Face to Face from 1966. this seems to be the bridge between the fluffier (but great) pop stuff and the brilliant, mature songwriting that ray davies blossomed into later. "Rosie, Won't You Please Come Home?" is one of my favorite davies songs ever; a sad, pleading paen to a departed sister that totally blows my mind. the above-mentioned "rainy day in june" is also very intense and sort of ahead of it's time (and features some musique concrete!). plus, the cd reissue tacks on "I'm not like everybody else" and "This is where i belong", the latter being a totally sentimental tearjerker that literally makes me tingle.
Something Else from 1967 has "waterloo sunset" which i don't even need to write about. also a highligh is "no return", another underrated classic. you may notice that my tastes run towards the melancholy, reflective side of ray davies. however, i still enjoy stompers like "David Watts" and "love me til the sun shines".
The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society from 1968. my love of this record cannot be put into words. here, everything comes together - the sad, longing for a departed past; the brilliant melodic sense; the folky, yet not folk-rock arrangements. when i sing along to this in my car (this is my #1 favorite singalong record) i nearly cry during "Animal Farm" when davies sings "well she's far from home/and she's free from harm/and she need not far/i'm by her side". actually i have cried during this line. but it's lively, and bouncy, and just brilliant (as is essentially every song on the album). even the songs i didn't care for at first, like "village green", grew on my immensely. "people take pictures of each other" is brilliant postmodern commentary and social satire, reflecting the overall tone of the album: sad AND joyous. the cd bonus tracks include "days" which is another 4-star, 10/10 amazing brilliant pop song. if you take into consideration that this was made in 1968, post-Sgt Peppers, this really jumps out as a fish out of water, a product unfortunately cast at the wrong time.
Arthur from 1969. i'm also very fond of this record though it doesn't compare to village green. "victoria" rips, and would have belonged on village green. they really start to rock harder here, and it almost foreshadows their arena-rock future. dave davies really comes into his own here too, with "mindless child of motherhood" (which is a bonus track, but still....). not as essential but great nonetheless.
i'm also really big on Muswell Hillbillies which may be the one last great record they made. it's like Village green part 2.i've never listened to the rock operas all the way through.
― john fail (cenotaph), Monday, 10 March 2003 18:50 (twenty-one years ago) link
― zaxxon25 (zaxxon25), Monday, 10 March 2003 19:25 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Monday, 10 March 2003 19:39 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Monday, 10 March 2003 20:33 (twenty-one years ago) link
I'd actually search most (maybe apart from their 63-64-output), but their 1966-68 output (plus a compilation) will still be the most natural place to start.
However, most of their 70s and 80s output, with the exception "Come Dancin" and "Don't Forget To Dance" may be destroyed.
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 11 March 2003 00:29 (twenty-one years ago) link
Really? That was immediately my favourite, and remains so. As a result of this thread I am downloading it now, being too lazy to find it somewhere in a box at this time of night. If we're talking about Kinks songs that have made me cry, that's right up there.
― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 11 March 2003 02:46 (twenty-one years ago) link
― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 11 March 2003 02:49 (twenty-one years ago) link
― john fail (cenotaph), Tuesday, 11 March 2003 03:19 (twenty-one years ago) link
― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 11 March 2003 03:32 (twenty-one years ago) link
― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 17 March 2003 00:20 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 17 March 2003 00:38 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Dr. C (Dr. C), Monday, 17 March 2003 09:24 (twenty-one years ago) link
I consider "Afternoon Tea" the best ever non-single by The Kinks.
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 17 March 2003 11:54 (twenty-one years ago) link
― girl scout heroin (iamamonkey), Monday, 17 March 2003 15:37 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Monday, 17 March 2003 15:49 (twenty-one years ago) link
Classic, all the way.
― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Monday, 17 March 2003 21:14 (twenty-one years ago) link
Ray Davies wrote a book of short stories based around his songs a few years ago- can't remember the title, but the story based on "Afternoon Tea" was a highlight (the one on "Rock & Roll Fantasy" is cold, hard truth for us music geeks.)
Something Else By The Kinks = Best Kinks album! It's got Ray Davies' usual wonderful pop stuff PLUS some damn great Dave Davies Power Pop (which can't be said about Village Green, except maybe "Big Sky")
― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Tuesday, 18 March 2003 00:29 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Bobby D Gray (bedhead), Tuesday, 18 March 2003 04:20 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Justyn Dillingham (Justyn Dillingham), Tuesday, 18 March 2003 07:01 (twenty-one years ago) link
― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 18 March 2003 12:34 (twenty-one years ago) link
― J (Jay), Tuesday, 18 March 2003 14:48 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Amateurist (amateurist), Saturday, 22 March 2003 04:29 (twenty-one years ago) link
"Berkeley Mews" is good.
"Dedicated Follower of Fashion" is far superior to "Well Respected Man." "Dandy" is all right.
I went back and listened to all of them from "Kontroversy" thru "Muswell." "Face to Face" is still my pick for the only really essential one. "Village Green Preservation" had lost a lot of its allure, as had "Something Else." I do like "End of the Season" and love "Funny Face." "Arthur" except for "Victoria" and "Drivin'" sounded just as uninspired as ever. I don't much care for the stuff on "Great Lost Kinks" album although I'm glad I have it. "20th Century Man" is great.
― Jess Hill (jesshill), Saturday, 22 March 2003 21:21 (twenty-one years ago) link
:-(
― N. (nickdastoor), Sunday, 23 March 2003 05:45 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Jess Hill (jesshill), Sunday, 23 March 2003 20:44 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Sunday, 23 March 2003 22:20 (twenty-one years ago) link
I do too, but the lyrics are a bit odd- Greta Garbo, Betty Davis and Maryiln Monroe are all typecast as these poor weak females who couldn't deal (and we all know the truth's alot more complicated than that), while Valentino, Lugosi and Rooney just get blindingly obvious remarks about their image (Valentino's randy, Rooney's nice, Lugosi played vampires a lot) w/o any mention of the tragedy in their lives. I hate to politicise everything (especially a song as pretty as this one), but that song's got some major gender issues.
― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Sunday, 23 March 2003 23:46 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Arthur (Arthur), Monday, 24 March 2003 07:11 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Rockist Scientist (rockistscientist), Tuesday, 25 November 2003 15:42 (twenty years ago) link
I'm beginning to think I talk too much about The Kinks on ILM. Well, that album at least.
― Kate Silver (Kate Silver), Tuesday, 25 November 2003 15:48 (twenty years ago) link
Andy Miller's recently published book about the Village Green album is a good read, if you're into that kind of thing.
― Rick Spence (spencerman), Tuesday, 25 November 2003 16:21 (twenty years ago) link
― amateur!st (amateurist), Friday, 23 July 2004 05:07 (nineteen years ago) link
i think the best kinks kompilation is "kronikles." i don't think it's been remastered? the LPs sound truly lousy, like mono reprocessed for stereo. but the song selection is pretty much definitive.
over the years i've come to like the kinks less. i enjoy the early snotty stuff most these days and have a bit less patience for things like "village green" and "arthur." "face to face" and "something else" are the best albums-as-albums in my opinion; "muswell hillbillies" is nice too. there are a lot of cool b-sides, like "creeping jean." i like earlier obscure album tracks like "i'm on an island" and "gotta get the first plane home" as well. but i listen to them far less than i do the easybeats these days. and after 1970, i think they're fairly worthless except for a smattering of tracks--those koncept albums are pretty dire.
― eddie hurt (ddduncan), Friday, 23 July 2004 13:52 (nineteen years ago) link
― youn, Monday, 20 March 2006 01:22 (eighteen years ago) link
The sound on the current Reprise CD is just as bad. However, the song selection is impeccable (add these two discs with the best-of Rhino released about a decade ago, and you have one hell of a three disc set of essential pre-1971 Kinks). If I'm not mistaken, all of the tracks on -Kinks Kronikles- have appeared on the Castle remasters - if you have all of them, you can burn your own version of Kronikles which much superior sound.
― James, Monday, 20 March 2006 18:37 (eighteen years ago) link
― Chairman Doinel (Charles McCain), Monday, 20 March 2006 18:46 (eighteen years ago) link
― James, Monday, 20 March 2006 18:52 (eighteen years ago) link
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 20 March 2006 19:38 (eighteen years ago) link
The 70s catalogue is not worthy at all. 70s-80s Kinks is heavily overrated.
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 20 March 2006 19:44 (eighteen years ago) link
I love Muswill Hillbillies and Everybody's In Showbiz, and the first Preservation album has a few good songs (like "Sweet Lady Genevieve."). Past that, yeah, I can't disagree, though there are some highlights here and there. The three albums the Kinks cut for MCA in the late 80's (UK Jive, Live:The Road and Think Visual) are quite henious, from what I remember. I couldn't bear to listen to them much.
― James, Monday, 20 March 2006 19:49 (eighteen years ago) link
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 20 March 2006 19:50 (eighteen years ago) link
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 20 March 2006 19:52 (eighteen years ago) link
Which is one reason why I like it. The thing is, even though they are trying to "sound American," the songs are still a series of portraits of English life ("Have a Cuppa Tea?" Not American). The title gives it away, since Muswill Hill is a section of London. If the Kinks had tried to sound American in the matter of the Rolling Stones I might not like the record. But it' still the Kinks writing songs about English life to me, just in a different set of clothes, so to speak.
― James, Monday, 20 March 2006 19:54 (eighteen years ago) link
The KinksLola Versus Powerman and The Moneygoround Part One50th Anniversary, Multi-Format, Album Re-issuesOut December 18 on BMGAvailable to Order Now: https://thekinks.lnk.to/Lola50AnniversaryPR New Track "The Follower - Any Time 2020" https://thekinks.lnk.to/AnyTime2020PR
Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One, commonly abbreviated to Lola Versus Powerman, or just Lola, is the eighth studio album by The Kinks, recorded and released in 1970. A concept album ahead of its time, it’s a satirical appraisal of the music industry, including song publishers, unions, the press, accountants, business managers, and life on the road. One of the all time classic Kinks albums.
Let the 50th anniversary celebrations begin, as The Kinks unveil special multi-format release plans for the album as a lovingly produced Deluxe Box Set, 1LP, Deluxe 2CD, 1CD and digitally - to be released on December 18 via BMG.
• Limited Edition, Deluxe 10” Slipcased book pack (containing 60 page book, 3 X CDs, 2 X 7” singles, 4 X color prints)• 1LP Gatefold• 2CD Hardback Book• 1CD Softpack• Digital• HD Digital• D2C Limited Edition Exclusives (free with boxset orders): 7” Single, Enamel pin badge
The 50th Anniversary box set campaign launches with a brand new Ray Davies’ remix / medley of the Kinks track "Any Time" (titled "The Follower - Any Time 2020 Feat: Anytime by The Kinks"). https://thekinks.lnk.to/AnyTime2020PR
Originally written by Ray as a possible B-side for "Apeman", "Any Time" includes previously unreleased versions and excerpts of several Kinks tracks from the Lola album as well as added spoken word and sound effects. It is a concept piece about which Ray states “The isolation caused by Coronavirus can give people time to re-evaluate the world and re-assess their lives. Music can comfort the lonely, transcend time and it’s not the future or the past, yesterday, today or tomorrow. It’s anytime”. He adds, “I saw a way of making this unreleased 1970s track connect to an audience in 2020. I also saw a way of showing that music can time-travel, that memory is instantaneous and therefore can join us in the ‘now’. I put this together as something surreal then realized that it was really happening. The song has found its place - after its 50th Birthday!”
― Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Thursday, 15 October 2020 00:31 (three years ago) link
awesome they're repressing it, vinyl copies are like 40 bucks minimum
― frogbs, Thursday, 15 October 2020 03:16 (three years ago) link