"I go to BlackPOLL for my holidays,"-- ILM Artist Poll #17 -- The Kinks RESULTS THREAD

their -- both ray and dave -- tonedeafness about women is also not particularly agl (love me til the sun shines, for another example in addition to juke box music)
but whatever -- i have managed to not care about that much because i like the songs a lot

Little Miss Queen of Darkness is a notable exception though.

It's funny, fucked as those lines are, they're the most beautiful part of that song for me. In the 80s, though, they had an annoying habit of not playing huge parts of their older songs: they'd play "20th Century Man" without that bridge, and "Sleepwalker" was three verses and out, no bridge, no breakdown.

xp

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3288/3386311386_2118f79117_z.jpg

37. "Dedicated Follower of Fashion"
Non-LP Single/The Kinks' Greatest Hits, 1966
137 Points (7 Votes)

The Track: http://youtu.be/KXaO3zgaf5Q
Live on TV in '73: http://youtu.be/xXpkt6revK0

Ray's first wife Raisa was Jewish iirc. I referred to that line in "When I Turn Off the Living Room Light" on the nominations thread cuz I've had arguments with another Jew about whether or not it's antisemitic (I am firmly in the NOT camp)

Was she? Not sure about that. Lithuanian certainly. What about Ray's comedy Jewish accent (obv. a dig at Larry Page) on "Top of the Pops" - "And now you can make some rrrreal money"

xps

Not defending RD's entire worldview, but I'm not sure complaints about the dour, prying bureaucracy of the welfare state are entirely off the mark. (And were a staple of '60s New Leftism anyway.)

I may be reading those lines through a present-day lens.

never been that nuts about dedicated follower actually!
off topic a bit but has anyone ever read this book? it was my favorite as a kid, and reading it now to my daughter it strikes me as the children's book ray davies never wrote.

http://www.fictionalfood.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Giant-Jam-Sandwich-550x419.jpg

I love "Dedicated..." (second of my votes to place so far, I believe)

http://andrewbales.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/party-line-2.jpg

36. "Party Line"
Face To Face, 1966
143 Points (7 Votes)

The Track: http://youtu.be/2pSbUEdTyW8
Independence Hall cover (H-Town Represent Again!): http://youtu.be/nDsorr3IxBU

I missed this entire poll!!!! Never liked "Party Line".

one of my faves that didn't quite fit in my 20. nice to see it here. i love the damn melody and energy on this one

Not defending RD's entire worldview, but I'm not sure complaints about the dour, prying bureaucracy of the welfare state are entirely off the mark. (And were a staple of '60s New Leftism anyway.)

OTM. I think it's possible to be distrustful of government without being a conservative - cf the many varieties of anarchism.

Was going to mention that RDD was a sorta Tory Anarchist upthread

http://derclown007.free.fr/clown_deathofaclown.jpg

35. "Death of A Clown"
Dave Davies Solo Single/Something Else by The Kinks, 1967
154 Points (8 Votes)

The Track: http://youtu.be/nvYiUydIDAs
To The Bone version: http://youtu.be/ZVN0vw6UsOU

Good song.

Party Line is a metaphor for the spread of communism

Communist Party Line

http://www.memoire60-70.be/Images/Chronique_1966_1972/Kinks_Regina_01.jpg

34. "Fancy"
Face To Face, 1966
161 Points (9 Votes)

The Track: http://youtu.be/k_meqar1M3c
Live '69: http://youtu.be/_EQ8x_-b8IE

They played this live?! (rushes to grab headphones)

Aaaaaaaaalwaaaaaaaays

Blimey that looks a bit fascist rally! (xxp)

too much plaid for fascists imo
(now someone will post an image of fascists in uniform plaid won't they?)

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2557/4198203515_ea893790f4_z.jpg

33. "People Take Pictures of Each Other"
The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society, 1968
168 Points (9 Votes)

The Track: http://youtu.be/sqGOOmR0krY

Bit Fiddler on the Roof that track. This is a good thing imo.

Live version of "Fancy" is pretty cool. Would've been interesting to hear the Kinks develop more along those lines, but their pit orchestra days put an end to that.

tyler I read the Giant Jam Sandwich a ton as a kid, awesome book

http://cache2.allpostersimages.com/p/LRG/28/2812/1WJOD00Z/posters/ray-davis-lead-singer-of-the-kinks-with-his-wife-rosa-and-newly-born-baby-louise-clara-may-1966.jpg

32. "Too Much On My Mind"
Face To Face, 1966
172 Points (7 Votes)

The Track: http://youtu.be/aOSe53DzLP4

Was she? Not sure about that. Lithuanian certainly

over the course of arguing about that song previously I remember finding a newsclipping of Ray and Rasa's wedding that noted that she was Jewish. can't seem to find it now tho :(

http://991.com/newGallery/The-Kinks-Better-Things-Dbl-53728.jpg

31. "Better Things"
Give The People What They Want, 1981
182 Points (8 Votes)

The Track: http://youtu.be/cXioctDPGn0
Bouncing Souls cover: http://youtu.be/MjIU0fw0i3s

this is why I was arguing for fewer voters, surely a hardcore fan voterbase would have that top 15

We had a party line when I was a kid so the song brings up good memories. It was always weird to pick up the phone and here your neighbors talking. Whenever my mom need to call anyone she would put me on the line so I could be all cute and say, "I wanna call my Nana." Nobody wants to disappoint a pre-schooler so they'd wrap up their conversation.

I consider myself a pretty hardcore Kinks fan and didn't vote for anything post-1972 except for Come Dancing.

so nyah

which song you talking about iatee?

it seems p obv to me that that is one of the best songs ray davies has ever written

better things!

Really? I always thought it was a bit shit. Good lyrics, crap melody and music.

xp
if it makes you feel better iatee, I abstained in order not to simply reinforce the F2F-Muswell canon (the only era I know)

i had better things on my ballot originally, but it got the boot! it's a good late-period tune, but not top 20 for me.

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2291/2464913117_20879d99df_z.jpg?zz=1

30. "This Is Where I Belong"
Non-LP Single, 1967/The Kink Kronikles, 1972
190 Points (8 Votes, 1 #1)

The Track: http://youtu.be/0woPvO8qAgs

Same here. I like it, but I think it seems better than it is after trudging through the crapulence of Give The People What They Want.

xp

lol, now it's my turn (re: where i belong): surely a hardcore fan voterbase would have that top 15

crap melody and music

Really? Better Things has always struck me as one of Ray's most melodic melodies.

"This Is Where I Belong" is my #1

But wait, now that I think about it, Better Things sounds a lot like a Pretenders-style song. I could totally hear Chrissie Hynde singing it...which may be why EZ hates it.

This Is Where I Belong came really close to making my ballot. Hurt deep to cut it.

it's weird, i think the first version of that i heard was at a frank black concert (1994-ish?) and i was blown away, just like "FRANK BLACK HAS WRITTEN HIS BEST SONG EVER" and then found it was a cover, ha.

But wait, now that I think about it, Better Things sounds a lot like a Pretenders-style song. I could totally hear Chrissie Hynde singing it...which may be why EZ hates it.

― Johnny Fever

I hadn't cottoned to that either! I betcha that's at least part of my problem with it.

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3005/3008954455_77b4e7951f_z.jpg

29. "Celluloid Heroes"
Everybody's In Show-Biz, 1972/One For The Road, 1980
200 Points (9 Votes)

The Track: http://youtu.be/rTJVclgwS5g
Old Grey Whistle Test, 1977 : http://youtu.be/eSR7nfn-acs
One For The Road version: http://youtu.be/u555wjy4uQI

Better Things intro and guitar tone definitely Pretenders-ish. But I love it. Was a mixtape/mix-disc favorite for years, it's a good way to sign off. I like the lyrics -- "hoping all the verses rhyme/and the very best of choruses, too" -- and then the rush of the chorus totally delivers, "it's really good to see you rocking out and having fun..."