THE KINKS
"I'm a twentieth century man, but I don't want to be here"
General Rating: 4
ALBUM REVIEWS:
HIT PACKAGES:
Disclaimer: this page is not written by from the point of view of a Kinks fanatic and is not generally intended for narrow-perspective Kinks fanatics. If you are deeply offended by criticism, non-worshipping approach to your favourite artist, or opinions that do not match your own, do not read any further. If you are not, please consult the guidelines for sending your comments before doing so.
This page also hosts comments from the following Certified Commentators: Ben Greenstein, Nick Karn, Fredrik Tydal.
The Kinks were virtually unknown for the most part of the 60's, 70's,
80's and 90's. Now, however, every guy on the Web with at least a little
knowledge about rock music in general has built 'em a little shrine or
two. Nah, let me correct myself: they were not unknown, they were just
overshadowed. Whenever they tried something new somebody would always
run in front of them and do it (or pretend that he did it) better,
and when they finally did something unparalleled - that is, created an
absolutely unique musical style which NOBODY could pull off - they were
basically written off as dull British pop freaks. Alas, such is life: if
you don't follow trends and fashions, don't expect immediate rewards. The
Kinks preferred to effectively close their eyes to the Summer of Love,
hippies, mysticism and Woodstock, instead concentrating on more humble,
grounded subjects, such as afternoon tea, village green, old people taking
pictures of each other, and Waterloo sunsets; in return, their records
simply didn't sell. But time heals all wounds - and as it turned out, the
Kinks' musical legacy has lived up to time. Besides having influenced probably
hundreds of artists and bands, Ray and Dave Davies have suddenly been discovered
to have written a fairly good amount of truly timeless tunes - even though
nobody realised it at the time. But, damn it, an artist needn't be necessarily
recognized while still alive...
What distinguishes the Kinks' music from the other typical stuff produced
by the British Invasion is certainly the very special way in which Ray
Davies writes his compositions. And no matter what genre he prefers - be
it early rock'n'roll rip-offs, sweety ballads, clever introspective Brit
music, rock opera or heavy metal - he always has his own insignia printed
on every song. What you might call it is beyond me. I call it 'childishness'.
His elementary chord sequences, sweet soothing voice and funny, but (let's
face it) naive lyrics convey this atmosphere of childish delight. That's
what helped such a terrible lot of people consider Kinks' music crappy
simplistic bullshit; but it also helps their music still stand out proud
and loud, with its absolute uniqueness and freshness. Unfortunately, the
fact that Ray and Dave stayed together through the 70's and 80's helped
somewhat wash up their reputation, but even in that murky epoch they sometimes
succeeded - like with Low Budget, for example. Their lack of huge
international success and a huge series of so-so products in the Seventies
does not allow me to give out a 5 (much as I'd like to), but an overall
rating of 4 is not a bad thing either. Another thing is that they have
never made a 'proverbially perfect' record: Arthur comes
damn close, but it's still flawed (if only they'd substituted 'Young And
Innocent Days' for... for... oh wait, let's not skip ahead).
Unfortunately, I haven't yet been able to lay my hands on some of the Kinks'
later albums, in fact, the whole 1983-89 period is virtually unknown to
me, but God knows I'm trying. In the meantime I try to review what I have
(which isn't that little, either: the Kinks might have been one of the
most prolific bands of the century).. Oh, if you're not overfamiliar with
the Kinks, lemme just tell you they burst out on the scene in 1964 - which
is a lil' bit later than the Stones but a lil' bit earlier than the 'Oo
- with the following line-up: Ray Davies - rhythm guitar, lead vocals,
lead songwriter, too; Dave Davies (younger brother) - lead guitar,
sometimes lead vocals (thank God, not too often), sometimes songwriting;
Pete Quaife - bass guitar; Mick Avory - drrrrums. Of the
latter two, Pete quit the first (by 1970 he was already replaced by John
Dalton, who in turn was later replaced by Andy Pyle, who in
turn... ah, shucks. You know what I mean. Avory stuck around throughout
the 70's, but somewhere around 1984 he called it a day and was replaced
by Bob Henrit. Occasional keyboard players also joined the band,
like John Gosling in the 70's and Ian Gibbons in the first
half of the 80's. But overall it's Ray and Dave that do most of the work
and are the biggest Kinks around.
PS. Two more things are mentionable here, both concerning Ray's skills
as a lyricist. First of all, he may be the only serious 'no-nonsense' songwriter
in rock music. His songs are always straightforward, sometimes to the point
of seeming too simplistic; that was just the schtick, though - to show
that true art could be different from both the psycho wordgames
of Dylan-like songwriters and the majestically pompous, but meaningless
phrase combinations of the likes of Pete Sinfield. Second, beginning from
Arthur, Ray has devoted his entire self to one subject: the problem
of interaction between the individual and society. Individualism
is the main theme that runs through a good two-thirds of the entire Kinks'
catalogue, whether it be in a serious, contemplative form (Arthur),
dressed in black humour (Muswell Hillbillies), or somewhat naive
(Ray's mid-Seventies' rock operas). Again, one might find it uninspiring
to see the same subject being milked for an endless amount of times (geez,
bureaucracy must have really gotten on Ray's nerves), but, on the
other hand, this contributes to Ray's image as the greatest humanist
in rock'n'roll. True humanism is extremely rare in rock: being humanistic
is usually considered either too banal or too unhip. And this also explains
why lots of Kinks records didn't sell at all: setting aside the public's
interests, Ray just presented his own 'little man's' panorama of ordinary
life. Primitive? Banal? Grotesque? Derivative? In a certain sense - yes,
although none of these epithets should be taken in a derogatory sense here.
But in any case - oh so unique...
General Evaluation:
Listenability: 5/5. Ray
Davies hasn't been called one of the greatest songwriters of all time for
nothing.
Resonance: 4/5. A total 5/5
for the early days, but brought down by too much straightforward and blatantly
corny material afterwards.
Originality: 4/5. At times,
Ray and company could be almost defiantly derivative, but still, wasn't
it the band that pioneered both hard rock and Britpop almost
at one time?
Adequacy: 4/5. Again, much of
the Seventies' stuff is so unabashedly pretentious that I just have to
cut 'em down a bit...
Overall: 4.25 = *
* * * on the rating scale. Note that if the Kinks had
disbanded somewhere around 1970-71, this would be an easy five stars for
them. For sure.
What do YOU think about the Kinks? Mail your ideas
Your worthy comments:
Gustavo Rodriguez <rodblanc@webtv.net> (14.05.99)
C'mon, George! Give 'em a five. Sure they haven't had a real triumph
since Muswell Hillbillies but who cares? They still have a formidable
body of work that to this day is not properly appreciated and recognized.
For me, the Kinks are more important than the Who (give them a four instead)
and rank only behind the Beatles and sometimes the Stones when it comes
to my favorite Brit invasion bands.
And also they are Rock's true survivors. Theirs is probably the only major
60's band whose original members are all still alive! The Kinks rule!
<SSkanless@aol.com> (25.01.2000) 
I think your reviews of these Kinks albums are really misleading. You're
obviously are not a fan of them. Just for the record, Ray Davies was one
of the best songwriters ever. Not only did he inspire what would soon to
be punk rock (re: David Bowie, Marc Bolan, two of punk's innovators, and
many more to come...) , his songs are distinct, celebrating a most unique
and innovative voice in rock and roll. The Kinks have always been shunned
from the respectable eye by the likes of boring, unadventurous critics
as yourself. It's critics like you, that have no dynamic tatse for the
avante garde and originality, that have dismissed the Kinks all along.
The Kinks were brilliant artists trapped in a time when everything else
sucked (hippie-movement, make love, not war , 60's bullshit). The Kinks
were the only good thing (besides Pink Floyd) to come from the 60's as
far as many people everywhere are concerned. (Of course, I'm talking about
the Kink's work 1964-1969). But that's all I have to say. After reading
your outrageous reviews, it angered me a bit. I felt compelled to write.
So please print this, because it's the only pointer to the truth about
The Kinks.
[Special author note: Sigh.
Cough. Another sigh. Ladies and gentlemen, the defence rests its case.]
<FMorri6969@aol.com> (15.03.2000)
The Kinks have a great knack at making songs that you like to listen to only after hearing the songs for a little while. There very personal and to the heart. To me there is no such thing as a Kinks greatest hits. The reason being that every album as such continuity that it takes you to a different place that worth repeat listening. I saw Dave Davies on June 22nd 1999 at a bar in Albany NY called Valentines. I was right up front and it was the best!
Lanny <Kinksfan64@aol.com> (30.04.2000)
I started out as a BEATLES fan -- then something happen when I bought the KINK S KONTROVERSY album late in l965 -- the mood of that album, the voice of the lead singer -- to this day I dont know what happen - but thats when I became a DEDICATED KINKS FAN -- as of this moment I cant wait for the new solo cd by RAY DAVIES comes out -- ray, through the years has been like an older brother to me ( I was the oldest of 4 brothers) -- I remember back in the 70's when the radio stations werent playing kink songs -- songs from pres act 1 and 2, soap opera, schoolboys, and even sleepwalker -- at least to me, they werent getting the same respect as the who and stones, etc.... Ray came to San Antonio in l998 and saw the show and he sings better now than he did in the 60's -- anyway I got his autograph and shook his hand -- ticket stub is framed with an original yrgm album and a cd of vgps (hanging on my wall) -- awesome!!!!! -- I have a couple of beefs that have been bugging me for a long time -- first -- recently ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE listed the kinks as one of the greatest rock bands in the 20th century -- THATS COOL -- but then , why , in my mind, werent the kinks (as a group) EVER on the cover of rolling stone????? I realize that ray was on a cover , I believe in l974 ---- just doesnt make any sense to me at all --- and finally, why werent 'TO THE BONE' and 'ONLY A DREAM' radio hits?????? Again, to me they are both MODERN DAY KINK KLASSICS !!!!!! ---THANKS SO MUCH FOR YOUR TIME --- Lanny
<WhoJonGalt@aol.com> (12.06.2000)
Ray changed my life. Literally. His song 'NATIONAL HEALTH' and 'SKIN AND BONE' forced me to look at my life and change it. Every day now I excercise to work out the tension, and drop 90 pounds (six and a half stone to you English blokes) Kept it off for two years. This poet speaks to the human condition better than any songwriter before or since. Frank Zappa said 'Wisdom is not truth, truth is not beauty, beauty is not love, love is not music, music is the best!' and the best music is by the boys from north London. I had the unique chance to see Ray in Cleveland do his one-man show that ultimately became his STORYTELLER CD. I have read his book. Unique and well written. From the early stuff to the latest releases, it only gets better. Bravo, Mr. Davies! Next time in Cleveland I would love to buy you a beer and ask you about a thousand questions.
Richard Hall <richard@jimhall.freeserve.co.uk> (09.07.2000)
Well you've certainly put a lot of effort into reviewing all the albums,
so well done for that, you're wrong nearly all the time, of course, but
without people too venomously disagree with life would be plain dull, wouldn't
it? I think some of your problems stem from the fact that you don't understand
what some of the songs are actually about, not your fault, you're not English,
but it does give you a somewhat inaccurate take in certain situations.
I'll address the main ones when I send you individual comments for all
of the albums. However, as a short thing 'Harry Rag' is about Cigarettes,
not pot, Harry Rag is cockney rhyming slang for Fag, which, in turn, is
British slang for cigarettes.
Personally I think you approach most of the 70's stuff from completely
the wrong angle, you seem to want a certain type of Rock-and Roll and when
you don't get it you just call things crap. Fair enough, it's your taste,
and so, in your opinion, correct, however, you do seem to have a tendency
of putting it forward as fact, which is a bit misleading. As I said I disagree
with you on most things, where I don't though is your general opinions
on VGPS and Arthur, though you seem to have got the plot
somewhat confused on the later. They are definitely both my top two albums
and do, in general, give a lot.
If you, or anyone, wanted to actually understand some of the songs more
I would recommend getting X-Ray by Ray Davies, it does help to give a better
perspective and lets you enjoy songs that much more. Richard Hall.
<Ripley50@aol.com> (30.07.2000)
I have always enjoyed the Kinks' music immensely. I lost out on the group somewhat when their music failed to crack the AM radio stations. I heard "Dead End Street" and "Waterloo Sunset" just a couple of times on the radio, which was quite frustrating. Then, I heard '20th Century Man." What a great record. I bought Muswell Hillbillies immediately. Unfortunately, no tunes with the high intensity of '20th Century,' but still a great album. Most of their albums, while musically frustrating at times, are still fun. Most of them take several listens, but then really grab me. (I'm still surprised at the weak Misfits-- 3 or 4 great songs (such as 'Get Up'), but nothing more). Even, Kinda Kinks, which our reviewer dismissed, is a great album. And I even like all those juvenile songs, such as 'Wonder Where My Baby is Tonight.' I loved the selection of 'Nothin' in The World Can Stop Me Worryin' Bout that Girl' for the Rushmore soundtrack. Finally, a word on Phobia. Am I the only person in the world who loved this album? Every song is rocking and fun. I played this record over and over. 'Over the Edge' immediately caught my attention and 'Surviving' is a great song. Oh, well, I guess if I actually love the Kinks' music, then my musical taste is somewhat suspect anyway.
<Jabtot@aol.com> (09.08.2000)
I guess I was looking for something a bit more in depth when I purchased my first Kinks LP.I had traveled the discography road of my beloved Fab Four four at least a decade.My attraction to the Kinks sees to come from the almost urban songwriting style of Ray Davies.It seemed much more plausable that I could sit at a bar and have a cold beer with Ray Davies,than with Paul McCartney.Although some of the early work was a bit weak,I enjoyed songs like"People Taking Pictures Of Each Other",I Remember Walter,and my favorite " The Last Of The Steam Powered Trains". Only after listening to the Kinks did I have a bigger appreaciation of the Fabs.The Kinks also opened my ears to The Who and other Brit bands for my enjoyment.God Save Ray Davies!!.......I still want to have that beer if he's interested!
Warren Gray <warrengray@yahoo.com> (05.09.2000)
ray davies could be called the best songwriter ever. i dont understand
why the kinks were never as famous as the beatles! i am only 17 years old
and i try to learn more about this stuff so often. i have had the privlidge
of seeing ray davies live 2 times (the first and second storyteller tours)
my dad is a pretty big kinks fan. unfortunatly this was before i had even
heard of the village green or aurthur. now i do remember
him mentioning something about their album not being released in america,
or maybe that they couldnt tour in america. and how popular were they in
the UK in the 60's and 70's?
here's what i own- village green preservation society, arthur (both
on cds), muxwell hillbillies and preservation act 1 (on record).
what should i get next? i like village green more than aurthur.
every song is amazing to me.
VSDFV Klaipedos skyrius <klaipeda@sodra.lt> (15.09.2000)
yeah, five for ray, no doubts. and you know what, george? i think ray deserves to be named a genius. that's why. he never repeat the same mood in his songs. i'm not talking about the same instrumental line or the same melody line. it's the mood. so. i'm living in lithuania (not far from you, George) and it's a shame that no one knows about ray in my basketball country.
Thomas M. Silvestri <cc3000@earthlink.net> (23.09.2000)
I bought the singles of "Dead End Street," "Mr. Pleasant,"
and "Waterloo Sunset" back to back to back in late '66 and early
'66 and summer '66, all of which bombed in America. At the time I couldn't
understand it, being just a 12-year-old kid who loved all kinds of rock
'n' roll. In retrospect, the other thing that was happening at the time
-- Hendrix and Cream -- simply made it hard for many other people to hear
anything other than Sgt. Pepper. And of all the bands who suffered most
obviously in commercial terms from the increase in sheer bass, treble,
volume, and in many cases (most obviously Hendrix) brilliance, none suffered
more than the Kinks. It wasn't until '72 or so when, yes, thanks very much
to British progressive rock, English quirkiness became big business again
in the U.S. and stuff like Muswell Hillbilly could not only get
on the radio but also attract people at concert halls (even if the Kinks
didn't entirely stop throwing away shows until a few years later).
P.S. [Waterloo Sunset]: The U.S. release date on this 45 was, of course,
around June of '67, not 66 as I previously said.
Eric Peltoniemi <production@redhouserecords.com> (01.11.2000)
The Kinks are one of the few bands that began in the 60s that I still
enjoy. Like many others, I started that decade in the folk revival, a fan
of the Kingston Trio & Pete Seeger, and gradually "hippified"
myself and ended up a Dylan fan. I also loved the Beatles and Stones and
thought they were the pinnacle. I bought the first Kinks album when it
was first came out and loved it, but when Kontroversy came out a
bell went off in my head...probably during "Till the End of the Day."
Since then I haven't been the same. Over the ensuing 36+ years, I have
had less and less patience with purposely obscure lyrics and their pseudo-communication
(goodbye Bob & scores of navel-gazing singer/songwriters)...and less
and less attraction to the Beatles (smarmy, shallow, arrogant) and the
Stones (perverse and in it for the money). The Kinks were and are the best.
Human and clear. Great melodies, words, concepts and ideas. Their eye on
the common man.
Ray may have not always polished a song to total perfection (although he
frequently did), but give me that repertoire anytime. At 51 I am still
listening to it...all of it. My chestnuts may be hey-day albums like "Village
Green" or "Something Else,"but "Lost and Found,"
"Heart of Gold," and songs from the later albums are wondeful
as well. I have enjoyed Ray's book and his one man show. I just plain love
the Kinks. I love Ray's writing. My only suggestion to him at this stage
of life is to record a complete album of his favorite 20th Century pop
classics...the kind he and his dad used to sing in the front room. He just
knocked me out with his rendition of "Old Black Magic." Did anyone
else notice how great that track was?
rmpi <mostienr@pi.be> (17.11.2000) 
That does it. Not only do you tear down the walls of the Kinkdom. You
also fill the web with factless facts!
'Session man' dedicated to N. Hopkins? Whatever gave you that idea? [The
fact that Nicky Hopkins played as a session man on that particular album.
Eh? - G. S.]
Where did you get the information on Jimmy Page playing on the songs
on Kinks? [From the credits list - G.
S.]. Dave was better all the way and cheaper to use in the
studio, which was crucial at the time. He lacked some studioexperience
at the beginning but he sounded great. The early Kinks sound an awful lot
better than the yardbirds featuring Page ever did! Anyway, there's your
real sessionman!
'Mr. Pleasant' for your information didn't badly flop, as you put it. The
single was directed towards the continent, where it was a hit more than
a few countries.
First do your research, then write!
kind regards
rm
Thomas M. Silvestri <cc3000@earthlink.net> (03.12.2000)
While it's always good to see passion for great rock 'n' roll -- in this case "rm" re the Kinks -- I have to step in to defend George's responsible monitoring of this site. I've read more than a few articles over the years in which Ray himself says that Nicky Hopkins indeed inspired the song "Session Man," the most recent being a column Ray wrote for, if memory serves, The New York Times Sunday Magazine shortly after Hopkins' death. As for the would-be correction on the commercial success of "Mr. Pleasant," I do recall it was something of a minor hit "on the continent," as rm puts it. But the key phrase in my comments was "in America," where all three of the singles I mentioned most certainly bombed. My brother used to bring home Billboard magazine every week in those days and I read it voraciously. I don't think "Mr. Pleasant" even made the mag's "Bubbling Under the Top 100" chart back in Spring '67. ("Dead End Street," I believe, stalled out in America somewhere around 60.) Those whose curiosity extends further on such things can always check Joel Whitburn's books, which compile the Billboard charts of those years. But there would seem to be no denying the failure of the three singles that I cited (and many more for years afterward) in America, even in Ray's mind: at a show in the U.S. just last year, when people called out for "Big Black Smoke" and "Harry Rag" (U.S. B-sides of "Dead End Street" and "Mr. Pleasant" respectively), Ray shot back, "You people are INSANE! You're calling out for B-SIDES of SINGLES THAT FAILED!"
Thomas McKeown <t.mckeown@cns.norfolk.sch.uk> (11.12.2000)
Just thought I'd give my opinions on the effect of the Kinks on modern British music. Essentially, the Kinks are the most influential British band, ever. Oh, I know the Beatles should claim that title, but, just as you consider Hendrix appart from other guitarists, so it is with the Beatles; their prescence looms so large, we can put them to one side in a class of their own. The Kinks, however, created, as you say, a unique style no-one else at the time could do, and, as you also point out, this style had its roots in the very fact of being British, and thus made the Kinks the most British band ever. What this did was to show British musicians that they didn't have to be ashamed of being British (or rather I should say, English), and that rock music was not compatable with traditional British values. This legacy has been found cropping up throughout all pop movements since, and has made Bitain one of the few countries in the world (Germany is the other one) who've created avision of rock that differs substantially from the American ground plan. Because that this style is more about atitude and stance than musical technique, and because there hardly ever seems to be more than one band practising it at any one time, this style has been far from exhausted, and bands such as The Jam and Blur, with there own take on the Kinks formular, are just as fresh and original as the Kinks were in there heyday.
Year Of Release: 1964
Record rating = 4
Overall rating = 8
Your average garage-band album - which is the synonym for 'random
crap'.
Best song: YOU REALLY GOT ME, of course - nothing else even comes
close.
'Rock bands will come, rock bands will go. But rock'n'roll will go on
forever.' This statement certainly applies to the Kinks' debut album -
sure enough, there's a lot of rock'n'roll here, but where's the rock band?
The songwriting is next to none, and when it's there, it's mostly primitive.
The playing is nowhere above average, and when it is, it's Jimmy Page who's
playing guitar. The production is murky, too, courtesy of Shel Talmy who
is probably one of the two legendary most hated thugs in rock business
(together with Allen Klein). In all, this is a fascinating listen.
The problem is - the band was just starting, the producer crammed them
with horrible second-rate material, and, first of all, Ray wasn't yet confident
in himself. There is one absolute gem here - the rave rocker 'You Really
Got Me', often hailed as the first hard rock (read: heavy metal) song.
Actually, it was the long-expected hit single that made the Kinks famous
overnight - it shot to #1 as an arrow, and the band were rushed into the
studio to cash in on its success, just like the Animals were rushed in
on the wave of 'House Of The Rising Sun'. Problem is, the Kinks just didn't
have the Animals' chops or the Animals' self-assuredness or even anything
vaguely approaching the Animals' stunning image: the Kinks were just one
of the hundreds of average British rock bands that accidentally happened
to fall upon a new, rich, innovative sound. Accidentally, as legend has
it that Dave Davies actually hit upon that guitar tone while absentmindedly
poking his amplifiers with a needle... heh, heh, heh.
Anyway, 'You Really Got Me' is a hell of a great song. It has a nice, even
though primitive, five-note riff - the first heavy riff in history, it
builds up well and includes a mad one-string solo by Dave who complemented
the grumbling riff by a deserving, chaotic instrumental passage. Oh, where
could we be without that needle today? But don't just think of the song
as a rough beginning: even today, the riff sounds completely fresh and
invigorating, and the song strikes me as far more 'heavy' than ninety percent
of these goofy hair metal bands who want so much to sound 'heavy' but sound
nothing but miserable. In a certain way, together with 'House Of The Rising
Sun', 'You Really Got Me' was the most important number one single of 1964,
and the one that really set the things happening... but not on this album,
unfortunately.
At least we should praise Ray Davies for including a whopping six
original compositions (one in collaboration with Jimmy Page) on the album
- at an epoch when even the Stones only dared to include one. Unfortunately,
the poor young boy overestimated his forces. The instrumental composition
'Revenge' is ridiculously atrocious; chaotic harmonica lines and boring
simplistic riffage don't make a good tune. 'So Mystifying' is never even
mentioned by reviewers, and for darn good reasons: it took me some time,
but I finally got it - the song's a total rip-off of 'It's All Over Now',
a song which Ray certainly heard in the Stones' version and immediately
cloned, changing the vocal melody in the chorus a bit (instead of 'it's
all over now', they chant 'girl you're so mystifying') and adding banal
and generic lyrics. 'Just Can't Go To Sleep' is oversweetened and unbelievably
clumsy - dang it, Ray can't even fit his lyrics into the rhythm and has
to sing 'every night I just can't go t-sleep'... The harmonica-driven 'I
Took My Baby Home' is slightly better; actually, it's a rather nice ditty,
with vocal harmonies akin to those of The Animals (I'm referring to the
'whoa-whoa-whoa' refrain, you understand). It still reeks of Herman's Hermits,
tho', so the only serious original composition, besides the obvious 'You
Really Got Me', is Ray's stuttering ballad 'Stop Your Sobbing' - a true
Kinks classic and one of the band's best attempts at imitating the Beatles'
sound. Even so, the riff of that one is stolen from Phil Spector (who based
about half of his songs on that one).
And the covers? Well, the biggest problem with the covers is that Dave
Davies takes lead on too many of them. Now I must say that, while Ray has
got one of the most expressive voices in rock music, it took him some time
to realize its full potential, and none of these songs are able to woo
you with the sheer power of his tone, as would be possible with songs like
'Sunny Afternoon' or 'Autumn Almanac'. Much too often, he sounds bleak
and dull. But no matter how bad he sounds on this debut album, the voice
of his younger brother makes him comparable to Pavarotti, Shalyapin and
Maria Callas all at once. I apologize beforehand, but Dave simply sounds
like a rabid alcoholic in between two fits of vomiting. Add to this that
the covers of 'Beautiful Delilah', the blues ode 'Long Tall Shorty' and
the stupid R'n'B rave-up 'I'm A Lover Not A Fighter' feature some pretty
average musicianship, and you'll end up really thinking twice about ever
putting this record on. It's all the more amazing how in just a few years
Dave would finally master his voice and turn in a few decent performances
('Death Of A Clown', 'Rats', etc.); judging by these tunes, he's totally
hopeless.
The cover tunes on which Ray takes lead vocals aren't much better, either.
Chuck Berry's 'Too Much Monkey Business' and Slim Harpo's 'Got Love If
You Want It' (oops, sorry, that one's sung by Dave, too, only he's not
so obnoxious) are okay. Not brilliant by any means - you'd be much better
off with the originals, as the Kinks cannot hope to make these songs their
own. They are no Stones and they are no Animals. They can't. Please forgive
them. They hadn't yet figured out what to do. They were young, exuberant
and reckless. They were even given two songs by producer Shel Talmy, one
of which sports the title 'Bald Headed Woman', the other of which sports
the title 'I've Been Driving On Bald Mountain' and both of which suck ass
(sorry; I'm not the one to use rude words all the time, but there are cases
where it's impossible to restrain oneself). They made a thoroughly embarrassing
record and didn't give a damn. And please don't worry if you don't see
it in a record store. The early Kinks market - the real early Kinks
market - is in singles.
I recently finally managed to get hold of the recent Rhino re-release -
an essential purchase nowadays, as it complements the original album with
twelve bonus tracks, almost a mini-LP of its own worth. Unfortunately,
first time around these tracks date from some really early sessions
and can't serve as a reliable counterpoint for the weak original LP as,
say, the essential bonus tracks for Kinda Kinks, so I don't feel
it is really necessary to pump up the rating because of them. The two absolutely
necessary tracks here are 'It's All Right', the flip side to 'You Really
Got Me', and 'All Day And All Of The Night', the successful follow-up single.
'It's All Right' is a groovy, kinda grim rocker with a solid upbeat rhythm,
impressive harmonica fills and a cool nasal vocal delivery from Ray, plus
there's a trademark chaotic section in the solo and unexpected changes
in tempo, making this a somewhat complex composition for this period. And
'All Day And All Of The Night' is basically just an absolute re-write of
'You Really Got Me', clearly oriented on further cashing in on its success:
the riff has been increased to nine notes instead of the former four, but
all the other things stay in place, including the verse structure (quiet
line - loud line with backing vocals - rip-roaring chorus), the obligatory
one-string chaotic solo and the abrupt ending. Nevertheless, if you love
'You Really Got Me' (like me) and can't get enough of it, the track is
a must.
I also somewhat favour the fast rocker 'I Gotta Move', because I've always
loved a simple, memorable, solid acoustic riff propelling a song. And the
previously unreleased alternate take on 'Too Much Monkey Business' kicks
the original right in the guts - it's at least twice as fast and exciting!
Why they didn't put this fast version instead of the slow one totally baffles
me, seeing as they don't do that many playing mistakes on the fast
take.
The rest is dismissable. There's their first single, a feeble version of
'Long Tall Sally', for some strange reason set to the melody of 'Lucille'
- was this a hidden attack on Little Richard indicating that all of his
songs are the same? Anyway, they recorded that one in haste after they'd
learned of the enormous success the song has gained when popularized by
Paul McCartney, but Ray is no Paul when hurling out the vocals, and the
single predictably and understandably flopped. Then there are some more
early, primitive Beatlesque singles like 'You Still Want Me' and 'You Do
Something To Me', plus a late 1964 EP in its entirety. It also sucks in
its entirety: the cover of 'Louie Louie' (a song that was next only to
'Too Much Monkey Business' in its British coverage; but why is Davies marked
as author in the liner notes?) drags without any energy at all, and tracks
like 'I Gotta Go Now', with the title representing the only lyrics throughout,
as far as I can remember, or the ridiculous 'Things Are Getting Better',
don't do much honour to the Kinks. So sorry. Anyway, pretty few people
will argue that twenty-six tracks on an album is worse than fourteen: so
if you really really dig early Britpop in its entirety, with its flaws
and excesses, feel free to raise the rating of this album as much as you
would like to. But don't you dare do this on MY site! This is MY site and
I do what I want!.. Oh, but aren't they wonderful, these Rhino people?
Just can't go to sleep? Then mail your ideas
Year Of Release: 1965
Record rating = 7
Overall rating = 11
Ray starts developing his talent, but that's not saying much at this
particular point.
Best song: TIRED OF WAITING FOR YOU; or SEE MY FRIENDS, if
we include the bonus tracks on the new release.
Better. Not a great deal better, but better still. Ray is slowly growing
as a songwriter - not to mention that an absolute majority of songs on
this album are originals, something that wasn't quite the norm at the beginning
of 1965. Also, since they don't have Jimmy Page kicking around anymore,
they have no choice but to improve in the playing department: the guitars
sound a heck of a lot more interesting and entertaining. At least half
the tracks are already pretty much above average, and the ones I like the
most are the beautiful ballads 'Tired Of Waiting For You' (their third
hit single) and 'Something Better Beginning'. These two songs alone show
what a terrific progress Ray's songwriting has made in less than a year's
time. They may be underarranged and underproduced, but you can't deny the
great melodies... the great childish melodies... wow. Really cool.
'Tired Of Waiting For You', by the way, manages to combine their trademark
balladeering with their trademark hard rockin' style - ever noticed that
the main riff, around which the Birdsey jangle is based, is just as distorted
and fuzzy as the one in 'You Really Got Me'? That's creativity, and there's
no denying that. As for 'Something Better Beginning', it's hard to imagine
a person that couldn't be wooed over by the gorgeous chorus, as Ray desperately
whines 'Is this the start of another heartbreaker or something better beginning?'
The rest of the song could never have existed for all I care, but that
part is pure early Sixties pop heaven.
What else? Any good news, Mr Postman? Well, I also bring you a great Beatlesque
(actually, I feel the main riff is borrowed off 'I Feel Fine', although
I hardly could prove that in court) rocker called 'Come On Now', the one
where Dave Davies finally squeezes some convincing excitement out of his
raspy voices and also gets assistance from weird female backing voices...
female? Hmm. Dave also perfects his vocal chords on the hilarious boogie
'Got My Feet On The Ground' which is enjoyable for its highly... err...
politicized lyrics. In other words, it's a brawny braggartish ditty
which pictures Dave as a self-assured young Mod, quite unlike the future
personal songs by brother Ray who would never picture himself as a strong
or self-assured person. Basically, that's what makes the difference between
the two. And yeah, Dave somehow manages to pull it off decently - unlike
the horrendous cover of 'Naggin' Woman' where he sounds one hundred percent
akin to a dying junkie, once again; due to his powerful vocal chords, the
song ranks among the worst offenders in the entire Kinks' catalog. Yup,
worse than 'Beautiful Delilah', even, which at least was FAST. Oh save
me save me save me from this squeeze, somebody.
The rest of the album, though, is pretty much the same so-so stuff that
clogged Kinks - weak, feeble ballads that sound like fourth-rate
parodies on The Beatles. Particularly rotten are the overlong-title ditty
'Nothin' In The World Can Stop Me Worryin' 'Bout That Girl' (Ray's acoustic
tribute to Bob Dylan?) and the routine pop filler 'Wonder Where My Baby
Is Tonight' and 'You Shouldn't Be Sad'. Berk. Where in the world was quality
control, I wonder? Oh, silly me. Quality control was Shel Talmy. 'You Shouldn't
Be Sad', in particular, sounds like something a computer might have written
after processing half a dozen Beatles tunes, starting with the opening
chords that have been taken directly from 'Tell Me Why'; the final result,
though, sounds like Herman's Hermits more than the Beatles. The ballads
'So Long' and 'Don't Ever Change' are innocent, primitive Sixties' teenybopper
anthems with nothing to redeem them, and the cover of Martha and the Vandellas'
'Dancing In The Street' is totally pointless.
Hey! But boy, do I have some good news for you, though - the Rhino re-release
has about ten bonus tracks, and they're for the most part terrific, a huge
improvement over the bonus tracks for Kinks. The single cuts 'Everybody's
Gonna Be Happy', 'Set Me Free' and 'I Need You' are decent, energetic rockers
with quite established melodies, even though the latter is a third
(sic!) re-write of 'You Really Got Me'. 'Set Me Free', however, is a dang
dang classic, with one of their most effective three-chord riffs ever.
Ah, the golden days when you could do anything without having to care about
the lyrics... I still count it as their best pure love song, with the closest
they ever came to emulating the emotions of a desperate teenager. 'Never
Met A Girl Like You Before', while certainly not a classic, has a cool
'yeeeeah' in between the lines which at least makes it memorable; 'Such
A Shame' has the greatest dorky melody ever written - pedestrian, primitive
and sloppy, but also dark, depressing and oh so impressive; 'A Well Respected
Man' is one of the first 'social portraits' which has long since become
Ray's know-how; the piano demo of 'I Go To Sleep' is utterly beautiful
(sounds like a classical piece more than a pop ballad); 'Don't You Fret'
features elements of Who-ish guitar chaos; and, finally, 'See My Friends'
is the most sadly overlooked song in the entire Kinks' catalogue. It has
serious lyrics, it is embellished by a sitar-imitating guitar (hear that?
and no Rubber Soul yet), and it is PSYCHEDELIC! In fact, as far
as I know, this is the first psychedelic song ever - and quite authentic
at that, as it was inspired by Ray's trip to India, and we sure ain't talkin'
no George Harrison here. Why was it so overlooked? When was it released?
Where? As a B-side? The bastards! Of course, the recording and buying public
were far more keen on having the Kinks pump out endless re-writes of 'You
Really Got Me' to satisfy the braindead than to experiment with these strange
new dangerous sounds. But time corrects all mistakes, right? Whoever you
are, please keep in mind that the first ever psychedelic song was called
'See My Friends' and it was written by the Kinks in the year 1965. Of course,
I may be wrong, too, as I'm not Mr Know-All by all counts; if you happen
to have met a psychedelic song written earlier than that, feel free to
mail me any time of day or night. You'll get a prize!
Well, no. On second thought, I'm too skimpy to get a prize. But at least
I'll mention you on this site. Everybody needs recognition. In any case,
these bonus cuts are enough to make me upgrade the rating to a 7. A couple
duds like 'Wait Till The Summer Comes Along' spoil the picture, so I'm
still thinking as to whether I should raise the rating even higher or no.
Feel free to do so if you're a rabid fan of early Sixties' quality pop.
And whoever you are, try to get the Rhino release at all costs. The 'unbonused'
original only gets a 5 at best.
Come on now! Mail your ideas
Year Of Release: 1966
Record rating = 6
Overall rating = 10
A marking-time album. If you like the previous two, you'll like this
one as well.
Best song: WHERE HAVE ALL THE GOOD TIMES GONE
Hmmph. With 1966 on the threshold, you'd think the Kinks would already
start expanding their sound a big deal and all that. And actually, they
did - their next album, work on which would start almost immediately after
the release of Kontroversy, would already be the product of quite
a different, Brit-poppy band. This is more of a transitional effort, but
it's still more in the camp of the early garage-days Kinks, with just a
few hardly noticeable hints at big changes to come. As such, the basic
essence of the album is the same as that of the previous two: sloppy, barely
competent garage rock/pop, with a bunch of rather insecure, self-ripping-off
originals and a pair of shakey teenager voices buried deep down in the
Shel Talmy mix.
And yet, there are some things about this record that set it significantly
apart from the previous ones - in fact, after a certain number of listens
I'm easily able to grant it at least a 6 without even having to resort
to the help of bonus tracks, like I cheated on Kinda Kinks. What's
happened? Well, everything gets a little bit better. For starters,
there's but one cover on the album, a vivacious rendition of Sleepy John
Estes' 'Milk Cow Blues', and it's easily the greatest Kinks cover ever.
Dave takes lead vocals on it, but instead of trying to make it sound pert
and macho, he goes for a softer, bluesier delivery that never accentuates
his hoarseness. And the guitars suddenly blaze and roar like they've never
done before - I can hardly believe that it's really Dave who's throwing
out these angry Mike Bloomfield-style licks. I mean, I know he got
much better as a guitarist over the years, but could he really smack his
instrument so hard by 1966? Wow...
All the other tunes are originals, and the percent of filler is rapidly
decreasing. Three or four tunes still annoy the living hell out of me,
but the rest ranges from great (a couple more successful singles) to okay
or passable. One problem is evident, though, and I'm certain they were
able to recognize it themselves. The Kinks weren't really doing the things
they were destined to do. Like every young and unexperienced British Invasion
band, they were stuck in these primitive, naive 'I-wonder where-my-baby
is-tonight' ballads and uninspiring Chuck Berry rip-offs, when they really
didn't have the guts to do it. The Stones rocked harder, and the Hollies
did 'pure pop' with loads more professionalism; the Kinks still hadn't
found a suitable niche for them. This is being made obvious by listening
to the record. I mean, I quite enjoy the better material on here, but even
listening to such undisputable gems as 'Where Have All The Good Times Gone'
or 'I'm On An Island' can't help but make me compare this stuff to the
rock/pop of their contemporaries, and the comparison is never in favour
of the Kinks.
Still don't believe me? Then take a good listen to the first three originals
on the record. 'Ring The Bells' is a sappy, sweety little ballad with little
melody whatsoever; the fake sugar in Ray's voice makes it almost painfully
unbearable and ridiculously overblown. 'Gotta Get The First Plane Home'
is a clumsy, erratic rocker that sounds as if it was produced in a bathroom
and has no charm or real energy whatsoever. And 'When I See That Girl Of
Mine' follows the line of 'Kinks' Songs Whose Title Says It All': the harmonies
are very Hollies-style, but the seams show through on every line, and I
can't wait for the song to end to put on some real Hollies, or,
hell, even the Beach Boys will do.
It gets better later on, of course. 'Till The End Of The Day' is one of
their most fabulous rockers, a highlight of the whole period and a song
that's simply dripping with real, unadulterated energy and passion.
Don't forget Dave's skilful guitar break, either - he's finally learned
to stay away from one-string solos and put more thought into his solos.
And 'Where Have All The Good Times Gone', besides its magnificent pounding
riff and the Punkish Glory of the simplistic melody, finally gives us the
big lyrical breakthrough - together with 'A Well Respected Man', it's Ray's
earliest take on griping social commentary, and a thoroughly biting one.
How many a teenager was, and is, able to identify with the blistering lines
'Daddy didn't have no toys/Mummy didn't need no boys?'
The lyrical maturation continues on 'I'm On An Island', Ray's first statement
of alienation (the second one will soon be met on the far superior 'I'm
Not Like Everybody Else') and arguably the best 'pop' number on here, with
some touching music hall piano and a funny little rhythm that sways to
and fro, just like the waves around the island where Ray is supposed to
be staying. Wouldn't feel out of place on Face To Face, for that
matter. Dave keeps on maturing as well: his 'I Am Free' features lines
like 'my frame of mind tells me that I am free' and 'doors are open wide/No
credits to be seen'. The melody is a complete throwaway, of course (essentially
it's just a take on the same folkish pattern as used, say, in Simon &
Garfunkel's 'Blessed' and probably lots of other folk ditties), but thumbs
up for Dave who's finally learned how to control his voice.
The other songs are just okay. 'The World Keeps Going Round' is a bit too
lazy to be truly enjoyable, but points the way to the superior material
on the next albums; 'It's Too Late', 'What's In Store For Me' and 'You
Can't Win' are average 'Beatles-rock' rip-offs all of which share the same
'dum-de-dum-de-dum-de' rhythm pattern, but at least there's nothing particularly
shameful or obnoxious about them. It's just that they are all somewhat
lifeless in their sameness. Clearly, Ray was not too keen on this kind
of material at the time, and the only reason for its existence is the desperate
necessity to rush out yet another LP. Blame it on Bald Man Talmy. It's
all the more amazing how they would make such a giant leap forward on the
next record - even the Beatles never advanced in such astronomic progressions.
Till the end of the day you may mail your ideas
Year Of Release: 1966
Record rating = 9
Overall rating = 13
The first truly timeless Kinks' album, and their first venture into
the world of Great Britain.
Best song: SUNNY AFTERNOON
Heigh-ho! This is where The Kinks finally found a niche in which they
were going to stay for at least ten years, and speaking frankly, they never
ever got out of it totally - even after trading rock operas for heavy metal.
The niche was that of a herald of the British empire, and Ray Davies, seeing
as there'd been a vacancy or something like that, stepped up to the spot
and led his band to explore the territory which had been previously explored
by Charles Dickens and Jerome K. Jerome, but hardly by any rock musician.
Unfortunately, the period of their huge musical growth also coincided with
a steady decline in sales, and there can be no doubt considering the fact
that Ray's musical decisions were often influenced by this commercial anti-success.
Indeed. from then on The Kinks should probably hold the record for 'the
most unsuccessful of all successful rock bands in the world'. Face To
Face did chart, as far as I remember; but their obvious 'no' to psychedelia,
acid and the groovy vibe in general proved to be fatal by 1967.
Aw, what the fuzz? To hell with it. Fact is, there's fourteen songs on
this album, and if they were all great, I'd give this album a 10. Unfortunately,
about a fourth part of them suck. The slow ballads 'Fancy' and 'Too Much
On My Mind' (the former with its lack of memorable moments and the latter
with its swooping and necessarily head-splitting bass line), for one, have
never really captured my humble attention, as well as the closing 'I'll
Remember'. The few rockers that are inherited directly from the garage
period (by 1967 they'd correct this 'stupid mistake') are nice, but not
spectacular: 'Party Line' boogies on modestly (the song's most notorious
moment comes in the intro which features a ringing telephone for the first
time), and 'Holiday In Waikiki' is an obvious rip-off of Chuck Berry's
'You Never Can Tell', even though nobody but me seems to notice. As well
as nobody ever notices that the bass riff of 'You're Lookin' Fine' is remarkably
similar to the one on 'Hey Bulldog'. Could John have ripped it off? I mean,
c'mon - subconsciously? Just like he subconsciously ripped off The Who
on 'Dear Prudence'? Eh?
Never mind. Actually, I'm not at all displeased by the Chuck Berry rip-offs
and so-so rockers, as they do a nice job of keeping the energy level at
a relative high, a thing so badly lacked on their following record. Even
so, it's not the rockers, which are already on the way out, but rather
the little pictures of ordinary British life that really make this album:
the mother lamenting for her long-lost daughter ('Rosie Won't You Please
Come Home', one of the most wonderful numbers with Ray singing against
a menacing bass line in the refrain), the dandy looking for girls ('Dandy'),
the rich ('A House In The Country', 'Most Exclusive Residence For Sale'),
the poor ('Sunny Afternoon'), the obscure and mystical ('Little Miss Queen
Of Darkness'), and, of course, the weather ('Rainy Day In June'). Out of
these, besides 'Rosie', I'd highly recommend 'Rainy Day In June', a slow,
moody, threatening epic clearly influenced by Lennon's 'Rain', if only
for that lazy, relaxed and simultaneously dark and ominous atmosphere,
and nobody should bypass the great sing-along number that is 'Sunny Afternoon',
with Ray adopting a sweet, lazy, idle tune which suits the lyrics one hundred
percent and certainly transforms the songs into a great anthem of British
life.
There's also a serious advance in production values on this record. While
the band was still working with Talmy, it's obvious that they were exploring
the studio potential with far more zest than ever before: none of the songs
sound like they were recorded in a leaking garage, and that's important:
for such a 'serious' record the regular sloppy garage-band treatment would
simply be a blasphemy. Numerous sound effects, like ringing phones, strikes
of lightning, and swimming pool noises make their way on here, and all
the instruments sound quite clear and sharp and tasty. Not to mention that
the band has booked Nicky Hopkins into the studio, and he adorns many of
the numbers with intricate piano and harpsichord parts; his help is so
grandiose that Ray even dedicates an entire song to him, the sensitive,
socially biting 'A Session Man'.
A very convincing effort, indeed, and one of the most groundbreaking, blatantly
'artistic' rock records of 1966. Note that the album was supposed to be
a concept one, with dialogue intermissions and far more sound effects than
the actual number; however, the idiotic record company (or was it Mr Shel
Talmy?) was against it, so all they have left are the telephone at the
beginning of 'Party Line', the rain and thunder on 'Rainy Day In June'
and a couple of other things. The bastards! They have deprived the Kinks
of their Sgt Pepper! Who knows how rock music could have fared if...
ah, forget it. Nobody would buy no stupid 'kinks' anyway. And anyway, this
is still a concept album - it has a lot more concept than Sgt Pepper,
for that matter. All the more amazing, as the great leap from Kontroversy
still remains a mystery to be solved: the Beatles never advanced that fast.
The new Rhino re-release is flabbergastingly great: besides a couple of
fillers, it includes such great numbers of the time like the notorious
singles 'I'm Not Like Everybody Else' and 'Dead End Street' (the former
is the first appearance of self-exaltation on a rock record, the latter
sounds like it could have been sung by Mr Alfred Jingle in prison), as
well as one of my favourite Kinks songs of all time, 'Mr Pleasant' which
is about a dude called Mr Pleasant whose wife goes out with another dude
and 'things aren't so pleasant after all'. It has the most jabberwockingly
great music hall melody of all time - full of subtle changes of key and
charming harmonies, funny and sad at the same time. Rumour hath it that
it was a single and it badly flopped. Well, what can I say? People are
arguably idiots. ALL people. At least, ALL people who didn't buy that single
in 1967. And hey, have you noticed how much Dave Davies' vocals have improved
since the early days? When I listen to 'I'm Not Like Everybody Else', I
actually like the way he sings: passionately, convincingly, and
cleverly concealing the weaknesses of his vocal chords instead of exposing
them. Oh, he also takes lead vocals on 'Party Line', and they're tolerable,
too. His best hour was yet to come, of course, on the next record.
Note, please, that my rating of 9 relates to the Rhino release. Without
the bonus tracks it would only amount to 8 or maybe even 7 - unfortunately,
the percent of filler on the original album is that great.
I'll remember when you mail your ideas
Your worthy comments:
<zwetan@stud.uni-frankfurt.de> (01.03.2000)
This is the third album I bought of the year 1966. The other ones being The Mothers' Freak Out and the other Revolver. But Face To Face doesn't impress me like these aforementioned masterpieces as I hoped. Nearly half of the tunes are somewhat bland and unoriginal and the sound is too dated. Nevertheless I really like the first half plus the bonus tracks.
Ben Greenstein <bgreenstein@nctimes.net> (02.06.2000)
My favourite Kinks album - I'm sorry, but there's almost no filler on here. "Too Much On My Mind," which bothers you so much, has got a truly classy melody, and it's not alone. I may have to call it a tie with "Village Green," but it's even more fun. A ten.
Year Of Release: 1967
Record rating = 7
Overall rating = 11
A bit of a smudgy effort, but overall a fine successor to Face To
Face. You gotta dig that style!
Best song: WATERLOO SUNSET
People often consider this as the Kinks' finest hour, but me, I must
vehemently disagree. This is not the Kinks' finest hour. It's a good album,
an essential album, it's an album that presents the Kinks in all their
dreamy British glory; and yet, it's worse than Face To Face, in
fact. And why? Well - because it sounds boring! Of course, I can't say
that about all the songs, but the general atmosphere of the album is so
lazy I usually have trouble trying to listen to it to the very end. See,
by this point in their career they've abandoned all their pretensions to
be a hard-rockin' band, leaving all that stuff to bands like the Stones
and the Who, and concentrated entirely on the music-hall Victorian British
music. The good side of this is that they're so highly professional and
successful in this genre nobody can even come close: the bad side is that
they're also starting to lose parts of their originality, repeating the
same themes and chords over and over again.
Just see for yourself: for every really good tune on the album you get
a duffer or at least what I'd call a duffer. 'David Watts' opens the album
on a highly optimistical note, moreover, it is the only real fast song
on here (but do not fool yourself: this is NOT rock'n'roll, it's just fast
retro piano pop), and you can't help singing along to all those silly 'fa-fa-fa-fa''s.
Dave's 'Death Of A Clown' is, I confess, one of his best contributions
to the entire catalogue, and he even manages to disguise the poorness of
his vocals. But then we go off onto yet another set of Brit characters,
just like on Face To Face; this time, however, the accent is mainly
made on lyrics and 'concept'. What happened to the memorable melodies?
'No Return', 'Situation Vacant', and 'Funny Face' are all prime filler
- neither do they have any memorable hooks nor well-structured and attractive
melodies. Okay, after a lot of listens I take it back about 'Situation
Vacant' - I at least love these little organ fills functioning as counterpoints
to Ray's piercing vocals. But I stand by the statement that 'No Return'
is just a sludgey sentimental ballad that hides the total lack of melody
behind Ray's vocal charms, while 'Funny Face' may be a complex Dave tune,
but it's also an insipid, bland Dave Davies tune. Slightly better are Ray's
tale of two confronting sisters and his addiction to five o'clock tea (both
'Two Sisters' and 'Afternoon Tea' at least have a memorable and charming
refrain). Dave contributes another weak ballad ('Love Me Till The Sun Shines'),
and try as I might, I just can't understand why some critics who diss early
Kinks' ballads love this one. Cuz it sounds just like the ones on the first
album. In other words, it sucks.
Hey, but calm down! Not all is lost! Ray's totally Anglicized ditties 'Tin
Soldier Man' and especially 'Harry Rag' sound great, probably because they
are the closest to British folk music on here, and God knows I love good
British folk music. The strange martial rhythms on both of these songs,
when combined with Ray's biting lyrics ('Harry Rag' seems to be about pot,
for instance), produce a really strange, enthralling effect. 'Lazy Old
Sun' is a significant half-Brit, half-psychedelic anthem which I just have
trouble to listen to because it's so damn slooow and mooooody and booooring
(I'd bet you anything this is a good song to listen to when you're stoned).
And the final two tracks - the nostalgic, melancholic 'End Of The Season'
with French pop influences and the magnificent ballad 'Waterloo Sunset'
which pretty much defines the word 'beautiful' (in a way that you can say:
'What is beautiful? Ever heard 'Waterloo Sunset?' That's beautiful
for you!') - are a great way to close the album. 'Waterloo Sunset', in
fact, has really become an indisputable gauge of gorgeousness for almost
anybody who's had the luck to hear it - ???? Wow! Opening and finishing
the record on a high note and putting all the filler in between! Now that's
the way to make an album!..
Of course, the album is almost unmatched if it's the lyrics, not the actual
chords, that you're looking for. Ray's lyrical abilities have fully matured,
and, while he'd go on to stun us with his word imagery for at least four
or five more years and produce quite a fair share of equally impressive
lyrics, he'd never top the great 'portrait gallery' that's hung out within
the limits of this record. Teenage ambitions, sufferings of the low-classed,
romantic feelings of the simple ordinary people, traditional British values,
stereotypic British characters... the lyrics sheet can be a real revelation.
Plus, the Rhino re-release has some cool bonus tracks, most notably the
terrific single 'Autumn Almanac' which surprises me as being one of the
first multipart compositions (kinda like an abbreviated version of Thick
As A Brick or anything like that) where all the parts are great - tight,
compact, charming and memorable. Nostalgic, too. British, too. One of their
best Brit anthems, no doubt. The other tracks don't rise to that standard,
though: there are some mediocre Dave songs like 'Susannah's Still Alive'
(they flopped, so he decided not to have a solo career after all, even
if he did have such plans at first). 'Act Nice And Gentle' sounds like
an outtake from Face To Face, so it's fun, and both 'Wonderboy'
and 'Polly' have their moments, but overall the bonuses aren't as strong
as the ones on Face To Face or Kinda Kinks. Except for 'Autumn
Almanac', of course.
Act nice and gentle and mail your ideas
Your worthy comments:
Ben Greenstein <bgreenstein@nctimes.net> (29.01.2000)
Wow! Someone else who finds this album as boring as I do! Most people praise this one, but a lot of the songs sound very lacklustre to me. "No Return" is the worst - unique chord changes like an XTC song, but a truly hideous melody unlike XTC. Sure, "Waterloo Sunset" and "David Watts" (which is really just a ripoff of "Let's Spend The Night Together") along with a couple of others, are fantastic, but the album really doesn't intrest me that much. I could probably give it a seven, but am really tempted to go for a six.
jpcs <jpcs@xtra.co.nz> (09.06.2000)
"Harry Rag" isn't about pot,it's just about cigarettes.
Ivan Piperov <zwetan@stud.uni-frankfurt.de> (24.08.2000)
Where the memorable tunes are? I bought this album recently, and "Tin Soldier Man", "Harry Rag" and of course "Waterloo Sunset" just won't get out of my head. I'm sure the other tunes will be stuck in my head before too long too. Though I can't imagine this with "No Return". This song has some tiny hooks within the lines and it shows what a musical mind Ray Davies once has had. And the chords...really complex! Now when you say that "Love Me Till The Sun Shines" sounds like their first records, I'll maybe buy them out of pure masochism: I've never heard a clumsier voice than Dave Davies', and that's kinda entertaining... I recommend not to buy the new CD-version, because it's in ugly mono. The old CD may not contain any bonus tracks, but comes in glorious '67 stereo!
Thomas M. Silvestri <cc3000@earthlink.net> (01.10.2000)
Who's this soulful babe (sounds like Mary J. Blige or Lauren Hill -- not that I know their stuff that well) who's done a cover of "Waterloo Sunset"? (Don't know if it's brand new or out for awhile, but I just heard it in a bar the other night.)
Year Of Release: 1968
Record rating = 6
Overall rating = 10
Could have been quite entertaining - but what could a live album
from the mid-Sixties sound like?
Best song: SUNNY AFTERNOON
The title should suggest that this is a live album - even to the most
mentally deficient reader, that is. However, even the most mentally deficient
reader could also predict what kind of live album that is, especially
if he's heard contemporary efforts like the Stones' Got Live or
the Beatles' Hollywood Bowl. The screaming girls constitute the
main attraction, and even if they can sometimes transform their chaotic
whining into a great sing-along to 'Sunny Afternoon' or a strange 'Happy
Birthday To You' (Ray's birthday? Congratulations, Mr Davies!), most of
the time they prefer to stick to general hysteria. The actual performance,
if listened to with enough care, turns out to be great. Just as Live
At Leeds was a hard-rock antidote for the artistic Tommy, this
one's a garage-rock antidote for the Dickens-flavoured Face To Face
(the performance was recorded well before the release of Something Else).
Sure, it does contain 'Sunny Afternoon' and two Brit character descriptions
(a good version of 'A Well Respected Man' and an almost unheard 'Dandy'),
as well as the lightweight 'I'm On An Island' from Kontroversy.
And it's somewhat strange to hear these quiet, psychological tunes, delivered
in more or less the same arrangements as the studio originals, performed
live amidst a sea of screaming girls. The very idea of the audience going
wild and completely off its head to lyrics like 'He's a well respected
man about town/Doing the best things so conservatively' seems kinda ridiculous
to me, but what the hell, they could have sung 'It Was A Very Good Year'
and received the same kind of reaction. And I'm positively torn over 'Sunny
Afternoon', because the performance, immaculate and captivating as it is,
stands so much at odds with the teenage frenzy that it almost spoils all
the fun. It's a wonder, though, that as if by magic, at Ray's command the
audience stops the screaming as one and launches into the anthemic refrain
- something the Beatles could probably never have managed.
Then again, the rest is gruff, in-yer-face rock-n-roll, bashed out with
a considerable amount of force and self-assurance (at least, by that time
they really managed to play their instruments on stage). Even if
you cannot hear a single note, you're sure to be caught in the general
frenzy, fury and fun from the very first chords of 'Till The End Of The
Day', a fantastic show opener. 'You Really Got Me' hits almost harder than
the original, and this is where the screaming comes in handy, the only
thing spoiling the picture being the strange 'blooping' noises emitted
by the bass. It's also great to hear a female backing vocals-free version
of 'Come On Now' with Ray and Dave trading verses and singing backup to
each other. And the final medley of a successful blues cover ('Milk Cow
Blues'), the inevitable 'Batman' theme (just imagine that the Who did it
too! What was that - a general obsession?), and 'Tired Of Waiting For You'
even suggests me the horrendous idea that the band was sometimes going
for a 'jammy' sound of the likes of Cream and the Who - after all, it's
more than eight minutes long! They are no jammers, though, so the effort
could be totally dispensable if not for the fact that the instrumental
passages are not very long and the 'secondary' themes woven in very carefully.
Of course, by the time the record appeared on the market, it was somewhat
late - the show was recorded on April 1, 1967, and by 1968 neither the
Kinks really sounded like that on stage nor the audiences were so wild.
Blame the stupid Pye record company that not only delayed the release,
but also mistook 'Till The End Of The Day' for 'All Day And All Of The
Night', heh heh. You gotta keep that in mind; the record's sound quality
should be compared to the 'first generation' of rock live albums, not to
Leeds or Ya-Ya's. As usual, fate was kinda unjust to the
poor band.
The Rhino re-release has both the mono and stereo versions of the album,
even though I don't consider this a very good idea. Essentially, this is
just a poorly recorded album with loads of noise; without headphones, both
versions sound about the same, and listening to it in headphones is simply
not a very good idea cuz it just might cause permanent ear damage. Why
couldn't they disinter some more good ol' tapes instead? The Who have done
it for Leeds - what's the matter with this one? Do they really expect
us to listen to the same album twice without pauses? OK, so some people
might prefer the newly issued mono version; me, I don't give a damn - the
girls' screams overshadow both of them. Which actually reminds me that
the Stones' Got Live sounds a lot better (and I don't mean the two
studio songs disguised as live cuts). Yeah, I know technology sucked back
then, but still - this could have been a better job. Get it, still. And
if you see an album entitled The Live Kinks - grab it as well, 'cause
it's the name of the original American release. Apparently the American
public wasn't supposed to enjoy the term 'Kelvin Hall'. Hmm. Were the American
record people trying to hide the Kinks' Britishness from American audiences?
Another point in pointing out that record people are a bunch of tasteless
idiots...
Tired of waiting for you to mail your ideas
Year Of Release: 1968
Record rating = 10
Overall rating = 14
Culmination of all the Britfest. Fantastic melodies, too.
Best song: VILLAGE GREEN PRESERVATION SOCIETY
A series of overimportant firsts for the lads here: the first album
without Shel Talmy (at last!), the first album to ensure Ray's absolute
leadership in the band (no Dave vocals nor songs), the first totally transparent
concept album (almost a mini-'rock opera'), the first album with almost
no serious stinkers (not a single truly boring song on here). Ain't that
enough to get a 10?
Now, seriously speaking, I don't find this album as good as lots of people
say it is. I still give it a 10 because I feel this is extremely close
to the best the Kinks could ever have the possibility to come up with,
but there are a couple of defects - lemme just mention them before I start
praising every single note. The general drawback is that the album displays
a rather limited choice of styles - in fact, it's even more limited than
on Something Else. All of these tracks come from the British music
hall (with the possible exception of the slightly more rockin' 'Last Of
The Steam Powered Trains' and 'Wicked Annabella'), and the sound is somewhat
monotonous - frankly speaking, I get a teeny-weeny bit bored toward the
end. Even after a lot of listens, there's just something lacking
about this record that often makes me reconsider the score. The monotonousness
of the songs (hell, it's even reflected in song titles - we have 'Picture
Book' vs. 'People Take Pictures Of Each Other' or 'The Village Green Preservation
Society' vs. 'Village Green') sometimes gets me down. I do admit that monotonousness
isn't always a serious defect - just look at George Harrison's All Things
Must Pass, for instance - but when you deal with a sound as laid back,
lazy, relaxed and un-rousing as the trademark Ray Davies style, it's very
easy to get bored over fourty minutes of this stuff. Very easy.
So be warned - this stuff will seem great to you, but only if you have
a penchant for the quiet country life. I still leave the ten, after months
and months of reflexion, but it's definitely a weak ten as compared to
the undoubtable, solid ten of Arthur. Oh, and there's a particular
defect here, too: 'Big Sky' totally sucks because Ray recites his lyrics
without singing them, and this immediately reminds me of Eric Burdon's
style on Winds Of Change (yeah, follow
that link and check out the rating). I mean, the melody of the song is
all right, with a sharp, attractive acoustic track, but I'd really prefer
Ray singing than reciting; leave that stuff for Preservation, please.
But hey now, that's only one song out of fifteen, and that's OK. And, while
the songs are lazy, this laziness hardly ever metamorphoses into
complete lethargy or lack of memorable melody, like it often does on Something
Else.
All of the other tracks have at least a single hook, and most of them more
than one. Like I said, the album is a concept one - the band is acting
as a bunch of traditionalists protesting against the crumbling of traditional
British (and, in a broader sense - all-human) customs and lifestyles; in
fact, the true name of the album is The Kinks Are The Village Green
Preservation Society - so that nobody would doubt Ray Davies' sincere
artistic impulses. It's no wonder, then, that the style is so peaceful
and quiet, with 'idle' guitars and lax pianos swooping all around. If Face
To Face was just selected pictures of English life and Something
Else penetrated all kinds of social types, then Village Green
is a more restricted effort: instead of diffusing himself all over the
state, Ray chooses the quiet country life as his ideal, and most of the
songs are devoted to this quiet and peaceful theme.
The title track, a charming and very thought-provoking ode to British conservatism,
is still my favourite on the record - and not only because of the wonderful
allegories Ray is using to describe his 'tradition-saving program' ('We
are the Office Block Persecution Affinity/God save little shops, china
cups and virginity'), but also because of the melody and the wonderful
aethereal vocal harmonies in the 'Waterloo Sunset' vibe. That doesn't mean
that the others are throwaways - 'Do You Remember Walter' is nostalgia
at its most romantic; 'Picture Book' is fun at its grooviest (don't you
just love these imbecile 'NAAA-nah-nah-nah-nah'?); 'Johnny Thunder'
is an entertaining boring song (truly, it has a refrain that sounds like
a lot of bored people singing together, and it is entertaining);
and 'Starstruck' is just a great song to dance to. I'll close my eyes on
minor self-rip-offs - for instance, 'Village Green' borrows its melody
from 'Harry Rag', though nobody seems to notice that, but that's a clever
and unobtrusive rip-off in any case; and it's fully compensated by the
wonderful ragtime rhythms of 'Sitting By The Riverside' or the totally
unexpected elements of Latin music on 'Monica' (which you could possibly
know as 'ai-ai shall die ai-ai shall die if I should lose Monica-a'...)
Of course, those who like their Kinks loud and brash (that is, have lost
the thread somewhere around 1966), will be seriously disappointed. The
only track that comes close to 'menacing' is the parody number 'Wicked
Anabella' which borrows so much from the Who's 'Boris The Spider' that
it's practically impossible to view it as an independent serious effort
(it's cute, though). The songs are predominantly acoustic - even when they
do use electric guitars, they make them smooth and soft, and occasional
bursts of stingin' electricity like the one in the already mentioned 'Last
Of The Steam Powered Trains' really do not count. But the atmosphere that
Ray tries to re-create here is really something unique in rock music: the
Conservative Party must have been proud. The album sold miserably in the
States, and that's perfectly understandable: it was totally, absolutely
and undeniably unsuited to neither the American rock scene at the time
nor the American lifestyle in general. Steam powered trains, strawberry
jam and village green were not on everybody's number one list in 1968,
and lines like 'picture yourself when you're getting old' were obviously
aimed at anybody but the hip audiences of rock bands at the time.
Fortunately, time heals all wounds, and it's good to see the album finally
step into its rights and get due acknowledgement as of lately - thirty
years after its release which is really a long time by the measures
of modern history. One more proof to the fact that one has to work out
of love for art - not of love for commercial success. And in that respect,
the Kinks just couldn't fail. Sometimes I even wonder - you know,
if Ray wasn't really making all this stuff with a hindsight - aiming at
achieving success in retrospect, making something for his generation to
enjoy not at the time, but several decades later. Probably not, but it
still came out exactly that way. Funny, isn't it?
P.S. I don't have the Rhino re-issue of the album, but I know that it includes
both the mono and stereo versions of the album (doesn't sound like a great
idea to me - I wish they'd dug out some more unreleased outtakes for it),
plus the single 'Days' which is indeed a terrific song, one of Ray's most
charming romantic ballads ever. The reissue is probably worth picking up
for 'Days' alone, although any serious Kinks compilation should probably
include the number as well.
Do you remember Walter? If you do, mail your ideas
Your worthy comments:
Eric Feder <ejfeder@amherst.edu> (22.04.99)
'big sky' is actually my favorite song on the kinks' Village Green Preservation Society. I'm a big fan of the velvet underground so i guess i don't mind speak-singing. But regardless, this song just ROCKS! Great lyrics, and i love the insistent acoustic guitar line underneat the sneering "spoken" vocal.
Ben Greenstein <bgreenstein@nctimes.net> (27.08.99)
This is the album that does it for me. Unlike some of the other Kinks
albums, where most of the melodies took a bit of time to grow on me, this
one has tunes that leap out and grab you right away, in a sort of Beatlesey
way. At least, that's the way it feels to me.
There is one stinker, though - "People Take Pictures Of Each Other"
is unmelodic, and hard to be seen as anything other than filler. And it's
the closing track. They really, really, should have put "Days"
at the end. That's a great song! And it would have fit in perfectly with
"Do You Remember Walter," the title track, my personal fave "Picture
Book," the goofy "Phenomonal Cat," and the rest. A near
perfect album. A perfect score.
Rich Bunnell <taosterman@yahoo.com> (18.04.2000)
I felt a little guilty not having any albums by these guys considering that I'm a big fan of their numerous offspring, like XTC, the Jam, and Blur, so I got this one a few months ago for seven bucks. At first, it bored the living crap out of me-- I loved the title track a bit, but the rest of the songs all sounded the same. Then it started growing growing growing GROWING GROWING WOW THIS ALBUM IS REALLY REALLY FRIGGIN' GOOD! I like almost every song on it! "Do You Remember Walter," "Starstruck," "Village Green," "Big Sky," "Johnny Thunder," "Picture Book," and most of the rest of the songs are so utterly catchy. And well-written. None of it rocks at all, but it sits around and sounds really pretty, gentle, nice, and perfect. I'd give it a ten-- it's just as good as everyone says it is.
Fredrik Tydal <f_tydal@hotmail.com> (27.07.2000)
Ray Davies was a master of crafting melodies, for sure. I can look at any song title on the back of this album and immediately begin to hum the melody. And the lyrics ain't bad either; check out the title track for some really imaginative words. The album title might lead some people to believe the album is pretentious, but it's not. It's just a collection of great songs with great melodies. No, not those annoying melodies you want out of your head, but melodies you gladly tap your foot or hum along to. I think I'm gonna go listen to "Starstruck" right now...
<zwetan@stud.uni-frankfurt.de> (10.08.2000)
Much as I like the Preservation-thing, I just couldn't imagine this album would be better. The title track reminds me of "Shepherds Of The Nation" and "Where are they now" seems to be based around the bridge of "johny Thunder... Apart from being the prelude, this CD is really better than Preservation, much better. Although I prefer stereo, the mono version on the remastered CD sounds better. The stereo version is awfully distorted and worn out...
Ward <Wardo68@aol.com> (11.08.2000)
I've spent most of my life NOT understanding the Kinks. Just too English I guess. (And considering that my fave groups have been the Beatles, Who, Stones, Jam, Costello, etc. that says a lot) But I spent the last 10 days or so trying to 'get' Village Green. I'm amazed with the thoroughness your reviews run, you didn't say A WORD about 'Phenomenal Cat', perhaps Ray's only psychedelic song! A little Syd Barrett goes a long way. But then, I'm only 32. I wasn't there. Great reading. I'll have to get my own reviews up soon.
mjcarney <mjcarney@netzero.net> (14.08.2000)
Well this album is it, it is the most quintessential Kinks album out there bar none. Like you said, it doesn't really rock, or even move you, especially on the first few listens, but there are a ton of melodies, and strong/beautiful lyrics and arrangements to all of the songs. Also, there really isn't a stinker on the entire album, well maybe "All of My Friends Were There"--it is a little tiresome, but the rest of the album is just brilliant. Supposedly this album only sold 17,000 copies in the US when it was released, which is just awful for a major label band and especially one that was already somewhat established as the Kinks were just 2-3 years earlier. All I have to say is that the consumers missed out. Sure, the album's presence is flavored with British sentiments, but the basic themes and ideas can relate to anybody. This is most especially true in the albums best track "Do You Remember Walter". Everyone can relate to this song as you see your old friends change and grow away from you, it has a regretful tone, but it is honest and true plus with a melody that would make even Paul McCartney shudder. The other major highlights include the beatiful loss of innocence ode "Animal Farm". This song features all the lushness and beauty present in "Waterloo Sunset", but with perhaps even a better melody (which is saying a lot!!!). That is simply why this album works so well, Ray Davies has perfected the art of writing not just catchy/beautiful songs that you can hum too (like McCartney would do) but he has added some strong lyrics to these melodies to just make them stronger. Other strong tracks include the laid back anthemic title track and its flipside "Village Green", the jovial/regretful "Picture Book"--which has a very upbeat melody splashed with hints of regret, and the subdued beauty of "Johnny Thunder". Basically this album is just fun, and (strangely) rather lively considering its restrained sound. I have heard/read complaints about this album because all of its songs were written in the same key, but you know what with melodies and lyrics this great it is so hard to notice. Also, the similarities of "Wicked Annabella" and "Boris the Spider" are kind of a stretch. Sure they both have a slow power chord riff progression, feature vocals by the sideman of the band, and use some dry English humour, but they don't really sound much alike at all. I would've never drawn that conclusion--and I didn't. Still though, this is a tremendous album, unfortunately at least where I am from it was incredibly hard to find--it took me like a year of looking to buy it (well I didn't want to use the Internet). Believe me, if you don't own this album, you really are missing one of rock and roll's all time masterpieces. For years I always heard from other Beatle freeks that if you really like the Beatles, you'll also love the Kinks, and this is the album by them which could stand up to any Beatles album, it is just that good. 10/10!--Buy it today!
Dan Luban <dahelu@earthlink.net> (21.10.2000)
10. I agree that the spoken parts of 'Big Sky' can be rather annoying, and 'Starstruck' seems a little bland to me. But everything else is phenomenal--special standouts for me are the title track, 'Do You Remember Walter?', and 'Sitting by the Riverside'. I will have to disagree with Ben and say that 'People Takes Pictures of Each Other' is the best song on the album, and maybe my favorite Kinks song ever. Wild, funny, but still quite moving. I think this is easily their pinnacle--nothing else came close to the songcraft and emotion they showed on this album.
Year Of Release: 1969
Record rating = 10
Overall rating = 14
Victorian Punk. Ever wondered what such a thing could be? Well, here
you are!
Best song: SHANGRI-LA
If only I'd gotten this album before Village Green, there would
be no doubt the latter would have been deprived of the 10 mark. As it is,
I generously let both of them share the spot, but... Arthur is definitely
better. Yet another in an endless string of concept albums, this one was
originally envisioned by Ray as a soundtrack to some weird TV movie, but
the project was scrapped at the last moment, so he was left with just the
music. The subject is rather complicated, but you can read all about it
in the liner notes. Suffice it to say that the lyrics on the album are
among Ray's best ever poetical efforts: while lacking any signs of delicate
intricacy (which is not that unusual for Mr Davies who usually avoids ambivalent
expressions), it also offers a lot of thinking process to the listener
- quite unlike the straightforward and rather banal lyrics of, say, Low
Budget. It's about small people and their fates in general. Old
people, too. Arthur must have been at least in his seventies. Do you understand
now why nobody bought this record in 1969, with the title track going like
'Arthur we love you, want to help you'?
But enough of the lyrics. It's the melodies that are really captivating.
Simple to the extreme, as usual, but unbelievingly catchy, funny and sincere,
angry and raving at times, emotional and mystic at other times. Hell, since
this is so great an effort, why not go over it track by track? The opening
track, 'Victoria', is a punk's paradise: banal three-chord sequences, fast,
pulsating rhythm, and shredded, muddy and exciting vocals. But the lyrics?
'Long ago, grass was green, sex was bad and obscene'. It's a dang classic!
I love it! Then we go into the first of the anti-war hymns: the dreary
'Yes Sir No Sir' which manages to convey the army atmosphere of obeisance
and horrible braindead discipline just fine. And 'Some Mother's Son' is
a beautiful anti-war ballad whose psychologic depictions of 'two soldiers
fighting in a trench' end up in a fantastic series of climaxes throughout
the record. Then comes 'Drivin'' with its throbbing bass lines, beautiful
vocal harmonies and words praising the beauty of picnicking on the grass
- that's probably the only song that could have easily made it onto Village
Green. The hidden gem on Side A, to my opinion, is 'Brainwashed' -
a song which totally, uncompromisingly and absolutely eliminates the need
for the existence of punk rock. 'Cause during its two minutes and three
seconds it manages to encompass everything that's so important about
punk (speed, simple guitar riff, angry vocals, hard-edged sound and anti-establishment
lyrics) and much more (great embellishments provided by the horn section,
memorability and originality). And, finally, the first side closes with
the controversial 'Australia' which starts as an entertaining parody on
TV commercials ('Australia, no class distinction, Australia, no drug addiction')
and ends in a four-minute jam carried on by Dave Davies' interminable soloing.
Most people hate it (in fact, all the reviews of the record that
I've read punctuate this as the main defect), but I really can't get the
point. It's not nasty or anything - it's just a bit too long. On the plus
side, it's very moody and maybe if we knew what part of the movie it was
bound to accompany we'd treat it better. I don't mind, really.
Now the second side is just a teeny-weeny bit weaker than the first one,
but you wouldn't know it from the opener. Because 'Shangri-La' gotta rank
as one of the top three or four Kinks' songs ever. The way that Ray sings
the opening verses, accompanied by just an acoustic and some horns in the
background, is positively frightening and mystifying all at once. It invites
a certain Gothic atmosphere which really isn't supposed to be there, but
there it is: this old man, sitting in an armchair in his silent and gloomy
'Shangri-La' (which is actually the name of Arthur's mansion), pondering
upon old times and looking back at his past life. Something's happening,
really. Then this harpsichord enters the scene, and the spooky atmosphere
is gone to give way to some mighty huge anthemic singing, then it goes
off into a fast energetic part before reverting back to the harpsichord
and one more refrain. In fact, the song might be the best ever hybrid of
ballad and anthem I've ever heard: even the Who failed with such kind of
things (see my review of Who's Next).
Next comes 'Mr Churchill Says' with some more great melody-making: as is
usual for this record, it is divided into a slow and a fast part, with
the slow part being similar to 'Yes Sir No Sir' and the fast part being
similar to 'Brainwashed'. Similar, but not identic. And this also means
that you can either reflect on the song or just dance to it - or both,
for that matter. 'She Bought A Hat Like Princess Marina' is a charming
piece of ragtime set to the most amusing social commentary on record. 'Young
And Innocent Days' is the only really weak spot on the album: a quiet,
acoustic ballad which doesn't have any real energy or force (rather like
the kind of sloppy ballads Ray used to write years ago, like 'Ring The
Bells' and stuff). It only has three short verses but manages to drag on
for almost three minutes. Still, at least three minutes is not five or
ten. Then one more average pop number - 'Nothing To Say' (with a catchy,
but somewhat stupid melody, it was obviously written in order to fill in
the concept), and the closing title track presents us with yet another
great riff, some charming singing and these mighty lines: 'Arthur we love
you, want to help you, somebody loves you, don't ya know it?' It leaves
a real sense of accomplishment and even satisfaction. All's well that ends
well. And have I told you how much I enjoy the arrangements and the playing?
Because by that point the Kinks really knew how to use their instruments,
and it shows, whether on Dave's competent and utterly enjoyable leads,
or on Mick Avory's ferocious battle-style drumming - who'd ever believe
this is the guy that kept being ushered out by session drummers in 1964!
Just listen to his sticks on 'Shangri-La' or 'Princess Marina' and you'll
understand that he's really responsible for a large part of the album's
sound.
So? Was this the best concept album of 1969? People usually compare it
with Tommy, just because they came out at approximately the same
time and were both 'rock operas'. If I followed suite, I'd have to admit
that Arthur's concept is definitely higher. Not that I'm a great
fan of Ray Davies' conceptualism: quite often it looks completely artificial,
banal and even stupid. But this time, he'd got it right. He hit the bullseye.
And he also strenghtened the concept with some incredible songs. Unfortunately,
this would be the last album where music took on a higher priority than
concept: starting with Lola, Ray would slowly abandon melody-making
in favour of story writing. But right now and right here the balance is
simply perfect. Also, this is definitely a rock album, unlike the quiet
Village Green: the guitars roar, there's plenty o' solos and watch
out for that speed! It never gets boring for me. Buy it now! Forgetting
about the fact that nobody bought it back then, of course.
Nothing to say? Mail your ideas
Your worthy comments:
Ben Greenstein <bgreenstein@nctimes.net> (27.08.99)
I don't agree - well, not exactly. "Victoria," "Shangri-La,"
"Yes Sir No Sir," "Some Mother's Son," and "Australia"
are fantastic songs, and certainly should have been classics, but in all
the time I've had the album, none of the other songs really grew on me.
Not that they're not good! On the contrary, I like all of them quite a
but! The only onw I don't really care for is the title track (what's up
with the weak album closers, anyway?). The rest though, are fine songs
- they just seem a little overshadowed by the multi-part epics and bouncy
rockers. I would still give the album a really high score.
Nick Karn <glassmoondt@yahoo.com> (09.11.99)
Although I've heard a number of Kinks songs from around their 1964-69 period, this is the only album I'm familiar with straight through. It's an excellent concept record (though half the time I can't even really tell there's a story or theme going on). Still, hooks galore on here. "Shangri La" (soaring!), "Victoria" (energetic), "Yes Sir No Sir" (unpredictable), "Some Mother's Son" (highly emotional anti-war tale), "Australia" (trance-like), the title track (unbelievable infectious refrain that has never left my head since the first time I heard it), "Nothing To Say" (groovy), "Mr. Churchill Says" (adventurous) and "She Brought A Hat Like Princess Marina" (entertaining) are absolute classics, no questions asked, but even the three minor tracks ("Drivin'" and "Brainwashed" have great hooks and "Young And Innocent Days" is a good but not great ballad) are highly recommendable. A classic example of melody and musical innovation, though. A solid 10 for this one.
Rich Bunnell <taosterman@yahoo.com> (18.04.2000)
Not as good as Village Green to me, but I'd still give it a nine. It's very nearly as perfect, but the only flaw is that this time Ray's written such wonderfully majestic standouts ("Victoria," "Shangri-La") that everything else is overshadowed if you don't listen hard enough. In that case, "Yes Sir No Sir," "Australia," "Mr. Churchill Says," and a bucketload of other great tunes can be easily overlooked because you're still thinking of the thumping pop of "Victoria" or the well-crafted, anthemic beauty of "Shangri-La." Still well worth owning-- the only flaws in the individual songs are that "Young And Innocent Days" doesn't strike me as memorable (though pretty) and that a song like the title track shouldn't be allowed to go on for over three minutes-- it's too long!!
<zwetan@stud.uni-frankfurt.de> (10.08.2000)
Much as I disagree with your reviews, I am surprised that this is indeed the most acrobatic Kinks album ever. People often complain about Ray Davies' simple chord progressions; now this album proves, that he could make a song really tricky while still keeping the melodic side beautifully(Yes sir no sir). And his lyrics...just the song "Some Mother's Son" has more power and drama than the whole of Roger Waters' Final Cut! Bravo, Mr. Ray Davies!
Year Of Release: 1970
Record rating = 7
Overall rating = 11
Some pseudo-melodic fully-conceptual filler and some ultra-fantastic
semi-conceptual songs.
Best song: LOLA, but APEMAN comes close
Ooh, how I hate these horrible album titles that tend to take up more
space than the review itself...
Okay, so the story goes that somewhere around the spring of 1970 Ray churned
out the most popular and commercially successful song of all his career
which I wouldn't even want to comment upon because everybody knows it.
The song was 'Lola', the subject matter was the protagonist's brief acquaintance
and flirt with a travestite, the melody was incredibly involving and memorable,
the bombastic chorus ('lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-Lola') became the Kinks' arena signature,
and the single was one of their biggest international smashes, reinstating
them as major artists in the USA as well.
The problem was with putting it on an album. The song itself, as is obvious,
mostly deals with transsexuality and nothing else; there's not too much
social philosophy going on in there unless one presumes that the lines
about a 'muddled up mixed up shook up world' actually mean more than is
obvious at first glance. But the album on which it was finally included
is almost entirely dedicated to the concept of the ups and downs (mostly
downs) of record industry and hitmaking, and how these two subjects manage
to fit in is an absolute mystery known only to Mr Ray Davies. Lola Versus
Powerman? Transsexualism against corporate industry? You tell me...
Then again, maybe the Kinks weren't the 'kinks' for nothing: there's no
better way to flee the pressures of commercial success than in the embrace
of a loving travestite. That's merely a hypothesis, mind you. :)
Anyway, in the musical sense this album is really a huge disappointment
after such a great record as Arthur. It still gets a relatively
high rating just because it contains two genuine Kinks classics. 'Lola'
is a great song, of course, and so is the pretty evolution/ecology anthem
'Apeman', which by the way doesn't fit in with the general subject just
as well. I can't even understand which song I dig the most - it's 'Lola'
on one day and 'Apeman' on another one. The latter song is especially soothing
when you're pissed off at the world - well, everybody's supposed to have
his or her moment of wanting to 'make like an Apeman'.
But the rest of the tracks fall into three different categories, none of
which are very much enlightening and some of which are rather ominous,
predicting the general twist the Kinks' career would take further on, albeit
in a less easily perceivable form this time.
The first one of these is the actual 'moneygoround' concept where Ray was
clearly far more worried about the lyrics than the actual musical background.
'Denmark Street'; 'Top Of The Pops'; 'Moneygoround'; 'Powerman' - all of
them deal with the protagonist's commercial success and his lamentations
on being totally dependent on the big bosses, and all of them rely on basic
chord sequences, used at least a trillion times before. In fact, this is
the place where Ray openly begins stealing melodies, quietly initiating
the general routine of appropriating other people's inventions: the riff
in the mid section of 'Top Of The Pops' is an unashamed rip-off of the
golden oldie 'Land Of A Thousand Dances' (which I only heard played by
Bill Haley, but it must have been a jazz classic). Which makes me wonder:
how many more melodies whose ancestors I can't identify did Davies
steal, and how much of the assumed Kinks' (and other bands as well) merits
are really owed to people who lived and created long before them? That's
a serious artistic paradox to you, folks. In any case, when you really
try to compare the 'conceptual' tracks on here to the ones on Arthur,
the regress is obvious: the songs are still rather complex, with multi-part
arrangements, but with not even a third of the original musical ideas Ray
displayed on Arthur.
That said, none of the songs are unpleasant - 'Denmark Street' and 'Moneygoround'
are even funny, being based on generic barroom piano shuffles and thus
somehow predicting Ray's style on Muswell Hillbillies (typical Brit
satire set to American lounge music). 'Top Of The Pops' rocks pretty hard,
and 'Powerman' is the best of these numbers, with an interesting riff and
a very catchy chorus, but it still doesn't rank as a great song - put next
to the blazing power of 'Brainwashed' or the righteous fury of 'Mr Churchill
Says', it's flat out dull and bland.
The second category are sulky and clearly uninteresting ballads, none of
which can rank beyond 'cute' - the obvious legacy of 'Young And Innocent
Days', with Ray going more for a 'dreamy atmosphere' than an actual memorable
melody. 'Get Back In The Line' is the only one of the three that might
try to qualify, as it moves from the dirgey verses to the pseudo-bombastic
chorus with a certain conviction, but there's nothing about 'This Time
Tomorrow' apart from the half-pleasant banjo and Ray's melancholic intonations
to distinguish it from your average uninspired pop ballad by any average
band, and 'A Long Way From Home' is 'Young And Innocent Days Part II' -
a primitive piano melody and a Traffic-style folkish chant that starts
and ends nowhere. Not even a single trace of the wonderful Britpop style
of yore: it's almost as if Ray was consciously moving beyond his cherished
genre of 1966-68 and sticking to playing as generically as possible. And
while I did get used to that idea (you should, too: otherwise you'd have
to judge the Seventies' Kinks by their Sixties efforts, and that would
be a catastrophe), it was a mighty terrible shock at first, as if the entire
world collapsed and a new one, a bland and edgeless one at that, had completely
replaced it.
Finally, the third category is represented by Dave Davies returning to
form, and his efforts could have been passable and maybe even admirable
if not for the usual horrid vocals. Come to think of it, 'Strangers' could
have been a hit - if not for the utterly idiotic, but pretentious, lyrics
('if I live too long I'm afraid I'll die') and the murky tone evocating
Dave's worst moments on the early Kinks' records. But I gotta admit that
melodically, 'Strangers' is the best ballad on the whole album - there
are certain twists to the vocal melody that make it catchy and make you
want to sing along. And the rockin' 'Rats' isn't that encouraging, either,
but if the main idea was just to present an atmosphere of complete paranoia
and utter mental self-destruction, it's completely adequate - the wild
rhythm of the song, Dave's garage guitar chops and crazy screaming convey
the feeling well.
This is still the Kinks, of course - just not vintage Kinks - and it still
gets my praises rather than complete condemnation. But what actually happened
is that by this time Ray had clearly become more interested in presenting
explicit narrative subjects than in writing clever lyrics and setting them
to pretty melodies. It's the down side of all conceptual albums and rock
operas, in fact: chasing after the plot, one forgets about the actual musical
side of the project. Not that this particular concept is that entertaining,
as well; Lola is the far precursor to Ray's childish operas of the
mid-Seventies that managed to significantly profanate his reputation as
that of one of the most intellectual songwriters of his generation. Moreover,
Lola seems highly hypocritic: even if Ray was an expert in the matter,
having gone through a lot of commercial trouble himself, by now the band
were forming a part of the musical business themselves, so going out and
bashing it on the record was a highly strange thing to do. They far overdid
the same theme on Everybody's In Show-Biz, of course, but even here
it sounds somewhat comic and insincere. And, of course, bringing in 'Lola'
and making it part of the concept is such an obvious put-on that it really
makes one question Ray's geniality... And hey! Why is this 'Part One',
I wonder? Was Ray going to do a 'Part Two'? And if so, where is it? On
the other hand, maybe it would be better not to ask...
The recent Rhino re-release has some bonus tracks, but this time they're
not thoroughly entertaining: an alternate version of 'Lola' with the original
line 'it tastes like Coca-Cola' replaced by 'cherry cola' on the insistance
of some BBC thugs, and an alternate version of 'Apeman' with Dave throwing
in some electric lines to bad effect; thank God it was not used on the
original version. The demo of 'Powerman' doesn't really sound much different
from the original version, either.
Strangers! Mail your ideas
Your worthy comments:
Gustavo Rodriguez <rodblanc@webtv.net> (07.04.99)
I have to disagree with you big time on your criticism of the Lola
album. Over the last few years I've noticed a shift in opinion towards
this album. It used to get a lot more respect. Now it seems that Something
Else gets all the kudos. I have to agree with you on one thing: Something
Else is way overrated. But I think you're way too hard on the Lola
album. When all is said and done I guess it's just a matter of taste, but
I will still try to argue against a few points you made. One is why do
you make such a big deal about the chords/chord changes/chord sequences
in the songs? That is such a weak criticism for a rock record! Sure they're
formulaic, but that's rock'n roll!! Those are the same chord configurations
Bob Dylan, The Stones, The Who, and anyone (especially the entire punk
genre) who has pretty much played rock music have used over and over before
or since. It's when the structures get complicated and convoluted that
we get the bloated and pompous music that has plagued us since the mid-seventies!
That's part of what is great about the Kinks. They're not virtuosos. Whether
or not you buy into rock being more about attitude and mood than technical
mastery is up to you. You review of "Victoria" off Arthur
seems to show that you share this belief so I don't understand why the
chords make such a difference to you on the Lola album. The ideal
rock band shouldn't play much better than the Kinks.
Ray Davies is rock's great illusionist. He takes the simplest of musical
material and expands it beyond its limitations making you think that you've
taken in something much more complicated. I must argue that Lola
contains some of his best work in that vein. How could you sleep on "Get
Back in Line" or "A Long Way From Home"? Both are simple,
yes, not so simple. The chord structures (particularly the latter song)
are simple but davies concocts gorgeous melodies and lyrically these two
songs alone are poignant and carry a real resonance.
I also feel you take the theme of the album too much to heart. It isn't
quite a concept album. It's a series of personal sketches mostly about
the music industry with a couple of healthy, HUMOUROUS digressions ('Lola',
'Apeman') to keep us from drowning in the bile. And Davies was not being
"hypocritical". He and his band like many bands before and since
get screwed royally by the music industry. The Kinks are not really part
of the record industry in the sense that they alone cannot truly distribute,
advertise, and market their own product. They are independent contractors
like most entertainers and artists and as such have considerably less share
of the pie than we are led to believe.
You only need to see what happened to current artists like TLC, Toni Braxton,
Tribe Called Quest, and countless bands today who sign lousy deals and
who end up broke and in debt even as they are selling millions of records!
The timelieness of Ray's bitter satire of the music industry has not faded
a bit, especially if you know how ugly and corrupt the actual dealings
still are. He was then and is now justified in his criticism. It wasn't
just whining. The Kinks really lost out and time has proved unfortunately
the Moneygoround goes on and you can't win. Ray Davies triumph of course
was a perverse one. He was actually able to get the same industry he was
tearing apart to release his album. I know all my rambling will most likely
not change your opinion, but if you can try to hear this album with different
ears. I, Personally think Lola Vs. Powerman and the Moneygoround
is every bit as good as Arthur and Village Green. The only
weak spot for me is "Rats" otherwise I think it's fine.
Ben Greenstein <bgreenstein@nctimes.net> (27.08.99)
I think I'd rate this one higher than you did. While I agree almost
completely with your bashing of the stupid rockers, but I love those ballads!
They're all really pretty and distinctive-sounding. "This Time Tommorow"
is the best - I need to listen to this tune any time I am about to get
on an airplane. Part of my obsessive compulsive disorder, I guess. Also,
my mummy is very insistent that "Get Back In The Line" was a
hit when she was younger - I think she's crazy, but wouldn't mind if it
did get some airplay!
"Moneygoround" is fun, "Apeman" is awesome, and "Lola"
has become, interestingly enough, a very personal song for me. Maybe I'm
just kinky. Probably am, seeing as I like the Kinks so much. I'd give this
album an eight.
<Ogdensgoneflake@aol.com> (20.10.2000)
I didn't like this album the first few times I listened to it. But after listening to it a few times I think it is great. "Lola" is the best song on the album but I also think that "This time tomorrow is also one of my favorites. The only one I dislike is "Rats", and I hate the lines in "Moneygoround" that go like "they don't know the words and they don't know the tune/but they don't give a damn" make me bite my lip, but overall I'd give it an 8.
Year Of Release: 1971
Record rating = 6
Overall rating = 10
A weird movie soundtrack with the Kinks displaying some unusual musical...
err... ideas.
Best song: MOMENTS
While this is definitely Ray's weakest moment in the entire "glory
period" of 1966-72, I won't really be saying anything bad about this
album: it's a soundtrack and it's supposed to be nothing else but a soundtrack,
in the end. Of course, I haven't seen the movie and I wouldn't want to
(it was about something like a penis transplant, as far as I've read and
since the album cover suggests it, too). The music itself is quite good,
in fact. About a half of it is instrumental, of course, but what can you
expect from a soundtrack? Not to mention that it gives us a chance to witness
Ray's inventiveness when it comes around to making real instrumental music,
not just amusing drugged out jamming at the end of 'Australia' or something.
Sure enough, the instrumental bits are kinda weird - not particularly atmospheric
or particularly well-played, but, well, just interesting in a special Kinky
way. One of these instrumentals, by the way, is 'Lola', And it's played
with gusto - with keyboards and guitars replacing Ray's voice to fair effect.
The organ part sounds incredibly goofy to me, actually, but I suppose it's
just an obligatory part of all the fun. The rest is a mind-boggling hodge-podge,
with not a single number repeating the same style or ideas. Thus, 'Helga'
has some good exercises in moody classical guitar; 'Completely' is a groovy
blues number with a dark gritty edge, and 'Running Round Town' is a clear-cut
rip-off of 'When The Saints Go Marching In' (at least, as far as that harmonica
goes'. Not bad that, eh? Everything is fairly amateurish, but it sounds
far more exciting than ninety-nine percent of "professional"
soundtrack music that only bores you to death in all its moodiness and
technical proficiency and slick production.
In that way, even minor throwaway pieces like 'Whip Lady' are fun: just
a very short one-minute instrumental that starts out with some tinkling
pretty piano and then midway through is transformed into a rocker with
special guitar effects and pounding drums. Forgettable, but kinda cute...
As for the actual songs, they are OK, but it is obvious they were written
specially for the film and Ray wasn't really very much interested in songwriting
at the moment. This explains why, for example, the pretty but unoriginal
'Animals In The Zoo' is in fact 'Apeman No. 2', with both the melody and
the lyrics following the same pattern; I don't say 'rip-off' or 'recycling'
because that wouldn't be completely true, but the message and the atmosphere
are basically the same, not to mention the similar 'bouncy' feel of the
song. 'Willesden Green' is 'Village Green' (in case nobody has noticed):
its country intonations, indeed, remind of that classic, but here it sounds
more generic and conventional and consequently more dull. Also, the vocals
are practically unrecognizable on this one.
'Dreams' and 'The Way Love Used To Be' are rather weak ballads (although,
to be honest, I feel more true emotion and sincerity on the latter than
on the pro forma ballads off Lola), and even the strongest
tracks on here - the opening 'God's Children' and the trebly-vocalized
'Moments' really fall short of the standard once again. They essentially
sound like outdated outtakes from the VGPS sessions with weaker
lyrics and an unpleasant emphasis on preachiness: first signs of Ray's
slow, but imminent degradation into simplistic banalities. I mean, couldn't
'God's Children' easily fit on Preservation? Even if in that case
the song would still overshadow most of the material from that wretched
'opera'.
That doesn't mean they're bad songs: Ray was still on a relatively high
roll at the time, and no preachiness can overshadow the fact that the melodies
of 'God's Children' and 'Moments' are oh so nice. I'm not entirely pleased
with the overreliance on orchestration: understood, it's a soundtrack,
but far too often Ray slips into corny Sinatrisms that are by no means
acceptable from the Kinks.
Oh well, so far there's really no need to worry. Remember, it's just a
soundtrack. What do you expect? A miracle? Yes, this certainly is a recognizable
Kinks album, but it's drenched in mediocrity, Hollywoodery, and melody-recycling;
and it was probably released only to end their contract with Pye records
- apparently, the record company didn't quite get the message of Lola
and was milking the poor artists further, so they were only too glad to
leave their long-time masters and begin their lengthy period of short-time
associations with miriads of different labels. (Which for quite a long
stretch of time was a tragedy for me - any of their 1971-75 RCA releases,
including the last of their great classics, Muswell Hillbillies,
are absolutely unavailable in Russia. So I had to wait until my trip to
Italy (sic!) to lay my hands on the freshly released Velvel re-issues.
And here they are!)
Completely disagree? Then mail your ideas
Your worthy comments:
Mister Pleasant <mrpleasant@hotmail.com> (28.10.99)
Really nice page you have! Great "stories" about the albums,
even though I don't agree with all of your ratings. But they are *your*
personal views so no matter discussing it.
I haven't heard the whole of this album (Percy) myself, but I just
want to make a thing clear. The reason why you find Ray's vocal unrecognisable
on "Willeseden Green" is because the simple reason it is *not*
Ray who sings! It is actually bass player John Dalton singing this one.
On the KPS mailing list, someone told about the plot of the film, and we
don't have to be sorry for not having seen it...
<WhoJonGalt@aol.com> (09.10.2000)
If anyone doubts Ray's genius from a purely musical standpoint, I sit them down and force them to listen to this CD. Churchill's description of the USSR (riddle in a mystery surrounded by enigma) can be used about the movie, but I guess all agree that effort should be put in other quests than trying to find a copy. But the music here is unique and timeless, and should be in all Kinkophile collections. 'Animals in the Zoo', 'The Way Love Used to Be', 'Moments' are all great vocal treats. But it is the first track, 'God's Children', that shines on this CD. Ray's God must be an impersonal one. Great CD!
Year Of Release: 1971
Record rating = 9
Overall rating = 13
Successfully marrying pictures of Brit life with American ragtime
tunes? Whoa!
Best song: 20TH CENTURY MAN
This is a hell of an important album, 'cause it heralds a series of
firsts and lasts for the Kinks. First of all, it's the first album on their
new record label, RCA, which had the grace to pick them up after they'd
been thrown out of Pye. Unfortunately, the poor RCA guys didn't get what
they wanted, which was a commercial hit single band. What they got was
a total departure from everything the Kinks were known before. Indeed,
at some point in his career Ray took on a specific Dylan-ish attitude towards
the audiences, which is to say he didn't give a damn whether anybody liked
his prolific musical output or not. This attitude lasted throughout all
of his RCA period, so the 1971-1975 records are usually despised. With
one exception. Muswell Hillbillies, the last universally acclaimed
Kinks' classic album.
What makes Hillbillies such a fascinating listen now, more than
twenty-five years since its release? It's a far cry from Arthur,
both lyrically and musically: the seriousness and philosophy, the deeply-penetrating
social critique seems to have evaporated in favour of lightweight satire
and plain, old-fashioned humour, while the fascinating guitar melodies
have given way to a strangely out-of-place jazz/ragtime sound, with lots
of songs being just minor variations on the themes of pop songs from the
Twenties or around that time. But somehow it all seems to work and never
gets boring - a little mystery on account of Mr Ray Davies, the Muswell
Hillbilly boy.
Maybe the greatest feature of this record is that it manages to make a
really unique combination. Instead of setting his Britfest lyrics to English
music hall tunes (like on Something Else) or to drivin' rock'n'roll
(Arthur), Ray has suddenly hired a decent jazz band (three guys
who were to accompany the regular band for a long time from now on) and
put his grim descriptions of English working class people in the frame
of American jazz and ragtime. In fact, the very title of the album symbolizes
this 'marriage': Muswell Hill was the district where Ray lived in his childhood,
while the 'Hillbillies' come from the Beverley Hillbillies, of course.
Really weird. To conclude this little "introduction", let me
just say that the combination of generic American melodies, biting British
satire, Ray's sharp brand of black humour, and his inimitable vocal stylizations,
make this a true classic - one of the most perfectly balanced "lyrics-music-singing"
trios I've ever heard. In other words - a record that has basically no
distinguishable parallels in the world of rock music. None at all.
Most of the songs could have been described as 'nothing special', but almost
all of them have at least something to capture your attention and settle
themselves cozily in your memory. Thus, 'Acute Schizophrenia Paranoia Blues',
with its screeching New Orleanian brass licks, produces a fascinating contrast
between the jolly melody and truly paranoid lyrics; the bebop 'Skin And
Bone' is just great to tap your foot to; 'Complicated Life' and 'Have A
Cuppa Tea' are terrific singalongs, the former having the most amusing
lyrics Ray ever produced up to date, the latter being about Ray's grandmother;
'Here Come The People In Grey' is a shiveringly sincere picture of total
mental deficiency; and just listen to what Ray does to his voice on 'Holiday'
to get that genuine Twenties' radio sound - and it works (actually,
what he is really doing is singing with a cigar in his mouth: try it and
you'll understand)! The real weird song on here is the famous 'Alcohol'
which goes even beyond jazz limits: it has something of a gypsy sound to
it, or at least a very deep-lying folk sound, and you won't find anything
else in the Kinks' catalogue (in fact, in any rock band catalogue) that
resembles this lament for a boozer.
However, if there is a real classic on the album, it's really the
album opener. '20th Century Man' sounds completely out of place on the
record (musically, of course; lyrically it's just another piece of social,
anti-modernistic critique with the great lines 'you keep all your smart
modern writers/give me William Shakespeare/you keep all your smart modern
painters/I'll take Rembrandt, Tician, da Vinci and Gainsborough'), and
if ever you heard it and liked it, don't rush out to buy the album. It's
the only real piece of rock'n'roll on record, bouncing along at a fast
tempo with vicious slide guitars, throbbing, almost genuinely paranoid
drums and swirling Hammond organs. The real highlight, of course, is Ray's
singing, going from a trembling, insecure, also paranoid tone and slowly
mounting to a furious scream. The way the tension mounts on the song, from
the opening acoustic strumming and up to the final instrumental thunderstorm,
is simply unbelievable. Don't forget to check out a great live version
on One For The Road.
Oh, sure there's a little filler on record, somewhere near the end, I guess
(I've never been a fan of 'Uncle Son', for one, and the title track is
somewhat simplistic, even though catchy, intelligent and anthemic all at
once), but it's passable and certainly inoffensive. And the gentle ballad
'Oklahoma U.S.A.' might seem sloppy, but in reality it's not: I've suddenly
realized that this is as much of a highlight as all these other
highlights, with its sad story of a girl's useless and psychic fantasies.
The recent Velvel reissue which I had the luck to obtain has two bonus
tracks, both unreleased outtakes, and it's easy to see why: even though
the melodies on both of them seem quite fit for inclusion, the lyrics just
don't fall into the scheme: 'Mountain Woman' lyrically is a sequel to 'Apeman'
(even though the 'plot' is comparable to 'Here Come The People In Grey'),
while 'Kentucky Moon' is sung from a purely 'American' point of view ('never
been south of the Delaware'), so I guess Ray was just getting in the mood
on these ones. Thanks to Velvel anyway for including them - they're certainly
worth a listen. And may I mention here that these re-issues are terrific?
They come with great packaging, extensive liner notes and clever bonus
tracks. Is Velvel competing with Rhino, I wonder, for the title of 'best
Kinks publisher', or is it just a friendly agreement?
Have a cuppa tea and mail your ideas
Your worthy comments:
Gustavo Rodriguez <rodblanc@webtv.net> (09.04.99)
Ray sounds drunk on almost every Muswell Hillbillies track. It's a fine record but I really think the album's weakness is that it has considerably less musical invention going on here than all the other 'great' Kinks albums, a lot of standard blues runs and simpler melodies than usual. And how can you not like 'Uncle Son'?! Maybe you're not too fond of country music or something but I find that track really moving. And thematically I like Muswell Hillbillies for the same reason I like the Lola record. Ray's commitment to his subject matter is commendable (and sometimes a little scary).
Ben Greenstein <bgreenstein@nctimes.net> (27.08.99)
As you may know, I'm not a big fan of most rootsy, bluesy music. I find
it boring and derivative. That's why I was so surprised when I loved this
album!
The melodies, even on the hickiest songs, are quite top-notch, and the
country, blues, and folk aspects are done in a remarkably laid-back, British
way. The best song is "Alcohol," which my personal favourite
protest song on that devil's brew. A bit hypocritical, though, seeing as
Ray had quite an affection for beers. I love "20th Century Man"
a heap, and "Oklahoma USA" is a gorgeous song. The other tunes
don't stand out as much, but they help the album flow, rather than slow
it down, like the weak ones on Arthur did. I'd give the album a nine, too.
Year Of Release: 1972
Record rating = 8
Overall rating = 12
More of the same, really, but you know sequels tend to get a little
worse...
Best song: CELLULOID HEROES
This is a double album, half-live, half-studio (oh boy, where are we?
Is it Cream or what?) The studio part is yet another concept, as you might
have guessed by simply glancing at the album cover and contemplating the
title. It mostly features the same jazz/ragtime sound as Hillbillies,
with an enormous brass section and not a teeny-weeny bit of rock'n'roll
in sight, but the thematics is somewhat different. This time it's more
introspective: instead of bashing the 'wonderful world of technology' and
the ominous 'people in grey', Ray preferred to write about his life on
the road and the personal problems he's got to cope with while living a
life of stardom. The result is somewhat mixed, but overall I wouldn't say
that the album is much worse than Hillbillies, as seems to be the
general conception. It's just that it isn't too different, and second time
around it's not that entertaining. The lyrics are nowhere near as biting
and amusing, and when they are, there's still a nasty feeling of deja
vu - for instance, why the hell do we need to listen to 'Maximum Consumption'
after 'Skin & Bones'? And the melodies are a little bit less catchy
and more complex, but that was the fun of Hillbillies - the melodies
on that album needed to be as generic as possible in order to fit
the concept. Trying to be truly creative within that genre, on the other
hand, would be akin to a circus clown suddenly starting to behave like
a clown in his intimate life.
Nevertheless, the album opener ('Here Comes Yet Another Day') is quite
strong, with a terrific brass/guitar onslaught that's bound to get you
going - it recreates the hurly-burly of a busy person's everyday life to
a tee, and I love that reckless drive. And well, when you start examining
the following songs one by one, out of touch with each other and particularly
out of touch with the previous album, none of them suck. Funny thing is,
there ain't a single bad melody on the entire album - sure enough, some
are just ripped off, but they aren't bad, because Ray never ripped
off bad melodies. It's just that without the sublime lyrical touch, these
melodies don't often amount to much. 'Maximum Consumption' more or less
follows the melody of 'Acute Schizophrenia Paranoia Blues', with the same
stomping, erratic New Orleans beat and brass pumping out of every hole,
but is ultimately salvaged by Ray's hilarious vocal delivery. Likewise,
'Unreal Reality' is just a big jazzy hoot, particularly the opening and
closing lines that sound like they'd been lifted directly off some pompous
Broadway performance; it is strictly tongue in cheek, of course, but nowhere
near as clever and sublime as... as you know what. And 'Look A Little On
The Sunny Side' suffers from being far too generic, while its subject
matter returns us to Ray's beloved thematics of 'poorboy artist never getting
his due', this time with an optimistic slide, though, because whenever
things go too rough and 'the cynics will all be out to get you', you're
invited to do exactly what the title proclaims. Still, I find myself digging
the tune - apparently, there's still some of the Kinks' old magic
left.
The countryesque side of the new-look Kinks, meanwhile, is represented
by the album's catchiest number, the charming 'Hot Potatoes' with tasty
slide guitar and groovy vocal harmonies, the fast, bouncy 'Motorway' ('motorway
food is the worst in the world' - how deeply true), and Dave's 'You Don't
Know My Name' (oh yes we do, Mr Davies - wasn't it you who used to belt
out an offkey 'Beautiful Delilah' with an overgrown androgynous goat's
voice? What a long strange trip it's been...). All the three qualify in
a kinky sorta way, but only on repeated listenings and in case of ardent
desire.
Which leaves us with the three real masterpieces of the album, the ones
that are the best, if not the only, argument for placing the record in
the Kinks' 'golden dozen'. 'Sitting In My Hotel', dedicated to Ray's problems
of being so lonely in his position of a superstar, is a lovely and majestic
ballad with a well-constructed, elaborate climactic refrain that blows
to hell all those feeble efforts at penning something "anthemic"
on Lola; with this number, Ray seems to be nearing the level of
perfection he'd achieved on Arthur - not a note out of place multiplied
by a perfect arrangement of the "tension-mounting process". Then
there's the utterly charming sing-along style ditty called 'Supersonic
Rocket Ship' that's also an excellent representative of Ray's sancta
simplicitas: I'd personally vote for adopting it as the international
anthem of the upcoming intergalactic passenger services (non-discriminating
ones, of course - that's what the song is really about). And, of course,
there's the best known tune: Ray's six-and-a-half minutes long epic 'Celluloid
Heroes', again, dealing with the problems of stardom and its consequences,
this time revolving around those movie stars that earned themselves a star
on Hollywood Boulevard. Sadly, it wasn't a hit due to lack of radio play,
but it might as well have been one, with a wonderful, heartfelt melody
and cute lyrics - I particularly love the one about 'avoid stepping on
Bela Lugosi/'Cos he's liable to turn and bite'.
Now the live album is real fun. While quite a few people dismiss it as
a lot of drunken crap, I dig it all: it is fairly representative of the
famous "juicy" atmosphere that ruled supreme on Kinks concerts
at the time, and I bow low to Ray's inexhaustible inventiveness onstage.
Unfortunately, it mostly relies on tunes from Hillbillies, because
they probably had little else to record (as far as I know, Ray used to
perform every new album almost in its entirety, throwing in a couple of
shortened evergreens to please the fans, and then proceeded to dump it
in the can immediately after the next one). But anyway, Hillbillies
is a damn fine album, and it's good to hear these songs take on a stage
life; especially 'Alcohol', for example, with Ray pulling off a first-rate
scary delivery of the tune (not forgetting the subject was quite actual
for the band at the time). But 'Holiday', 'Muswell Hillbilly', 'Acute Schizophrenia
Paranoia Blues' and 'Skin And Bone' are performed quite fine just as well,
even if almost by-the-book. There's also a great 'oldie' ('Brainwashed')
and a stupid tune from Lola ('Top Of The Pops'), but these form
a minority. The weird thing about the album is the short snippets and snatches
of cover material: a thirty-second jazz number ('Mr Wonderful'), an audience
singalong ('Banana Boat Song'), and a hilarious version of 'Baby Face'
with Ray imitating a black jazzman with all the strength he could gather.
Unfortunately, what the live album lacks completely is a sense of cohesiveness:
there are numerous fade-outs, the short bits seem to come from nowhere,
and overall it seems more like disjointed bits of a puzzle than a complete
performance. Which is also confirmed by the album closer: 'Lola' is not
played in its entirety, but a short bit of it (namely, the final sequence
of audience singalong) is for no obvious reason torn out of the song and
placed on record. Maybe it was just Ray's 'fuck you' to fans. Who knows?
Anyway, the Velvel reissue kindly adds yet two more live cuts, and it's
really satisfying, because they are neither taken from Hillbillies
nor from fifty years old jazz archives: 'Till The End Of The Day' is short,
but good, and 'She Bought A Hat Like Princess Marina' is fascinating. They
are also among the most musically solid performances on the entire album,
and so present a good addition to the intentional sloppiness of the rest
of the concert.
Oh, and along the way Ray always tries to entertain the audience - that
is, provide the atmosphere of 'having a good time', a thing so desired
by the Stones but rarely achieved... Some of his punchlines are quite cool
('Acute...' is being introduced as a 'real heavy song'; the introduction
of the band finishes with 'and I guess you all know who I am. My name's
Johnny Cash, nice to meet you'), and overall, this here live album isn't
the worst thing in the world. Considering the fact that both records (plus
the bonus tracks!) are placed on just one CD, this really makes a great
buy. Do not hesitate if Mr Ray Davies is like a brother to you.
Here comes yet another day without you mailing your ideas
Your worthy comments:
<zwetan@stud.uni-frankfurt.de> (08.02.2000)
That's the first Kinks album I bought, attracted by "Sitting In My Hotel". It took a while to get used to the brass section (first I thought it sucked). I also had to listen to the CD quite often to realize the quality of the tunes. Ultimately I thought, "That's a good band!"
<NYCTCHR@aol.com> (17.12.2000)
How can you give this album a higher rating than Lola vs. the Powerman? "Here Comes Yet Another Day," "Maximum Consumption," "Unreal Reality" and "Hot Potatoes" could be the worst start to any Kinks album. I feel Lola's "Get Back in Line", "A Long Way From Home," and "This Time Tomorrow" are clearly superior songs to anything on Showbiz except for "Sitting in My Hotel" and "Celluloid Heroes" (even though the way "Celluloid Heroes" is played here is inferior to the updated version on To the Bone. Also, "Celluloid Heroes' " melody is similar to Peter Paul and Mary's "Puff the Magic Dragon" and "Sitting in My Hotel" begins peculiarly like the children's song "The Ugly Duckling." It does have a great chorus though.) I think "Celluloid Heroes" may be the Kinks most overrated song. I would rather listen to the 2 minute plus "Get Back in Line" and "A Long Way From Home" on any day, and Arthur's "Shangri-La" (a song I think is even better than "Stairway to Heaven") is the Kinks' 5 minute plus masterpiece. It should have been played in front of arena audiences instead of the movie-star-naming "crowd pleaser." Overall, the Kinks wrote two decent ballads for this album, and Dave's "You Don't Know My Name" is good, but the rest is just either silly music hall stuff or boring blues. The live songs are much better on their original albums.
Year Of Release: 1973
Record rating = 4
Overall rating = 8
A toss-off introduction to an insipid rock opera, that's what that
one is.
Best song: err... allow me to come up with it in a million years...
As if seven consecutive concept albums weren't enough, Ray decided
to carry on with a full-blown rock opera/musical/stage show which he managed
to spread on three LPs. Considering that Preservation was
originally built around the Village Green album, and that the later
Schoolboys In Disgrace is (conceptually, at least) a prequel to
it, you might consider it a five-album musical project, something
unheard of before or later. Unfortunately, while Village Green was
a beautiful artistic creation, I can't say the same about Preservation.
To my ears, it sounds like a completely goofy parody; even if the music
itself isn't offensive, you just can't take it seriously.
The album was originally going to be a double set with no stupid 'acts'
division, but Ray scrapped the project at the last moment in order to redo
it completely, so RCA had to be appeased with this 'prologue'. It doesn't
have much of a plot, therefore, unlike Act II, mainly serving to
introduce the personages most of which (but not all) would later reappear
in the second part. As far as one can guess, the plot is being based on
the struggle between two individuals: the allegedly bad guy (Mr Flash)
destroys the peaceful existence of the Village Green by corrupting it with
his evil ways and financial machinations, while the supposedly good guy
(Mr Black) promises to save the Village Green by purifying it and leading
the people to a bright and brilliant future. However, nothing much ever
happens in Act I; the main action happens later. Here, on the other
hand, we are being introduced to different inhabitants of the Village Green:
the Tramp, the Vicar, the reincarnated Johnny Thunder (from VGPS)
and some secondary characters. Each one of these has one or more songs
dedicated to him, all sung by Ray and played by the same puffed-up band
that produced the last two albums. And what's in it for us?
Nothing much, really. Most of the songs tend to step away from the jazz
sound Ray and Co. have developed and perfected so well, in favour of even
more lightweight operetta sound, at times diluted by feeble patches of
primitive boogie and wretched country/folk, and it's a complete disaster.
There's not even a single song here which displays at least some
signs of life. Indeed, Ray has himself so deeply immersed in the concept
he'd forgotten to render these songs artistically valuable: he concentrates
on the lyrics, totally abandoning the actual melodies and never caring
for entertaining performance. But even the lyrics are shallow: he keeps
quoting himself with phrases like 'here comes yet another day', the 'plot'
libretto is horribly banal, and the few good points aren't worth the whole
experience. It gets even worse when the band tries to rock out, like on
the Johnny Thunder sequel song 'One Of The Survivors': the only thing it
does is amply demonstrating us that Ray has totally lost the ability to
create good rock'n'roll. The guitars are just kinda sitting there, doing
nothing; where are those crrrunchy Dave Davies riffs of old? The 'plot
songs' are used-up chewing gum, like the never ending, excruciating 'Money
And Corruption/I Am Your Man', or the melodyless Flash anthem 'Demolition'.
The ballads are unconvincing (come on now, who is 'Sweet Lady Genevieve'
and what has the Tramp to do with her?), the nostalgia songs sound like
a second-rate Village Green cover band ('Where Are They Now?'),
and other rip-offs of earlier Kinks' classics abound ('Sitting In The Midday
Sun' is just a retread of 'Sunny Afternoon', for Chrissake! Shame on you,
Davies, for ridiculizing such a beautiful thing!) Not to mention that careful
listening will bring out more and more outside, ahem, 'influences' - is
it just me or does the main melody of 'Here Comes Flash' objectively remind
of Black Sabbath's 'Paranoid'?
Ironically, the song that I find the most listenable on here (although
I still can't rank it as 'best song') is 'Cricket', the Vicar's aria, and
that's just the tune that's the closest to that Show-Biz/Hillbillies
sound. Apparently, by this time the Kinks have been so much transformed
into a jazz band that it was easier for Ray to write a good Twenties stilization
than a good rock'n'roll song.
But if Hillbillies and (to a lesser extent) Show-Biz were
saved by the brilliant humour of both the lyrics and, face it, the melodies
were funny too, then this is a completely different affair. You won't find
any humour on Preservation. Even the plot itself, which seems
absolutely ridiculous and, moreover, borrows a lot from Tommy, isn't
taken with a grain of humour: did Ray actually take his personages seriously?
What an ar... er, sorry, I just wanted to say that even if you're strong
enough to endure this record in its entirety (and you could because, like
I said, the material is hardly offensive), you'll be sure to start yawning
and preparing yourself a cup of coffee in about three or four minutes time.
The Velvel release, however, is good in that it includes the song 'Preservation'
which wasn't originally on the albums. It was a local single released in
order to explain the plot in brief, already after the release of both acts
I and II, and, strange enough, I'd probably bet that this is the
best song on the entire album. Maybe it's because the main riff is stolen
from 'Purple Haze'?
I am your man! So mail me your ideas
Your worthy comments:
Bill <WDMII@aol.com> (15.01.2000)
Alas, m'lad, I dost think you have missed the point of Preservation
Act 1 and have possibly tried to categorized this group to better fix
in with the masses. The Kinks just cannot be linked with any other group
or style. They copied no one, but were copied often. Ray Davies was simply
the champion of the common man. I suggest you listen to this effort without
trying to categorize it, but take it for what it's intent is, to set a
storyline of an "us versus them" society of the haves and have
nots. 'Give Money & Corruption/I am Your Man' another chance and listen
to it as if you were recently laid off of work or passed over for a raise,
or feel voiceless with no soap box in site to stand on. Alas, a person
expressing hope comes onto the scene to try to raise the spirits of the
downtrodden. It is quite simply one of my favorite songs ever written by
anyone of any genre. This was concept extraordinaire.
[Special author note: actually,
if I want some work of art to help me in moments of 'being put down by
the establishment', I'll hardly be wanting to revert to the straightforward,
cliched, derivative imagery of Preservation. And as for the request
not to categorize the album, I surmise that translated into simpler language
this means "don't try to explain the greatness of the album, just
give yourself in". Well, one might as well ask me not to try to 'categorize'
a Britney Spears record next time... Oh and if I have 'missed the point'
of this album, I guess I had better go find some work as a nightman, since
there are few albums in the Kinks catalog whose 'point' is less obvious
than Preservation's].
<zwetan@stud.uni-frankfurt.de> (08.02.2000)
I don't know the pre- or sequels (yet) but the CD isn't that bad. It takes lots of listenings to get used to. I only knew "Sitting In The Midday Sun" and loved it, and I don't think it sounds like "Sunny Afternoon". There are quite strong moments there "Money and Corruption" and "Demolition" being the best I can think of. The CD however ir awfully remastered. It's overall distorted!
Year Of Release: 1974
Record rating = 6
Overall rating = 10
Well, at least this one's a bit more diverse and entertaining, with
a couple more musical ideas.
Best song: MIRROR OF LOVE
All right, they patched it up a bit - I'll be the first to admit that,
even if this is a double LP and it's far more bogged down in the narrative
aspect, this is nowhere near as lethargic and bleak a bore as its predecessor.
I mean, this time around you can at least say there's about half filler
and half memorable tunes, with the filler at least saved by its plot significance.
Which is why the record gets a 5 for the good half and one more point for
the dubious, but existent "entertainment value". As I've already
said, this is the 'bulk' of Preservation: the plot mainly carries
itself out here, with a few stupid 'announcements' thrown in now and then
to help the listener understand what the hell is going on. Not that they
help a lot, but seems like the good guy, Mr Black, using popular slogans
and a 'people's army', manages to overthrow the regime of Mr Flash, after
which they change roles (apparently this is the foundation for Ray's concept):
Mr Flash suddenly shows signs of humanity ('Scum Of The Earth', 'Mirror
Of Love', etc., etc.), while Mr Black turns out to be a dictator proceeding
to build an 'Artificial Man' and lead his people along 'Salvation Road'
while at the same time closing off TV stations and limiting oil and food
supplies. Pathetic, eh? In all - no hopes for the better, man... I suppose
I'm indeed being a bit too harsh on poor Ray here: to my educated mind,
this Orwellian concept, overloaded with cliches and second-hand banalities,
really shows a harsh decline in the man's level of poetic mastership. But
wasn't he, after all, trying to popularize both the anti-communist and
the anti-capitalist idea among wider masses of population that haven't
even read Orwell before? Well - you might take it both ways. If there is
one interesting thing about the overall concept of Preservation,
it's that there are no good Guys at all (with a capital letter - the general
masses are, of course, quite righteous). Capitalists like Flash suck because
they oppress the poor, and communists like Black suck because they oppress
the freedom of the individual. Get it?
Now, musically this is indeed higher than the first act - a strange thing,
because I'd bet Ray's heavy accent on the lyrics in Act 2 must have
had made him drop the melodies in the gutter. Now, however, I think that
the melodies in Act 1 were so poor not only because the record was
so plot-obsessed, but because it was also a toss-off: Ray was just hastily
throwing something on the market in order to appease RCA and the public.
Act 2 is thus far more elaborate and so manages to be more listenable
despite all the length.
Some of the tracks manage to rock out with enough force (the dreary 'Introduction
To Solution', with a memorable vocal melody; 'Money Talks', a tune later
reprised on subsequent albums at least a million times, including 'Low
Budget'), although some still fail ('Second-Hand Car Spiv' and 'Artificial
Man' just go by blearily without a trace). Perhaps Ray just thought the
band needed to shake it up a bit: after all, Act 2 was to be highly
dynamic as opposed to the completely static Act 1, and if it were
to drag on in a similar wretched manner, the audiences would have easily
drowsed off at the very beginning of the live show. I cannot, therefore,
say that the record sorely lacks energy; problem is, the energy is only
sporadically complemented by a decent mellody.
The ballads, sung by Ray along with a certain Marianne Price, have some
emotion to lift them off the ground, even though they're still generic
operetta ('Nothing Lasts Forever'; the solo Price spot 'Scrapheap City').
But I found Price's deliveries rather dull and conventional, performed
in a routine Broadway style that doesn't leave any space for real innovation
or just a fresh idea or two. So it's not amazing that the really high point
of the album is yet another of Ray's trademark jazzy tunes: 'Mirror
Of Love', set to what's probably the most catchy Preservation melody
and graced by Ray's amusingly shaking voice. Unsurprisingly, it was also
chosen as the single from the album - being only vaguely relevant
to the plot, it was still obviously viewed as a real melodic highlight..
Finally, there's at least a decent bunch of amusing moments on the record,
like Mr Black's slogans on 'Shepherds Of The Nation' (the funnily chanted
lines like 'down with nudity, down with pornography, sodomites beware!')
and the goofy dialogue in 'Flash's Dream' (Ray was probably reading too
much William Shakespeare: the scene is certainly influenced by similar
events either in King Richard III or Julius Caesar). So,
even if the amount of filler is still enormous, at least the good moments
are scattered throughout all the record, which makes it easier to sit through.
Also must be mentioned that the Velvel reissue has two bonus tracks: an
alternative version of 'Mirror Of Love' with complementary backing vocals
which still doesn't sound different from the original, and a lengthy six-minute
live blues jam called 'Slum Kids (take 1)', even though I wonder what (take
1) stands for here: the song was obviously recorded live during a regular
show. Did they do it two times that night? From Ray's introduction one
can deduce that this was a song they used to do during the live Preservation
shows, but for some reason it didn't make it onto the album. A pity: even
if it's nothing spectacular, beefing up the record with a couple of generic
blues numbers could have made sense...
Nothing lasts forever, so mail me your ideas before it's too late
Your worthy comments:
<zwetan@stud.uni-frankfurt.de> (08.02.2000)
Highly imaginative. That's what I think about both the music and the plot of this wonderful CD. First I thought it was boring, but it took a few listenings and reading all lyrics to fully enjoy it all. The album is strangely accessible, not such a mental torture like Genesis' Lamb and due to the announcments quite entertaining if you are willing to.
Year Of Release: 1975
Record rating = 6
Overall rating = 10
A 'stealfest', but it's memorable and entertaining, which is more
than you could say about... er...
Best song: RUSH HOUR BLUES
Here's the bad news: this is yet another concept/rock opera album,
and it does not even try to reach the lyrical and emotional depths of those
graceful days of yore. In addition, it features a very confused and befuddled
Ray Davies contributing a lot of dubious ideas and stealing a lot of melodies
which obviously do not belong to him (well, some of them do belong to him,
but they had already belonged to him for a long time, if you know what
I mean). At least, he's gotten rid of the Preservation bandwagon.
This time around, however, the concept is basically as follows: the protagonist
(a mysterious 'Starmaker') allows himself (for no obvious reason at all)
to be subject to an experiment, swapping places with an ordinary employee
called Norman and enjoying the 'simple pleasure of life' like a six-hour
working day, ordinary food and banal tastes of Norman's wife, to prove
that everybody can be a star. The finale comes when 'Starmaker' suddenly
realizes that he has totally merged with Norman and cannot pull himself
out of the 'ordinary' state. So it all ends up with his decision to quit
all his 'pretensions' and become one with the faceless crowd. Of course,
all of this leaves a lot of questions which Ray apparently didn't bother
to find answers for (why did the Starmaker make this 'sacrifice', how could
Norman's wife accept him instead of her husband, what has become of the
real Norman, why couldn't the Starmaker pull himself back into his former
state, are the Starmaker and Norman really two different persons or was
it all just Norman's dream or something, etc., etc., ad infinitum).
But forget it. Great artists don't usually bother themselves with such
trifles. Over the years, suspicion has arisen that the Starmaker is actually
but a figment of Norman's broken mind and an effect of split personality,
in which case the concept acquires an additional mini-level of depth. And
that's the last you'll hear me talkin' of it.
On the good side, though, the humour is back. Maybe the lyrics aren't as
amusing as the 1971-72 work, but they're really funny, nevertheless, unlike
the rigorous, emotionless and moodless graphomany of Preservation.
'Ducks On The Wall' ('Starmaker' ridiculizing his wife's tastes - a hilarious
attack on the average person's banality), 'Holiday Romance' (a failed love
affair), and 'Rush Hour Blues' all qualify. And the 'plot' sequences are
rather wisely relegated to pieces of spoken dialogue, some of which aren't
even on the actual disk, but are mixed in among the lyrics. So you won't
have to clutch the booklet all the way through, which is a bit of a consolation.
The melodies are also an evident step up from Preservation. The
problem is that most of them are stolen: by this time Ray was probably
so busy concentrating himself on stage shows, concepts and lyrics that
he had almost no time left for actual songs. So he milks all the precedent
musical legacy for all its worth: the opening 'Everybody's A Star' features
the same riff as the Who's 'I Can't Explain'; 'Underneath The Neon Sign'
is positively charming, until you realize you've already heard it before
as 'The Midnight Special'; 'Ordinary People' is, once again, generic operetta;
and 'Rush Hour Blues' is Jerry Lee Lewis-style boogie-woogie. As usual,
the level of filler is overwhelming ('When The Work Is Over'; the closing
tunes are utterly unstandable), and overall, I couldn't say that this album
is intentionally better than Preservation; rather it's accidentally
better. You can't deny the catchiness of the catchy tunes, after all, stolen
or not; 'Rush Hour Blues' is a fascinating piece of boogie, and 'Underneath
The Neon Sign' just got to stand as one of the Kinks' finest mid-Seventies
tunes. And after all, it's the Kinks, want it or not; better still, Soap
Opera is often called the 'solo Ray album that never was'. Rumour has
it that this is one of the albums that brother Dave hates most (you can
even deduce that from the liner notes - which, apparently, won't admit
that in the open), and it's easy to see why: it's obvious that Ray didn't
let him even come an inch close to songwriting in this case. But it's all
right by me; even the filler songs are deeply soaked in Ray's own charming
humble personality, and there's a certain intimate warmth about songs like
'You Make It All Worthwhile', 'Underneath The Neon Sign' and 'When Work
Is Over' that makes them easy to sit through. In any case, I simply won't
buy into the theory that Soap Opera is the worst Kinks album: its
jazzy, at times Broadway-ish sound isn't really all that different from
everything the band'd been doing for the last five years, and there are
enough fine moments to guarantee a decent - if not shattering - listen.
It's a wonder, indeed, that the band didn't break up at this point, with
their live performances degenerating into rock theatre a la Genesis
and worse (not that I hate Genesis' rock theatre - it's simply that this
style couldn't have fit the Kinks). The bonus tracks on the Velvel reissue
illustrate this 'live side' with three live tracks taken from a contemporary
stage presentation of Soap Opera, and the first impression is really
horrible. Dave's supplementary heavy metal solos merely serve to transform
quiet jazzy ballads like 'Ordinary People' into hardened arena-rock power
ballads and certainly don't save the situation, as Ray seems to be surrounded
with female actors and enjoying 'acting' more than actual singing, getting
off-key all the time and not paying attention to where the mikes actually
are. Eventually you get used to this theatrical mood, but it's still not
the pleasantest of things: 'degeneration' is indeed the best word here,
especially if you look back at the Kinks' once splendid career. Don't get
me wrong: I'm not dissing Soap Opera, unlike so many other reviewers,
but if you're not a Kinks diehard, there's absolutely no reason you'd want
to sit through this album. Cool inlay photos, though. As usual.
When work is over, take some time to mail me your ideas
Your worthy comments:
Ewa Duvedal & Stefan Asplund <edsa@swipnet.se> (18.02.2000)
As a kinks-fan beeing able to see the kinks performe this live in stage back then I think this album is one of the best they made. Lots of good melodies and great lyrics. A ten, if you ask me.....God save the kinks
<WhoJonGalt@aol.com> (19.03.2000)
When I first bought the CD, I listened to it once and threw it on the pile of thrity other Kink CDs. However Soap Opera grew on me. You neglect to mention the drinking songs. Think about it, everybody DOES have problems. OK, DON'T stop and think, just have another drink! It says much about Ray's view of "uninteresting". But he comes up with a very Joseph Campbell philosophy, everybody is a star. One of my favorites now.
<NYCTCHR@aol.com> (12.11.2000)
Soap Opera can turn you off very quickly with the embarrassing dialogue and tired melodies: It is the opposite of say a Led Zeppelin IV. However, if you judge it for what it is, it is one of the most original and colorful albums of its time. It's anti-rock taken to the extreme. Ray Davies wants to change places with Norman to do research for his songs - like a writer who needs to live the common life to write a novel about it. And, as a result, we get angry and humorous criticism of the 9 to 5 life. Listen to the Kinks album as a teenager, and it can scare you away from any thoughts of an office career. I have never listened to an album since that was so blatantly critical of the office and suburban life. And Ray Davies is not being condescending, because in the book X-Ray he discusses a time in his life when he was face to face with a future of office boredom. Norman is simply Ray if he hadn't gotten lucky and joined his brother's rock band, The Kinks!
Year Of Release: 1975
Record rating = 7
Overall rating = 11
A slightly bland piece of nostalgia, but infested with the Davies
charm; plus, it really works if you put it on at a class reunion.
Best song: THE HARD WAY
By the Kinks' usual standards, this was as unconvincing as ever, but
at least this time around there are some favourable signs of change in
the air. I originally gave this record the same rating as Soap Opera,
but since then I have acquired a somewhat more benevolent attitude towards
it enough to pull it up one whole point: indeed, Schoolboys In Disgrace,
while it does give one quite a few things to mock about, can be considered
an album that the band recorded in a 'convalescing' state, slowly returning
from Ray's unlimited fantasy world into the world of real Kinks-style music.
What's happened? On first sight, nothing much. This is the Kinks' eleventh
concept album and third rock opera in a row (prepare yourself, Guinness!),
this time built around a story of a certain 'naughty schoolboy' who was
punished by the Headmaster for his conduct after which he became a hard
and cruel person and 'grew up into Mr Flash'. Huh? As usual, the melodies
never approach classic status, with not a single timeless song on here
(the seven-minute long anthem 'Education' is particularly rotten), and
just as often stolen, although it's really the stolen tracks that rank
among the best here ('Jack The Idiot Dunce' is another Jerry Lee
Lewis impersonation, with Ray even adopting Lewis' 'ooh-ooh's, but it's
funny and eminently danceable; 'The First Time We Fall In Love' certainly
owes much to the Beach Boys, with its beautiful harmony parts; and 'The
Hard Way' gotta be the best track on the album, even if it's yet another
take on 'I Can't Explain'). And the lyrics are often entirely straightforward
and unbearingly banal ('schooldays were the happiest days of your life/but
we never appreciate the good times we have/until it's too late'). In all
- doubtless, this is yet another failed experiment?
And yet there are serious reasons to love, or at least feel good about,
the album. First of all, even if it's nominally a rock opera, there's not
much 'operatic' feel about it. In fact, the 'plot' is really limited to
the album title, cover and liner notes, plus a short sequence of songs
in the middle ('I'm In Disgrace', 'Headmaster', 'Hard Way') which could
just as well be deemed as independent songs. So, rather than being a real
opera, it's rather a 'thematic' album, more like Village Green.
The 'theme', of course, is Ray's nostalgia for his schooldays, and even
though it may look a lil' prissy, it's at least not artificial. And this
allows Ray, for the first time in almost five years, to drop a tiny bit
of genuine autobiographic emotion on record; plus, the liner notes hint
at the fact that Schoolboys reconciled Ray with Dave, who was also
eager to participate in the process, as the nostalgic subject of school
reminiscences was certainly closer to his heart than the peripeteiae of
Norman and the Starmaker. Thus, the opening 'Schooldays' might have banal
lyrics indeed, but banal or not, they are heartfelt, so you can say: "YEA!
This is the real Ray Davies. Welcome back, brother!' Was that a tear I
just brushed off my eye? Eh... sorry.
Same goes for most of the tracks on here. Forget that tripe about the little
boy who grew up into Mr Flash: this record is really autobiographical,
drawing on Ray's (and Dave's, as we learn from the liner notes) real school
life experiences. There's no more concept on here than on Thin Lizzy's
Jailbreak, and like the latter, it's the kind of record that actually
goes down far easier if you forget it was ever meant to be a conceptual
one.
Second, the 'theatrical' elements are clearly evaporating. The female backing
vocals and brass section are still there, to be sure, but their use is
limited. The 'rock' elements prevail, and the more 'rock' there is on a
Kinks' record, the less space is left for theatrical gimmicks. And there's
not even a teeny-weeny bit of dialogue going on, because dialogue is needed
for the 'plot', and, like I said, the plot here is almost non-existent.
And 'No More Looking Back' is even regarded by some as a sort of 'farewell'
to the Kinks' 'theatre' period. I really don't know if Ray was forced by
the rest of the band to drop his artistic pretensions, his brass section
and stupid plot-writing, or if he made the decision of his own free will,
but who cares? Groovy. The background is thus laid for the Kinks' rockin'
Arista comeback.
And lastly, apart from 'Education' (which mainly earns my hate because
it's so damn long), there are no bad songs here. Not a single one. Some
complain about the corniness of many of these numbers, but remember, it
is a retro album, and the appearance of boogie or doo-wop elements
on a retro album is only natural. Plus, they feel perfectly at home when
they're sitting there, back to back with power ballads like 'Headmaster'
and rockers like 'I'm In Disgrace', so you don't hear me complaining.
The hooks are all firmly in place. Besides, I feel like giggling all over
when I try to imagine a little scared boy with his pants down who crouches
before the headmaster and pleads for mercy with lines like 'Headmaster
this is my confession/This time you won't be overjoyed/I've destroyed what
little faith you had in me...'. If I were a headmaster, I'd sure pity the
rascal - it's not advisable to spoil the butt of a future Cicero. The album
is all filled with such corny little passages, mind you, but somehow it
only works to its advantage. Obviously, the Davies magic was back for a
while.
Oh yeah. This record was the last drop which overfilled RCA's cup of patience.
They were thrown out immediately after its release, because it probably
sold less copies than anything else released by anybody in 1975. But buy
it just because the band look so dang ridiculous in green school uniforms!
I'm in disgrace! Why don't you mail me your ideas?
Your worthy comments:
<NYCTCHR@aol.com> (06.08.2000)
It's funny that you say this album can be used for a high school reunion because at the high school I teach in, "The Last Assembly" was used as one of the graduation songs. Believe it or not, kids from this East Harlem school were arm in arm singing "gather round ..." But I agree with your rating. Songs like "Schooldays" and "The Last Assembly" seem to be written just for those occasions which means the music is unimaginative - fun interpretations of 50's ballads and doo wop songs - and the lyrics are certainly not cutting edge. What happened to the quirkiness and originality of say a "David Watts" which has some great lines like "I cannot tell water from champagne" or "Do you Remember Walter" - "smoking cigarrettes by the garden gate"? The harder rockers like "I'm in Disgrace", "Headmaster" and "The Hardway" are fun songs, but they seem to fall uncomfortably between punk and classic rock: not raw and impulsive enough to be punk and yet too spare to be classics.
<ZappinNap@aol.com> (13.10.2000)
While by 1975 The Kinks had recorded several superbly good LPs, they
were presently on a run of 3 superbly bad ones. Even their prior best,
the lusciously melodic Something Else failed to do what this album
does -- RULE.
This is the album where Dave became a real lead guitarist and Ray a real...
uhhh, vocalist. Mick's drumming... well, he's had better outings (most
notably, Something Else, unless the Nick Trevisick attack on Dave's
tunes was indeed Nick Trevisick's), but this is his most diverse album
as a rock drummer to date. And both Johns, Dalton and Gosling, finally
woke up before the 3:00 bell.
Best song is difficult to pick, because of the introduction of a category
previously unfamiliar (and perhaps unimportant) to Kinks fans: technical
proficiency. The "Headmaster" break is Dave's finest hours as
a lead guitarist, with ""No More Looking Back" a respectable,
if not very close, second. To the latter also belongs the most soulful
lead vocal of Ray's career and one of the snappier drum pieces known beyond
doubt to be Mick's.
It is fiting that the lyrics to this album have many references to rites
de passage. For Kinks and Kinks fans alike, this album was nothing less.
Year Of Release: 1977
Record rating = 7
Overall rating = 11
A return to the 'basic sound'; the songs still sound like chewing
gum, but at least it's not theatre any more.
Best song: PRINCE OF THE PUNKS (on the new Velvel re-issue)
A new year, a new record, a new record label: Arista this time. The
Arista guys were more lucky than RCA, though: this and the next few albums
were relatively successful, provoking a much talked over 'comeback' which
lasted until 1983 (funny that this more or less coincided with the Stones'
comeback). Indeed, somewhere around this time Ray re-worked his recording
formula and ended up with an entirely new scheme which had served as a
basis for all of his following albums until at least Give The People
What They Want and maybe later.
The scheme was as follows: since Arista certainly wouldn't hear of any
'rock operas' and 'concepts' and, moreover, such things had really started
to threaten the band's existence, Ray turned to 'thematic' records. From
now on, the Kinks' records were based on a certain artistic 'idea' that
could be traced on many, but not all of the tracks. For Sleepwalker,
this theme is comparing life to a nightmare (title track, 'Sleepless Night',
'Full Moon'), just as for Misfits the main theme is coping with
life's simple problems and for Low Budget it's a more general problem
of city survival. The mood that prevails on the album is grim, dark and
utterly pessimistic. OK, you might say the same things about Ray's rock
operas, but on those albums the 'mood' was completely overshadowed by theatrical
excesses, while here the songs are much more up to the point, hard-edged
and sincere. The only track that relieves the atmosphere is the closing
'Life Goes On' which tells the listener that he just gotta live on and
not worry too much about routine problems. (This, too, is an essential
element of Ray's late-Seventies 'scheme': no matter how dark the album
got, it had to end with a consolation or just an optimistic note: just
listen to 'Get Up' on Misfits, 'Moving Pictures' on Low Budget
or 'Better Things' on Give The People...).
The main problem with the album is that, once again, it doesn't present
us too many interesting melodies. However, none of them are stolen, even
though 'Stormy Sky' does suspiciously sound like a mediocre George Harrison
song. Otherwise, you get your hard rockers (the pathetic and overproduced
'Mr Big Man'), your generic ballads (the even more pathetic, but strangely
touching 'Brother'), boogie-woogie (the rather insipid 'Juke Box Music')
and a fine anthem in the good ol' Kinks tradition ('Life On The Road').
They also start experimenting with disco (title track), but these are just
a few touches: real disco wouldn't come until Low Budget. The good
news is that generic filler is limited to just a couple of tracks (the
'thematic' dull rocking of 'Sleepless Night' and 'Full Moon'), most of
the others being at least partly memorable. No matter what anyone might
say, the fact that Ray finally dumped rock operas had a positive influence
on his songwriting. Like I said, these songs aren't particularly interesting,
but they're really really listenable, moreover, you don't need a lyrics
sheet to understand what's going on. Strange enough, bassist John Dalton
left the band just as they were putting on the final touches. He must have
been one really strange type, to have stayed with the band through all
the throwback years and quit them just as they were once again starting
to pick up steam. He was replaced by Andy Pyle.
The Velvel re-issue is quite treasurable this time, as it includes a great
B-side that would be completely lost otherwise: 'Prince Of The Punks' does
not only boast the best and most energetic melody on the entire CD, it
also features a magnificent set of lyrics dealing with the punk 'revolution'.
If I were ever to completely explain why this genre offends me, I couldn't
have done it better than this song does. Besides that, there are three
other tracks from this era, one of which is a decent rocker ('Artificial
Light'), the other one a throwaway ('The Poseur', originally thought of
as the title track to this album) and the third one a truly beautiful ballad
('On The Outside', with some charming vocals; the two different mixes are
quite unnecessary, though).
Life goes on, so mail me your ideas
Your worthy comments:
<WhoJonGalt@aol.com> (25.08.2000)
A friend croaks. I am dealing with it very badly. Someone hands me this CD and says "listen to the last song." BANG! I'm a Kinkophile. This started me on the road to collecting all I could get my hands on. 'JUKEBOX MUSIC' and 'SLEEPWALKER' are two hot rock tracks. 'STORMY SKY' and 'FULL MOON' change the mood just enough. Does anyone know who Mr. Big Man is? Some say Rod Stewart. I have also heard Elton John. "No one will care if you've been good or bad, right or wrong, life will still go on..."
Year Of Release: 1978
Record rating = 6
Overall rating = 10
Somewhat bland and generic. Insipid, if you ask me. But there are
some painfully good moments, too.
Best song: MISFITS
By this point the Kinks were obviously keen on the idea of 'return-to-roots'
with some basic hard-rockin' stuff. Sleepwalker pioneered the idea,
and this album continued it. My guess is that after the horrible flops
of Ray Davies' rock opera efforts he kinda sank in and let brother Dave
(ah, that good ol' brother Dave) convince him to throw in a bit of distortion
and speed. Whether this was for the better or not - you tell me...
The bad news for this record is that once again Ray concentrates mainly
on the lyrics, totally neglecting the melodies. The lyrics are mostly straightforward,
sometimes to the point of being dumb ('Black Messiah', 'Get Up'), but sometimes
to the point of being just hilarious ('Hay Fever', 'Permanent Waves').
Yet Ray Davies is no Bob Dylan - however good his lyrics are, we mostly
listen to the Kinks' for the music. And this is not one of the highlights
of the record. Most of the songs break in at the same midtempo and the
word 'filler' pops up too often on my lips. Indeed, tracks like 'In A Foreign
Land', 'Get Up' and 'Out Of The Wardrobe' (yet another song about
a transvestite after 'Lola'; was Ray trying to justify the band's name
or what?) are forgettable even after a billion listens, since they do not
present us with even a single creative idea. 'Live Life' is little better,
even if it is a little louder (the main musical skeleton was later re-worked
as the title track for Low Budget); and 'Black Messiah' sounds like
lounge music, lyrics excluded (PC types would probably kill for it, even
though Ray warns them: 'everybody's got the right to speak their minds/So
don't shoot me for saying mine'). Dave adds a composition of his own ('Trust
Your Heart'), unfortunately, it is just a musical tidbit culminating in
a lot of unpleasant screaming. Really lightweight compared to his far superior
efforts around 1967.
So? Any good ideas on here? Well, it's primarily the gorgeous title
track. Even though Ray's songwriting capacities may have deteriorated over
the years, he was still able to put out a wonderful, emotional ballad now
and then, and this is just what you could ask for: a sad, complaintive,
but also slightly consoling ode to all the tramps and outcasts; for once,
the lyrics sound serious, mature and expressive. Classic! Plus, there are
some more compositions that wouldn't be ranked as 'good', but they're at
least upbeat, punchy and funny, like the amusing 'Hay Fever' and anti-commercial
'Permanent Waves'. 'A Rock'n'Roll Fantasy' was the minihit for this record,
and this story about drowning all your troubles in rock music has its moments,
despite the pathetic whiny intonation in the verses. These songs are enough
to somewhat punch up the rating, even though practically none of the songs
are nasty or anything. They just look like used up chewing gum to me -
something you can still make use of, but not very tasty.
Get up and mail your ideas
Your worthy comments:
<WhoJonGalt@aol.com> (09.08.2000)
Isn't it great that there is a storyteller out there that isn't all sunshine, lollypops and rainbows? I think my Kinks pull it off, very melodically, singing about the human condition - Hay Fever, cross-dressing, getting a perm - living life, basically. You are right about 'Trust Your Heart' - I had to read the liner notes to find out what the hell Dave was screaming about, but all in all it is one of the best albums they did, in my opinion. Ever meet someone who believes in a savior coming to set the world on fire? It could be worth a whole mini rock opera if you could harness the passion. I think Ray did very well here. Bravo.
<PDigug3606@aol.com> (31.08.2000)
This is an era of the Kinks that seems to be all but ignored by radio, 77-83, when the Kinks made some kick ass records............from Sleepwalker through Word Of Mouth, they were a consistently excellent band, with nary a misstep along the way........Why they do not have a record contract today is beyond me. I loved this album when it first came out.........only slightly less today. The lyrics to 'Rock And Roll Fantasy' scare the bejesus out of me. Why? Because I could defintly relate to the kid in the song, who just sits in his room, and becomes lost in the music........becomes lost in his own Rock And Roll Fantasy..........I spent hours in my room listening to my stereo when I was growing up.......Yep, ol Ray could have been singing about me. 'Misfits' is an equally powerful song. When i listen to 'Hay Fever', I want to run to the bathroom, get a tissue, jump through my speakers, and give Ray that damm tissue to blow his nose..........Jeez..talking about really getting into the song..........and a damm funny song at that. Well, radio, should wake up, and start playing these damm Kinks albums again...........and take Wimp Bisquick, and all these other pretenders out to pasture.
Year Of Release: 1979
Record rating = 7
Overall rating = 11
A very funny album. Lightweight, but this time around much more satisfying.
Best song: (WISH I COULD FLY LIKE) SUPERMAN
No, you didn't get it: Ray Davies really wanted to become a superstar
again. Having assembled all of his will together and listened to some contemporary
music, he decided it wouldn't be such a bad idea to take all of his (and
brother Dave's, for sure) rockin' ideas and dilute them with a touch-up
of punk and disco. In other ways, why not follow the Stones' direction?
Indeed - why not? Because first time around, it really works.
The songs on Low Budget are definitely up a grade as compared to
Misfits. First of all, they are diverse: besides the standard ballads
and midtempo rockers, you have your generic punk rock ('Pressure'), your
generic disco number ('National Health'), and some interesting mixtures
of these genres ('Superman' is disco rock, 'Misery' is... err... pop punk?).
They have different tempos, and that's an improvement: if you do not pay
enough attention while listening to Misfits, you may even not notice
the breaks between songs. And finally, Ray is obviously working on these
songs. Poor Mr Davies! I can almost see him busting his brains and trying
to write a catchy tune or a hit single. He doesn't stop before anything
- writing banal lyrics, employing simplistic chords and melodies, even
stealing from his betters ('Catch Me Now I'm Falling' borrows the riff
from 'Jumpin' Jack Flash'; 'In A Space' begins suspiciously similar to
Andrew Lloyd Webber's 'Superstar') - it's a wonder he didn't get sued.
On top of it, he succeeds and comes up with a thoroughly enjoyable album.
The hit single was 'Superman', and it's really good: the lyrics are banal
but funny (also drawing heavily on all the possible cliches like 'we've
gotta get out of this place' and 'I'd like to change the world'), and the
melody is downright fascinating. So what if it's disco? It sounds original!
My favourite tracks also include 'Pressure', a great little cross between
Chuck Berry and the Sex Pistols; the title track which could have been
a good hit in the Twenties were it not for its 'metallization'; and the
wonderful ballad 'Little Bit Of Emotion' which is a definite highlight
(it's slightly similar to 'Misfits' in thematics and in the mood which
it is supposed to set). But hell, they're all listenable - even the filler
like 'Misery' or the pseudoblues 'A Gallon Of Gas' are able to hold my
attention ('A Gallon Of Gas' even entered the live To The Bone).
Finally, the closing 'Moving Pictures', yet another disco track with painfully
cliched lyrics ('Life is only a moving picture/Nothing in life is a permanent
fixture' - clumsy and unoriginal), has yet another carefully thought over
and played riff which serves as a good launching pad for memorizing it.
What happened? The obvious answer is that Ray could really make some good
songs if he tried hard. In fact, I can't think of any other reason. If
you can, tell me. Where Misfits was a total failure in that it just
didn't manage to hold your attention, Low Budget is certainly a
success. Oh, and have I mentioned the catchy ballad 'Catch Me Now I'm Falling'?
See, the borrowed riff of 'Jumpin' Jack Flash' is just a little imported
tidbit, and they could perfectly have done without it. Maybe Ray was deliberately
trying to make a risk and see whether Keith Richards would like to sue
him or not. Anyway, the song itself is great, even though a little bit
long. It sounds totally simple and 'childish', but so do all the other
songs on here. In fact, all of the Kinks' catalog sounds childish, and
I think I've said it before. That's because they use simple chord progressions,
you know. Or maybe for some other reason. No matter. I really dig this
album. It does sound quite modern for 1979, but it also sounds retro, and
that's certainly a good thing. Unfortunately, they just weren't able to
keep it up.
Misery! Why does nobody mail his ideas?
Your worthy comments:
<WhoJonGalt@aol.com> (25.08.2000)
In my opinion, the best Kinks Rock and Roll album. It contains the song that changes many a life in 'NATIONAL HEALTH'. One of the most beautiful songs with more of Ray's inner feelings is 'LITTLE BIT OF EMOTION'. The people in that song are like the guy in CLICHES OF THE WORLD (B MOVIE) on the State of Confusion CD that is, for some reason, not mentioned in your reviews. I think that is why the Kinks are so large in my eyes - they speak to the human condition, they strike a chord. OK, enough cliches...
Year Of Release: 1980
Record rating = 8
Overall rating = 12
Hey, great selection of live songs! And where are those screaming
girls?
Best song: 20TH CENTURY MAN
Superstars need live albums, and big superstars need double live albums.
Moreover, they need successful live albums - and this one even managed
to go gold. To say the truth, it really deserves it. The playing is quite
good, the track selection is clever and the audience is willing to listen
- we've moved out of Kelvin Hall, finally. Unfortunately, the production
is somewhat muddy, and this, combined with the fact that most of the tracks
are quite heavily metallized, really results in 'earing problems - especially
when Dave is deciding to rip out on a solo. But this is something you'll
have to live up to.
The track selection concentrates mostly on Low Budget - they perform
almost half the songs out of it, but it's OK if you dig the album. Apart
from that, it has some other mid-Seventies classics ('Misfits', 'Hardway',
'Celluloid Heroes'), as well as lots of evergreen hits. Of course, none
of these live versions can live up to their studio versions - all the studio
subtleties are lost, but that's what they were going for: loud, in-yer-face
rock! Wow! We kick ass! Shucks.
Yeah, right. All of the tracks are listenable, even minor disasters like
a disco version of 'Till The End Of The Day' and a shameful singalong version
of 'Lola'. Then again, they're just fun - and even if you're dissatisfied,
you'll be sure to pick your spirits after listening to the blistering 'metal'
versions of 'All Day And All Of The Night', 'You Really Got Me' and especially
'20th Century Man' (the definite highlight of the record; strange enough,
it was cut out from the original CD pressing for space reasons and re-installed
only recently). You'll laugh at the improvised verses in 'Low Budget' and
'Superman', tap your feet to the anti-punk anthem 'Prince Of The Punks',
jump up like a young ostrich kid at listening to 'Where Have All The Good
Times Gone', drop a small pool of tears at Dave's emotional soloing on
'Celluloid Heroes', and sing along with the Davies dudes on the closing
'Victoria' and 'David Watts' (unfortunately, both songs are mercilessly
shortened down). This is more than a historical document (like Kelvin
Hall was) - it's a downright enjoyable album, with enough care and
love inserted into it. Unfortunately, Ian Gibbons later overdubbed some
keyboard parts, so you can't really state that it's a totally live, untrumped-up
album; but as a product, it works. Even if you won't love all of it, 77
minutes of music for the price of one CD ain't that much, eh? When you
could pay the same price for a silly early Beach Boys album clocking in
at 20 minutes?
All day and all of the night I'm waiting for your ideas
Your worthy comments:
<NYCTCHR@aol.com> (01.12.2000)
This is the perfect Kinks album for the uninitiated. The quirkiness of the Kinks' masterpieces like Village Green, Something Else, and Arthur are an acquired taste because they stray so far from mainstream rock n' roll. Ray Davies' voice during the "Golden Age" was so whimsical that "conventional" rock listeners couldn't take it seriously - just a guess. One For the Road on the otherhand is one of those few Kinks albums that could be blasted at parties without people questioning what's coming out of the speakers. Call it the Kinks "frat rock" album. One For the Road is by far the Kinks most polished live album. But compare One For the Road's "Victoria" and "David Watts" to the originals, and you realize that sounding cool and "respectable" (in the kids' ears) has become more important to the Kinks than musical art.
Year Of Release: 1982
Record rating = 4
Overall rating = 8
Stupid and senseless heavy metal. Even the ballads sound flake and
fake.
Best song: YO-YO
The Kinks' artistic comeback seems to have ended as quickly as it had
begun. Either Ray thought that, with Low Budget behind his back,
he won't be needing to work that much any more, or else he just wasn't
in the right mood. Low Budget was diverse, funny and pleasantly
lightweight, with lots of ideas being carefully planned and carried into
life. Give The People seems to concentrate on their newly-found
'metallic' side: more than half of the tracks are gruff, lifeless rockers,
all set to a standard heavy metal pattern. Well, it's nice seeing them
making a kinda definite statement and all, but no thanks. Anybody can pick
up a guitar, add a hell of a lot of distortion and go out into space (in
fact, that's what punk rock was mostly about, wasn't it?) I'd expect something
slightly more intriguing - a good song or two, for a change. And this is
exactly what this album refuses to present to me. Well, okay, maybe one
or two. But not more! 'Yo-Yo' is a nice kind of 'desperate' song which
could have been even better if only Ray took some more time to work on
it, and 'Destroyer' (the mini-hit off the record), even if it mixes the
melody of 'All Day And All Of The Night' with the lyrics of 'Lola', at
least mixes them decently.
But the rest of the record (and it ain't that little) just doesn't hold
its head high. The few attempts at balladeering don't have the kind of
tearful hooks Ray used to spice up ditties like 'Misfits' and 'Little Bit
Of Emotion', and as a result sound draggy and insincere, especially 'Art
Lover', either an ode to a pervert or a lament of an outcast. Never mind
the lyrics, though - I know lots of people enjoy Ray Davies' songs for
the lyrics, but this is certainly not the place to start. 'Come to daddy'.
Really, Ray! Same goes for 'Killer's Eyes' which somehow seems to miss
my sprite. The remaining seven songs are amateurish heavy metal at its
ugliest, like the opening 'Around The Dial' which seems to be poking its
nose around, not knowing where to fit. The title track is kinda scary,
with all its references that all the people really want is sex, blood and
murder on TV, but musically it sounds like a parody on 'Pressure' which
already was a parody on Chuck Berry. Pathetic. I'd like to notice, however,
that the way he sings 'add it up' on 'Add It Up' is interesting in that
fifteen years later, it obviously re-appeared on the Stones' 'Flip The
Switch'. Coincidence? Aaarrgh, probably, and not a very comfortable one
at that. 'Back To Front' is especially nasty, sounding like a techno take
on a war march (and that must sound totally crazy, too). In all, there's
not even a single track on this album which I'd be willing to call 'near-classic'.
Come to think of it, there's not even a single track I'd call 'near-good'.
Why? Because Ray's a lazy sluggard, that's why. Oh, sorry, I think I've
forgotten to mention 'Predictable': this is really one song which could
approach the definition of 'good'. It's interesting, if only for the fact
that it features very masterful interaction between Ray's main singing
and the back-uppers. And the lyrics are really surprising: he complains
that his life is so safe, boring and 'predictable'. C'mon, Ray, isn't it
the very thing you were asking for on 'Low Budget' and 'A Gallon Of Gas'?
No satisfaction, really!
Give the people what they want: your ideas
Your worthy comments:
Ben Greenstein <bgreenstein@nctimes.net> (06.08.99)
Yeah - what's up with "Art Lover"? It's got a perfectly decent
melody, but for some reason Ray decided to give it those stupid lyrics
about a child molester, which completely sabotage any hopes of it being
at all commercial. A good songwriter like Ray should know that, in order
to pen a hit single, people have to be able to relate to it - and it strikes
me that the song could have been really personal and gorgeous if it had
lyrics about something like - I don't know - art.
And the rest of the album stinks, save for the miniscule hit "Destroyer"
and the pretty gorgeous "Better Things," which you shamefully
did not mention. I give this a really, really low score.
<WhoJonGalt@aol.com> (05.06.2000)
C'mon. Listen to the words. The guy is NOT a child molester. He misses what was taken from him. He doesn't want to own, snatch, harm. He wants to put a frame around it and view it for what it is...God's greatest art work. As a father of two girls, I can relate. Look up the word 'epiphany' and you will see what he is referring to. The whole album is good, and 'Art Lover' is the best song on the album. The live version on The Road got me interested. Take a jog and work out the tension. I rate it MUCH higher.
M.Franklin <check.mark@verizon.net> (30.10.2000)
While there are many things that could be said about this review I will
leave them for someone who feels the need to rant. After all, its just
another opinion, but...
I felt the need to chime in and support Ben's appreciation for "Better
Things". The melody and lyrics really speak to me and I have shared
it with many appreciative friends. The words, and the mood the song invokes,
have gotten me through some very difficult times in my life. When I lost
a friend to cancer, Ray was there to cheer me up. When my girl and I split,
Ray told me it would be alright. Of course, on more than one occasion,
I wondered why I go to work, and Ray reminded me that it was to prepare
for the next better thing.
That's a lot more than most songs do for me.
Year Of Release: 1993
Record rating = 2
Overall rating = 6
What are these guys doing, trying to rival Slayer or anything? SOS!
Best song: SOMEBODY STOLE MY CAR
[This is where I have one real huge gap - haven't been
able to get anything in between 1983-89. Wait for it!]
The critics hated it, the people never bought it, and I can sure tell why.
If you thought Give The People was heavy metal, then this one is
the ultra-heaviest. This is not to say that it's good heavy metal - it's
just generic crappy heavy metal. Either Ray and Dave thought the world
wasn't yet convinced of their having fore-fathered the genre, or else they
thought that straightforward metal arrangements would perfectly suit the
general mood of the album - which really isn't that pretty. The album cover
is gray, and the music sure as hell is of the same colour. Songs about
disillusionment, crisis, hatred, fear and death abound - long gone are
the happy days when Ray preferred to hide himself from these things behind
a wall of picture books, Waterloo sunsets and tin soldier men. This time
we have a 'Wall Of Fire' instead. About half of the songs are driven by
heavy, boring metal riffs, and Dave plays an obligatory metallic solo in
every one, so they practically end up sounding like each other. You might
get interested in 'Wall Of Fire' just because it's the album opener, but
'Drift Away', the title track, 'It's Alright' (Dave's solo spot), and lots
and lots of others - they aptly demonstrate that there was really nothing
good about 'Wall Of Fire', it was just the first song, 's all. Yeah, indeed.
Not that there aren't any 'softer' tracks. There are, but they're dull
as well, like 'Only A Dream' which sounds as an uninspired parody on Dylan's
'Tangled Up In Blue' (both lyrically and melodically). Relative standouts
include 'Hatred (A Duet)' with Ray discussing his personal problems with
Dave, and the Beatlish 'Somebody Stole My Car' (with a direct reference
to 'Drive My Car' in the end). But they're only relative, which means they
haven't got a chance of acquiring 'classic' status. At least, only over
my dead body. I really don't know what happened, but obviously at some
particular moment in his life Ray totally lost the ability of composing
good music. I really don't have the least idea as to why. I have
a deep hidden feeling it can have something to do with Dave's love for
heavy metal, but this can't be the sole explanation. Take their two new
compositions on To The Bone, for instance - they're so much better!
And they're not heavy metal. Get the idea?
Even worse is the fact that this is one ultra-long album. Most of the tracks
go well over four or even five minutes, when they really don't deserve
it. This implies the fact that the album is almost impossible to sit through
in one time. In fact, I really don't remember a more painful experience
since listening to Clapton's Pilgrim. The closing tracks don't have
the least chance to get caught in my memory - it's all a hard-rockin',
hard-friggin' mess. Don't buy it unless you gave the oath of collecting
every piece of plastic associated with Ray Davies. I couldn't even get
myself to listen to it more than two times. I guess I ought to (what's
a poor reviewer to do), but at least gimme time to catch my breath...
It's alright, just mail me your ideas
Your worthy comments:
<WhoJonGalt@aol.com> (25.08.2000)
Another CD in my collection that gathered dust until a long road trip forced me to pop it in the car. Then, BANG, it goes from zero to 10+. Listen to 'STILL SEARCHING'. Everyone is. 'DON'T' is my favorite - you think a guy is on the verge and in reality he is standing on a rainbow. 'SCATTERED' is the best song on the CD. "In the end, there will only be my ashes to scatter" and the quest for the lost loved-one really oozes with Ray's feelings. Another one to keep and treasure. Who cares where the boys get their ideas from?
Year Of Release: 1994
Record rating = 8
Overall rating = 12
Subtle! Good live versions of old classics just can't fail, now can
they?
Best song: well, it's like a compilation, so screw it
Seeing as Phobia had just fared quite miserably, and probably
realizing that the only force that was left in the Kinks lay in their roots,
Ray made a sudden decision to release this live-in-the-studio album. The
actual tracks are interspersed, though: judging by the audience's sounds,
some are from large venues (like the opening 'All Day And All Of The Night')
and some were probably done without any audience. Most, however, come directly
from Konk Studios with a couple dozen guests admiring the band's skills
at playing live. The track listing mostly consists of the evergreens from
1965-70 with a later hit thrown in now and then ('Come Dancing', 'Don't
Forget To Dance', 'Give The People What They Want', 'Do It Again', even
'A Gallon Of Gas'!) As usual, most of the tracks are heavily metallized,
but that's no serious problem, moreover, if you've heard the earlier live
albums, you're supposed to be used to that.
Most interesting, though, is the fact that an absolute majority of these
songs seem to work. The guitarwork is immaculate - you rarely hear a missed
or sloppy note, Ray's vocals are indistinguishable from what they were
twenty years earlier, and the rhythm section, even though it has nothing
to do with the original Kinks (Bob Henrit on drums, Jim Rodford on base),
is as tight as necessary. I would even go as far as to state that some
of these versions surpass the originals - my pick is 'Set Me Free' which
somehow seems to be transformed from a slightly noticeable pop ditty into
a ferocious and highly emotional rocker. It should also be noted that 'Apeman'
is simply gorgeous, being driven by accordeon and a prominent drum pattern:
it simply makes you wanna dance and sing along in a way that could never
be done by the original version. Some other songs get a rearrangement,
too: 'Do You Remember Walter' is being introduced by Ray as 'one of my
Bavarian songs' and it does sound Bavarian (where's the accent, though?)
Plus, you also get a short acoustic set from Ray, where he invites the
audience to sing along on 'Sunny Afternoon' and 'Dedicated Follower Of
Fashion'. Now just don't you think that I'm a great lover of audience singalongs,
but at least it's soothing to see that Ray has still got it in him. And
he sure can play, too: just listen how aptly he substitutes that precious
flute bit on 'Village Green Preservation Society' for acoustic guitar!
Now that's what I call 'care-for-sound'!
Yeah, in fact, this album could even be recommended to Kinks neophytes
who'd like to taste some of their best material. Of course, with some serious
understatements, too. The metallizing of these tracks sounds all right
by me, but it really isn't that typical of the classic Kinks sound - like
I already said somewhere above, it's just to remind people who really invented
hard rock. And some of the most classic cuts really lose a bit of their
magic 'childish/British' aura when played live ('Dead End Street', for
one). On the plus, Kinks neophytes will have a chance to hear some of Ray's
funny stories and entertaining banter in between songs, so they'll at least
get some sweet fun in recompense.
Oh, and another thing! The CD has two bonus studio tracks at the end -
'Animal' and the title track, namely. They're not particularly great, but
they're good! The choruses sound nice and strong, and they're memorable.
And they're not heavy metal. What else can I say to convince you? Well,
at least these tracks are a significant relief in that Phobia might
now be judged not as a demonstration of total ruin and washed-upness, but
rather as a creative misstep. This, of course, is appliable only if these
two songs aren't some old outtakes. In which case I prefer to discard this
last paragraph. Also, I've heard from different sources there are actually
two To The Bone's - a UK one and a US one (gee, happy old days are
here again!) The UK one is a single CD, but, just as you might guess, it
contains some tracks not found on the US one. So?..
Do it again - mail me your ideas
Your worthy comments:
Peter Castanos <pcastanos@hartmann.webcentral.com.au> (05.09.2000)
I would just like to give you some extra info on To The Bone
by the Kinks.
The single CD version was released in UK in 1994, the double CD in the
US and elsewhere in 1996. The live in the studio tracks were all recorded
at Konk in 1994. The two new tracks were recorded in 1996, so they're
not old outtakes.
The acoustic guitar riff on 'VGPS' (the flute bit) is I believe Dave and
not Ray. You will clearly hear 2 acoustic guitars on the track, Ray's is
mixed to the left and Dave's to the right.
<Ogdensgoneflake@aol.com> (23.10.2000)
I just got this album and it KICKS ASS. I really like Dave Davies vocals on death of a clown. Also great are "Set Me Free" "You Really Got Me" and "Days". The british version is the same as disc one except it does not have "Do It Again" (either one), but instead features "Waterloo Sunset" and "Autumn Almanac" and closes with "You Really Got me".
Year Of Release: 1996
There's at least a couple dozen notorious Kinks' hits packages, even though there's never yet been a complete retrospective box set, due to the numerous record labels the band had signed for, but this one's the most fresh and widely available. So if you're just starting with the band, you might as well get it, because the track selection is very reasonable. It covers the entire Pye period (1964-70), with practically no serious gaps: you get your early head-banging singles ('You Really Got Me', 'All Day And All Of The Night', 'Tired Of Waiting For You', 'Till The End Of The Day'), the fantastic Britfest stuff from 1966-67 ('Sunny Afternoon', 'Dead End Street', 'Waterloo Sunset', 'Autumn Almanac') and the cream of their 'mature', 1968-70 period (title track from TVGPS, 'Shangri-La', 'Drivin'', 'Lola', 'Apeman'), plus some 'rarities' which bands of lesser stature would have killed for ('Mr Pleasant'; 'Days'; the 1969 hilarious flop single 'Plastic Man'). I was somewhat disappointed by the inclusion of both 'Dedicated Follower Of Fashion' and 'Dandy', 'cos they pretty much sound the same; on the other hand, the exclusion of, say, 'Set Me Free', 'Picture Book' or 'Victoria' is a crying shame, but, in all, this is a very representative collection which can easily make a Kinks' fanatic out of you if you give it a couple o' spins.