ALBUM: Ray Kennedy, ‘Ray Kennedy’
You may not know his name, but Ray Kennedy (who sadly passed away last year aged just 67) certainly had a rich and varied career in music. Starting off as a saxophonist in Dick Clark’s American Bandstand house band, he went on to tour with a whole host of top names from Otis Redding and Dizzy Gillespie to Little Richard and Brenda Lee. He also enjoyed quite a bit of success as a songwriter, co-writing “These Strange Times” on Fleetwood Mac’s album Time, “Isn’t It Time” and “Every Time I Think Of You” — both big hits for the Babys — and, most famously of all, the Beach Boys’ classic “Sail On, Sailor.”
Kennedy’s own career never quite took off in the same way though. In the ’60s he was signed to Atlantic Records as one half of the duo Jon & Ray and even recorded an album produced by Phil Spector, but sadly, it was never released. He had a little more luck with his next project, Group Therapy, releasing two albums with them in the late ’60s before splitting to go solo. His debut Raymond Louis Kennedy came out in 1970 and although it didn’t make a huge splash it did lead to him becoming the singer in the short-lived supergroup KGB alongside Barry Goldberg and Mike Bloomfield, with whom he recorded two LPs.
Which brings us to his second and final solo album, again self-titled but this time shortened to Ray Kennedy and released 10 years after his debut in 1980. The cover featuring a cool-looking smoking Kennedy basking in the purple glow from a fridge looks more like a New Wave record than the rock album it really is. That said, the music within certainly wouldn’t have been out of place in a teen movie from that era — the first track “It Never Crossed My Mind” with its driving riff and rousing chorus in particular is perfect soundtrack fodder.
Kennedy also revisits a couple of the songs he co-wrote with others such as “Isn’t It Time,” a big hit for John Waite’s band in 1977 which is given a more updated 1980s sheen and, not surprisingly, the song he co-wrote with Brian Wilson, “Sail On, Sailor,” which he turns into a soft rock anthem the likes of Foreigner or Journey would be proud of. In fact, the record boasts a few members of soft rock superstars Toto, namely Jeff and Mike Porcaro as well as Steve Lukather, whose distinctive guitar playing is heard throughout.
The album’s big hit (in fact Kennedy’s biggest hit under his own name) was the big ballad “Just For The Moment,” which, with its rousing orchestral backing, sounds like it should have been a bigger hit than it was. In fact much of this record, which proved to be Kennedy’s last, fits in so well with the AOR and soft rock sounds that filled stadiums in the ’80s it seems strange that it was so overlooked in its day and then apparently forgotten by many — this is its debut on CD.
Kennedy himself sounds like a cross between Sammy Hagar and Robert Palmer, and the songs mainly alternate from riff-filled guitar anthems with lots of female backing vocals to pleasingly cheesy power ballads (which proudly build to the requisite guitar solo provided by Lukather near the end). Kennedy’s album is by no means a classic but it is an immensely listenable record and actually rather nicely evokes that era when the likes of Toto and Journey ruled the day. Real Gone Music has also added a few nice additions to the album including the single version of “Starlight,” unreleased original mixes of “It Never Crossed My Mind” and “Just For The Moment” and the unreleased track “Dance The Night Away.”
To get your copy of Ray Kennedy, visit Real Gone Music’s online shop!
