Liverpool Sound and Vision 9/10

We all have our own thoughts on what makes up the personification of lazy, of the person who we think isn’t pulling their weight, or the one individual to whom we look at with undeserved contempt because we think that they are contributing nothing to society, and all because we never see what they do, what they are experiencing behind closed doors.

Being considered lazy is a perception of someone else’s belief, a hangover of patriarchy, a cynical word from the matriarchs who hate to see children not being productive, utilised, used in the fear that they can have time to think and cause mischief, create mayhem in later life by their actions causing ripples that find others exasperated by their impertinence.

The tales of laziness are manyfold, the songs decrying the imbalance, the quotes by intelligent minds warning of the sloth-like figure to whom is expected little, and yet there is perhaps no such thing as lazy, just the uninspired without an outlet, the dull and unimaginative without guidance, and yet we still love a good tale that exemplifies the lengths they will go to in search of a good reason to stay comfortable and within their limits.

The man who has everything within reach but the means to satisfy his desires and curiosity is not to be considered lazy, but poor in spirit, and to which, and despite the elegantly provided title of Ray Lazy Ray, David Neville King expertly, and with absolute musical style, shows to be one of the great and well-crafted characters to which the listener finds solace and comradeship with. 

In the same spirit of intention that saw The Kinks reveal Lola to the outside world, the same resonance that The Beatles produced in our hearts for the plight of Eleanor Rigby, and the out and out wildness of expression that The Who made clear existed inside the shell of The Who’s Tommy Walker, David Neville King brings Lazy Ray to life, to the front of our perception of we might think of when we look at others with the same character traits. It is a skill that does not get the respect it normally deserves, and one to whom the song is superb, but to which the application of expression is majestic.

A terrific single from David Neville King, original, upbeat, creatively cool; Ray Lazy Ray is the master of all it surveys.

Ian D. Hall