discovery of 'Ayersland' from a Yank's point of view ( with a nod to Christopher Columbus and the first pilgrims ).

The first time I heard (saw) the name Kevin Ayers was while attending Kiski, a private boys school ( in England 'public' ) in western Pennsylvania in 1977. My roommate was an avid listener of the local FM 'free-form' rock station. Free-form had its roots in late 60s underground rock radio started by disc jockey Tom Donahue in San Francisco. Basically, free-form was the hipper, more serous alternative to pre-teen, Top 40 singles pop which flooded the AM dial ( Bee Gees, KC and the Sunshine Band, Jackson 5 were a few examples of 70s AM Top 40 ).

Free-form was the kind of rock one's older brother listened to. The jocks played album cuts rather than singles, concentrating on 60's and 70's 'heavy' artists like Zeppelin, Dylan, Hendrix, Traffic, Who etc, and they had the license to play practically anything they wanted... unlike the AOR of today, whose playlists are directly influenced by profit margins and determined by the MTV charts and wealthy executives with little or no interest in music

Anyway, through listening to WYDD in Pittsburgh, and after my watershed purchase of Hendrix' Electric Ladyland, I left Top 40 forever.... no more Chicago, Hues Corporation or America for me, no sirreee!! I plunged headfirst into the sounds of Hendrix, Trower, Genesis, Moody Blues, Allman Brothers and others while holed up in that cloistered, bucolic prep school. Needless to say, it was quite a liberating experience for a teenager.

Kiski had a school newspaper which featured a music column called 'The Disc Course'. The writers alternated frequently, but the writer of the final article of my senior year devoted his space to championing one of the most progressive free-form stations in the US, Cleveland's WMMS ( affectionately known as 'Home of the BUZZard', and now run by uncaring MTV-types and wealthy executives ).

This writer had chosen to write about some of the 'weird' music that had been assaulting his brain on WMSS ( he lived in Cleveland and abhorred Pittsburgh's 'backwards' musicality - a similar rivalry comparable to that between London and Manchester ).

This writer penned a laundry list of artists, most of whom were unknown to me. I'd heard the Kinks, Lou Reed, Genesis and even Mike Oldfield ( through The Exorcist ), but who were John Cale, Phil Manzanera, Eno, Nico and Kevin Ayers? I memorized the names of these 'weird' artists and resolved to learn more about their music.

I started college in the fall of '77 and began my search, albeit at a leisurely pace. Roxy Music records were fairly easy to find, the Velvet Underground ( still my favourite band ) proved a little harder but eventually I saw the connections between these bands: Manzanera knew Eno from Roxy, Eno and Cale guested on eachother's albums, Nico and Cale worked together... but where did this Kevin Ayers fit in? And why couldn't I find his records? The mystery intrigued me.

I read up on Ayers in the rock encyclopedias and learned he was a founding member of the Soft Machine (whoever they were!). Then, in the summer of '78, I found a copy of the first Softs album in a bargain bin, no less. Ayers appealing basso profundo voice and self-effacing wit ('We Did It Again!') struck me immediately, as did the liner notes concerning his enigmatic biography - I had to hear more.

It seemed like fate when, after switching colleges, I bumped into an old friend from my first year at prep school, whose hometown was Cleveland, whose favourite station was WMSS and who lived just down the hall from me! We often drank beer and talked music on certain Saturday nights, and when I questioned him about this Ayers fellow, his eyes lit up with recognition' "Oh yeah, 'Stranger In Blue Suede Shoes'! MMS used to play it all the time! I love that song!

Evidently Cleveland knew something the rest of the country didn't.....

The collecting bug bit me as soon as I realised the difficulty in acquiring Ayers albums, particularly the better earlier ones. Not until 1983, in a mousehole of a record store in denver did I finally spy Joy Of a Toy - my what a joy that record is to this day! I wanted a clean, scratchless discso Iasked the store owner to play a cut. As soon as I heard 'Stop This Train' I recognised the voice from Soft Machine. This was my real introduction to my eventual hobby of collecting Kevin Ayers and I was hooked.

Over the past nine years I've tried to gather as much music and info on Kevin Ayers as possible. A good copy of Whtevershebringswesing proved especially hard to track down but time and perseverance eventually paid off. I guess the onle album missing from my collection is the Ayers-produced Lady June LP. But one day... maybe in a dingy mousehole of a record store in North Dakota... I'll find it.

'The world is large and I've got time yet...'

PETER KURTZ