Anybody like The Kinks?

Almost sure. The intro of "Yes Sir No Sir", when compared to the PRT CD, is the indication.

 

I just compared the left channel of my Great Lost Kinks Album version of this track with the "stereo" mix. They're identical, which means all they did was use one channel of the original stereo mix.

 

Ahhh...that makes sense. Thanks for the detective work, John. It's strange that Ray Davies allegedly signed off on the first issue of the disc with such a glaring error.

 

i love The Kinks. Actually, to me Ray Davies is as big name in pop music as Paul McCartney. Albums like "Face to Face", "Something Else", "Village Green" and "Arthur" may be badly recorded, but the music is so great that it doesn't matter.
I think Ray Davies' last real masterpiece was the amazing "Celluloid Heroes" on "Everybody's In Showbiz", a song that I think is as good as anything he ever done. After that I think they declined rather drastically.
I'm surprised to see how fondly many US fans remember the arena rock Kinks of the late 70's and 1980's. While I hear some good songs on every Kinks album, I think the overall quality was so much lower in the 80's that it's hardly worth mentioning the 1980's The Kinks in the same breath as the 60's group with the same name.

 

Yea...they lost me with LOW BUDGET.

 

You aren't so solitary, man. I agree with every single word! Can't add a thing.

 

Very interesting read. I'm not a huge fan though I did name my son Raymond Douglas.

I discovered the Kinks during Low Budget and in general have worked my way back. I must be die hard because I like most of the 80's stuff. I also really like most of Phobia but I wish it was two releases as opposed to one really long one.

I certainly would take the earlier material first if I had to make a choice but over time I'd really miss some gems from the later years. Living on a Thin Line, Yo-Yo, A Little Bit of Emotion, Better Things, Scattered, Moving Pictures, Lost and Found, are a few tunes I really enjoy past 1979.

I do think the 80's material was overproduced or something to that effect. Earlier material had an intimacy in the way it was recorded in comparision. The To The Bone release is a favorite of mine in part because the studio stuff is so free of pretension. Listen to Gallon of Gas or Better Things on that piece and it has that special something that makes the Kinks so great.

I am still enamoured with the vocal interaction between Ray & Dave. Somehow, their voices work magic with each other. The falsetto Dave answering Ray lines can send shivers up and down my spine.

As was mentioned before, I miss Mick Avory. Bob Henritt is not near as interesting to my ears. I understand Dave pushed for Mick's removal but I don't know that for sure.

Aside from the appreciation he gets for YRGM, I believe Dave is an underappreciated guitar player. One of the appeals of the the late 70's Kinks stuff for me is his playing. His solo on Juke Box Music for example is nothing short of a masterpiece.

Long Live the Kinks,

 

Peter, how I envy you.

You are bound to discover lots of great music!

I suggest Misfits to start with. It it doesn't click at first listen, try again. It's worth it.

 

No! Pablo! How on earth do you think I could have made that statement without having heard every album The Kinks ever released? I've got them all, every single one of them!

I love many of their 70s and 80s albums and there are many wonderful tracks on those albums but I still agree with solitaryman: Celluloid Heroes was Ray's last masterpiece.

 

The Kinks were the first group that really grabbed me.The hard sound of their records plus the way they looked and behaved on TV was just a revelation.Face To Face is probably their best album.

 

Ray Davies was another prolific songwriter of his generation - another do it yourselfer. Right up there with Townshend.

"Muswell Hillbillies" is my favorite Kinks album. I picked up "Preservation Act 1" for the first time (SACD) - not too bad, I'm enjoying it