After a Soft Machine tour of the US with
the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Ayers had decided to retire from the music business. Hendrix, however, presented Ayers with an acoustic
Gibson J-200 guitar on the condition that he continue his songwriting. Ayers repaired to a small London flat where he composed and arranged a whole LP which was then presented to Malcolm Jones' fledgling
Harvest label, where it was produced by
Peter Jenner for £4,000.
Joy of a Toy featured many of Ayers' most enduring songs from "The Lady Rachel" to "Girl on a Swing", the latter still regularly covered by artists to this day such as
Candie Payne and
The Ladybug Transistor. It was on
Joy that Ayers developed his sonorous vocal delivery, an avant-garde song construction and an affection for unusual instrumentation, that would have a deep influence far into the 1970s and up to the end of his career. He was assisted in this latter undertaking by David Bedford, who provided the musical arrangements for the album as well as playing piano and other keyboards. For the recording of
Syd Barrett's first solo album
The Madcap Laughs, Soft Machine were brought in to do overdubs for a few of Barrett's tracks. It was during this time that Barrett recorded a guitar part for the track "Religious Experience", (later titled "
Singing a Song in the Morning"); this version was not released until the 2003 reissue of
Joy. ==Response==