The Kinks 1963-1970 : Classic or Dud + Search and Destroy

'Rainy Day In June' sounds like a song I should have heard by now.

Home and family - this is insightful. Possibly the other contenders on the topic are Difford / Tilbrook?

And they invented T-Rex! Listen to King Kong from the 'Arthur' reissue if you wondered where Marc Bolan got his sound from.

I am also attracted to the way in which most of the songs hide their emotional core. For example, "Afternoon Tea" is about the break-up of a relationship, but this is glossed over in two verses. The song is dominated by a number of jaunty choruses. It is poignant because it only hints at the sadness behind the singer's happy mask. Our imaginations fill in the gaps. If Davies had spelt it all out the song might have been self-pitying.

It is ironic that many of Davies's most personal songs are about other people. For example, "Two Sisters" is a veiled account of tensions between him and his brother. Even the heartfelt "Waterloo Sunset" spends more time describing scenery and characters than it does in telling us what is going on in the author's head.

This emotional blankness and passivity is also prevalent in the post- Cale Velvet Underground songs of Lou Reed. Davies and Reed both have flat, understated voices and both songwriters hide behind irony. The songs on "Loaded" and the "1969" live album often sound light and happy, but the lyrics convey deep sadness beneath the sometimes camp surfaces. As with Davies's "Two Sisters", Reed uses observational songs ("Lisa Says", "New Age") to convey troubled aspects of his own personality.

What does "hiding behind irony" mean?

I can't really think of very much in the way of irony in VU lyrics (actually as I recall, they seem to be either incredibly direct or just nonsense stream-of-consciousness), but Davies uses irony to satirize his culture: ("House In The Country", "Dedicated Follower of Fashion") and more often than not he skewers himself and his peers along with the nominal target of the satire. How is that hiding?

"Reed uses observational songs ("Lisa Says", "New Age") to convey troubled aspects of his own personality."

How do you know this? Couldn't he be trying to convey aspects of Lisa's personality? After singing "Heroin" and the bits about sailors and sucking ding dongs in Sister Ray, did Lou really need to use distancing techniques to say what he wants?

I don't understand your whole point about how writing about characters/writing observationally is more detatched or "emotionally blank" than writing in the 1st person (which both Reed and Davies did a good part of the time anyway).

I know I'm being picky, but I'm just trying to work through your post in my head here. Thanks.

I suppose I should have been more explicit in saying that I link Davies and Reed in my mind because they both project an ambiguous sexual identity in many of their songs. "See My Friends" is the first Kinks song to do this. The emotional core of the song is very difficult to reach because the lyrics seem so mysterious. Davies only openly touched on sexuality in a few songs ("David Watts" and "Lola" are obvious examples), but many post-66 Kinks songs display a theatrical campness ( such as "Mr. Songbird").

Kinks songs in general seem to contain a passive masculinity, which is at odds with the macho romanticism of most 60s rock. This passivity can be glimpsed as early as "Tired of Waiting for You". Many of Davies's songs seem to be about being on the sidelines and watching other people (e.g. "Waterloo Sunset"). I don't know how much you can link this passivity to sexuality. I think a lot of it stems from his persona of being a man who is old before his time. While most rock stars were making utopian claims for freedom, Davies had a love/hate relationship with tradition. His ambition was to own a house in the suburbs.

"Hiding behind irony" means being playful and indirect. In the case of "Afternoon Tea", a sad story is conveyed through a jaunty, happy song. Davies was very emotionally disturbed for large parts of his career and he chose to express this through ambiguity and distance, rather than through angst.

For me, Reed's songs during 1969-70 share many qualities with the Kinks. Incidentally, Reed was a Kinks fan. By that time most rock bands were getting very heavy, but the Kinks and the Velvets were still doing pop songs. Pop is often seen as "feminine", while rock is macho. The performance of "Lisa Says" on the 1969 album almost has a 50s pop quality to it, especially the "why am I so shy" section. It is ironic that the man who wrote "Sister Ray" is suddenly singing "why am I so shy". Reed seems to be hiding his troubles behind gentle songs. Okay, so I'm guessing that Reed used "New Age" as a way of conveying troubled aspects of his own personality. However I know for sure that the girl in "Rock 'n' Roll" is based on Reed , because he said so in an interview.

"Face to Face" and "Something Else" are two of the best records of the classicrock era, etc. Their early rockers are also quite good and actually I prefer them these days to the more commonly lauded stuff, they're crass and fun. "Village Green" is a record I find a bit overrated, but it certainly has its supporters, and there are some good songs there. I never could stand "Arthur" or most of their post-1970 work, it just sounds like fairly one-dimensional sloppy rock to me, which might work for other people. "Muswell Hillbillies" is their last even reasonably good record, in my opinion. "Lola" is a classic of classic rock but the rest of that record is terrible. Ray D. just got more obvious as time went on and the band more professional, but they still weren't especially skilful. Their early stuff is amazingly badly recorded and I suppose that's part of the charm. As a great classic rock and roll story their early days are certainly fun to read about, so while I think they did some great stuff they, in my estimation, in no way rank with the great classic rock bands of the '60s--Stones, Beatles, Beach Boys, Moby Grape, Love. (Yeah, I know Moby Grape and Love did very few albums in the '60s, but if you add up the number of truly great songs by each it wouldn't be too far off from what the Kinks did.)

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.

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.

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.

I consider "Afternoon Tea" the best ever non-single by The Kinks.

Classic, all the way.

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")

"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.

:-(

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.

I'm beginning to think I talk too much about The Kinks on ILM. Well, that album at least.

Andy Miller's recently published book about the Village Green album is a good read, if you're into that kind of thing.

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.

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.

The 70s catalogue is not worthy at all. 70s-80s Kinks is heavily overrated.

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.

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.

The Kinks
Lola Versus Powerman and The Moneygoround Part One
50th Anniversary, Multi-Format, Album Re-issues
Out December 18 on BMG
Available 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!”

awesome they're repressing it, vinyl copies are like 40 bucks minimum