― Dr. C, Saturday, 15 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Nude Spock, Saturday, 15 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― the pinefox, Saturday, 15 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Oliver, Saturday, 15 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Destroy most everything from the arena era (his oil crisis song "Gallon of Gas"-gimme a break!) to the present day, though Ray did have a minor comeback on Give the People What They Want with the gorgeous and creepy pedophile ballad "Art Lover" and the just plain gorgeous "Better Things". And I think "Come Dancing" is a swell song and a great video. Also search: "Don't Forget to Dance", "Juke Box Music", "Misfits" and "Father Christmas" (they never play this on the radio during the holidays anymore, I wonder if they finally listened to the lyrics?).
I haven't heard anything from the last three Kinks albums or any Ray solo work, sorry.
― Arthur, Saturday, 15 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Jeff W, Monday, 17 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Dr. C, Monday, 17 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― fritz, Monday, 17 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Sean, Monday, 17 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Mark Dixon, Monday, 17 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Mark, Monday, 17 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
(i haven't posted here in quite a long time. i never did post much, come to think about it, but i've always enjoyed reading the board. it's nice to be back).
― cecilia, Monday, 17 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
still, how odd was it that they made it back onto AOR stations in the early 90's with a song about them trying not kill each other?
― Kingfish (Kingfish), Monday, 21 July 2003 14:45 (twenty years ago) link
― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Monday, 21 July 2003 14:52 (twenty years ago) link
― Kingfish (Kingfish), Monday, 21 July 2003 14:59 (twenty years ago) link
― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 21 July 2003 15:00 (twenty years ago) link
― Kingfish (Kingfish), Monday, 21 July 2003 15:06 (twenty years ago) link
― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Monday, 21 July 2003 15:13 (twenty years ago) link
Any news on the R. Davies/ Yo La Tengo project I kept hearing about a year-or-so ago?
― Will (will), Monday, 21 July 2003 15:17 (twenty years ago) link
Destroy:pretty much everything else. Soap Opera & Schoolboys In Disgrace Have their moments. Low Budget doesn't TOTALLY suck, though it has odd commercial metal undertones that annoy me & seem very out-of-place on a Kinks disc.
― John Bullabaugh (John Bullabaugh), Monday, 21 July 2003 15:30 (twenty years ago) link
...and State of Confusion may get a lot of destroy votes for its limp-noodle approach, but c'mon, Kinks were always best as a pop band.
"Do It Again" is a great track, but still, it can't save Word of Mouth.
One might also slip in The Great Lost Kinks Album as it does contain some extraneous (but highly worthy) early 70's material.
― christoff (christoff), Tuesday, 22 July 2003 12:23 (twenty years ago) link
― fact checking cuz, Tuesday, 22 July 2003 13:08 (twenty years ago) link
― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Tuesday, 22 July 2003 13:43 (twenty years ago) link
― j fail (cenotaph), Tuesday, 22 July 2003 14:14 (twenty years ago) link
Clearly, Clancy needs help.
― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Tuesday, 22 July 2003 14:33 (twenty years ago) link
― christoff (christoff), Tuesday, 22 July 2003 18:05 (twenty years ago) link
― Chris Barrus (Chris Barrus), Tuesday, 22 July 2003 21:42 (twenty years ago) link
― Sean (Sean), Wednesday, 23 July 2003 07:46 (twenty years ago) link
― christoff (christoff), Thursday, 24 July 2003 17:38 (twenty years ago) link
― dave225 (Dave225), Thursday, 24 July 2003 17:49 (twenty years ago) link
― j fail (cenotaph), Thursday, 24 July 2003 18:32 (twenty years ago) link
― Will (will), Friday, 25 July 2003 02:08 (twenty years ago) link
MUSWELL HILLBILLIES - Incredibly let down by this album when I actually heard it. There's a lot of the plodding nondescript psuedo-pubrock that characterises the Kinks' from 1970-1975. Few of the songs have any real hooks but Ray Davies is incapable of not writing at least one or two great songs per album. Can I also say the lyrics and the "concept" of the album are brilliant. Ray Davies is one of the few writers in Rock ever to write accurately about working class life.
EVERYBODY'S SHOWBIZ - This has more of the dreary pub rock of "Hillbillies" but it has two stunning songs: "Celluloid Heroes" and "Sitting In My Hotel". The live section of the album is a waste of everyone's time.
PRESERVATION ACT 1 - Again this actually has some very good songs on it and the concept is so loose it doesn't get in the way. The songs which aren't good are pretty dire however.
PRESERVATION ACT 2 - I'm afraid this was the last straw for me, I haven't bothered listening to a Kinks album since this. About 4 good songs out of 24 - and the other 20 are dreadful. The concept of the album is really quite interesting because it's really about the conflict about Capitalism and Marxism and as such is a very rare example of a political rock album.
― Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 25 July 2003 10:06 (twenty years ago) link
All sorts of wonderful, that song.
― Orgy of Pragmatism (Charles McCain), Friday, 6 October 2006 16:23 (seventeen years ago) link
"Moving Pictures""No More Looking Back""Better Things""Art Lover""Juke Box Music"
destroy:
"Black Messiah""A Gallon Of Gas""Hay Fever""State Of Confusion""Destroyer"
― hank (hank s), Friday, 6 October 2006 16:28 (seventeen years ago) link
"Slum Kids""Oklahoma USA"
also to destroy:
"Jack The Idiot Dunce""Have A Cuppa Tea"
― hank (hank s), Friday, 6 October 2006 16:40 (seventeen years ago) link
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Friday, 6 October 2006 17:36 (seventeen years ago) link
The Kinks are my favourite band, and this era is definitely not their strongest, but I love a lot of the stuff that came out of it anyway
― Erock Lazron (Erock Zombie), Friday, 6 October 2006 23:24 (seventeen years ago) link
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Friday, 6 October 2006 23:46 (seventeen years ago) link
I've been just hugely loving "Demolition" from Preservation I...first got into it via the BBC version which *sounds* much better. The original goes on longer, sort of along the lines of "Australia" from Arthur (which is another off-the-beaten-path Kinks track that's turned into a favorite over the past few years). If I could find a version that combines the BBC sound with the album performance I'd be in heaven.
― dlp9001, Saturday, 15 September 2007 00:13 (sixteen years ago) link
I fucking hated that 'Schoolboys In Disgrace' album from the 70's.
But I have The Kinks Present A Soap Opera from 1975 on vinyl and I always thought it was very charming.
I don't know Preservation. I fully admit I didn't get all the Kinks stuff I could have though, but this was partially because of a romantic falling out with someone who loved the Kinks. I never owned Arthur and I know this is a major flaw on my part.
― Bimble, Saturday, 15 September 2007 06:00 (sixteen years ago) link
it seemed like in the 80s/90s they fell into this pattern of making dull records with seemingly "commercial" aspirations that had one or two songs that were absurdly better than everything else on the record. specifically, "come dancing" (beats the hell outta everything else on state of confusion), "working in the factory" (the rest of think visual is as embarrassing as any music they've ever made), and "scattered," a song that sounded so fresh and out-of-place on the otherwise disappointing phobia that i wasn't particularly surprised to learn that it was a holdover from the muswell hillbillies days.
the 70s operas aren't without their merits; preservation act 1 is pretty listenable, and schoolboys in disgrace is by far the most focused (and rocking) of those records. as for the 70s aor stuff, i've always had a soft spot for sleepwalker; "full moon" is as beautiful as anything from something else or village green.
as a side note, when i saw the kinks in 1993 they opened with "sweet lady genevieve" from preservation act 1. a pleasant shock for the kinks fanatics in the crowd, with everyone else asking us why we were so excited about this song they didn't know.
― Lawrence the Looter, Saturday, 15 September 2007 13:45 (sixteen years ago) link
How come there was only one mention of This Time Tomorrow?? I had to leave it to Wes Anderson to bring it to me, which is shameful.
― Alba, Thursday, 8 November 2007 22:14 (sixteen years ago) link
Also, search: Get Back In Line.
― Alba, Thursday, 8 November 2007 22:16 (sixteen years ago) link
And to second Oklahoma USA.
― Alba, Thursday, 8 November 2007 22:20 (sixteen years ago) link
Soap Opera is great.
Preservation 1 AND 2 are good if you treat them in isolation. I think most people were just cranky that neither was as good as Village Green.
Elvis Costello tries something different and people love him for it. Ray Davies tries something different and they all have a big cry. I never understood this.
― Autumn Almanac, Friday, 9 November 2007 12:46 (sixteen years ago) link
btw I know Davies has apologised profusely for his vaudeville period, but I can't help thinking he let himself be convinced that the work wasn't great and so feels he needs to make excuses.
― Autumn Almanac, Friday, 9 November 2007 12:47 (sixteen years ago) link
"Celluloid Heroes" has such a lovely tune, but I'm very ambivalent about the lyrics - sort of irksome how all the male movie stars are portrayed as cool and solid while all the women are oh so tragic and vulnerable. Great song nonetheless.
― Daniel_Rf, Friday, 9 November 2007 14:05 (sixteen years ago) link
Elvis Costello tries something different and people love him for it
What? Are you on crack or something? People don't love him for it, they say "What the fuck are you doing writing for a fucking string quartet or writing a symphony or something, why can't you write another album like "Imperial Bedroom" and stop marrying jazz singers and writing albums for opera stars, you pointlessly eclectic cunt!"
― Tom D., Friday, 9 November 2007 16:26 (sixteen years ago) link
I got the Percy soundtrack out the other day. The vocal numbers would make a killer EP, and the instrumentals are endearingly oddball.
― C. Grisso/McCain, Friday, 9 November 2007 17:09 (sixteen years ago) link
Ok, been on a Kinks Rock Operas bender lately, but jesus has rock criticism ever been more wrong? I don't know that I'll ever have time to write up a full blow-by-blow, but Preservation 1 and 2 are both amazing, Soap Opera is great, and Schoolboys is apparently going to be a movie so we can all judge when it comes out.
I can't help but think there was some unspoken agenda against what these albums represented. I have to admit that all the hype managed to scare me off of them for like 20 years, which is sort of ridiculous and I should have known better.
Nice quote from somewhere or other, that's almost certainly true: "If the Beatles cut "Money Talks", it would be quoted every day."
Preservation 1 search at the moment would be:
Morning SongDaylightSweet Lady Genevieve (that's the first three songs on the album, btw)One of the SurvivorsMoney & Corruption/I Am Your Man (and I'm pretty fond of Cricket too, actually)Sitting In The Midday SunDemolition
And that = "really strong album." The "Preservation" single isn't too shabby either.
From Preservation 2:
Introduction to SolutionWhen A Solution ComesMoney Talks (i.e. once again the first three tracks, and jesus Money Talks is amazing. Also, just as a point of interest, compare the middle bit around 2:20 to Bowie's "Candidate" which was also probably channeling the Stones in a twisted way.)Second Hand Car SpivHe's Evil (another massive and overlooked track...can't believe this isn't on all the Best Ofs)Nobody GivesFlash's Confession (another great faux Bowie track, and why doesn't a single review I've read mention the Bowie influence on this time period?)Salvation Road
Easily 8 solid tracks, and I'm pretty fond of the rest too.
Most underrated song of this period has to be Ducks On The Wall, though, from Soap Opera. Christ.
― dlp9001, Sunday, 5 September 2010 03:18 (thirteen years ago) link
Other classic bit on this period:
Circus: A few months ago Lou Reed said he only listens to two albums, "Preservation Act I" and "The Great Lost Kinks Album."
Ray: I don't play his stuff so I feel bad when you say that. I felt really ashamed when I never heard of his group before, the Velvet Underground, until I signed with RCA. I really thought I should have. There are so many things I miss, you know.
― dlp9001, Sunday, 5 September 2010 03:19 (thirteen years ago) link
It's also screamingly obvious the precedent for Robyn Hitchcock's "Uncorrected Personality Traits" is on Preservation 2: "Shepherds of the Nation."
― dlp9001, Sunday, 5 September 2010 03:48 (thirteen years ago) link
Got two tracks from Preservation on eMusic the other day 'cause of this recent talk- "One of the Survivors" isn't doing it for me. But "Sweet Lady Genevieve" is beyond fantastic, and might be the best one-song distillation of Davies strengths.
"One of the Survivors" has that fifties nostalgia feel of a lot glam, and it's long-winded like rock of the time. But it doesn't have the production values. It still sounds like 1968. I wonder how much the production and the stasis of the Kinks sound around this time had to do with the indifference they faced. Old hat when everyone was trying out funny new over-the-top hats.
― bendy, Sunday, 5 September 2010 12:55 (thirteen years ago) link
Things I like about "One of the Survivors" off the top of my head:
It's basically "Taking Care of Business" (1973 must have been a good year for that riff)The line about driving 100 miles an hour, but it don't mess up my D.A.All that Stonesy riffing. Seems like right around this point in his career Ray starts paying a lot more attention to RS, Who, Bowie...
I kind of remember when I first heard this album, not being to thrilled w/much other than Demolition. It was a slow grower for sure, and production could be part of that.
― dlp9001, Sunday, 5 September 2010 15:46 (thirteen years ago) link
Agree the Preservation albums are underrated, though I can see how coming so soon after the Kontroversy through Muswell run, they could sound like further confirmation post-Everybody's in Showbiz that the Kinks were in decline. The biggest problems are the vocals and, as alluded to above, the production. Davies singing is even more affected than usual throughout the albums, as he really indulges his penchant for campy overacting. The production is a mess, though that's one thing I rather like about the albums. The sloppy, shambolic quality keeps the music from achieving the larger than life grandeur maybe it could have had, but it also keeps the albums from being overcome by bombast- there's something fundamentally tossed off and funny about the Preservation songs that really appeals to me (and fits in well with the themes of the piece). That said, I'm currently working on a Kinks collection for the comp project, and I ultimately decided on using just a single track from the Preservation project, though it was painful to drop "Salvation Road" and "Money Talks." Another song I really like: "Mirror of Love," especially the alternate take available on the Preservation 2 CD.
― MumblestheRevelator, Sunday, 5 September 2010 16:05 (thirteen years ago) link
I can't help but think there was some unspoken agenda against what these albums represented.
... them representing Ray disappearing up his own arse you mean? There are definitely some great songs on these albums, esp. "Preservation 1" and "A Soap Opera". Listening to all of "Preservation 2" is a chore however and "Schoolboys in Disgrace" is a total dog.
― Tom A. (Tom B.) (Tom C.) (Tom D.), Monday, 6 September 2010 10:11 (thirteen years ago) link
I know, "LOL rockstar trying to make serious statements" but, politically, "Preservation" is naive bordering on simple-minded
― Tom A. (Tom B.) (Tom C.) (Tom D.), Monday, 6 September 2010 12:18 (thirteen years ago) link
Schoolboys in Disgrace to be a film musical directed by Bobcat Goldthwait!
http://www.spinner.com/2010/06/30/bobcat-goldthwait-kinks-schoolboys-in-disgrace-movie/
― kind of shrill and very self-righteous (Dr Morbius), Monday, 27 September 2010 16:27 (thirteen years ago) link
― Daniel_Rf, Friday, November 9, 2007 9:05 AM (nine years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
anachronistic rock criticism at its finest
― Wimmels, Wednesday, 7 December 2016 11:42 (seven years ago) link
Search: 'Ducks on the Wall'
― Working night & day, I tried to stay awake... (Turrican), Friday, 9 December 2016 23:59 (seven years ago) link
never listened to Sleepwalker before, I'm digging it
― The Desus & Mero Chain (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 19 April 2018 15:17 (five years ago) link
I'm kind of agnostic about their post-Muswell work but I put "Here Comes Yet Another Day" on a playlist a long time ago and I'm really digging it now
― frogbs, Thursday, 19 April 2018 15:25 (five years ago) link
I love Schoolboys In Disgrace, especially No More Looking Back. Is that Bobcat Goldthwait movie still happening? I think I'd like a Schoolboys In Disgrace movie directed by Wes Anderson, it seems like it would be a good fit for him - institutional setting, focused on the pain/pleasure of wallowing in the past, people cloistering themselves away from the world
― soref, Thursday, 19 April 2018 16:16 (five years ago) link
Juke Box Music on Sleepwalker is one of their very best. Same goes for Rock and Roll Fantasy on Misfits.
― kornrulez6969, Thursday, 19 April 2018 17:04 (five years ago) link
you keep all your smart modern writers
― budo jeru, Saturday, 21 March 2020 02:44 (four years ago) link
OTM. As is
― Robbie Shakespeare’s Sister Lovers (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 21 March 2020 05:03 (four years ago) link
"Lola vs. Powerman" - Ray's Jewish accent on "Top of the Pops" is a bit :-O but a good album with some reservations.
I find "Muswell Hillbillies" to be an irritatingly sequenced album, all the boring crap like "Complicated Life", "Here Come the People in Grey", "Acute Schizophrenia etc" seems to be crammed into the first half of the album, making it a chore to sit through, then the last four songs are great. Also I don't like "Holiday" or "Alcohol" much, two songs which people seem to consider highlights of the album. And what does, "Skin and Bones" have to do with the concept (so-called) of the album?
I'm not bored enough yet to listen to "Everybody's in Showbiz".
― Angry Question Time Man's Flute Club Band (Tom D.), Monday, 4 May 2020 12:24 (three years ago) link
Ha. The latter was one of the only ones I could find back in the late 70s and early 80s I can confirm that it’s pretty bad.
― My Chess Hustler (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 4 May 2020 13:17 (three years ago) link
I've got it I just don't want to listen to it.
― Angry Question Time Man's Flute Club Band (Tom D.), Monday, 4 May 2020 13:31 (three years ago) link
"This Time Tomorrow" (mentioned a couple of times earlier in this thread) is one of their greatest. Somehow I missed it in The Darjeeling Limited (not to mention missing it on the album I played two or three times 35 years ago and then shelved), but I've since come across it on The Regular Lovers, a French film from 2005, and the new Mrs. America on F/X.
― clemenza, Monday, 4 May 2020 14:02 (three years ago) link
― My Chess Hustler (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 4 May 2020 14:05 (three years ago) link
Just put on The Great Lost Kinks Album, which I could never find a copy of back in the day, heard the backing vocals on "Lavender Hill," was reminded of the magic that Rasa seemed to add and then this grand theory: https://andrewhickey.info/2018/01/28/did-a-teenage-girl-make-the-kinks-great/
― My Chess Hustler (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 4 May 2020 14:15 (three years ago) link
I really disliked The Darjeeling Limited but it did make me realize what a fuckin' great song that is
― frogbs, Monday, 4 May 2020 14:19 (three years ago) link
Yup
― My Chess Hustler (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 4 May 2020 14:28 (three years ago) link
Better than the hotel movie, I thought, but nothing special. The Kinks song couldn't have been very prominent--I don't think I would have missed it if it had been (or else I immediately forgot it in the wake of the movie's averageness).
― clemenza, Monday, 4 May 2020 14:33 (three years ago) link
I love Sleepwalker (the album) even though it's about half stinkers. The songs I like I like a lot. Also God's Children has everything I love about the Kinks and is, imo, a great song, even though maybe some of the lyrics are uncomfortably related to the plot of Percy (which I haven't seen)
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Monday, 4 May 2020 14:42 (three years ago) link
Jukebox Music is super condescending to little ladies who like records and it *still* hits the spot. The title track of Sleepwalker and Mr. Big Man are also perennial faves for me.
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Monday, 4 May 2020 14:44 (three years ago) link
LL otm. Misfits was kind of a further fall-off in quality but I still have kind of a soft spot for it.Wondering if the Kinks have been mentioned on that other thread I haven’t really looked at, Great Bands with Crap Albums or whatever it’s called.
― My Chess Hustler (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 4 May 2020 14:45 (three years ago) link
that article about Rasa is pretty interesting. obviously there are a lot of musicians who captured greatness for a few years and then fell off but even still, Ray Davies just seemed like a totally different songwriter after Lola. its not even that so much of that is crap but rather just how much blatant plagiarism there is on those later records. he just has no new song ideas
― frogbs, Monday, 4 May 2020 14:49 (three years ago) link
Yeah, he didn't really seem to have a knack for churning out somewhat better-than-average material, it was a bimodal distribution of great stuff surrounded by lots of dreck. Maybe he should be compared with somebody like, say, Burt Bacharach.
"God's Children" was on one of those Mojo samplers, one that was soundtrack-based and it always sounded so awesome on that. Don't know what I did with it, the whole thing flowed really well, it had the theme from "The Taking of Pelham 123" on it, for one thing.
― My Chess Hustler (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 4 May 2020 14:54 (three years ago) link
This: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/63KbGAD9A8hZKxDqvj9kMs
― My Chess Hustler (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 4 May 2020 14:55 (three years ago) link
Here is some further discussion: http://5mudg3blog.blogspot.com/2009/02/thanks-mojo-best-cover-mounted-cds-ever.html
― My Chess Hustler (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 4 May 2020 14:57 (three years ago) link
I have seen "Percy" but I don't remember anything about it apart from a bit where they're wondering around a zoo - hence "Animals in the Zoo". I might even have seen "Percy's Progress" too.
― Angry Question Time Man's Flute Club Band (Tom D.), Monday, 4 May 2020 14:57 (three years ago) link
This playlist seems to have the whole thing, nothing grayed out: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2E7rDi38F9ZCPFoT8EdYUt?si=2_5JsnN4RsCD0Ya5dh68Aw
― My Chess Hustler (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 4 May 2020 14:58 (three years ago) link
Oh wait! Life on the Road is good too!! "Mama always told me city ladies were bawdy & bold, so I searched night and day to catch the kiss of a lady but all that I caught was a cold" -- that's funny!
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Monday, 4 May 2020 15:01 (three years ago) link
Cheap looking Kinks documentary on London Live (Channel 8, Freeview) at the moment. No sign of Ray.
― Sonny Shamrock (Tom D.), Thursday, 23 July 2020 19:07 (three years ago) link
... Dave, interviewed in 1981, voice only.
― Sonny Shamrock (Tom D.), Thursday, 23 July 2020 19:09 (three years ago) link
Mick Avory, like some old geezer in a pub who can't be bothered speaking to anyone, just wants to be left alone to sup his pint.
― Sonny Shamrock (Tom D.), Thursday, 23 July 2020 19:11 (three years ago) link
John Dalton, second billed guest star on "Minder" ca. 1983.
― Sonny Shamrock (Tom D.), Thursday, 23 July 2020 19:13 (three years ago) link
John Gosling off to a bad start, claiming that before joined the Kinks he was considering an offer to replace Jools Holland in Squeeze - Jools Holland would have been 12 years old at the time.
― Sonny Shamrock (Tom D.), Thursday, 23 July 2020 19:17 (three years ago) link
So bad it's good!
― Time Will Show Leo Weiser (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 23 July 2020 19:43 (three years ago) link
So bad I turned it off.
― Sonny Shamrock (Tom D.), Thursday, 23 July 2020 19:47 (three years ago) link
And started listening to Everybody's in Show-Biz instead?
― Time Will Show Leo Weiser (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 23 July 2020 19:50 (three years ago) link
Ennio Morricone's soundtrack to "Orca" actually.
― Sonny Shamrock (Tom D.), Thursday, 23 July 2020 19:51 (three years ago) link
Cool!
― Time Will Show Leo Weiser (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 23 July 2020 19:52 (three years ago) link
Forgot he did that one
Of course I could probably say that about thousands of soundtracks and it would mean "I never knew he composed that one too!"
― Time Will Show Leo Weiser (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 23 July 2020 19:53 (three years ago) link
Percy On Blu-Ray!
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film10/blu-ray_review_142/percy_blu-ray.htm
― “Heroin” (ft. Bobby Gillespie) (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 17 August 2021 23:06 (two years ago) link
I don't understand the ambivalence towards "Destroyer;" in fact, the only mention of it is it being 'Destroyed' by an ILXer and I don't think that was being cheeky.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WJ6FbcWYRU
I get it that oldsters won't see it as holding a candle to the British Invasion staples, but as someone who was 12 and gravitating towards loud guitars (they did shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes," you know) this was an early earworm for me, one that I still appreciated when it occurred to me the band was being influenced by the same punk/new wave bands that they, themselves, had helped spawn to a degree. There's something cool about that, but especially when it's done this well.
― Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Wednesday, 18 August 2021 02:46 (two years ago) link
never listened to Sleepwalker before, I'm not digging it
― When Smeato Met Moaty (Tom D.), Thursday, 2 December 2021 19:38 (two years ago) link
Probably if the first track ("Life on the Road") hadn't been so good I wouldn't have been so disappointed with the rest of the album but... I'm struggling to find any trace of the Kinks on some of these songs.
― When Smeato Met Moaty (Tom D.), Thursday, 2 December 2021 19:43 (two years ago) link
It’s like half good. The songs I love i love wholeheartedly but some of them are just bitter and boring.
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Thursday, 2 December 2021 20:21 (two years ago) link
Agree with LL.
― Goofy the Grifter (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 2 December 2021 20:25 (two years ago) link
"Full Moon" is up there with their mid-'60s peak for me. With the possible exceptions of maybe "Scattered" or "Come Dancing," it's their last truly great track (even if it self-plagiarizes "Johnny Thunder," but that's nothing new for them).
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, 2 December 2021 20:26 (two years ago) link
The songwriting is miles better than something like "Schoolboys in Disgrace" but it's just sounds too anonymous and American for me.
― When Smeato Met Moaty (Tom D.), Thursday, 2 December 2021 20:37 (two years ago) link
Yeah, the flumpfy LA sound is kind of off-putting. I sometimes confuse "Life Goes On" for Fleetwood Mac's "Over My Head" (or vice-versa) hearing them on the radio. But it's in line with pretty much all Kinks productions: "What do records sound like today? OK, we'll do that."
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, 2 December 2021 20:52 (two years ago) link
Since this is the active Kinks thread ATM
🎶 We are the Village Green Preservation Society 🎶 https://t.co/ppWETk8Z2w— Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) December 3, 2021
― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, 3 December 2021 01:29 (two years ago) link
Sleepwalker was the first time in 10 years he'd had to come up with songs outside of an overriding concept, on the orders of Clive Davis. In fact the concept was "keep the Kinks viable as a major label act in the late 70s", which also meant dispensing with the sometimes-charming sloppiness of the RCA-era band. I believe that Dave was also calling for a return to "rock" as a condition to stay in the band.
― Halfway there but for you, Friday, 3 December 2021 16:27 (two years ago) link
Misfits.
After going all rawwwwk on the last album this is curiously limp and soft centred. Once again, the opening song is really good but the tail off is even more vertiginous. There's a 'comic' song about having hay fever - no, seriously. Ray appears to sing sensitively and compassionately about misfits on the title track and then gets some cheap laughs out of one on "Out of the Wardrobe". On one song he advises those alienated by the 'extreme left and extreme right" to keep their heads down and just live their lives and a couple of songs later he's exhorting those alienated by the 'extreme left and extreme right" to stand up and fight - though he doesn't say how, maybe by voting for Jeremy Thorpe."Rock and Roll Fantasy" is a good song.
― When Smeato Met Moaty (Tom D.), Monday, 6 December 2021 09:48 (two years ago) link
... and then there's "Black Messiah", wtf is Ray trying to tell us in that song?
― When Smeato Met Moaty (Tom D.), Monday, 6 December 2021 10:58 (two years ago) link
Dunno but your Misfits review is spot-on so far. Although you haven’t touched on “Live Life” yet.
― Goofy the Grifter (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 6 December 2021 11:49 (two years ago) link
That's the one where he advises people to be apolitical in the face of the extremes of left and right? It's utter crap.
― When Smeato Met Moaty (Tom D.), Monday, 6 December 2021 12:08 (two years ago) link
It's the big ROCK track on the album and, in a similar vein, is followed by a dire hairy chested screechathon from Dave.
― When Smeato Met Moaty (Tom D.), Monday, 6 December 2021 12:11 (two years ago) link
Tbh I like the rocking on that track, at least the guitar, the lyrics not so much.
― Goofy the Grifter (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 6 December 2021 12:43 (two years ago) link
I have a soft spot for "In a Foreign Land" and "Permanent Waves" from that album. Giddy singalongs that hearkened back to Arthur.
― henry s, Monday, 6 December 2021 13:29 (two years ago) link
― When Smeato Met Moaty (Tom D.), Monday, December 6, 2021 5:58 AM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink
It's a blatantly racist piece of shit. Adding insult to injury, they released it as a single in the UK at a time when the neo-nazi National Front was on the ascendance.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Monday, 6 December 2021 14:54 (two years ago) link
Is it a character study of a racist though? Whatever it is it's stupid.
― When Smeato Met Moaty (Tom D.), Monday, 6 December 2021 15:22 (two years ago) link
In one of the Kinks biographies, one of the bass players on Misfits complains about doing dozens of takes of "Hay Fever" in different keys, different tempos, etc. Ray was probably becoming more neurotic about getting everything "right" for the arena-size audience.
― Halfway there but for you, Monday, 6 December 2021 16:30 (two years ago) link
Well that's something to look forward to when the 50-year reissue drops!
― henry s, Monday, 6 December 2021 16:54 (two years ago) link
So it seems there's a radio dramatization of the Lola vs. Powerman album being broadcast on Radio 4 this Saturday.
Lola vs Powerman, the radio play, will broadcast on BBC Radio 4 this Saturday at 14:45 GMT! The play documents the life of a character in the music business facing the challenging circumstances in which he found himself at the end of the 1960s.Written by Sir Ray and Paul Sirett pic.twitter.com/kl5qa36CcY— The Kinks (@TheKinks) December 7, 2021
― When Smeato Met Moaty (Tom D.), Tuesday, 7 December 2021 20:56 (two years ago) link
Apparently they made a radio play of Arthur earlier?
― Halfway there but for you, Tuesday, 7 December 2021 21:01 (two years ago) link
So I see. I missed that, damn it!
― When Smeato Met Moaty (Tom D.), Tuesday, 7 December 2021 21:11 (two years ago) link
Preservation and Soap Opera don't convince me that Ray has a great ear for spoken dialogue.
― Halfway there but for you, Tuesday, 7 December 2021 21:40 (two years ago) link
Let's just hope he's not speaking it too.
― When Smeato Met Moaty (Tom D.), Tuesday, 7 December 2021 21:44 (two years ago) link
Wonder who's gonna deliver the "it means you can earn some real money!" line.
― henry s, Wednesday, 8 December 2021 01:53 (two years ago) link
Low Budget.
Can you believe this piece of crap is the highest charting Kinks album of all time in the US? It got to #11, wtf?
― When Smeato Met Moaty (Tom D.), Friday, 17 December 2021 18:09 (two years ago) link
I don't really like anything from this record, but when I saw Ray in 2006, the title track was the only song he played later than Muswell Hillbillies except for his new songs, and it was actually fun.
― Halfway there but for you, Friday, 17 December 2021 18:23 (two years ago) link
"Moving Pictures" is kind of fun.
― henry s, Friday, 17 December 2021 18:25 (two years ago) link
The title track is amusing because Ray Davies is famously the biggest tightwad on planet Earth, the song is still shit though. The "Superman" song is admittedly catchy.
― When Smeato Met Moaty (Tom D.), Friday, 17 December 2021 18:35 (two years ago) link
As is "In a Space" and "National Health." A full one third of the album is a toe-tapper.
― henry s, Friday, 17 December 2021 18:38 (two years ago) link
I beg to differ.
― When Smeato Met Moaty (Tom D.), Friday, 17 December 2021 18:39 (two years ago) link
One of the kinks' ogwt sessions was shown on bbc4 recently, and now I can't shake off "Have a cuppa tea" for months on end. All it takes is to see the words "Muswell Hillbillies" and here we go again.
― Mark G, Friday, 17 December 2021 18:41 (two years ago) link
I should have said hallelujah there
― Mark G, Friday, 17 December 2021 18:42 (two years ago) link
More neurotic? Is that even possible? Yes, right now I am reading that same biography.
― When Smeato Met Moaty (Tom D.), Friday, 17 December 2021 18:54 (two years ago) link
Can you believe this piece of crap is the highest charting Kinks album of all time in the US? It got to #11, wtf?Actually, their 1966 Greatest Hits! is the highest (#9 in the US). But it makes sense that Low Budget charted as high as it did: they’d been on a slow and steady climb back into larger halls and getting more radio play, and Low Budget was the perfect summit (not artistically speaking, that is). But it’s interesting that their biggest US chart success after 1966 was the decidedly un-arena-rock “Come Dancing.”
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Friday, 17 December 2021 19:36 (two years ago) link
"Come Dancing" was more Pop than they'd been since "Lola" the song, and the video was huge.
― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, 17 December 2021 20:33 (two years ago) link
True, though I wonder why that didn't translate into a higher chart peak for State of Confusion?
― Halfway there but for you, Friday, 17 December 2021 21:08 (two years ago) link
Dunno, probably just new fans buying the single and perhaps concert tickets instead of the LP.
Low Budget peaking so high is possibly explained by it coming out at peak FM radio, when an album could sell as an album on name recognition and AOR radio play without necessarily having crossover appeal.
― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, 17 December 2021 21:14 (two years ago) link
"State of Confusion" was the second most successful non-compliation Kinks album in the US in their history, so it did pretty well.
― When Smeato Met Moaty (Tom D.), Friday, 17 December 2021 21:16 (two years ago) link
The career of the Kinks is a head-scratcher almost from beginning to end though.
― When Smeato Met Moaty (Tom D.), Friday, 17 December 2021 21:20 (two years ago) link
Clive Davis was somewhat famously against "Come Dancing" being released as a single, pushing instead for the other song about dancing on the album, the ballad "Don't Forget To Dance". I wonder if that contributed to why the vid for the latter was a literal Pt.2 to the one for the former.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRUE0aAI5o8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pmk5ZasgEp0
― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, 17 December 2021 21:22 (two years ago) link
I’d never seen the “Don’t Forget” video before! Strange how Word Of Mouth stiffed only a year later. It’s no classic, but it’s got some solid tunes. “Do It Again” is an all-time Kinks fave of mine, and I remembered being shocked that the musicians playing so furiously on “Sold Me Out” were (gasp) in their early 40s! They did an arena tour that year, appeared on SNL, “Do It Again” was on the radio…and few were buying.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Friday, 17 December 2021 23:16 (two years ago) link
Last week I found and watched a free streaming copy of the SNL In The '80s doc, and the "Do It Again" performance clip figured in heavily.
― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 18 December 2021 00:01 (two years ago) link
"Do It Again" was the first new Kinks song I heard when it came out, I'd have to ponder if they or Ray have done anything as good since.
― Halfway there but for you, Saturday, 18 December 2021 00:03 (two years ago) link
The first proper Ray solo album, Other People's Lives, is pretty solid, and the CD booklet has terrific liners from Ray talking about each track.
― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 18 December 2021 00:11 (two years ago) link
Always wondered why Dave was not in the "Do It Again" video. Guess he was on a Kinks rumspringa at that point.
― henry s, Saturday, 18 December 2021 00:21 (two years ago) link
I’ll rep for “Look Through Any Doorway” (from the 1991 Did Ya EP) (the 1991 what what?) and especially for “Scattered” from Phobia. Hell, I’ll go so far as to rep for most of UK Jive — “War Is Over” and “How Do I Get Close” are comparable with “Do It Again.”xxp
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Saturday, 18 December 2021 00:22 (two years ago) link
Always wondered why Dave was not in the "Do It Again" video. Guess he was on a Kinks rumspringa at that point.He’s in it! He’s there at 3:50 offering his guitar to the crowd. More weirdly, Mick Avory is in the video, but didn’t play on the song — Dave told Ray that he couldn’t work with Mick anymore, so Bob Henrit plays on most of Word Of Mouth.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Saturday, 18 December 2021 00:26 (two years ago) link
Guess I missed him in that clown get up.
― henry s, Saturday, 18 December 2021 00:30 (two years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBZh5mB66Tk
― PaulTMA, Saturday, 18 December 2021 18:28 (two years ago) link
What was that song he wrote about waking up in New Orleans' Charity Hospital, observing the people around him? Was it "Morphine Song"? (He'd chased down the guy who snatched his girl friend's purse, I think.) That was really good, unlike most of the other tracks on whatever album, which sported airhead snottiness and auto-bombastic guitars, of an already dated kind at that. I may be forgetting some other keepers, but there do seem to be just 2-3 at most on much if not all of his post-1970 offerings.
― dow, Saturday, 18 December 2021 19:08 (two years ago) link
"How Are You" is a good song. Funny that although I think he started playing it even before he picked up a guitar, I don't think I've ever seen Ray playing (or miming) piano before that video.
― Halfway there but for you, Saturday, 18 December 2021 19:27 (two years ago) link
I agree that "Morphine song" was a highlight of Working Man's Cafe. The second Americana album had some good songs too, but the first was a big disappointment. The sound, playing and production were all perfect, which meant that the dismay arose solely from the mediocre quality of Ray's songs.
― Halfway there but for you, Saturday, 18 December 2021 19:34 (two years ago) link
I don't think I've ever seen Ray playing (or miming) piano before that video.
He plays a lot of piano in this, I believe.
https://forgottentelevisiondrama.files.wordpress.com/2020/10/long-distance-cover.jpg
― When Smeato Met Moaty (Tom D.), Saturday, 18 December 2021 19:51 (two years ago) link
Also miming here - not that you see much of the piano.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVRyTao8zv0
― When Smeato Met Moaty (Tom D.), Saturday, 18 December 2021 19:57 (two years ago) link
Live album, "One for the Road" is pretty fun, even the songs from "Low Budget" sound OK on it. Ray's "punk voice", a kind of gruff gorblimey bark is pretty silly though.
― I Can't See Gervais In My Mind (Tom D.), Tuesday, 4 January 2022 21:25 (two years ago) link
I saw them on tour shortly before that album, sat pretty far up front, couldn't hear properly for a few days, wasn't really into it until Dave sang "Bird Dog."
― (I'm Not Your) Steppin' Razor (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 5 January 2022 01:56 (two years ago) link
I was in the fourth row for a show on that Low Budget tour, and Ray was bouncing back and forth across the stage pretty well. I have distinct memories of a long trail of spit following behind him.
― henry s, Wednesday, 5 January 2022 03:37 (two years ago) link
I've always liked "Rats" (b-side of "Apeman")
― Maltrsnapper, Wednesday, 5 January 2022 11:19 (two years ago) link
Apparently Dave was into spitting in other band members' faces or kicking them in the shins - onstage - at the time, don't know if that explains it.
― I Can't See Gervais In My Mind (Tom D.), Wednesday, 5 January 2022 12:47 (two years ago) link
I think Ray was just so energized he couldn't control it, no malice intended. I recall Dave spitting on stage too, but not in the direction of any of the band, or audience. This was one of my first concerts, and I had never imagined that musicians outside the realm of punk rock spit while performing, so it left an indelible image.
― henry s, Wednesday, 5 January 2022 13:45 (two years ago) link
There's a good story in the Ray Davies biography which sums up what being in a band with the Davies brothers could be like. They're playing a gig somewhere in the States, late 70s/early 80s, crowd's going nuts, Dave Davies walks over to keyboard player, John Gosling, and spits at him full in his face. At the end of the gig, as they're preparing to go back on stage for the encore, Gosling says, "I'm not getting on stage with that cunt", Ray says, "Get on that stage or I'll knock you out". Gosling refuses, Ray knocks him clean out, dives back on stage all smiles and plays the keyboards himself - ever the pro!
― I Can't See Gervais In My Mind (Tom D.), Wednesday, 5 January 2022 13:51 (two years ago) link
It's awfully hard for me to imagine Ray Davies knocking anybody out. Outrunning them perhaps, but not knocking them out.
― henry s, Sunday, 9 January 2022 03:21 (two years ago) link
Re: live albums, I was dismayed to learn this week that my 1998 CD of Everybody's in Showbiz doesn't contain the full original vinyl. Songs and banter were cut in order to make room for two not-very-necessary bonus songs; some of the cuts were incredibly fussy, like cutting out a second or two in the intro of "Alcohol", or replacing the transitions between songs with looped crowd noise. This is assuming, of course, that the deluxe edition is faithful to the original vinyl, and not the product of another attack of reworked mastering.
― Halfway there but for you, Sunday, 9 January 2022 04:22 (two years ago) link
He's a big guy, slim certainly, but tall - plus have you seen John Gosling? He was also a star athlete at school, in various sports, I think he might even have done some boxing?
― I Can't See Gervais In My Mind (Tom D.), Sunday, 9 January 2022 11:42 (two years ago) link
(xp) The live part of "Everybody's In Showbiz" is weird anyway, like they, or rather, Ray went out of the way to sabotage it by including all those silly covers and having "Lola" reduced to a chant by the audience. They left out a lot of much stronger and more commercial material that was recorded at the same time. I wonder if it gave Lou Reed the idea for "Take No Prisoners"!
― I Can't See Gervais In My Mind (Tom D.), Sunday, 9 January 2022 11:50 (two years ago) link
Yes, it's like a snapshot of a certain drunken, horn-laden idea of the Kinks in 1972, more Fandango than Made in Japan.
― Halfway there but for you, Sunday, 9 January 2022 16:35 (two years ago) link
(now thinking of Lou Reed interrupting "I Wanna Be Black" with a rendition of "The Banana Boat Song")
― Halfway there but for you, Sunday, 9 January 2022 16:36 (two years ago) link
"I wanna be blackI wanna have a banana..."
― Mark G, Sunday, 9 January 2022 17:42 (two years ago) link
"Take No Prisoners" = methamphetamine"Everybody's in Showbiz" = Tetley's Bitter
― I Can't See Gervais In My Mind (Tom D.), Sunday, 9 January 2022 17:45 (two years ago) link
lol
― The Door into Summerisle (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 9 January 2022 18:04 (two years ago) link
The record is kind of lost, but the version of Celluloid Heroes on To the Bone is absolutely terrific.
― Naive Teen Idol, Tuesday, 11 January 2022 04:02 (two years ago) link
"Give the People What They Want".
This album is pretty much a write-off until the last three songs. So much of it consists of an out-of-touch middle aged rocker's idea of what punk/new wave sounds like, with shouty vocals from Ray and hideous heavy rock guitar from Dave. The song that recycles "All of the Day and All of the Night" is an abomination. Plus it just sounds crap. Then Ray comes up with a jokey song written from the point of view of a would-be paedophile, a pretty bleak song about spousal abuse and follows those up with a song hoping for better times!
― Alfred Ndwego of Kenya (Tom D.), Tuesday, 8 March 2022 21:47 (two years ago) link
That's what the people wanted!
― Halfway there but for you, Tuesday, 8 March 2022 21:53 (two years ago) link
Not I.
― Mardi Gras Mambo Sun (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 8 March 2022 21:56 (two years ago) link
I'd actually rather listen to "Destroyer" than "All Day and All of the Night", I don't even mind the medley of the two that Ray did with Billy Corgan.
― Halfway there but for you, Tuesday, 8 March 2022 21:59 (two years ago) link
Para-noi-a! the destroy-er!
It's absolutely appalling! I really wish Ray had split the band up some time in the mid 70s.
― Alfred Ndwego of Kenya (Tom D.), Tuesday, 8 March 2022 22:02 (two years ago) link
Pretty much
― Mardi Gras Mambo Sun (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 8 March 2022 22:03 (two years ago) link
I think it's the one "heavy" song they did in their arena rock phase that can handle the overstatement.
― Halfway there but for you, Tuesday, 8 March 2022 22:06 (two years ago) link
lol it even starts with "met a girl named Lola..."
funny enough I am listening to the Kink Kronikles right now and it is nuts how Ray could basically do no wrong for like that entire 5 year period. practically every song here is gold and it's still missing a lot of the best album tracks. then he just kind of fucked around for a few years and when he tried to make hit records again it's like he forgot how to write a song. I remember reading some article about all the stuff from Sleepwalker on pointing out all the instances of self-plagiarism and stolen riffs. it's like two-thirds of the songs. kinda goes with his fuck-you-I'm-a-star attitude I guess
― frogbs, Tuesday, 8 March 2022 22:15 (two years ago) link
Ray Davies used to - and still does probably - make a song and dance about how Pete Townshend had ripped the Kinks off on "Can't Explain", which Townshend admitted to, and so kick started the Who's career. So what does Ray do? He rips off the Who on at least one track on every second album from the mid 70s onwards.
― Alfred Ndwego of Kenya (Tom D.), Tuesday, 8 March 2022 22:39 (two years ago) link
Nice use of "fa fa fa fa fa" here (not really)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QhUma34j7s
― PaulTMA, Tuesday, 8 March 2022 23:12 (two years ago) link
Recycled the Father Christmas riff too, it seems.
― Mardi Gras Mambo Sun (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 8 March 2022 23:14 (two years ago) link
I don’t think Ray was too upset about “I Can’t Explain” at the time, but it probably stung considerably in the ensuing years when the Who got huge while the Kinks floundered commercially (and ended up opening for the Who in 1969). Similarly, the Kinks initially outsold the Stones in the US (and Avory had been a Stone), but the Stones quickly overtook them; and “Zeppelin?! That Page kid used to play on our records!” Ray seemed content to follow his muse in the ‘70s with the theatrical records — he knew those albums weren’t trying to compete with the Who, Stones, or Zep — but probably felt frustrated by 1976 since the Kinks had laid the groundwork for those stadium-filling bands while not able to fill stadiums (or arenas) themselves. So the clumsy following of trends, and jumping head-first into arena-rock hackery, became their defining qualities.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Tuesday, 8 March 2022 23:23 (two years ago) link